March 26, 2007
As I was driving Autumn to preschool one morning last week we had a rather rare occurrence here in Southern California: a rainstorm followed by a beautiful rainbow.  

"Look, Autumn," I said, pointing, "a rainbow!"
"Cooool!  I didn't know there were rainbows in this world!"

She has been learning and growing like crazy, as per normal.  She can blow bubbles now, although she's still working on bubble gum bubbles and hasn't mastered those yet.  But I'm sure she'll be popping gum to the annoyance of her parents in no time.

She had a great Christmas followed by a wonderful fifth birthday.  She's making new friends, and getting more independent everyday.  She still has a very strong tendency to shadow one or the other of us throughout the activities of the day, however (when she's not at preschool).  

She visited the doctor and got four shots in preparation for kindergarten.  She was very brave and didn't cry at all, until it was time to draw a blood sample.  But that's understandable, I mean, who likes to get lanced?  

The other day when I picked her up from preschool she demanded that I get her a pet bird.  Apparently, one of the parents brought a parakeet to the school for all the kids to see.  And it was a very friendly bird, crawling on Autumn's shoulder and hiding in her hair.  Needless to say, she was enchanted.  

I had to do the evil parent thing and say no.  We don't need another pet.  We have Marlowe.  She was so upset and couldn't understand the problem of bird ownership.  She stated Marlowe wasn't as cute as a bird.  It was time for a new pet.  And she'd take care of it.  But I held my ground, and she cried. 

By the time we got home she was feeling guilty about what she said about Marlowe, and hugged the dog tightly.  She said she was sorry.  It was so sweet of her.  Then about a half hour later she declared she didn't want a pet bird after all.  

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of the day we adopted Autumn.  It has been four wonderful years since she came into our lives.  We flipped through the photo album last night and reminisced with our baby girl.  She's understanding more and more what it means to be adopted, but hasn't yet experienced the emotional depth of that knowledge.  Someday she will, and we'll be there for her.  

The Photos