Life is Really Good...

I am feeling much better now and we are all starting to feel a little bit normal. Kassie is doing absolutely fabulous! I am so proud of her. She is so brave, curious, interested and excited. It is so neat to discover what she likes and dislikes, what she already knows how to do and what she doesn't know or like to do... She absolutely loves to swing. We have been going just about everyday. She says, "Go in the car? Swing?" She laughs and giggles the entire time. She knows the words "push" and (thanks to Daddy teaching her tricks) "No Hands!" While in the car she loves to listen to her music and just drive around looking at the sights. She would do it for hours! One of my favorite things she likes to do is sweep the floors. She has swept our wood floors every morning for the past three days. And, she gets out the dust pan and brush and picks it up too! I never knew Bella (our dog) lost so much hair in one day! Yesterday I bought her a broom her size. Believe me, I am going to encourage this ritual! She and Bella are doing great. Bella has been quite jealous but very gentle with her. I do think Bella is really warming up to her since she likes feeding Bella some of her food. We usually don't give Bella any people food because Alaskan Malamutes have such sensitive stomachs, they get sick from it. Anyway, now Kassie feeds her dog food from her hand instead of letting her eat it out of her dog bowl. We are just so happy that it is going smoothly between them. We were warned that wild dogs were everywhere in Ethiopia and she may be terrified at first sight of her. I can confidently say that Kassie has never had a bad experience with a wild dog. She loves Bella and smiled and laughed from Day one of seeing her. Kassie is still very particular about what she wears. today we went to the farm for a cook out and I changed her into her pajamas before heading home. Her pajamas are shorts and pajama top. On the way home, Kassie had to cover her legs with her dress she was previously wearing because she is nervous about showing her knees and above in public. Women in Ethiopia did not wear anything shorter than mid calf and never wore sleeveless tops. Kassie has worn tank tops no problem but she feels very uncomfortable wearing shorts or short dresses or skirts. I'm sure she will outgrow that or perhaps not remember by the time the summer season comes around again. I made a potato salad for the cookout today and I discovered that Kassie likes hard boiled eggs. She said "Help mommy?" when I was peeling the eggs. I said yes and she took an egg, tapped it on the counter, peeled it and ate it like she had done it a million times before. Then, she helped me peel the rest of them. Each day Jeff and I are learning more and more about her. We keep getting pleasantly surprised at how much she can do. She loves to read books, write and color. Every night before bed she goes to the bathroom, washes her hands, brushes her teeth, gets a cup of water by herself. Then she counts all the bottles of shampoo, cream, tooth paste etc.. laying around in the bathroom. Its become a ritual. So counting in English is coming along as well. She loves putting cream on her body which I do for her every night to help with the bonding. She sings the alphabet repeating lmnop a few times before moving on to the rest. She is also singing, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and tells us everyone who loves her every night. (Mommy loves me, Daddy loves me, Grammie loves me, Bampie loves me etc...) I am so... I am trying to think, I am so everything! I am excited, thrilled, proud, amazed, shocked, overwhelmed, tired, but most of all happy. Jeff and I finally have a child of our own!! And, Kassie has a Mommy and Daddy of her own!! Life is really good!