Princesses, Pirates, Playtime, Parade and Paper Pregnant!

Pointing out princesses at the Daffodil Parade

For as long as I can remember, I've been attending the Daffodil Parade held annually down one of the main streets of our city. I marched in it playing the clarinet as a girl, and although I would have loved to have worn a crown and been a real daffodil princess, a nomination in high school was as close as I ever got to achieving that royal status. After several months cooped up in our houses protected from the weather, the hype over the arrival of spring and the parade only rouses up a twitter of gossip. This year it was the shortage of daffodils in bloom for the floats due to the inclement weather which made front page news!

Typically, one or more of the Ross clan would run the fun run along the parade route and then stay to watch the parade that immediately follows. Last year Devi "ran" her first race with me pushing her in the jogger, but his year found us slightly out of shape and hobbled. With my foot in a large purple cast, we chose to wheel to a prime viewing spot with Devi in her jogger, mommy on her special scooter and daddy being the only family member on foot to just enjoy the coming of spring and our specially packed Princess lunch. (This consists of the same lunch we would have on any other day, but when named the Princess lunch, somehow tastes much better)

We were surprised by how much Devi enjoyed the parade...all of it! She bopped to the music of the marching bands, loved the cheerleaders - calling them dancers, and was thrilled to see horses, clowns, and pirates. One pirate gave her a coin that did not leave her sight all day. One hundred times in and out of her pocket went that coin so she could re-examine and admire it. Without question, her favorite part was seeing real live princesses. Because she truly thinks she IS a princess, you see, they are somehow related and therefore attract her full attention. She is not selective either. All princesses...princess brides, fairy princesses, or just your run of mill crown wearer all received a wave, a loud "Hi princess!" and a blown kiss.

A float with Bubbles!!...it just does not get any better than that when you are two!

Because it was our first gorgeous warmish day in months, we rounded the day out by having our first "Picnic in the backseat" dinner. A Frisco Freeze greasy burger in a wax paper bag with root beer shake eaten in the warmth collected in the open way-back section of the van leaves you feeling like summer has never left us. We did discover however that our "shared" milk shake will have to go up one size if ALL of us intend to have a sip...Devi!

Pretending to be in the parade

With cousins Ryan and Lina visiting from Colorado

The week previous to the parade was spent visiting Devi's cousin's and Aunt from Colorado who had come for their spring break. Unfortunately, their daddy had to stay home and work because they just don't give daddy's spring breaks. Although this was only the second time the kids had met, the children, Ryan age 9, Lina almost 7 and Devi almost 2 and a half had no problem declaring themselves cousins whipping Oma's house into a lather of excitement in a matter of just a few minutes. Everything about Oma's house is more special, more fun, and more everything, especially their favorite game inspired by Patrick years before - the DOG PILE!!!

Aunt Lisa, Ryan, Lina, Oma and Devi

The last subject inspired by the "P" title of this post is that we are officially Paper Pregnant. That means that our I-800A form was approved by US Homeland Security stating that we are approved to become the guardians of another Indian child. We also completed the training program now required by prospective adoptive parents and so have entered the cesspool of waiting families anxiously hoping to hear about the next member of our family. It is with some trepidation that we enter this phase because there are so many things to consider and that could go wrong: our age, Devi's age, the age of the child - the things that enter your mind for consideration are exhausting. And lets face it, once you get to this stage, try as you might to be on-the-fence so to speak, you can't help but be emotionally invested, exposing your heart to the possibility of disappointment. It is just plain scary. I was mentioning this to a friend the other day, about being afraid, hoping we were doing the right thing and finding it hard to just trust that everything will be okay. She said, "Well, it looks like you are right on target then." "What?" I said. She told me this was just how you were when you were at this point in Devi's adoption too. "Were we? US afraid or scared?" wink wink...well, I guess we were then too. So sorry friends for putting the burden of dealing with our emotional roller coaster on you...again!!

Finding a ray of sunshine on the carpet in the morning!

Recently with Devi cradled in my arms as we sat in the rocker in her dimly lit room saying our nightly God blesses, I changed the order of who we bless so that the ending went something like this..
Mommy: "...and God bless, mommy, daddy, Devi , Cayennie and Devi's baby sister. Amen."
Devi: "I have a baby sister?"
Mommy: "We hope so sweetie, only God knows that for sure right now."
Devi: "Is she in India?"
Mommy: "I think she might be, yes"
Devi: "Is she coming home?"
Mommy: "We hope so...someday. Would you like a baby sister?"
Devi:"uh-huh. Devi has a baby sister."
Satisfied with that, we went to bed.