Halloween Happenings

Halloween was a busy, fun-filled day that was very exciting for Little Miss.

The day began with a wonderful Halloween brunch at a fellow ET adoptive family's home.

An adorable assortment of high energy, costumed kiddos hyped for the impending candy-palooza!


Little Miss doting on her baby buddy . . .she loves this little guy!


Little Miss ditched the costume when she got too hot - would have been cute with the adorable Cat in the Hat.


Missy's first carved jack-o-lantern or "pumpkin jack" as she called it, complete with ears (by her suggestion). Two minutes into the "de-gutting" of the pumpkin Little Miss took off saying, "I changed my mind", so Mama did most of the process.


My little bunny getting even more excited as the big moment drew near.


After a BRIEF nap, we were off to our friends' house for some pre-trick-or-treating fun and photos. These little cuties looked like they stepped straight off Old MacDonald's farm!





And here we have the breakdown moment . . . it was bound to come. The culmination of nonstop excitement, fun, lack of sleep, sugar, and anticipation brought Little Miss to tears just as we were ready to hit the streets.


Fortunately, a lollipop from the first house we visited was a quick fix! (Oh yes, she was definitely allowed to eat that while we were out - desperate times call for desperate measures)


Initially, her big cousins were 2 houses ahead of Little Miss, but once she got the hang of it she was leading the pack, at the door while they were still on the sidewalk! She held her own with the big kids. She was quite polite and even turned on the charm at times with a bonus "Happy Halloween" in addition to her "trick-or-treat" and "Thank you"!

As the night ended, the pace slowed and Little Miss was carried more than she walked or rode in the wagon. But still, her comment as we arrived home was, "I want to stay at trick-or-treating" . . . already a die-hard at 2 and 1/2!

One can never be too safe . . .

It's hard to believe there was a time when I struggled to get Little Miss to wear her helmet at all. These days it's worn as an accessory during any and all activities!


while riding a scooter . . . very appropriate



while eating cereal . . . in case there should be a mishap with the bowl apparently



and while baking cookies of course . . . one really should take every precaution!

"Quote-worthy"

Out of the mouths of babes . . . viewing the world through the eyes (and mouth) of a 2 year old is both entertaining and astonishing. Little Miss cracks me up, surprises me, and challenges me on a daily basis with her dialog. In an effort to remember some of the gems she comes out with, I decided I'd better post a few.

The What's and Where's - We haven't quite arrived at the why questions yet, but Little Miss is hitting me hard with the What's and Where's:

- "What is time?"
- While singing the Miss Mary Mack song - "What is July Mommy?"
- "Where is the wind?"
- "Mama, where is God?"

About the phone - Little Miss enjoys phones (particularly real ones of course):

- When I hang up the phone after speaking to someone Little Miss says, "That was . . . " with a long, dramatic pause waiting for me to fill in the blank with a name.
- Suddenly while playing quietly with her toys, "Oh, my phone is ringing" and she scampers off to go find it.
- An entire 'phone call' from the backseat while riding in the car:
"Hello Abber (name she made up). How are you? Are you swimming with your baby? See ya later. Bye.". Then she turns to me and says, "Abber hung up!".

The name game:

- Little Miss likes all of her dolls and animals to have names (including all of the Fisher Price Little People people we have - at least 12 or so) and she never forgets the name each one is given.
- She has now begun making up names for her dolls, babies, stuffed animals, etc. A few recent original names include, "Andra", "Evla", "Glendy", and "Lyndia"!

Some random commments:

- "I'm potectin' my boo-boo with my bandand." - (a.k.a. bandaid)
- "I want gummy bears in my mouth."
- While eating pasta (her favorite) and chicken, she spit out a piece of chicken. When I asked her what happened, why she spit out the chicken, she told me, "I changed my mind!".
- "Sometimes I get fuster-ated with these scissors."

Compliments and courtesies:

- "I like your bracelet Mama, I love the color!" - about my silver bracelet
- "Thank you for helping me go Mommy." - while I pushed her on the see-saw
- "Thank you Grammie for taking care of me."
- "My Mommy is my best friend!" - awww!!!

Seriously, does it get any sweeter than this?!?!

The latest adventure sport craze . . .

Little Miss mastered her bike a while back, and now she has moved on to this . . .



Her quote in the beginning is barely audible. She says, "Hi swings! I'm riding . . . my scooter!". The swings may not have been as impressed as Little Miss thought they should be, but this girl does travel at a pretty good clip on that thing!

The joy of "fancy shoes"

As soon as we saw these shoes in the store, I knew there was little chance we would be leaving the store without them. Little Miss loves shoes. One might even say she has a shoe fetish. And she particularly enjoys what she calls "fancy shoes" which are anything from flat pumps to Stilettos. She will randomly comment to women out in the world about how much she likes their "fancy shoes".

When we saw these "fancies", there was no turning back. The smile on her face when I said we could buy them was priceless. Little Miss held that box in the car smiling, giggling, and bursting with anticipation the whole way home. They were on her feet almost before we made it in the front door! Oh the joy cute shoes can bring . . . even at age 2!




Admiring the beauty of such finely crafted shoes!!

Marvelling at how lovely her very own "fancy shoes" look on her feet!


Oh my, when did my baby girl turn 14? Yikes, she looks grown up!!

Two short years ago . . .

August 18th . . . I love this day! I loved it in 2008 when everything I had hoped for came to me in the form of a tiny, 10 pound, 5 month old baby girl!! I loved it in 2009 when we celebrated our 1st Family Day Anniversary together and began some wonderful traditions. I loved it today in 2010 when we celebrated our 2nd Family Day Anniversary together. And I first loved August 18th back in 2006 when my dossier officially went to China (yes, still waiting). Little did I know then just how much more special August 18th would become.

I remember my first day with Little Miss like it was yesterday. I still can't believe that I am so blessed and lucky to have this little wonder girl as my daughter! She has come so far since those baby days, and is ever-changing still into an independent, inquisitive, loving, unique little person.

We had a perfect day today (minus two sizable melt down whine fests, naturally). We went to a fun-filled play group gathering with other ET adoptive families which included swings, slides, water table, ride on toys, etc., as well as some nice adult conversation for the moms too (absolutely lovely women who I would not know if it weren't for Little Miss). Later, we enjoyed some quiet play time together and had a yummy take-out dinner with Auntie. And although just as with our first Family Day Anniversary, this day did not go exactly as I had hoped, it was wonderful in it's own right. In these days of toddler determination, few go exactly as planned and most have their fair share of challenges. But I cherish every single day I have with my Miss! All it takes is that little hand in mine, that scrunched up nose smile, that contagious belly-laugh, or that glorious "I love you Mommy" to wipe out all the tough stuff!

I couldn't be happier, Little Miss, to be your mommy and I love every one of our days together!

Culture Camp and other summer fun

It has been a very busy summer so far, packed full of fun! We recently attended the East Coast Culture Camp and had a great time! What a pleasure to spend time with so many Ethiopian children and adoptive families (some old friends and lots of new friends). Some highlights of the camp were . . . sharing a dorm suite with 5 other toddlers + their families; listening to a panel of Ethiopian-American teens share their experiences on being adopted, growing up in the U.S., maintaining their culture, fitting in, and generally finding their way; shopping in the mini-Mercado; and the Ethiopian banquet complete with Ethiopian food and a live Ethiopian band. The environment was rich with thought provoking conversations and opportunities to share and learn from each others experiences. And the kids had a great time just playing together and having fun, barring the occasional melt down of course! Here are a few of the captured moments:


some soccer fun in the big field



The first annual "Road Race" in honor of the many recent Ethiopian runners winning medals and marathons



and the runners are off . . . now my girl LOVES to run so I was certain this would be a highlight of the camp for Little Miss, but as fate would have it something about the scene at the line up freaked my girl out and she insisted on being held. Okay. Had she simply wanted to be held it would have been odd, but ok. But no, she insisted on being held while running . . . that's right, I had to "run" the race (if you can call it that) while carrying Little Miss the whole time. Now it was a very short, little kid, race course, but that didn't stop us from coming in dead last. Seriously, 2 year olds were blowing past me! My sister managed to capture that on video (note video is conspicuously absent from this post). While it was certainly not what I had expected of the road race, it did give us something to laugh about!

Little Miss holding my, ahem . . . I mean her ribbon for running the race


just having some fun with sunglasses




getting decked out in her Ethiopian dress - ready for the banquet


Little Miss with Auntie enjoying the music at the banquet

Little Miss with her buddy and dance partner - how cute are they!

make it a trio - and it only gets cuter!

Little Miss had a blast dancing to the Ethiopian music. She loves to dance to begin with, but I have never quite seen her like she was this night. In the background of the picture above, you can sort of see the circle of Ethiopian teens and adults dancing together. When Little Miss understood what that circle was all about, she muscled her way passed the outer ring, and the next layer, until she made it into the center, and then began dancing like crazy. Once she made her way in I could barely see her anymore, but what I did see in quick glimpses was a very happy dancing queen. As we watched in amazement, I turned to my sister and said, "She's with her people!". What a hoot!


The campus grounds were lovely and we were very fortunate to have a fellow adoptive mom and friend, who happens to be a professional photography, take our picture!



The other summer fun . . .

Little Miss had her first experience at a big amusement park and she loved it!!











And when time has allowed (and because it has been so hot), we've been doing a lot of this . . .












And there is still more summer fun to come! We are blessed!