Popp Life

Never a dull moment here - the girls make sure of that!
Mena is walking all over the place now.  She took off full speed about three weeks ago and hasn't stopped since.  She's into everything, and it's rare that anything is where is should be, because she seems to have her own places for things.  She's started communicating quite a bit more too.  She can tell me when she wants up (Pup!), when she is hungry (nomnom!), and she has absolutely perfected letting me know when she is not happy.  She's become quite the drama queen, and throws fits when things aren't just so.  I feel like this is a challenging stage mostly because I can tell she knows when she is doing something she shouldn't be, but there doesn't seem to be any way for me to discipline that at this point.  Which mostly leads to me pulling my hair out on the 500th, "No, no, Mena."  and feeling completely ineffective.  She is a joy when she is happy though, with big smiles and giggles.
Cassandra is doing really well, also.  She is now completely caught up to her class in reading, and is on the higher end of where they ask that she be.  This is really exciting.  She's enjoying reading more now that she is doing so well, and I love that she is starting to like reading.  I'm finding that Cassandra also seems to be ahead in her social skills - I thought that pre-teenhood didn't start until 12 or so - but apparently seven is close enough.  We get lots of eye rolls, and stomping off to her bedroom - it's the cuddles in between that remind me that she's still just a little girl.
As far as how long the girls will be with us........at this point I'm going to say that your guess is as good as mine.  There have been more issues involving the Mexican Consulate that are far over my head, and it doesn't sound like anyone's in a hurry.  Frustrating, but we're dealing with the state here, probably could have been expected.  My generic answer when people ask how much longer has been, "A couple months..." but I think people have started to get suspicious, since I've been saying that since November.  All in God's time I suppose.

Anyway, just wanted to give a quick update on the girls, since I've been AWFUL about posting.  Hope all is well!