Monday, August 25, 2008

Mama sang grace, Daddy sang do-dah

Tonight as Caroline and I sat down to rock before bed, I asked her what she wanted me to sing -- fully knowing the answer. As usual, she said, "Grace," which is her name for Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. I sang this to her totally on a whim one night because it's one of my favorite hymns, and now it's her favorite too.

So then I asked her what Daddy sings. She paused a second (I love that pause because I know the wheels are turning), then said, "Daddy sings Do dah day." In other words, Camptown Races.

It cracks me up that she has clearly separate expectations of Mama and Daddy. She never asks asks Daddy to sing Grace, and if I dare venture into Daddy's repertoire, I get severely reprimanded with a "Daddy sings that!"

-----

If you're following the adoption journeys of any of my blog buddies, check out these blogs for some updates: Beth is home with her son. Holly and family are still in Ethiopia and come home Saturday.

Friday, August 22, 2008

More on manners

So this morning while in her highchair, Caroline starts chanting, "More orange j, more orange j," her half-abbreviation for OJ.
So I say, "What's the magic word?"
She thinks and thinks.
Then I give her a hint: "It starts with 'p'."
She thinks some more, then says, "It starts with please?"
And I say, "Yes, it does!"

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

A little potty talk

Well, I wasn't there to see it, but when Nana noticed Caroline getting "the look" this morning, she asked her if maybe she'd like to sit on the potty. She did, and she did -- her very first potty success! When I got there to pick her up, she proudly reported, "I poop in the potty."

I know we've got a long road ahead of us, but 24 days before her second birthday, I'm pretty thrilled. I'm ready to sell my stock in diapers.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Girls' weekend

Caroline and I are spending the weekend in Nashville. Last night we did a slide marathon at a neighborhood park, then met CC (CiCi?) for pizza at CiCi's Pizza. It was terrible, but Caroline got her "kids eat free" money's worth.

This morning we went to the Nashville Zoo. We arrived at 9a when they opened and beat the crowd that was flocking in as we were leaving. Last week, I laughed at my mom when she said Caroline could run faster than she could. Today, in the fish house, I wasn't laughing as she slalomed around people's legs as fast as her 12-inch-long legs would take her. Add about 200 people during peak visiting hours and you would have found me on television standing alongside John Walsh. I thought I was scared of the possibility of adding a boy to our family, but testosterone had nothing on this girl. (To my forum buddies walking to Ethiopia, I think chasing a toddler should rank double miles!)

We're still anxiously awaiting news -- referral news, travel dates for Kelli and Mark, but most of all news from the families in Ethiopia picking up their children. Holly and Beth have been there since Friday, but no blog updates yet. We know Holly would update if there's a working internet connection within 25 miles, so we suspect there's not. We just hope they're having a wonderful time bonding with their new kids.

Gotta run and feed Caroline a late lunch. She's asking for tuffs (puffs) and teething tablets. She's a cheap date!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Whose line is it, anyway?

I've been teaching Caroline to say "please" when she asks for things like, say, more milk.

A couple of days ago I asked her, "What's the magic word?" She thought for a second and replied, "I said NO!" I explained that that was Mama's line, and reminded her of the real magic word.

So this morning she tried to oblige by saying, "More milk, babe?"

Monday, August 4, 2008

All roads lead to Ethiopia

A few little tidbits for you (some bigger than others):

The first Bethany families are headed to Ethiopia in a little over a week: Holly to pick up Bereket and Beth to pick up Levi. Hopefully, Kelli will be on the same plane. Her little girl Ruby has been sick and in the hospital, so she has not been able to get her passport. But she is doing better and should be on her way to a passport soon. Prayers for all these families.


While we wait -- to travel, for referrals, for I-171H's -- a bunch of my blogging buddies are "walking" to Ethiopia. It's a little over 7,400 miles, and we're tracking our personal miles each Friday. It's been very motivating for me to virtual walk with a group. I find myself several times a week saying, "I've gotta get in my miles." I even got up at 6:30 this morning and walked 4 miles. My mom's joined in too.

Two nights ago, I had a dream I was at a party. I was talking to a woman who was from our adoption agency (not our SW). She told me that our date was March 12. She said it reluctantly, like she wasn't really supposed to tell me. I said, "Our referral?" And she said, "Yes, she will have had the baby by then." Now, I don't know what that means, but I was shocked to wake up and remember the actual date. Some of you are probably calculating the wait -- it's 9 months from DTE -- and saying, "Noooo! That's too long." If you are, remember it was just a dream. But I did look and March 12 is a Thursday. I guess we'll see.