Top 10 Awesome Things About Christmas: 2009 Edition

10. Someone's first snow.


9. Chocolate covered cherries (kind of gross, but also kind of great.)


8. Ornaments.


7. Hats.


6. Tote bag rides.


5. Sparkletown Village.


4. Christmas jammies.


3. Cookies and Milk for Santa (and carrots and snap peas for the reindeer.)


2. Stockings.


1. This face.

HOLY COW IT'S SNOWING!!!

Merry Christmas from our winter wonderland!

A Few Peeks at Our Week

We visited our friends the Rileys last weekend in Abilene and drove around looking at Christmas lights Saturday night. Jackson shared a nice ACU ball cap with Ellie that went well with pajamas and pearls (so difficult to coordinate, you know.)



She sported another awesome chapeau choice at breakfast this week. This Big Bird ski cap was mine when I was a kid. Here she is cooking up some eggs and coffee in her kitchen.



This is what happens when you leave a preschooler alone in a room for two minutes with gift wrapping supplies and only emphasize "Don't touch the scissors."

I have no idea where she gets this...

Tonight as I'm tucking Ellie in:

Me: Good night, sweetie.

Ellie: You are.

Me: I am what?

Ellie: (with a straight face) Trouble.

Me: Ok, then. Sweet dreams and I'll see you in the morning.

Ellie: See you in the morning, trouble.

Thanksgiving!

It was a busy week leading up to Thanksgiving - Sunday was mom and dad's housewarming. Ellie was very excited about the party, managed to collect some presents for herself, and made some new friends. The day ended with some backyard time, including the "Run At Mommy And Try To Knock Her Down Without Breaking the Camera" game, popularized by Samuel years ago.



On Wednesday Ellie's school had a Grandparents' Lunch, and performed some songs and poems they've been practicing for the last few weeks. Ellie's teacher is French, and is teaching them some French songs - here's Ellie's dance to Sur le Pont d'Avignon (On the Avignon Bridge). Join me in being disappointed at the performance of my point and shoot camera, won't you?


On Thursday we headed to mom and dad's for Thanksgiving. Ellie arrived with aprons from her kitchen at home for both of them, and went right to work helping with dinner. She liked the turkey and mashed potatoes, but was lukewarm on the green bean casserole. I told her she had to eat at least one bean, and after eating one, she kept insisting she was going to eat "just one more" until they were gone. Boy, she showed me. :)

When I was tucking her in that night, we talked about taking time on Thanksgiving to think about what we were thankful for. Ellie said she was thankful for Bubbie, Daddaddy, Aunt Mimi and Wonder Pets. At least the non-animated people came first on her list. I think goes without saying what I'm thankful for this year, but I will add that in addition to my new addition, I am so thankful for all my wonderful family and friends who have surrounded this little girl with so much caring and excitement at her arrival. I am convinced that the circle of love she came home to is the main reason she's done so well, so to all of you on Team Ellie, in person, long distance or just in spirit - we THANK YOU!

Trick or Treat!

My little butterfly enjoyed her first Halloween and getting to meet lots of our neighbors.



And also, there was candy. She liked that, too.



Candy makes me feel funny.



BUT I LIKE IT!



Happy Halloween everyone!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Years ago, a group of friends and I started a tradition of going to the pumpkin patch with their kids every October. I was the Official Photographer of adorable kid antics, and acted as Assistant Child Wrangler as needed. Our group has grown every year - back then there were only two kids. This year we had seven. Next year if we add another, they'll have us outnumbered two to one. I'm just saying - this could get dangerous if they decide to conspire against us.

Preschool is Ellie-Approved

Preschool is a HUGE hit! A couple of teary mornings the first week and then it was smooth sailing from there on. This morning since it was about to rain, the kids were in the morning drop-off room reading a book instead of on the playground, and Ellie could only manage a half-hug for me before running to join the circle for storytime! She has been so busy that this week she's started actually sleeping during nap time instead of just resting. Her teacher is French, and is teaching the kids something in French each week. This week they learned hello, goodbye, please and thank you. Next week a TCU student will start coming weekly to teach them Spanish, so I'm sure she's going to be thoroughly confused, or is about to become a linguistic prodigy - only time will tell.

We had a great playdate with Calvin and his mommy Tobyn their first week home from Ethiopia! Cal is so handsome and such a happy little guy! He and Ellie had both gotten shots at their doctor appointments that morning, so they enjoyed some well-deserved ice cream and hit the playground. Cal tackled the playground like an old pro, even going on the "too big" slide when we couldn't convince Ellie to go. I think Tobyn and Matt are going to have their hands full keeping up with that little ball of energy! We're glad to have Cal and his parents home to Texas safely, and can't wait to see him again!

Bon Voyage!

A big shout out to Matt and Tobyn who are on their way to Ethiopia to pick up Ellie's new playmate (and future prom date?), the handsome Cal! Here's wishing the Ribs a smooth trip and a happy week with Cal in Addis! We can't wait to meet him!

Countdown to Preschool

So much good stuff has happened since the last post - I guess that's a handy side effect of posting once in a blue moon. The kid starts preschool tomorrow, and it's just starting to hit me that I'm not sure I'm prepared for this. I was just getting used to being her constant entertainer/observer. I told a couple of people that we'd entered the phase where nothing in her world exists or can be enjoyed without my witnessing it. I am compensating by making name labels for everything she might be taking into the building with her. Sublimating anxiety with a label maker - classic Heather!

Recent Achievements

Medical: We went to the pediatrician for a well baby check-up and the doc mistook her for a pincushion and gave her 5 shots. Apparently we only have Ethiopian documentation of one of three rounds of vaccinations so we'll be back again at the end of the month for another 4-5 shots. Although hysterical during the process, she rallied quickly and had stopped crying by the time we got to the front desk to check out. Needless to say the toy doctor's kit was a big hit that evening, and all of her stuffed animals and babies have been thoroughly examined and received clean bills of health, and lots of shots.

Language: So much progress has been made so quickly I can't just list new words - she's started learning them in phrases instead of single words. Favorite new sayings - "Ellie do/did it", "I don't know" (said with a Paula Deen-esque accent, along with "ay-and" (and) and "hay-am" (ham) which makes me wonder how bad my accent is), "Good Idea!", "Good stretching", "Oh my goodness!", "Bubbie lunch tomorrow", "sninky (stinky) trash". Also, every time she sees a train she shouts "A train, a train, a train, a train!" which I attribute to repeated readings of Green Eggs and Ham.

Food: New faves include Spaghetti-O's (don't get your hand too close to the bowl while she's eating or you'll pull back a stump), red grapes, applesauce, salsa, and goat cheese (I'm prepping her for membership in The Finer Things Club.)

Fun: That anxiety about playgrounds she had before - yeah, that's a thing of the past. We went to the fantastic park near our house she owned the bouncy bridge and swing. There are still some mountains to climb - apparently she and mom went to two parks when she spent the day at their house last weekend - the first one Ellie nixed before she was even out of the carseat with a finger shake and a verdict of "too big" about the slides.

Music: This week she's especially enjoyed the music of The Supremes, The Beatles, Kings of Leon, Vampire Weekend, Little Joy and The Cure. As I type this she's eating applesauce and rocking out to Elton John's "Philadelphia Freedom" (and learning the lesson that sometimes rocking out is messy.) I wonder how long I can keep her from finding out about The Wiggles?

Attitude: Are three year olds supposed to be this well-behaved and non-defiant? I don't think they are, so I'm wondering if she's just repressing all of her authority-questioning to unleash in her teen years? Since the first couple weeks there have been no major tantrums or meltdowns that I thought were expected at this age. I may jinx myself by writing this, but that might not be bad - like when your mom used to make you play with the kid who had chicken pox so you'd go ahead and get sick and get it over with. By the way, the chicken pox is now something they vaccinate against, which makes me again appreciate the hardiness of my generation.

More pics later once I find my AWOL camera cord:

Our Week So Far

And we're back...

We're still here! The computer has been back to the geniuses at the Apple store several times over the last two weeks. Good news - the new hard drive is installed, (almost) all the old stuff is transferred over, and the cracked keyboard panel has been replaced. Bad news? The backup hard drive is now fried, the iphoto library file corrupted and the new keyboard is stiff and hard to type on. Whatever.

Ok - here's what you came for.

New Words: no (sigh), flowers, chicken, coffee, zebra, elephant, little, big, circles, backpack ("pack pack"), tomorrow, flowers, thank you, please, ok, bird, glasses, bubbles, "Mommy coffee?", "Baby Animals!", "I lub you" (melt).

New Favorite Things: Backpack (purse has taken a back seat for the moment), Little Golden Book of Baby Animals, sweeping with her broom (I swear I'm not turning her into a house servant - she's inherently neat and is practicing for Montessori starting in a few weeks.)

What we've been up to since the last post:

Rocking Sunglasses

Issuing Poolside Ultimatums

Laundry - Better Than TV

Drafting Thoughtful Compositions on Current Events (Or Drawing Circles)

Opening our First Piece of Mail - Thanks Samuel, Jacob and Hannah!

Creating Some Art

Gardening With Bubbie

Being Completely Awesome

Detente

Peace talks between the former adversaries are going well, as seen here in the photo of a tea party the two celebrated this week.

Highlights

I'm still working on my post about our trip, but thought I'd provide some highlights of our first week home:

Vocabulary
English words used independently: ok, Mommy, car, juice, milk, toast, soup, lunch, baby, purse, book. Will repeat lots of things when prompted, or when listening from the backseat to me commenting on other drivers.

Food
Likes: eggs (a LOT), quesadillas, grilled chicken and pineapple, corn on the cob, chicken noodle soup, bananas, clementines, any kind of toasted bread, hummus, grilled cheese, broccoli, Taco Bell (don't you judge me)

Dislikes: yogurt, apples, peanut butter, strawberries, red grapes (although green grapes are acceptable).

Sleep
She HATES to go to sleep, even when she's falling asleep on the couch or at the dinner table, but once she's in bed she conks out for hours. Sleeps all through the night and hangs out in her bed in the mornings until I come get her. Waking her up from naps is a battle - it's about 10 minutes before she's fully conscious. I put my ipod in her room and can confirm that my "Classical Mix for Sleeping" is indeed musical Ambien.

Books
Sticking to a stable of classics for nap and bedtime reading - Brown Bear, Brown Bear (which she pronounces "Ber-own Bear-a"), Green Eggs and Ham (Suzanne, this book was an inspired choice - she still stops mid-fit to listen!), The Color Kittens and Goodnight Moon. Since she sometimes requests multiple readings of the same book in one sitting, I can recite almost every word of the above list by heart. Any picture in any book that includes a duck, goose, or chicken must be noted with a hand gesture and sound effects indicating a quacking beak before the page can be turned. This is not negotiable.

Play
Likes cars, blocks (for building and for using as a pretend cell phone and camera), train set, play dough, baby dolls, tea parties and picnics. She enjoys imaginative play - she likes to "cook" for picnics and has elaborate conversations on her cell phone (block) - in Amharic, so I don't know what they are about, but a number of them are with her grandparents, so perhaps they know? She has a pink purse that she carries around the house and likes to take in the car - today it contains sunglasses, a baby doll, another baby doll's hat, the cell phone block, a change purse with $1.39, a Starbucks receipt, Burt's Bees lip balm, a Staples copy card, plates from the tea set, a handkerchief and the cardboard tube from a roll of toilet paper. Clearly she's prepared for anything.

I Need a Genius

I've finally uploaded all of the pictures from my two cameras, my phone and Suzanne's pics from the trip and was all ready to do a post on the trip and experience in Ethiopia, when my computer decided to not let me access any photos. I have an appointment with a genius at the Apple store tomorrow (that's not sarcasm, it's the tech guy's title) and hopefully will have more to post soon!

We're Home!

Sorry to keep you all waiting - Ellie Hiab and I are both getting over jet lag and I have come down with my usual post-plane trip cold.  The good news is that she and I are doing GREAT!  I am cautiously optimistic that we have turned a corner by coming home as I had hoped. Attachment is a lengthy process, but I feel like we're finally moving forward instead of regressing. Last week was so difficult with all the changes to her routine, the coming and going to the foster care center combined with the constant presence of the caregivers at our guest house, topped off with the visit with her uncle and cousins at the end of the week.  I think it must have been very confusing for her, and at her age, she's aware enough of the changes to be alarmed but not old enough to process what's happening.  Since we left Ethiopia, everything has been new, but at least consistently new, which seems to have helped her equilibrium.

Almost as soon as we got on the plane I asked Suzanne "Who is this delightful child we're taking home?"  It was a whole new side to her personality - curious, engaged, even silly.  She sang songs, talked a mile a minute sometimes to us, sometimes to herself (all in Amharric, of course, so we don't know what the commentary was about) and handled the flights like a pro - there were only a couple of hours of upset at the end of nearly seventeen hours of the trip to DC (which considering the events of the prior week is kind of amazing.)  We were met by Aunt Georgie and Uncle Harry at the DC airport with injera, wat and Amharric flashcards in tow.  I think the wat saved the day - she wasn't wild about the Lufthansa food and it was probably really nice to have something familiar after such a crazy day.  She's not too keen on meeting new people, so she was pretty reserved, but got very excited once we headed toward the plane for Dallas.  The lady at the sandwich shop in the airport where we bought some bananas and juice for the plane was Ethiopian and talked to her in Amharric.  She loved the plane - even ran down the gateway for the last flight.  Both of us were so exhausted that we fell asleep during takeoff, and if you know me that's quite a feat!

She's done great since we've been home - she's eating well, undressing and redressing all the dolls and exploring the many toys in the house.  We've made a Target trip, eaten frozen custard at Curly's and played ball with the grandparents in the backyard.  There's only been one meltdown, and she was able to get control again within minutes where in Addis it would have taken hours.  She's asking about the English words for objects and food, and is crazy about riding in the car.   She's gone from not wanting to be touched at all to holding hands and being a cuddlebug at nap and bedtime.  The language barrier is a frustration sometimes when she's tired or objecting to a request, but we're doing pretty well with my limited Amharric and sign language.  

I'll post more photos and details of the trip later this week when I'm feeling better.  I am hoping that our new happy routine lasts!