It was a busy & exciting day today. I took the day off from work and Maeve and I headed off to Court first thing this morning for an 8:30am court appearance. Now before anyone thinks Maeve has busted me out & they are sending me to the big house for forcing her to go to swim lessons, think again. I simply finally filed for her re-adoption in our state and today they finalized it...again. I say again, because the adoption was finalized and legally recognized two and a half years ago when Maeve first came home, but every state differs in how the parents obtain a modified birth certificate. It is not necessary (I have the Chinese one), but it is convenient and a nice thing to have later in life when it is needed (signing up for Little League, etc.) Now, while some states just require you to turn in copies of the finalized adoption paperwork & presto bingo, the new birth certificate is mailed to you automatically, my state requires that I go through the "re-adoption" process. Basically, a whole lot of paperwork, $20 fee and a court date.
So off to court we went this morning. My choice of attire was dictated by my desire to look least like a felon (not that my wardrobe has any items that resemble that I hope, but my initial trip to the court house to file the needed documents had exposed me to the wide variety of clothing choices that people make when they appear in court. I now see why judges lose patience and the jails are full.) Maeve, I dressed for maximum cuteness, pink dress, high pony tails, huge flower hair pretties. This was deliberate on my part, not for the picture I wanted when we were done, but for the mayhem my very active child was bound to cause. We arrived in plenty of time and waited with the rest of the folks outside the court room. There were three adoption cases, including ours, and a bunch of misdemeanor cases. Maeve & I were first and headed back to the judges chambers. Maeve greeted the solemnity of the proceedings by jumping up and down on two of the judge's very plush chairs, then moving to the sofa for more bouncing enjoyment. Meanwhile, I'm trying to answer the questions, keep her under control and pray silently that he doesn't kick us out. I thought I was in for it, when Maeve hid behind me and kept jumping out and hollering, "Peek-A-Boo" at the top of her lungs at the judge. I was picturing contempt proceedings and I don't even know what contempt proceedings truly are, but the judge & his clerk just smiled and were actually completely amused and entertained by her antics. (Maximum cuteness dressing strategy pays off again. I use it for the airport too.)
After all that, we got our picture (now Maeve played shy) and headed back into court to wait for the paperwork to be finalized by one of the clerks. Meanwhile the judge came out and started to hear cases. Thankfully, he turned a deaf ear to the ruckus that Maeve was causing (where are those nice rooms, like they have at church when you need them.) I did feel very fortunate, because while waiting I watched both of the other adoption requests go south. Both were family adoptions (someone within the family was trying to adopt the child out of foster care), but not all the requirements had been met and each petition was denied at that point. Even though the judge handled it very nicely, it was heart breaking to watch. Also hard to watch was when the court officer explained to all the misdemeanor folks their options on paying their fines. It didn't really catch my attention, until he came to the part where he told them that if they couldn't afford to pay the fine (out of work, etc.) they could do the jail time. The officer was very nice about this, not an ounce of judgement in his tone, just explaining the options. Glancing around, I realized by the looks in a few faces that jail time was a real option for some. That was very sad. Needless to say, I was happy & relieved to leave. I always knew that Maeve & I were fortunate & blessed, but sometimes it really drives home.
After that, what was a good Mom to do on her birthday, but drop Maeve off at the babysitter and head out to see a movie on her own. Yeeesssss!!! A movie without animation, 3D glasses, six trips to the bathroom (4 of them false alarms), and I could eat all of my own popcorn. Such heaven is normally only dreamed of, never actually experienced. :) But that's not the end of it, then I went shopping, leisurely shopping (no rushing around to get everything done before a toddler's patience wears thin) and even took in a class at my beloved Apple store.
It was heaven, but then it was over and time to go home to take Maeve to swimming lessons. Still continues to be the longest 30 minutes of my life, but we are making headway and I'll update more in a later post. The funniest part of the day happened after swim class, while Maeve was splashing around in the baby pool. She had met a little girl, her own age and they were having a great time playing and splashing with each other. I was sitting next to her Mother and the Dad with the brother was nearby too. Just so you have the complete picture, there is me, completely freckled caucasian, my asian daughter, her new hispanic friend, and the hispanic parents all at the baby pool. A woman and her son walk up and the little boy joins in the fun with the girls. I caught the woman closely observing the girls and glancing up at me. I knew something was coming, but wasn't ready for when she asked me, "Are they twins??". I don't know what surprised me more, the question of twins or the assumption that I was the Mom of both and not the other gal. I'm also not sure who was more surprised, me or the other Mom. I just stated that they were not and pointed to the other Mom...right next to me. Just the right funny ending to top off a really good day.
Below, I have scanned in the birthday card my parents sent to me. Dad handcrafts all of our cards on one of his programs, but you can always count on Mom to add her own personal touch.
