Novelty wearing off

Well, I can say that the novelty has officially worn off. The girls are starting to get irritated by some things now, and although I think she's still adorably cute, her defiance is starting to get a bit old. On the bright side, I am starting to feel like she is mine, and I really am starting to love her like my own.

But I am struggling in some areas - I can't leave her alone anywhere for fear of her getting into stuff and I'm tired of being "on" all the time. She hasn't been settling well at night so we've moved the girls out of her room so they can all have a break, and I've sat with her until she falls asleep. It worked out great last night...but means I'm sitting in that room until she's asleep and means even less down time for me. I guess I'll have lots of blogging time now. :-) She is still really testing. Most of the time she plays so well, but any time she needs correction, she will automatically keep doing it. It's so frustrating. If I say no to something, she'll immediately do it again and look at me while she does it. Every time. I think she has maybe only obeyed once. We just do continual redirection or time ins, but I am missing the almost immediate obedience we have with G&E...and I wonder if we'll ever get there with her.

Attachment is going fairly well, though. She is starting to ask to be lifted up, or has given me spontaneous hugs and kisses. She also asked to sit on my lap last night during the movie. She enjoys positive reinforcement - she loves to colour and then call me and show me her work. On Friday I had to tidy up some rooms on the main floor while she was watching a show. After a few minutes I heard "Mommy, nay!", which means "Mommy, come!" She didn't have anything to show me, she just wanted me near. Sometimes she'll look up when she's playing and we'll smile at each other. From the reading I've done, those are all good signs (I hope!).

The language has definitely been an adjustment but we are managing OK. She is starting to try more English words, and often now answers with "yes" or "no" instead of "ow" or "aye". She says some of the basics (more, thank you, please, yellow, banana, blue, pink, orange, house, the alphabet, numbers 1-15) and understands quite a few others (playground, school, sit, various body parts, etc.). Between her limited English and our limited Amharic we are getting by. I studied quite a bit before we got her...but I wish I had spent less time on the terms of endearment and affection and more time learning the boundary words. You only need to learn one or two terms of endearment (I love you and beautiful and good job goes a long way) but there are so many boundary terms (wait, stop, come, sit down, don't touch that, etc.) that you need each day!

I am so thankful we're sleeping great each night. Once she's asleep, she's out hard. I've been sleeping a good 8-9 hours a night (don't call after 9:30...I'm fast asleep!) but am still finding that I'm so tired during the day. Things are going so well and I am truly thankful because it could be so much worse, but I think the emotional adjustment is a lot to deal with and it
wears me out. We've never had much drama in our house, and it feels like there are either shrieks of laughter or shrieks of crying every few minutes now.

Anyway, I may go outside for a few minutes and soak up the sun. I'll see if G can keep an eye on Mebira...as an alternative to cleaning her room she'd probably love it. :-)