February Update -- ONE YEAR!

A year? Really?! That was fast. Hardest year of my life, hands down. And I have never been more tired and overwhelmed. But I have also never smiled or laughed so much. I have gotten more hugs and kisses than ever! I have had fun! And I can see how great things will be to come which excites me to no end. It's no walk in the park adopting a toddler as a single parent, I'm not going to lie. But now that she understands more, things are so much smoother and more enjoyable. And if I don't understand her? That smart girl will figure out a way to help me understand by using gestures of give me other words for clues. For example, she was trying to tell me about a party and was saying "poh-ee". I thought she was saying potty. She said, "No, po-ee. Po-ee. Happy bir-day to you." She does this a lot when she's not understood. She is smart and funny and energetic and beautiful and sweet and athletic and imaginative. She's an all around great kid and I feel so fortunate to have her in my life and look forward to our lives together!

Almi can now entertain herself for a short while. Here she is drawing.



And she is great with pretend play.




Yummy.

She continues to eat and sleep like a champ. She does not like eggs, like really hates them and cries --unless it's a lovely fluffy omelet. Her favorite foods haven't really changed: bananas, applesauce, crackers, cereal, bread and pizza. She whines a little bit at bedtime or naptime but she rarely cries once I shut the door and walk away. I know I am really, really lucky and I am so grateful!

"I wan dat one." She says this for almost everything she wants.
Wants to eat some dates? "I wan dat one."
Wants to sit on my lap? "I wan dat one."
Wants to go outside? "I wan dat one."
It's an all purpose general request for things.

Mommy, I want dat one.

"Ning Nong, Ning Nong" That's the sound of a bell ringing.

She loves to pretend she is a dog and crawl on the floor and bark.



She loves for me to run and chase her or to chase me. When she's ready to play she'll say, "Mommy, Mommy! Catch you me!!"

She hums the tune of Dreidyl, Dreidyl all the time. Most of the time she makes up her own nonsense lyrics to the tune. That song is constantly in my head!

This girl can create more mess in 5 seconds then you can imagine.


She's waiting for Santa Claus to return to bring her some more candy. The doorbell rings and she yells, "Santa?!" Then she looks at me with wide eyes and nods and says, "Santa. Canee."

She loves to try on my shoes and boots.




She can count to 20 with only a few mistakes. She can count to 10 in Spanish. She can recognize letters from A to M.

She is super duper ticklish!

She surprises me with words and phrases that she has picked up in daycare, like "enough" when I am bothering her or "no talking" or "no push" LOL. She says, "no yet" for not yet. She also picks up my phrases like, "Oh, man!"

She's so silly!


She says "sit down" for both sit down and sit up. For example, on Saturday mornings I may lie in bed for awhile she's up playing but when she's had enough and wants me to get up she will put her hand under my back to try to get me up and say, "Mommy, sit down."

If I don't lock the window she will open it with her foot.


She loves to try to use dental floss and will pull the whole string out if I leave it lying around.

When she wants me to follow her somewhere she says, "Umon, Mommy, umon." (come on Mommy, come on) and she motions with her hand except it's upside down! :)

When something falls she always asks if it's ok. I'm talking a toy, a book, a pencil, a crumb off her highchair. "Otay? Otay??"

Oh, that face of hers!





WOWOWOW! One year together!

This is on our first day together in Ethiopia:


And here we are today. Happy together. Momma loves you, Pumpkin!