A little art work

A couple of drawings of me tonight by Miss E...

and a reminder written underneath that she wants her bath :)

Sitting in the social worker's office

Six years ago today, in San Diego, CA, I sat in my adoption social worker's office. I'd gotten "the call" about two weeks earlier. Every adoptive parent knows about "the call". The most important call of your life. The one you wait and wait for, and dream about every night. The one where the social worker calls and tells you that there is a child for you. In my case, the wait really wasn't very long. It was only 3 months from when CPS approved me to adopt until I got the call.

So, on this day in 2007, I met with two social workers to learn all about a 4 month old baby girl who needed a permanent home. I knew they had pictures of her, but they wouldn't show them to me until after they had told me everything they knew about her. They wanted me to focus on all the information they were telling me, instead of just staring at her pictures, which I surely would have done if they had given me the pictures first. I'd known for almost two weeks that my answer was going to be yes. When the social worker finally brought out the pictures of her, I practically grabbed them out of her hand. And when they asked me at the end if I was "interested" in being this baby's mom, it was all I could do not to laugh. Actually, I think I did laugh. Of course I want to be this baby's mother!!

 

 

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Funny girl

Showing Grandma a new wiggly tooth :)

 

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Happy Birthday to me :)

Yesterday was my birthday. We celebrated at my parents' last night. E had spent the day at Maria's (it's school vacation week) while I worked (on my bday, blech...) and they made me a bday cake. Plus my mom bought a chocolate mousse cake from Whole Foods so I got 2 cakes! Lucky me :)

 

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Who is that big kid?

So today Elizabeth spent the day at her Afterschool program at the Y, since school was closed again to clean up after the Blizzard. When I went to pick her up this afternoon, I peeked in the window that looked down into the rock wall room, where I knew her group was today. It didn't take me long to spot her, but wow...she just looks so huge!

It kind of takes my breath away, how fast it's all going...

 

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An early Valentine

E brought this home in her folder today...

xoxoxox

And totally unrelated...she still loves her dog Isabella...

I love this kid!

 

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Bedtime prayers

I am not an especially religious person at all, but often, E and I do say our prayers before going to sleep. It's mostly about expressing thankfulness for what we have, and wanting blessings for the people we care about and love. I love that always, always, Elizabeth asks God to bless J and K, her birth parents. That gives me a lump in my throat every time. In a good way.

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MLK, Jr.

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Another great post from "My Brown Baby"

Love this and wanted to share...for my amazing, smart, beautiful little girl...xoxoxoxo

Some mail from Elizabeth!

Today in the mail, I received this letter, addressed to "Mummy K--" from Elizabeth, sent from school. :)

xoxoxoxox

 

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Elizabeth at Five and a half

Just thought I'd bust out the bullets and give an E update...

-her favorite food continues to be Fried Rice

- her favorite movies are Brave, Cinderella, The Lorax, Beauty and the Beast, and now Star Wars at Maria's house

- Her favorite color is purple

- She still sleeps with me :)

-She is working up her courage to get her ears pierced

-She loves school, and her teachers

-She has some sight words that she can read

-She loves to snuggle on the couch and hold hands when we walk

-She loves our iPad and has pretty much taken it over :0

-She has great manners, and is really good about saying "please" and "thank you"

She loves listening to Top Forty music in the car

Her mommy is is incredibly proud of her :)

 

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Priceless art work

E brought this home from school the other day...

xoxoxoxox

 

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Today...

Today, instead of staying home to clean the apartment, do the laundry, and a million other chores that needed to get done, I took E out for the day and we had so much fun, just being together. It's so easy to take what's most precious to you for granted. But today, I appreciated every minute I got to spend with my little girl. And she got lots of extra kisses and tight hugs from me today, too.

 

 

 

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Dear Elizabeth (a letter to my sweet girl on her 5th birthday)

Dear Elizabeth,

So today is your 5th birthday.  Wow, is all I can say.  All of your birthdays have been important, but for some reason, this one seems like a really big one.  It feels like this is the end of your early childhood.  And it's true, you have been quickly shedding all remnants of "preschoolishness" and are turning into a "school age kid" right before my very eyes.  Some days, I swear you look bigger when I pick you up from Day Care than you did when I dropped you off in the morning.  You have even lost two teeth already, which you are very proud of!  You are getting more and more interested in reading and writing, although you would still prefer to be jumping or swimming.  Oh, how you love to jump...You would be so happy if I converted our livingroom into a giant trampoline!  And swimming...As I tell you all the time, you are a little fish.  You love, love, love to swim, and to jump into the water.  You took swimming lessons this Spring (courtesy of your Aunt Betsy) and can now do the crawl stroke.  People always comment on what a great swimmer you are when they see you in the pool. 

You love to sing, especially songs from "The Wizard of Oz", your favorite movie in the world.  You definitely have a dramatic flair about you, and love to perform.  I can't decide if you will be a famous athlete, or a famous actress.  Maybe you'll be both, I wouldn't put it past you.  You have a strong personality, and a strong will, which I wouldn't change, even though sometimes it makes for some "challenging" moments between us.  You get angry with me sometimes, but it never lasts long.  More than anything, you are loving and caring with me, and want to please.

You are an extrovert, and quickly make new friends wherever you go.  You get very unhappy when play dates and birthday parties are over, and it's time to say goodbye.  You have a vitality and a spark that draws people to you.  You are a happy girl, and pretty much sing and jump your way through life :) 

You have some big changes coming up soon.  You will say goodbye to the Day Care/ Preschool you have been going to for almost three years, and hello to Kindergarten.  I know you are ready.  I'm so excited to watch you learn and grow over the next year.  I think you will love Kindergarten and will do great.  I have a lump in my throat that my "baby" is no more, but proud and thrilled that you are growing into such a sweet, bright, funny, big girl. 

So Happy 5th Birthday, Tizzylish.  Mommy loves you to the Moon and back.

Love,

Mommy

I'll never know how...

I got so lucky to be this little girl's Mommy...

Fresh from the hairdresser, and with a generous amount of self-applied lip gloss :)

Almost bedtime :)

Have I mentioned...

how much I love this kid?? :)

My Girl :)

Nothing new here. All is well. I wanted to post these pics of Miss E just because... :)

PS: Can't wait til vacation- two more weeks! And our friend Julie is coming to visit- yay!!

Four year old update

Now that Miss E is 4 (!!!), I thought I'd give an update of what she is up to these days...

* she still loves the water more than life itself (needless to say, our apt comlex pool gets A LOT of use this summer!), and has no fear of jumping into the pool, or "swimming" under water...

* she is very social and outgoing, loves to meet new people (especially other kids) and makes friends easily

* she has a major sweet tooth, loves candy and chocolate

* she has a tendency to revert to baby talk and whining (grrr...) when tired

* she is about the funniest person I've ever met

* she loves music, and to sing and dance

* she would rather run around outside and play ball than sit and look at a book, but does like being read to at bedtime

* she has a mind of her own, for sure!!! She is defintely "strong willed", but has become increasingly able to be reasoned with (yay!!)

* she still refuses to sleep in her own bed (ok, so I haven't really pushed it...I sorta like this co-sleeping thing...)

* as of a couple of weeks ago, she weighed 35 lbs when she stepped on my scale. She has her 4 year check up next week, so I'll get her height then. But her legs are looking longer by the day to me!

Ok, there is so much more I could say about my girl, but I'll leave it for now...She continues to amaze me and make me laugh every day :)

Love this girl :)