Language Funnies

Just thought I'd share some of the funny things the girls have said lately.

Nebyat will intend to communicate her desire to be left alone; however she hasn't quite gotten the phrase down yet. She says "Give me a loan" instead. She enjoyed it when I told her it meant that she was asking for money (one of her very favorite things).

Jetu and I were walking down the hallway of the courthouse to go back down the escalators; an attorney was walking by. Jetu says "Oh, we ride the Eskimos again?"
I said, "Not Eskimos, Honey, escalators..." The gentleman visibly chuckled.

Nebyat is very eskited that her birthday is in 12 more days.

The Dreaded Nap

I sit and wait for Jetu to fall asleep.... She's awakened her sister; she's been seated on the naughty spot for 3 minutes; she's been "soooooo hungry"; she's had multiple drinks of water, what else.... I'll tell you what else... She fell asleep in the car on the way to my office after pre-school today. I woke her up and made her walk up the stairs (holding her hands) hoping she'd wake up. She chose to lay down on the sofa at the office rather than watch a video she wanted to see - right back out that quickly. The landlord showed an open office and I felt bad that she was there on the sofa in the shared space, so I moved her to my office where she slept on the chair for a while. I woke her up to go pick Nebyat up and made her walk downstairs by herself again - she got in the car and immediately went back to sleep, so she had an hour to an hour-and-a-half nap. AND, HERE I SIT FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF tonight, feeling my frustration rise. This child just cannot take a nap and be expected to go to bed between 8 and 8:30.

Jetu wakes up at 7am it seems, no matter what time she goes to sleep. Nebyat HATES to wake up for school in the morning; I try to start her slowly at 10 minutes before 7 as I need her dressed, teeth brushed, downstairs for breakfast and hair by 7:20. We need to leave the house at 7:40 to go across the street and get her to school on time.

Oh and surprise, surprise, those same girls have absolutely no problem rising at 7 or 7:15 on the weekends....

Okay, just had to vent and this definitely reaffirms the decision to forego naps fror Jetu! Bedtime has gotten much, much better and I'm actually missing some of my forced quiet time - I started watching movies on my DVD player with headphones or reading or folding laundry or reading Adoption Yahoo Group digests; I'm just not getting as much done as I used to while waiting for them to drift off to sleep. Hallelujah!

Too much kid content

Okay, I know we've been watching too many kid movies now....

Gigs returns from roundtrip to Richmond to pick up Wondemish (brother Michael), granted he's tired and Wondemish talked for 3 straight hours ;].... Dancing with the Stars is almost over.... conversation goes:

TJ: I only saw Buzz Aldren, he's 80 years old, and one other dancer....

Gigs: Buzz Aldren....I didn't even know he was a real person.

TJ: What? The guy who walked on the moon?.....

Gigs: Oh, I was thinking Buzz Lightyear.

Nuff said.

Third of Four Post Placement Visits

Today, the girls and I visited our favorite local social worker, Michelle, and had our bonus post-placement visit. I say bonus, because we're required by the Ethiopian government to have 3 at 3 months, 6 months and 12 months after officially passing court in Ethiopia. In order to petition the court in Virginia to "re-adopt" the girls, we are required to have 3 visits, but they must be conducted within 6 months of eachother. Doing the math, there was no way to dual purpose three meetings, so we had to have one extra, YAY!. The social worker visits with the family to see how bonding, attachment, transition is going and then writes up a report addressing all the various areas associated with the children's joining the adoptive family. The reports are sent back to Ethiopia via our agency with pictures, etc. The reports for the re-adoption will be provided to the judge in the court in Virginia and then at some point, he will declare our girls officially re-adopted. New American birth certificates will be issued. We will also at that point obtain Certificates of Citizenship for each and they will graduate from permanent legal residents (greencard holders) to official US citizens with all the accompanying rights and responsibilities.

One Wish/Hope for my Girls

One wish/hope I have for my girls is that they have strong and wonderful friendships throughout their lives. My berry best friend in the whole wide world, Deedlebug, was here this past weekend and I am reminded of the joy, support, sanity, love, and fun she has brought to my life. I hope that my girls are each as blessed to have that with eachother and with at least one other person for their lifetime. Thank you Aunt Dee.

Two of her three children joined us for the weekend, Kim (23) and Josiah (4). It was so good to see our kids playing together, knowing that they will enjoy our gettogethers as much as we do.

Dee and I have only had girl children until little Josiah came along. He is wonderful and fun and brings a completely different level of energy to things. It is certainly a different thing, raising boys and I love spending time with Josiah. My girls loved him too!

Aunt Dee & Kim took the pics this weekend - my camera is not working right now - so I'll try to post some pics once I get some copies of what they took.

Hallelujah for a Break in the Weather

Click here!

Daddy's Girls

Papa is out of town for work and has been for a week; he won't return until Saturday this week. It's the first time that either of us has been away from the girls overnight. The girls and I have been keeping busy visiting with friends and all the regular daily activities....school, homework, karate, baths, hair, etc. It's been hard for them to understand where Papa is and how this whole travel thing works...it's really a foreign concept for them. Nebyat has been most concerned and wants to call Papa regularly - usually first thing when she wakes up, right before bed at night, and after school on the weekdays. She asks where he is sleeping, if he's scared, and wants a detail of all of his food intake for some reason. She wants to buy him presents and his favorite foods, etc. She's had one or two emotional (crying) moments attributing them to Papa's absence. Jetu just wants to go get him since we dropped him off at the office to pick up the work truck for the trip when he left. She said HE's crying a little bit every day and she wants to go with him. It's just not as much fun around here without Papa! Here are my little actresses with their best "We-miss-Papa-so-much"-sad faces.



And here's a little ode to Papa since we're missing him.