What a Merry Christmas!

This time last year, I was waiting on pins and needles for that call telling me to pack my bags for Ethiopia. Christmas came and left and I was still waiting. New Years Day came and left and still no word. For those of you not in the adoption world, waiting on that travel call is excruciatingly difficult. Once you are matched with a child you begin to bond and fall in love with that little face on the referral picture and you savor any small personality description that comes along during your wait. Then comes the worry. You worry about the health of your child, you worry that your child may be hungry (even if you know the orphanage caregivers are well trained and love on the babies), you worry about your baby being scared or cold, you worry about EVERYTHING! You just want to be there with your child...the child that has completely taken over your heart.

That's where I was this time last year. But on January 12th, the day before my birthday, I finally got the call telling me to pack my bags. What a wonderful birthday gift. Fast forward almost a year later. I went to the mall today to pick out my gift from Aaron. Addison was getting a little cranky which makes it a challenge to enjoy my shopping experience. As I was about to try on a coat, I heard Addison start to cry a little. In an instant, I flashed back to my trying Christmas of 2006, remembering just how sad and anxious I was to travel to Ethiopia to pick up Addison. At that moment, I put the coat back on the rack, headed for Addison, and told Aaron that we should head home so Addison could take her nap. Now I still want a new coat (and a new purse as well:-)), but shopping malls, coats, and handbags will always be available. It was just something about that moment that reminded me that my best gift of 2007 would not be wrapped in a pretty box and placed under the Christmas tree. She was right in front of me reaching out to be picked up. What a difference a year makes.

What's Up With Addison?

O.K. I know I haven’t posted in quite some time. It’s been at least two months since I put my private thoughts out there for fellow blog lovers. So let catch you up on what’s happening with the star of our family…Little Miss Addison.

She’s a walking machine! Addison started walking at 14 months. So that means she has approximately 50 days of walking experience. But you can’t tell Addison that she’s a novice walker. This babe will break out in a sprint toward the steep steps inside our home, or exhibit fancy footwork to get around her 40 - something- year -old parents when she’s being naughty.

Just look at her running into her room!

Not only is Addison walking, she’s become quite the dancer/bouncer/grooving to the beat girl. Yep, my girl has rhythm. Although she is usually the youngest in her music class, she leads the way when it comes to smiling when she hears her favorite song, as well as swaying, bouncing, rocking, and rolling. Addison has already figured out how to turn on the CD player in her bedroom. Now we placed this CD player in her room so that she could fall asleep listening to classical music and lullabies, but Addison’s curiosity lead to her discovering that pressing the button to the left results in music that is much louder and upbeat. She actually kept pushing the buttons until she landed on a top 40s station (that happened to be playing hip hop music at the time). Yes, Addison is in the house!!!

She’s into books! Addison is an avid reader. Or will be. She loves books and working with flashcards. She actually prefers these over toys. YES!!! I swear Addison has already figured out that she can delay bedtime if she continues to point to yet another book after being read to. I must admit, sometimes it works.

She’s a shoe girl! It seems that Addison’s walking skills brought upon this new interest in shoes. Her favorite are a cute pair of metallic pink sneakers. She loves these things so much that several times a day, she will go into her closet, ramble in her shoe basket, and retrieve the matching left and right shoe. Yes, she’s already appreciating the wonder of shoes. MY GIRL indeed!!! The 2nd runner-up shoe favorite is a pair of bright pink faux Uggs boots. For some reason, she only grabs these at night. Maybe that’s because they look so comfortable, warm and toasty.

Addison has telephone-itis! Could somebody please explain to me why toddlers love telephones so much? We’ve tried giving her play phones, but NO! It must be a real working phone. It’s gotten to the point that when the phone rings, Addison stops whatever she’s doing as if the call might be for her! What is this? When I allow her to “talk” on the phone (BTW, only grandparents and aunts think this is cute), she’ll say “Hi” a couple of times, press any and all buttons repeatedly, and wait to say “Bye-Bye” only AFTER the call has ended and the person on the opposite end has hung up. The cell phone is her favorite. Addison tilts her head and cradles the phone between her head and ear as though she’s engaged in a very private conversation or conducting business. Aaron just shakes his head and says, “I’m going to have to get her a head set.”

Even while trying on a new hat and mittens set, Addison holds on to her phone!

Addison is in Control! I guess I should have posted months ago of how/why Aaron put in a bid on Ebay for Addison’s very own remote control. In a nutshell, Addison’s first obsession was with remote controls. We gave her several old remotes we had lying around the house, but Addison didn’t like these. We did a little consumer choice test and found that she clearly preferred the peanut! No old outdated square remote controls for her. Aaron thought it would be a good idea for her to have her own remote (without batteries) so he ordered one on Ebay. She continues to think that she’s changing the channels with her remote control. She hasn’t figured out that I’m actually standing behind her controlling the television with MY remote. Score one for the mom! Or maybe two for the toddler who has her parents so smitten that we would even go to these lengths just to see her smile.

Addison the Social Butterfly (or Biker Chick?) Addison’s day care provider has told me that Addison seems to attract the attention of the other five children she watches. She added that all the little toddler boys seem to like her. However, Miss Addison clearly prefers one boy over the other two (and he happens to be the cutest and sweetest of the three J). One of these boys is a little on the chubby side and has a rugged look for a toddler. I jokingly commented to Addison’s babysitter that I didn’t want Addison sneaking out to ride on the back of his motorcycle. Her sitter responded, “You don’t have to worry about that, he’ll be riding on the back of Addison’s motorcycle!”

Addison’s Favorite Word? APPLE. Show her a picture of an apple, and she will proudly say APPLE! Show her a picture of a pumpkin and she will proudly say APPLE! Show her a picture of anything else that she doesn’t know the word for and she will say…you guessed it APPLE. Other favorite words besides momma and daddy are doggie, woof, owl, bottle, hi, bye, baby, thank-you, and ice cream.

Is One the New Two? I posed this question on one of the yahoo groups because I’m seeing some behaviors I didn’t expect to see until Addison turned two. She’s doing some hitting, having short temper tantrums when she doesn’t get her way, has been unfastening her diaper for months now, is very independent, is beginning to show preference for clothes and shoes, and handles herself very well in social situations. Maybe I didn’t realize just how quickly babies begin to act like toddlers. Sometimes I watch Addison moving around the house and wonder, “Where is that little baby we brought home almost a year ago?”

So that’s what Miss Addison has been up to lately. I will try to post more often. Needless to say, we’re busy being parents and having fun watching Addison blossom.

Pat