The Mei Meis

If you ask Makena what her name is, she will respond "Mei Mei." Until now, we have never referred to her that way. She has always been Makena, Mak, Kiki or La Diabla. Her Chinese name is Li Han. The reason I am slightly amazed is because the term happens to mean "little sister" in Mandarin. So I wonder if the diminutive is just a coincidence or if she has some memories of Chinese and is calling herself that because she might have been referred to as "Mei Mei," in her foster home or at the orphanage. The bottom line is, she is now called Mei Mei about 80% of the time.

Willa and Ruby, two little mei mei friends of Makena's came over to the house for our her first official play date. It was a challenging social experiment for our two-year old and she passed with flying colors. Until then, most of Makena's social/play activities had been centered around going to the park and interacting with children she met there, or while attending dance or music classes. This time she was the host and was subjected to having to share her toys and her space with two curious, lovely and charming three-year old girls.

We started the date off with an art session which really kept them focused for a long time and then we had the girls run around the yard looking for Rommel (pictured above,) petting the horses and trying to catch the chickens. The only emotional distress occurred at lunch time and was centered around having to share the (one) princess cup. Until then, Makena had graciously tolerated the assault on her toys and the trashing of her room but she drew the line at her Cinderella goblet. That was off-limits. For the safety and well-being of her guests, we let her win that battle.

The girls really drew Makena out of her shell and by the time they had to leave (for their naps,) she was interacting with them and bossing them around to follow her along on her cavalcades. It made me feel happy and very proud.

I can't wait to get the mei meis back together again soon.

Isabelle