Well, someone forgot to tell me that when you add the fourth child, it's practically the same as adding the 15th child. Maybe it's this particular child. That's possible. Little Miss E is BUSY. If I get the laundry done and have food in the house, then I consider the day a success.
So let me give you the short version update:
- Her hair is still pretty short, but we managed our first style.
- Our plan to have her sleep in her own bed right from the start (and us being experienced parents guarantees that our plan would work) lasted for about 6 nights. She is currently sleeping in our bed with us and she's a pretty active sleeper. So, strike one at our "expert parenting" at bat. All I'll say is we are working with what we think she needs right now and eventually she will sleep on her own. We're working on it people.
- The honeymoon is over. Yes, she's very cute. And she's also a regular kid who doesn't appreciate the fact that we ran out of eggs when she was counting on them for breakfast (and lunch and very often dinner). So any fit throwing is justified right? We're working on this too. Seriously though, we are all finding out what our new normal is. She is part of a family that has rules and expectations and she is eager to please and contribute. Right now is her learning curve (ours too) finding out how to do that. Some days are better than others and it's not easy. In fact it's hard. Balancing three boys and how they are experiencing this adjustment with her adjustment is challenging.
- She's sharing little things here and there about her life in Ethiopia. Her language is coming along, but with the words she has and creative gesturing, she is sharing parts of her past. I so treasure the fact that she can do this.
- The girl loves to sing...and dance...and force others to do it with her. She's a lot of fun, silly, dramatic, and she will dance until it hurts.....
(she's singing in Amharic and doing dances from an Ethiopian Children's CD)
Beautiful. She made me giggle! It takes a bit for the new normal to feel, well,
ReplyDelete"normal" and before you know it, you can't really remember your lived without her in it.
She is so precious!
ReplyDeleteWe started out with the intention to co-sleep for as long as our daughter needs it, and she still needs it, sixteen months later. We were sure she'd be sleeping on her own by now, but it's just not happening. We have transitioned into her going to sleep in her own bed first, and then we move her when we are ready to sleep (it's either that or be awakened in the middle of the night, and we don't like being awakened in the middle of the night), so that is a very positive step. We totally feel you on the active sleeper thing, too--our little girl is also an active sleeper, so we did the only thing that made sense: we got a king size bed. Everyone's sleep has been better for it.
you did a lovely job with her bantu knots...very pretty! ...and her singing/dancing is toooo cute :)
ReplyDeleteOMG! Love the hair. Love the dancing. Would love to hear more about how the boys are doing with the transition. I am also excited to hear more about our kids' life in Ethiopia...one of the great things about adopting a slightly older kid. And how dare you run out of eggs?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, she is ADORABLE!!!!! I remember watching her dancing at HH, she has so much personality!!!
ReplyDeleteI definitely recognize that song from the cd my boys loved. It was one of our favorite songs!
ReplyDeleteYou had a honeymoon? =)
ReplyDeleteYou are doing a terrific job and hang in there. The testing of boundaries and all that gets lost in translation. She is learning how to be in a family. That's a very big undertaking.
Looks like she a lot of personality!
I think it was, more accurately, a few days of exhaustion on her part and then the fun kicked in :)
DeleteNice to see you guys yesterday!
ReplyDeleteWe're still co-sleeping here too, two years later...would not have predicted it would last that long, but it is what it is!
Yes, it was nice to finally say hello in person!
Delete