China Sister Fun.

We hosted a picnic today for our local South Florida Asia Group and as always when this group gets together we had a really lovely time. I am not sure of the exact number of people that showed up but we had a large crowd and the rain that was forecast stayed far far away. Jacob myself and Hollis were laughing at the fact that were 50 kids there but our 5 girls stuck together as if no one else existed. They played with the other girls for a few minutes but for the most part it was the "C" girls and "M" girls. Rosie thought this was her birthday party so she was in heaven and when Jean showed up with a birthday cake that had her name on it along with all the kids names that have had recent birthdays she was convinced it was all about her.

I met this little girl and her really lovely Momma. They live not far from us and we met through another blog and vowed to meet but never had until today. My goodness Tessa is really, really lovely. All our children are and we are so very fortunate to have a group as wonderful as this. When we joined it Lily was one of the babies but now she is one of the big girls and Rosie is one of the babies. We chat amongst ourselves about their heritage and how we keep it alive, we chat about the questions they ask, going special needs versus non special needs, whether it really is all that to stay at the White Swan when In Guanzhou or whether the Victory is better, we just chatter about adoption stuff and there is never a moments hesitation because you know the person you are talking to "get's it". Our old SW was there cos we invited her. She is an amazing woman and some people are still really shocked to find out that she reads my blog. She isn't some nosey instigator she is a professional who helps to unite families and she has become a huge part of ours. She loves to see all of "her" kids playing together at the picnics and seeing how many of her parents have become good friends.

Whenever we have a picnic we donate money to a worthy cause and we usually choose Half the Sky but this year due to the earthquake we decided to collect the money for Haiti. I am not sure yet on the total as some people still want to donate and our final figure will be matched.

At one point there must of been easily 150 of us but we failed to take a group photo but as the last of us were clearing up I decided we needed to get a photo of the kids....they were thrilled, can you tell? I love the choke hold one sister has on the other!


A close up of Miss Tessa! She would not smile for this but as soon as I put the camera down she cracked up!



Rosie's Birthday Cake.





A very small part of the group.


Bubbles




Why no pictures of Lily yo ask? Because she took off to the playground when we arrived, resurfaced for lunch and was gone again for hours shortly after that. We kept checking in on the big kids but they we very independent today and out of camera range....oh boy they are getting big!

Rosie's Pajama Party

Oh the excitement! Rosie could barely contain herself on Tuesday morning when she woke up because the day had finally arrived for her pajama party at school. She knew that she must wear her jammies, carry her little orange flashlight, take her favourite blanket and wear her dressing gown. She hustled Lily off to school so that she could get herself ready.

As always Miss Frankie did not disappoint her students. They had a Pizza party (they made the Pizza's), painted the letter P, and of course and a Pajama party complete with a big quilt to snuggle under and flashlights to make shadow Puppets with on the ceiling.

Hard at work


I'm sure the little girl behind Rosie is thinking to herself...if my hands are going to get that messy I am not doing this project!


Making shadow Puppets (it's all about the letter "P")


A heap of snuggly kidlets having fun.


This is the post I was planning on posting when I ran into Rosie's comment that initiated my last post.

Families ARE Forever.

Shortly after Rosie started to talk she would say the same thing to us when one of us left the house and she was staying behind. She never faltered and she was very serious, she would say, and still does, "you come back see me again?" We would and do always tell her that we will come back. We tell her we love her and that we are a family and that families are forever or words similar to those. It wasn't long before she added this phrase to her list, "don't leave me". This one was harder to hear as her face when she says it is quite frankly filled with anguish and worry. Again we tell her we will never leave her.

This is all part of Rosie, part of what makes her, her. It is something that she has to work through, with our help of course and something that hopefully one day will fade into the recesses of her memory bank and stay there and not resurface every single time she goes to bed or someone leaves the house or a myriad of other daily events occur to rock her foundation.

I know I have mentioned her abandonment issues before here but they just don't disappear they linger and when you least expect them they resurface or as is the case with Rosie they never get laid to rest even for a day. It must be so exhausting spending your life worrying about whether your parents are coming back. I remember as a child being taught by nuns at a convent and at 6pm the grandfather clock would strike and if the doorbell didn't ring at the exact same time I was panic stricken. I was petrified that my father was not going to come and get me and that I would have to stay there in the convent with Sister Vincent. I knew he would come but each second there was torture for me, I truly hated it and the nuns. They spanked my fingers with a ruler if I fidgeted. As much as I knew I would go home to my parents I was petrified of that place, my fear was associated to a place not my parents ever leaving me. (BTW we aren't even Catholic so this was really over the top!)

We now know that Lily plays a pivotal role in how Rosie is doing. Lily is her rock. When she is around all is well in Rosie's world. They don't stick to each other like glue when they are home and sometimes they fight like cats and dogs and even want to do things separately but when Lily has been around all day for a few days and she then returns to school it upsets Rosie.

Tonight all was well. We have spent a great day together. Rosie had a pajama party at school and once Lily came home and homework was done all sorts of fun was unleashed. That is our usual routine. Routine is also key with Rosie, she needs to know what is going to happen next. After dinner I mentioned that it was time to go and get in the bath and get ready for bed. Rosie stopped dead in her tracks looked up at me with big sad eyes and said, "don't leave me when I am sleeping". I picked her up and looked in her eyes and told her I would never do that. I told her I will never leave her. I might take her to school like I do Lily but I would go and get her just like Lily. What she said next literally left me shaking, she said, "you left me in China". I told her from the very second she was handed to Daddy Lily and I we have never left her but she insisted that she was left in China!

This is not something that she knows about. China is still just a word to her and it holds no meaning or so I thought. I asked her who left her but she just buried her head in my chest and didn't answer. I didn't push it but I really wanted to. The questions were lining up in my head as fast as machine gun fire. We sat on the floor with me explaining how we will never leave her when she is sleeping and then just as fast as the moment came it was gone but for me this is a scar, a scar that comes from Rosie being hurt. Somehow, somewhere she does remember something....but what? Hopefully now the words will come and she can say what it is that scared her so very badly

Yes I am fully aware that there are many parents of biological children whose children don't want to be left alone or left at school, I know this happens. It happens frequently but there is a difference between separation anxiety, (which to a point is healthy and normal ) and abandonment issues.

We carried Rosie almost everywhere we went for nearly a year. We used carriers or our arms because the stroller was just to much distance for her in a strange place and caused her to much distress. One time I used a stroller under duress and remember looking down and seeing that she had pulled her blanket over her face. She couldn't handle it so she hid.

Yes, it is easy to read into normal behaviour and sometimes misconstrue it as adoption "stuff" but that is where being informed and educating yourself comes into play. Alot of what I see from her is typical 2/3 yr old behaviour and I am not about to put up with a temper tantrum over not getting your own way but it is the other stuff that we as her family see that you don't see that makes us realise that she, our little peanut, has a hurt in her heart and it is still being fixed.

Tomorrow is another day and we will approach it with our shoulders back and our fighting stance at the ready.

Simple Fun.

Lily had 2 school projects assigned to her last week and they are both due tomorrow. Since Monday was MLK day and Friday was a teachers work day I told her that if she completed them both and handed them in by last Thursday she could choose to do something/anything she wanted to on Friday. Do I need to say that they were both handed in before the due date? I didn't think so. I am teaching her not to procrastinate. Whenever she gets a project assigned we always follow the same guidelines and once we have all the materials needed she starts work on it right away.

She had a really enjoyable 3 day weekend with just her usual studies and no big projects looming over her head as they were done and she was free. Friday morning she requested that we go and pick strawberries and tomatoes. It was a really fabulous morning and I have to say that her choice of activities surprised me but I was thrilled with her decision.

What surprised me the most was that they didn't eat their way around the field because both of them love berries and the first time we ever took Lily to do this she snarfed about 3lbs of them and was covered in strawberry juice from head to toe.
We followed this trip up with lunch at a place called Cool de Sac. No big raves from me or the girls. They had fun but I can't see us going back. It is a restaurant with a play area where the kids can dress up, play on computers, do art projects etc. Just the same stuff we can do at home. They had fun but didn't rave about it. As we were leaving the Rosie said, Look Mummy, Genevieve's mummy! I had no idea what she was talking about until about 3 seconds later when Lily piped up, Look Mummy. it's Ms. Clavell. Then I finally got it. The movie Madeline. They saw a nun. OMG is was so freaking funny and without anybody else being aware what we were doing we went in hot pursuit of Ms. Clavell with the girls singing songs from Madeline. We were laughing like silly school girls, oh wait they are silly school girls! So what was my excuse? (The nun was oblivious, I am not rude, just silly)

We finished off the day at Misha's swanky little cupcake store and indulged in the best cupcakes I have ever eaten. Even Rosie ate hers. I think we will be boycotting a traditional birthday cake for Rosie this year in favour of these.


The girls were so happy after such a simple day of simple pleasures and flopped into bed content. Yesterday their highlight was when our friends Richard and Shara came over to pick something up and rang before they came to say,.... can we bring the dogs with us? Sure you can the girls will love it! And did they ever.

The girls and Sophie. Sophie is a Therapy Dog at Miami Children's Hospital and is just such a loving dog. Ignore the fact that she just happens to be chowing down on a Chinese kid! It's just a coincidence!


Rosie loves Sophie and loves the fact that she is so big and gentle. Of course when that tail wags and whacks her in the face she falls down but that is the only thing that bothers her about Sophie.


Snickers isn't known to be a very sociable dog but she decided yesterday that Lily was just fine. Rosie was not so great but she did really well. I was a little nervous but Shara and Richard know my history and are more guarded around the girls and I than they usually are. Even though they laugh at me....kindly!


First thing this morning we went and met a friend of a friend who is collecting donations for the Haitian orphans that have arrived here. Last night the girls went through their toys and chose some to donate. Both of them chose one "special" toy to part with and I was really proud of them. We also checked their closets and all of the kitchen cupboards for baby cups, spoons, and any no longer needed baby items etc. Oh these poor little children...it is heartbreaking. Rosie had a hard time parting with one of Lily's toys and kept taking it out of the box. When we got home she found it under a pillow on the couch!!! She looked genuinely shocked when she discovered it so I am letting it slide, this time.

The rest of the day was spent riding bikes and playing Wii. I laugh so hard watching my girls play wii. It is the funniest thing I have ever seen. I really do need to video them and share the sight with the world.
I hope you all had a lovely weekend as well.

For The Love Of Tacoma.

I decided to take my camera with me this afternoon to riding and I am so glad that I did because Rosie was in great form today with her favourite steed, Tacoma. I took a couple of videos of her not because of the visual aspect but because of what she was saying to him, so you will have to ignore the fact that you really can't see the horse or her but just listen to her jabbering away and saying how much she loves him. As we were walking back to the field she suddenly squealed and wanted to be picked up because a chick, yes you read that correctly, a small yellow fluffy baby chicken was running towards her, yet this horse is no problem for her whatsoever. To be quite frank, I don't get it.

Meet Tacoma, possibly the friendliest horse I have ever encountered. He has such a gentle touch and usually walks to an area where the fence is down so that he can put his head all the way down to Rosie's level and she cradles the whole thing in her arms and he just stands there.






In this one Rosie gets covered in straw when Tacoma lifts his head up a bit quickly.


Here the love affair get's nauseating.......until she sees a bug and then something else catches her eye.

It.

The last few days have been filled with utter heartache as the dust from the earthquake in Haiti has started to settle and the magnitude of the destruction is rising to the surface. Through the many pictures that I have seen it is the ones of the babies and children who have lost their parents that hurt me the most. It really doesn't matter to them that the rest of the world is sending aid because they have lost the most important part of their lives, their mummy's and daddy's. Everything in Haiti changed in an instant and for those little tiny children the only person that could even start to make it feel just a tiny bit better has vanished, forever.

This morning as I was getting ready for work it was these tiny victims that were weighing heavily on my heart. As I looked at Lily and Rosie all snuggled in bed with their Daddy and watching Curious Ge0rge on television this conversation took place.

Me: Lily how would you feel about a Foster brother or sister?
Lily: Would we have to keep it?
Me: "It"? No, we wouldn't have to keep "it" we would just take care of them until his or her situation got better or until a forever family was found.
Lily: How old would "it" be?
Me: Oh I don't know somewhere from about 10 down to Rosie's age I think.
Lily: Would "it" be a girl or a boy?
Me: I really don't know but I think probably a girl since we have 2 girls and are better suited as a household for girls but I really am not sure.
Lily: Where would "it" sleep?
Me: Since you and Rosie now always sleep together in your room, "it" could have Rosie's room.
Lily: So long as "it" doesn't have to sleep with me that would be fine.
Me: Well actually, "it" would probably be very scared at first and the thought of sleeping alone would be horrid so yes, perhaps "it" should sleep with you.
Lily: Are you crazy? 3 beds in my room, that's way too squishy.
Me: Okay then "it" can have Rosies" room.
Lily: So long as we don't have to keep "it" , "it" can come and stay here.

I'm sure she was being very nice really. LOL
My poor sweet husband who had no idea where this conversation came from was laying in his bed looking somewhat shell shocked at his wife who is apparently about to sign him up for a Foster Child.
I am not about to do this. I would love to but Rosie is not quite ready to get ousted from her position in this family and I cannot mess up the dynamic that has taken so long to get to where it is. However if someone should knock on my door and beg for help..well then I would not be held accountable for my actions.

Santa Saved The Day.

Yesterday as I was walking out the door to take Lily to her riding lesson I decided NOT to take my camera. Seriously, how many photos of Lily on horses do I need? Add to that, that Rosie is having a love affair with a horse called Tacoma so we have to take a bag of carrots and she wanted to take her camera so that she could take even more photos of him I seriously didn't want to lug anymore stuff with us.

Once we arrived I didn't see anyone about. At first I thought we must have been late as we are starting a new time slot on a different day of the week and sometimes my blond tendencies come front and centre, at full throttle! Not the case however and we were on time. Lily went off to help "catch" the horses and Rosie and I went off to see Tacoma. On our way back we saw Lily's instructor who apologised for running late. This woman gives so much to the kids it makes me laugh when she apologises for running late as she never ends a class on time. One day I think they will bill us all for all the free time we get and then we will all be broke. LOL. Gema appeared particularly frazzled and was running even more than normal. Out of nowhere she decided to let Rosie ride as she had a horse all ready saddled. Of all the days to consciously decide not to take my camera. I was kicking myself so hard. Rosie was on a horse and about to go for a ride I couldn't video it.

Suddenly I remembered Rosie's camera that she had put in the car. She got it from Santa. She has taken zillions of photos with it but I have yet to upload them to the computer so I really don't know how well it works. I had nothing to lose so I ran and grabbed it and started snapping photos and then I also remembered that it has a video feature to it also. With nothing to lose I started to video her mini-lesson. I wasn't sure if either the video or the photos would come out as the LCD display is rather small and the photos always look dreadfully dark in it.

Honestly I think she is way to young to ride. She just bumps along and has no control of her body. In 5 minutes she learnt how to make the horse go, to turn him and how to stop him. I was impressed but when she was trotting she was flopping about like a flailing fish. Of course she now thinks she should be taking lessons also. help me.

In the saddle


Grinning like a Cheshire cat.








Now I am sure alot of bystanders were wondering just what sort of flashy camera equipment I was using and how much money I had to drop to purchase it. Well, rumour has it that Santa found it on sale and paid $17 for it but the usual retail price is around $30. I am guessing I looked rather silly with this pushed up against my face.

Eat your heart out all you camera buffs. LOL

Silly Wabbit.

With all the cold weather that we have been having I have been dressing the girls in woolly tights. The first time I pulled a pair out for Rosie to wear she looked at them and was most perplexed. After a moment she looked at me and said,"are those knickers with legs or are they funny socks?" I started to laugh. I explained to her that both of her guesses were correct but they were in fact called tights and they would keep her nice and warm. She doesn't like wearing them very much but likes being freezing even less.

Now it appears that tights can double as hats and bunny ears and this phenomenon is spreading throughout this house like wild fire.

Silly hats. They sort of look like Hosedic Jewish children here.




Daddy sprouted wabbit ears.


I think the cold is getting to us.
We have had snow flurries and I had to scrape the ice of my car this morning. I ran back indoors and wrapped Lily in a blanket and let her come outside and help me as I knew she would love it. She did and told me it was just like Nannie and Grandpa's house. She hasn't been to Nannie and Grandpa's house in the winter for at least 3 years but she always refers to it as freezing cold even though the last 2 summers the temps there have been hotter than here and they don't have air conditioning.

Words From Rosie.

For a 2 year old, I suppose she is nearly 3 if we want to be exact about this, Rosie has quite the vocabulary and has mastered the English language to her advantage. Here are a few examples that have come out of her mouth in the past few days.

As I was trying, unsuccessfully, to talk her into sleeping in her own bedroom the other evening she looked at me and said, "dis not a very nice woom Mama, let's gib (give) it to cousin Annie". Please tell me how I am supposed to fight the good fight when her sad little face looks at me and she says something like that? I caved and yet again she slept with her sister.

Yesterday lunchtime we were having the usual battle of, one more bite when she looked at me and said."are you happy wiv me Mama?" I fenced this one slightly by saying that I was very happy with Lily because she had eaten all her lunch and I was very happy with Daddy as he had eaten all his lunch but not quite so much with Rosie. With that she looked most disgruntled and piped up. "dat's not very friendly". Where does she get this stuff from and I promise I am not making it up.

One night recently both the girls were in the bath and I went into their rooms to get p.j.s or pull down their beds and was gone for all of 2 minutes. (the girls have a jack and jill bathroom so I wasn't far away so don't get all panicky and give me a lecture on bath time safety as I was technically still in the same room) When I walked back into the bathroom my feet got wet. I looked at the girls and asked who had splashed water all over the floor. This was actually a redundant question as Rosie had a bucket in her hands. Lily pointed to Rosie and Rosie just shouted, "Lily did it". I told them I was going to ask again and I wanted the truth. Silly me, I got the same response. I was actually really upset that Rosie was lying as I didn't know she knew what this was but at the same time it was comical but I did not let on that I found it funny at all. I told them that I was going to walk out of the room, come back in and try again. When I went back, I changed my tactic and pretended to be so happy that the floor was all wet. I said, "oh gosh this is so lovely somebody washed the floor for Mama, who did such a lovely thing? Rosie jumped up and down and shrieked, "I did Mama, I did" to which I replied you are so busted and whipped her out of the tub so fast and gave her a little chittychat about telling the truth. Thankfully she hasn't lied since then even though she has had PLENTY of opportunities!

If you try and tell her something she will stop you half way through and say, "stop talking, it's my turn".

Something tells me that 3 is going to be Rosie's year to be ornery and testy. Two was not a big deal with her but 3 could be the year I take to swigging gin in the middle of the day.

Starting The New Year Off With A Bang

• Bullets. Sometimes it's the only way to go.
• 2010 is not really starting out the way I like a new year to to start but I will remain optimistic as it is only the 7th.
• I parked my car in the parking lot at the JCC on Tuesday. When I left it it was in pristine condition, not so when I returned to it. Did the schmuck that hit me have the decency to leave me a note? Well, no of course not. Arsehat.
• I clench my teeth, very tightly when I sleep. So tightly that I broke a molar. oopsie. I have a night guard but when I wear it I clench really badly with my front teeth so I alternate nights with and without it. I'm rethinking this plan. Better late than never.
• We are getting a whole new roof.
• Have you noticed enormous amounts of $$$$$$$ yet?
• Remaining optimistic.
• My brother in law called me today with news that wasn't good. It wasn't the really sh*tty news that they thought they were going to be calling with the week before Christmas but cancer is cancer and it still sucks. BIG TIME.
• Enough of the mudslide of crap, this year needs to pick it's little self up and start being nicer.
• It's been really cold here. As much as I love cold weather I have come to a conclusion, Florida is not meant to get cold. We do not have the clothes for it at all. Cotton sweaters do not keep you warm. Yeah for the internet and over night deliveries. The world of Facebook is sick of Florida complaining about the cold. To bad, we have to listen to you whine when it's hot and how people keep dieing from the heat cos they are not used to it. We, are not used to it.
• Lily went for an eye exam today and passed with flying colours. Now we move onto the next step to find the cause of all her headaches. Nothing to do with her eyes or her vision are the cause.
• I went shopping today for the girls and stocked them up on warm clothes and long trousers. TCP is having an enormous sale. We really did well.
• Retail therapy can change ones outlook on a year.
• Working out your ab muscles after a really long hiatus is like pulling out your fingernails one by one, yet somehow the pain feels good.
• I am going to think positive thoughts and chase this little black cloud away from me. I really don't want it around anymore.

A Very Harsh Reality

As I was sitting with Lily on a chair she just glanced down at her ankle and noticed the scars that encircle them.

How did I get these, she asked me quizzically? I had told her before she had not remembered. Those are the scars that you had when we got you. When you were living in China you were tied to a potty chair so that you couldn't get up and the string or rope that they used was tight and it cut into your skin, was my sad response.

They tortured us? But you said they loved us. Her face was full of emotion and this time I knew she understood. I gently touched her ankle and she flinched, even though the scars are feint now the idea of how they happened suddenly made them sore for her.

They did love you, they loved you very much but the orphanage was a busy place with 100's of babies and they couldn't spend as much time with you as they wanted to. My heart hurt saying these words. Oh how I wish she was never there and how I wish I could have been the one to hold her when she cried. I couldn't let her see how sad I was because I don't want her to think that Mrs Li and the care she received was flawed. They did their best, truly they did.

Why couldn't we wear diapers and not be tied to a pottychair? It seemed so sensible to her.

Money my love, They don't have enough money in the orphanages to buy diapers for all the babies.

The but's and why's continued and I tried to piece some more of the puzzle together. Through it I learned that this won't get easier for me as she gets older but it will get harder and harder. I never really dwelled on whether it would become easier I just know we will handle it all. Love can move mountains and we have mountains of love to give her.

Her reality is this: The people that gave her life are not watching her live it. That will never be easy to deal with as we will never have the answers to her questions.

I wish more than anything I never had to say, I don't know, or when you were in the orphanage, or before we became a family. Sometimes the harsh reality of it all makes me want to cry but I don't.

She spent 14 months alone! There are 14 months of her precious life that I have no answers to at all. Her first stitches? I don't really know what happened but we have an idea because we were told. Who kissed her better and wiped away her tears that day because it wasn't me and I am her mother, it's my job!

Please don't tell me to look to the future. Those are only words that someone who hasn't adopted a child would say. For those of you that have, you understand. The gaps aren't small they are caverns. Sometimes they slip away into the distance but when they reemerge they are even bigger and wider than before.

8 weeks old (we think)


6 months (and very layered, typical of Chinese orphanages even in the summer)


13 months, right before we went to get her.




These are a couple of the photos that we have of her first year. We were really lucky to receive these, some parents get nothing. I have 13 and 3 referral photos plus her finding ad.

Lilipop, if I could change it I would but I would never change being your Mother even though sometimes we have to feel some hurt in order for us be together. I love you all the way there and back again. xxx

Happy Birthday Jacob.

The girls could barely wait for Jacob to wake up this morning so that they could get started on his birthday celebrations. They hid all of his presents under Rosie's bed yesterday after they finished wrapping them. Did you know it is possible to use a whole roll of tape to wrap 3 gifts? No? Well it is and they did. Not so much Lily but Rosie found it necessary to put tape everywhere, even on top of tape. She then decided she needed lots of curling ribbon and then proceeded to tape that down.

Once Jacob was awake he took the girls out to breakfast and then once they returned it was time to give him his gifts.





Lily decided on this gift all by herself and wrapped it herself to. Jacob was so thrilled with it and she loved seeing Daddy so happy.


Now Jacob is the proud owner of even more gadgets and video cameras than one man can possibly need but he just loves them and said that they were just what he wanted.

This evening the City of Miami threw a parade in honor of hubby's birthday (ok so that was not the real reason for it but that's what we told our kids, bwa ha ha ha ha) so we met with our friends Richard and Shara and had dinner and watched the parade. Let me just add it was freezing cold here tonight which made it fabulous! There were lots and lots of marching bands and floats and all sorts of wondrous things to feast our eyes on. I did feel rather sorry for our local marching bands as they were all kitted out in some pretty skimpy outfits for temps in the low 50s with wind chills in the 40's but the band from Minnesota, which was quite incredible appeared to be sweating. We were all in turtle necks, thermals and jackets with gloves and stayed toasty warm.




Richard and Shara


Will this parade ever start?


Oops, she blinked!





Once the parade finished we decided to go out for desert rather than get caught in the crowds but that didn't stop us from singing happy birthday to Jacob and having cake once we got home. You can never eat to much desert!







Happy birthday to one great husband and Father, we love you with all our hearts and then some.

Notice Anything ?

Look at the photo below of Rosie and tell me, do you notice anything different about her?



What about now?







She is going to be so humiliated by these pictures when she gets older but for now she is so very, very proud because the difference is......she is wearing her big girl knickers! Yes you read it here first. Miss Rosie has been wearing her knickers for 2 days now without any accidents.

I truly thought she was still going to be wearing diapers when she went off to college but she has proven me wrong.