Our First Getaway Alone

Well, after six months together as a family Jay and I felt it was time that we could attempt our first getaway alone. We decided to take a little weekend trip for our anniversary. We let Penny stay with her grandparents. We did get some drama complete with tears. But, she finally realized that we were serious and she decided to go along with the plan. Now she's been having so much fun that when she calls she doesn't want to talk too long. Dad feels a little hurt that she hasn't wanted to talk to him at all. But, we're just so glad that she's feeling so comfortable at his parents' house. Jay and I took a trip to southern Colorado, staying in Pueblo. Penny went with Grandpa and Grandma yesterday to the Denver Aquarium. Afterwards they stopped at the Lao Market. Penny spent a long time picking out some Thai music CD's/DVD's. She was very excited to use her own money from her birthday, weekend dog-sitting job and allowance to purchase them. She's really starting to understand more about money and taking a delight in using her pennies wisely.

Lately, she's also decided on her own that it's not such a bad idea to do household chores as I've promised to give her some money for the various tasks. I've started out small, since I knew that at first she had no concept about the value of American money and hadn't learned about personal responsibility, yet. But, now that she's learning and showing me more responsibility, I'm starting to increase the amount. I've never done this before, so I don't know if it's the best way or not. But, it seems to be working for us. I wanted her to learn the value of being rewarded for her work. So, I made a calendar that I had her help me out with by writing all of the chores and the title "Responsibility and Rewards" chart at the top in Thai. Then I give her stickers for each of the tasks that we're hoping that she'll do. I don't push them. Instead, I'm giving her a choice. After all, at the Girls' Home she had no choice. When she first got to America she had the fantasy that her parents would do everything for her and wait on her hand and foot and give her everything she wanted immediately. Now she's coming to realize how we have to work hard for what we have and that we need to save and pay bills. She's beginning to notice what it takes to be personally responsible. For the first time these past couple of weeks she has started to elect to set her alarm clock on her own, too. At first she refused. It must have brought back too many memories of being awakened by a whistle at 5 a.m. every morning. The poor girl didn't even know how to tell time when she first came to us. So much for a thirteen year old (now fourteen) to learn. But, she's learning well. We're blessed to have such a bright young woman as our daughter.