Cutie-Patootie

It was such a delight to finally meet Gaëlle. We have heard all about her "diva" spirit and have heard stories how she just snaps her fingers and her big brother jumps; catering to her every whim. Well, we did see that side of her. But we also saw a beautiful little girl who desperately needs some love. All that we saw has to be tempered with the fact that she's only 4. She is just starting to put the pieces of her world together, just like all 4 year olds. Just starting to connect the dots.

One thing she knows, is that she loves treats. In this photo she is ignoring the toys around her and getting at her package of gum. She ate piece after piece and shared her gum with others.



Gaëlle rarely sat still for any length of time and yet in between bursts of activity, she would frequently hold out her arms to us and we would sweep her up into our arms. Of course, she also held her arms out to us when she wanted us to carry her somewhere. We always obliged! It was incredible to finally hold our little girl.



Kaylin made sure we packed some of our special fun foods. Food we don't have all of the time, but all the kids love that she wanted Peterson & Gaëlle to taste. One of those snacks is Lucky Charms. I can say without hesitation, that Gaëlle is a HUGE fan of Lucky Charms. It didn't take her long to pick out the charms first, but she always managed to finish the cereal and if her bowl got empty (we always ate it dry-no milk) she would just dump the rest of Peterson's into her bowl. Such a loveable sneak.



Gaëlle discovered hand sanitizer while we were there. I don't know if she has been exposed to it before. It seemed new to her and she loved it. On our last day, Robin gave her a tiny bottle of it and she spent all morning trying it out. She poured out a little and rubbed her hands together then she would smell her hands. Then it would be our turn. When the sanitizer ran out, I put some water in the bottle for her to play with. Which she did. It was so cute to watch her.



Here she is sharing her hand sanitizer with the nannies and the little kids on the playset. She showed them how to rub their hands together and then she would get them to smell their hands. They all obliged her but I wonder what was going through their minds.



We quickly realized that we'll have to do more child proofing of our house than we expected. Gaëlle loves to pull out things and scatter toys, just like any child. However, she often took the time to pick up and place things back in their container. It was really cute to see her "organize" stuff. She really didn't play with toys, but she would take toys out and then put them back in her own way. Here she is picking up cards that she didn't play with. It will be interesting to see if she's just one of those kids who is just more inclined to physical activities or if once she comes home, she will learn to play.

I know we can't wait to find out.