Since Ashley has been home, she has decided that naps are not part of her daily routine, which makes for an excellent night's sleep but which also makes for a very long day for her and me! She is a very active little girl, who is into everything and anything. Once one mess is made and left for Mom to clean up, we are on to the next mess stop which is repeated no less than 20-25 times each day. You forget about these small things when you have two older boys in the house, who usually can clean up their own messes.
She is definitely coming into her own this week. She really has not been going up or down any of our stairs; however, yesterday I ran up to do something in our room and the next thing that I see is her standing right beside me in our room! Then later that afternoon, she decided (around 4:30 p.m.) that it should be dinner time, so she first brought her booster seat to me in the family room; then when I told her to put it back into the kitchen, she did and then she promptly climbed up into it while adroitly positioning two chairs together; then when that didn't work, she brought her bib to me in the family room!! When she goes outside, she now expects to get into the car immediately to go somewhere and when that doesn't happen, she is not happy. She is not one to sit still for more than a few minutes. She will shut any door behind you, whether you are in the room or outside of it, so watch out if you have easy locks on any of your doors as she might be soon locking one of us in!
She has learned several new words this week that she has begun using: No (in terms of "no, don't do that.."); Out (in terms of "please get out of whatever you are standing in or on") and Ow, Ow (not sure where that is coming from except she likes to loudly exclaim that any time that she needs to get attention). Luckily, she was not using that when our social worker stopped by yesterday for a visit; although she did throw one of her plastic toys right at my head, so that Barbara could see how good her throwing skills were! She uses all kinds of voices when she is happy and very animated. I guess that she is practicing for future character roles of some sort. She also will go right up to the pets and scream out something at them. I have no idea what the word is, but they sort of look at her asking themselves "who is this strange child that is shouting things at me?" Overall, she is very gentle when she tries to touch them.
We all had a great time at the Zoo on Saturday (pictures to follow). The weather was beautiful and many of the animals were out and about. The boys had their faces painted and they all rode the carousel, although Ashley was not too keen about that. She refused to sit on the ride animal since it was going up and down, so I ended up holding her the entire time. While the boys were petting the goats in the Children's Zoo, Ashley and I decided to feed them as she was shaking her head up and down in a "yes" motion when I asked if that's what she wanted to do. As I am feeding the goats, Ashley promptly pops a piece of goat nugget into her own mouth and then starts screaming as I am trying to unlatch it from her teeth. This prompted many laughs from those around us, who all thought it was hysterically funny.
Tomorrow, we are back at CHOP again for our International Adoption development testing on gross and motor skills. Ashley is ready to wow them with all of her new found skills.
She continues to eat alot, but now is becoming more selective as she decides what she really does and does not like (chocolate, sugary and salty items topping her strong likes!)
On Thursday, I am off to meet with a lawyer to finally start the process of obtaining US Birth Certificates for all of the children. Something that requires way too much paperwork and more legal work (as if we hadn't done enough yet), but that is necessary for future schooling and job opportunities. We have been putting it off for a few years now, post Kyle's adoption, so now is the time to get it done once and for all.
On November 29th, Ashley will be joining the Goddard School with the boys, so we hope to have her do 1 or 2 pass-throughs over the next few days, to make sure that she can easily assimilate into the classroom. We were laughing that she might try and convince all that she needs to be with the boys in their rooms vs. her younger baby room!!
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