Caught In The Act!

As a mom, I've learned to always have my camera handy. Just look at Addison's expression when I caught her enjoying a brand new box of tissue that I foolishly left on top of her crib. Maybe someone shoud have captured my expression when I entered the room and realized why my angel had been so quiet for too long!

 
 

African Children's Choir - A Must See!

Last night, I had the fortunate opportunity to witness a live performance by the African Children's Choir. I'm a little lost for words to describe how moving this performance was. The African Children's Choir is composed of children between seven and twelve years of age who come from five countries in Africa - Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Nigeria and Ghana. Annual auditions are held to select these little stars who travel throughout America. Many of the choir's members are from very poor backgrounds or are orphans. Now just in case the thought has crossed your mind (as it did mine)a sweet little choir member announced that they were NOT available for adoption! However, you can assist them by attending their concerts and purchasing their CDs, tee-shirts, calenders, etc.

At the end of the concert, each child introduced him/herself and told the audiance what profession they wanted to pursue after completing college (which is paid for because of their participation in the choir). While some wanted to become teachers, lawyers, doctors, pasters, and singers, the most memorable desired profession was Vice President. Of course that stated career choice was met with smiles and laughter! More then twenty-four hours after the concert, I'm still smiling just thinking about how these precious souls now have the freedom to not just dream about a promising future, but actually achieve their goals. Please go to www.africanchildrenschoir.com to see if these amazing performancers will be in your area this year. If so, I can promise you that it's a concert so worth your time, effort, and money. Some of you may have seen this performance on last season's American Idol. I never get tired of watching it. Anyway, here's a sample of what I experienced (minus Josh Groban of course)!

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today, a beautiful baby girl was placed in our arms. One year ago today, our lives were forever changed when we accepted the amazing honor and responsibilities of becoming parents. Here's to you Miss Addison! Thanks for filling our hearts and lives with more love and joy than I could have ever imagined.

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

She's a Beach Girl!

After a night of driving six hours, checking into our hotel, getting a young toddler settled into an unfamiliar crib, and sneaking out the hotel's pool towels (of course we didn't think to pack our own), we were ready to head to the beach. Armed with oh so cute swim attire, Miss Addison finally had her beach debut.

The verdict...She loved it and took 1st prize in the swimsuit competition. This babe wasted no time digging her beach ready feet deep into the sand

and had a blast building sandcastles with us.

Yes, we have discovered that our sweetie is a beach girl. After awhile, she tried out her beginning walking skills. That didn't work in the thick sand so she did what she does best when the walking thing gets too complicated --- crawl!

Miss Addison was a little more reserved with her excitement about chillin' on a float navigated by her daddy. She was somewhat unsure about being in what must have felt like a giant bathtub without bounderies. After a couple of minutes of taking in the sights, smells, and sounds, our beach babe relaxed, smiled, and allowed her hands to glide through the salty water. Of course she took this opportunity to sample the water by licking her hands. I guess she was thirsty from the free sand samples! After about fifteen minutes of floating, our beach babe almost dozed off! I think this girl understands what vacations are all about! Watching Addison perched upon that bright pink float in that beautiful blue-green water was such a Kodak moment.

By the second day, Addison had to admit to herself that sand isn't so palatable so instead she devoted her time to sifting, pouring and rubbing sand over her skin. Well it's never too soon to learn the benefits of exfoliating!

During those two days at the beach, I couldn't help but think about how far we've come as a family. My thoughts bounced between wondering what Addison would be doing if she were still in Ethiopia, to wondering what Aaron and I would be doing if we didn't have this darling girl in our life. But there's one thing I know for sure. Florida's beaches are wonderful, but watching Addison discover new things brings pure sunshine into our lives regardless of where we are.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Ethiopia Celebrates their Millennium!

Miss Addison took part in a very important celebration last week. She was in the mix celebrating Ethiopia’s Millennium. O.K., so I’m about a week late with this post, but I wanted to share a report from the BBC News in Addis Ababa explaining why Ethiopia is just now celebrating their millennium. People in Ethiopia celebrated the New Year on September 12th. It was the start of the year 2000 and the beginning of millennium celebrations. The reason why they are celebrating more than seven years after the rest of the world is rooted in Ethiopian history and in the beliefs of its own Christian Orthodox Church. Educated Ethiopians live comfortably in two calendars. Prior to September 12, it was still 1999. However, there is the complication caused by the leap years in the two calendars being out of sync. But even if they are quite at home with the Western calendar, Ethiopians show no sign of wanting to abandon their own. Thirteen months is part of their national identity, not to mention allowing their tourist industry to boast that they can offer visitors 13 months of sunshine.
The short 13th month is just one of the tell-tale signs that Ethiopians took their calendar from ancient Egypt. Another is the date of New Year, originally linked to the annual flood which brought new life to the Nile Valley. But none of this explains why the millennium is seven years late; why Ethiopians think that it is 2000 and not 2007 years since the birth of Christ. Conservative culture Ahmed Zakaria, professor of history at Addis Ababa University says the reason is that the Roman Church amended their calculation in 500 AD - adjusting it by seven or eight years. The Patriarch says Ethiopia became isolated from Europe"So we are seven or eight years later than the Roman calculation, so that's the difference that came in." The recalculation of the birth of Christ was just the first of a number of changes in the rest of the world which the Ethiopian church ignored. It is partly because the country was so remote and isolated, but also, says the current patriarch, Abuna Paulos I, because Ethiopian Christians are intensely conservative. "People are not inclined for any reformations, especially when it comes to religion. "They are very much loyal - to change one sentence is a betrayal as far as they are concerned."So because of this, they have been isolated. They have been loyal to their faith and they have maintained their own traditions." So there you have it. Happy Millennium Ethiopia!

Above are photos of Addison celebrating the Millennium at Meskerem - a great Ethiopian restaurant. In the first photo, she's enjoying the attention of two waitresses. In the next one, she's doing what she does best...striking a pose for the camera.