A Nightly Dance ~ Evie's Shadow

Dancing has become a part of our nightly routine. After Evie has brushed teeth, given everyone muhs, and is in a fresh diaper and jammies for the night, but before we rock-a-bye, I plug in her CD player and turn it on. Lately, we've been listening to Lotus Flower, a CD of Chinese classical and folk music. (It's very beautiful, by the way!) Then, I sit in the chair, and Evie dances.

Evie's dances consist of jumping, stomping, hopping, twirling, swaying ~ truly beautiful works of art. Sometimes she sings, growls, squeaks, hums, or yells along with the dance. Last night she squatted and stomped around the floor like a Sumo wrestler, while emitting ear-piercing shrieks. Sometimes the dances are short, just a few turns around the room, a couple of hops. Sometimes, the dances are long and elaborate, and repeated many, many times (especially when Evie is wound up, and mama is tired and cranky!)

A few nights ago, during one of the famous nighty-night dances, Evie discovered a new friend. This friend follows her out of her bedroom door, but runs away when approached. Evie slid along the floor toward the door, keeping one eye on this friend that was following her. Then, she turned around and chased it behind the rocking chair! Later, during a very gymnastic portion of the dance, Evie almost did the splits while peeking under her foot to see if she and her new friend were somehow glued together. After much giggling on my part, I explained to Evie all about her shadow. Since I don't know the sign for shadow, Evie decided to call it "Fish", which she signs very beautifully. It makes sense to me ~ she must realize that the "sh" sound in Shadow is the same as the "sh" sound in Fish!

So, now you can say that you know the only girl on earth with a Shadow Friend named Fish!

Beginning of March update

Sorry it's been so long between updates! A 2 year old keeps you busy, and doesn't like it when mama sits at the computer for too long!

We have another meeting with the speech pathologist next week, and will hopefully get a referral to a speech therapist. Evie is starting to talk more and more, but she is still difficult to understand, and doesn't make many of the hard consonant sounds (b, d, p, etc.) She has started to call Richard "Ya-Ya" for Daddy. It is very cute. She says "Mama!" about a thousand times a day, usually when she wants me to watch her do something! "Emma" is still one of her favorite words, too. She is also saying "hello", "eyes" and "cheese", although she still prefers to sign cheese. She also sings "row, row, row" when we sing Row Row Row your Boat!

Next Sunday we're going to an open house meeting for a new Chinese language class for toddlers. I am hoping the classes will be at a time that we will be able to attend. It will be neat to meet some other Chinese adoptive families.

Emily's Spring Break starts in a couple of weeks, and it will be nice to have her at home during the day for a while. I hope that it will be nice out, so we can get out and play. I am tired of the snow and bad weather, and being cooped up inside the house! Maybe we will get some seeds and start some plants in little pots in the kitchen window. We will also be meeting my parents and Jeff, Angie, and Logan for a visit in KC. It will be an interesting trip with two strong-willed, potty-learning 2 year olds!

First of all, I finally got new glasses! The last pair were about 4 years old, and on their last legs. Evie is hard on the glasses! Here are the new ones. I think I like them, but I'm not sure yet.





My parents got Emily some flowers and balloons for her birthday last month. Mom, here they are!







These are the roses that Richard got me for Valentine's day. They're in a little Chinese takeout box! It's so sweet of him to keep buying me live plants, even though I have a hard time keeping indoor plants alive.





Like father, like daughter? This is Evie after eating a chocolate-frosted doughnut the other day. It looks like she's growing a mustache and beard like her daddy!





We've been potty learning at our house. I've been sitting Evie on the potty when I think it's about time for her to go, and we've had success. Lately, she's been signing "P" (for "potty") when she wants to sit on the potty chair. Evie loves to read while on the potty.





Here are a couple of photos of Evie after a recent nap ~ we can title these Bad Hair Day!