The Quiet Way Home

I've started a bit of "schooling" with Elizabeth since she has a sudden interest in reading book after book. The program we're using is called Before Five in a Row and the basic idea is to read a picture book to your child every day for five days and each day there are suggested activities to help with your child's learning readiness. Our first book choice was The Quiet Way Home since we found it in the library last week and it is currently out - of - print. The story is about a grandfather walking his granddaughter home from school and choosing the quiet route every time. Today we talked about the relationships represented in the book and then Elizabeth painted first using primary colors and discovering how mixing colors together make a new color. She sure loved painting!

Fun Outside!

After many days of very hot weather and massive amounts of mosquitos we finally had some great weather and the city finally started spraying to reduce the bug problem so I was able to take the girls out to play! Elizabeth was her usual monkey self, but Ellie was a little more reserved. She climbed up the wooden ladder easily and Lizzie and I were able to get her to go down the slide. Next try she wasn't too sure and ended up attempting to go down feet first on her stomach. That landing didn't go so well and she had a pretty startled look on her face, but survived and I'm sure she'll try it again in the future!

Nap Anyone?

This is what a 22 month - old looks like at 11:30 in the morning when she is unsure about needing a morning nap!

Ellie Benelli! Two Months with Us!

Getting Dressed!

After I get her dressed in the morning Ellie usually decides I haven't put enough layers on her so she attempts to add more. As you can see she does a pretty good job with the pants!

COC

Today Isabella's Certificate of Citizenship finally arrived! It is the document that proves she is a citizen of The United States of America. Now I can go with my envelope full of documentation, stand in line at the social security office, hope they know what they are doing, and apply for her SSN.

So Sweet!

Miraculously Ellie actually slept until 7:00 this morning. She's been getting up between 6:15 and 6:30 for a couple of weeks now and I've been wishing she'd sleep just a little longer. I doubt it will continue but I'll take it for now. The biggest issue we have is that she probably still could use two naps a day most days so when 10:30 hits she gets really crabby. This usually lasts for about ten minutes or so and then she's fine - or she falls asleep for five or ten minutes and I wake her and she's fine. Yes, we are lucky that this is the only issue we have! The sweetest thing today was watching Elizabeth go into the family room and wave "hi" to her sister with her sister waving back at her and then watching them give each other a kiss good morning. Melted my heart! Below is a picture taken this morning. I don't know how the professionals do it because I can never get a good picture of the two of them together!

Girl on the Move!

Here are a few of the photos I took this morning of Isabella. She is constantly on the move so it can be a little difficult to photograph her. I think I spent about a minute trying to capture a good picture of her and in that time she circled the room about four times!

Monday Girls!

As you can see, Elizabeth has been happy to have her picture taken and is quite a ham most of the time. Isabella on the other hand tires of it quite easily so this will just have to do!

It's Sunday Again!

With today being August 8th we actually have two milestones to celebrate. First of all, we arrived home from China with Elizabeth two years ago today. Second, today Isabella is 22 months old. Hard to believe we'll be celebrating her second birthday in just two months! We went to church as usual this morning and then on to Cracker Barrel only this time our lovely niece Alyssa joined us.

Smiles!

Our Lizzie

Elizabeth seems to be adjusting well to having a new sister. Many people we run into will ask her what she thinks about having a baby sister and she never has an answer. This morning I caught them giving each other kisses so perhaps that is one answer to the question. Yes they do fight over toys although not as much as at first, but I know that is perfectly normal. It's funny how a toy becomes more attractive as soon as the other sister is playing with it!

Our Ellie

After six weeks with Isabella in our lives (and one month home) we just continue to be amazed by her! Her spirit, her resilience, her mischievousness! She wakes up every morning talking quietly to herself. I step into the room and she flashes her big smile at me letting me know she's ready to start her day. We head into the family room and she starts in on the basket full of toys usually going for the stacking cups first. Then after her sister is up and ready to eat, Elizabeth takes her by the hand and they walk together to the kitchen to eat. After breakfast she heads back into the family room to play (fight) with her big sister until lunch time. She is already so different from that quiet, stoic little girl we met in Guangzhou and we have felt for a while as if she was born into our family! Amazing how quickly that can transpire!

Leprechaun Hunt

Today Chris & I and the girls met Jordan for the annual Leprechaun Hunt. This is a fundraiser for a local community for handicapped adults that involves a lot of food and of course, the hunt for leprechauns. This is only the second one we have attended and just like the other time our search for leprechauns was in vain. I believe they hide around 29 statues throughout 185 acres and if you find one you are awarded between $50 & $1500. Oh well, we had a good time anyway! After we left we met Jordan at his summer parish so we could see where he's been living and meet the priest and catch up with the other seminarian he's been spending time with. We had a nice visit and enjoyed seeing where Jordan has been the last couple of months.