Oh Goodness .... so where do I start. The montage above depicts our first two weeks together. It's a bit long, but I'm always purchasing these dvd's so I guess I'm packing them all up with pics and video to get my money's worth ... lol...
We've been home for two weeks now and it's been amazing .... like a dream, like a miracle .... Hanna is absolutely wonderful and like she's always been here with us. Sorry for not blogging so much, but for those of you who have been where we are now, I know you understand how crazy busy it can get.
So here are some updates:1. Hanna's starting to pick up English so fast .... and Jalen has picked up Amharic just as fast.
2. She eats just about anything Jalen eats ... but her favorite right now is scrambled eggs with onions and cheese and bread and butter on the side with warm 'tschai' = tea.
3. She's been on our sleeping schedule since Wednesday ... three days after getting home. I was amazed.
4. No bed-wetting accidents yet ... not even on the plane ride home.
5. The first week we were all home on spring break. The second - last week - Jalen would go to school and every day we'd drop him off, Hanna would cry that she wanted to go to school too. I planned on being home till 5 May, but with her WANTING to go to school I may not be out that long. I'll blog more about how school is going in another post. Today however was the first day .... so we'll see ... about one and a half hour within drop off, I called the school and they said she was fine. She was so happy this morning ... everything was to her liking ... which is not always the case ... she's very opinionated about the clothes she wears, hair-style and hair accessories ... but today she was satisfied with everything and was so proud and happy. After we packed her snack box together she said "beka Mama, beka" meaning enough enough ... aparently I was packing too many snacks and drinks. But once done she took my hand and kissed it and said "Thank you, Mama!" .... she is an angel ... most of the time .... she will definately know what she wants .... and if she doesn't get it she'll pout for a few seconds ... no more long crying spells of not getting her way. I was nervous about this morning because she was so happy to go to school, which made me think "didn't you have fun with Mama at home?" but by the time it was time for me to leave she clung to me and started crying ... I let the teacher take over, but peaked through the window to see what's happening. All the children were around her with the teacher and soothed her, talked to her and about 7 minutes in she stopped crying and was following the teacher's directions .... this little girl is so smart ... amazing.
6. Hanna counts to 20 in English. We started this in Ethiopia every time we'd wash hands. Jalen counts to 10 in Amharic ... his sister taught him that.
7. Hanna's favorite saying: "NOOOOO Mama ... noooooooo" ..... whenever she doesn't agree with something or if I didn't quite get the first time what she was trying to convey to me.
8. Jalen's favorite word to Hanna "Aydelem ashangulit" = no toy ...... now Hanna's walking around the house every so often saying "aydelem ashangulit" and giggling .... it's probably funny to her the way we say it ... our accents maybe, but she gets a kick out of it.
9. The big doctor's appointment is on 12 April at the adoption clinic in Birmingham, AL. We've been to the pediatrician on base 4th day of being back and she did very well ... showed Dr. Jones all her "kusil"s = auweee's which we've been treating. I'm talking about the mollescum she's had .... which by the way has healed VERY well ... and also about her couple of ringworm spots which are also gone on her hand ... have healed very well with just the antifungal cream.
10. She loves combing her dolls hair and giving them hair-do's and she loves riding in Jalen's old stroller when we walk through the neighborhood to go to the "konjo wuha"= the pretty water .... a little pond with a sprinkling fountain in the middle ... it's so peaceful and nice out there .... she loves it.
11. She's absolutely terrified of dogs ... even little bitty lap doggies .... but I kinda already expected that .... we don't have pets but the neighbors do.
12. She loves the trampuline and she loves "the princess and the frog" movie ... her favorite word out of that movie is "faldi faldonza" .... what Naveen the frog says when Tiana just turned into a frog.
***A couple of other fun facts about my amazing little girl - since I'm such a proud momma - and facts I forgot to initially share in my post are:
- this little girl knows her name - Nyla Hanna Johnson - even though we call her "Hanna" or "Hannie" or "Hannie Bunnie" and I didn't even teach it to her. The first week while her and Jalen were home they were playing a lot of hide and go seek. They'd hide and I'd seek. So I used the opportunity and called both of them all the time by their whole name: Jalen Miles Johnson, Nyla Hanna Johnson ... where are you .... and we'd play and play and play until one day she understood someone asking her "what's your name?" and she said: "Nyla Hanna Johnson" ... I was so proud of her.
- Whenever she does something good and she's proud of herself and I forget to tell her "koraubish" = I'm so proud of you .... she'll sure remind me by saying "Mama .... I'm so proud of you" ... in English mind you .... she sure is something else .... so of course I tell her and then she'd say "Mama .... forgot" ....
- She also knows her ABCs now ... she already knew some from Ethiopia but after G she'd mess up ..... how she learned it the right way? She's been playing with her Tag .... particularly the 'Dora Goes to School' book and on one of the pages when she touches Dora on the school bus she'll start singing the ABCs .... well, my little girl's been playing that over and over and over while singing along and now she knows the whole ABC song WITHOUT messing up ..... she is so absorbant of everything .... and willing and eager to learn .... so amazing .... It truly amazes me to watch her grow in so many ways in such a short time.
- Also her relationship with Geno (her Dada) has gotten much better. It has always been good, but it has been one where she'd treat him like a playmate ... which he is ... he plays with her so much but when she'd tell her to do something she wouldn't do it .... she wouldn't listen .... she'd play and play with him but would not recognize him as an authority figure ...... Well, to my amazement that has also improved ..... I told her today: Hanna, Dada Hanna's abatish ... Hanna listen to Dada ... ishi... ok ..... and she gave me that "No Mama" look but then she listened and both Geno and I told her: Turu Hanna .... Hanna betam betam turu and gobez! She started smiling. When Geno gets home from work she'll jump on him and kiss him all over and be so happy .... and for a while she'll have ONLY eyes and attention for him .... I love it how their relationship is growing .... she is starting to be a Dada's girl now too.
- Speaking of kisses .... she's been a Mama's girl right from the beginning .... she'd kiss and hug me and kiss and hug me and we'd sleep all cuddled and hugged up all night ... I love how affectionate she is .... in the beginning she had long crying spells (probably aside from not always getting her way and accepting 'no' for an answer, she was probably grieving too) so I'd swaddle her up in her blankey, roch her, kiss her, sing to her (she knows the song now by heart: it's that beautiful song from "The Prince of Egypt" that the mother sings to baby Moses as she's putting the basket with him in it on the river ..... she's LOVED that song from the first time I sang it to her and now that has become "our" song - just a thing between me and her) ..... and eventually she'd stop crying and start hugging and kissing on me all over and tell me "I love you Mama" .... well, in the beginning, especially in Ethiopia I would tell her "Woodishallo Hanna .... betam woodishallo" (I love you Hanna, I love you very much) and she'd ALWAYS answer "hulem woodishallo" (I'll always love you) ... the first few times this has happened I had gotten so teary eyed. Now she tells me in English she loves me .... she hasn't said it in Amharic anymore .... I truly miss that .... but I knew it was bound to happen .... eventually and unfortunately she'll loose her Amharic.
- When it comes to the relationship between her and Jalen it's like a roller coaster .... they play together well, then they fight (verbally) and tattle-tell on each other over some toy and that's how it goes all day ... but at the end of the day .... in bed at night they kiss and hug and she would kiss all over him ... his face, his hand, his eyes ..... and he'd kiss her back, but not as many kisses as she gives him ... and every day on the ride to school they kiss and cuddle and are nice to each other and before we leave Jalen in his classroom either he or she initiates a goodbye kiss on the cheek ..... it's so cute to watch them when they get along ..... and so exhausting to watch them when they don't ...... but I guess that's just how it is between siblings. All in all, I'm very proud of both of them ... they both had a huge adjustment to deal with .... and they're doing good .... as good as can be expected of a 5 year old and a 4 year old ..... I think the biggest thing right now between them is a little bit .... even if just a little bit ... the language barrier ... sometimes they misunderstand each other and I have to act as the mediator to explain what the other one meant to say ..... I am convinced once there's no more language barrier at all .... there will be less misunderstandings which might lead to less fussing and arguing with each other .... well, this might be wishfully thinking .... we'll see.
Anyway, I'm probably forgetting something .... but so far it's been AMAZING .... She is absolutely a dream come true .... a beautiful child in and out ... my WONDERFUL DAUGHTER!!!
Before going to the Wallmart with Dada to pick up pool-cleaning materials ..... and of course .... toys ..... Jalen got some Ben 10 watch that day that he wanted and she got Disney-Belle teapot set she liked ..... we try to keep the toys we get on a Wallmart run below $15.oo .... it's priceless though to see their happy faces ....:) ....
She loves and kisses her dolls all the time. She calls them 'Mimi' ... all of them ... and tells me sometimes that she is their mother .... she is something else .... my little girl!!!! Exactly the way I dreamed and hoped she would be ..... how could I have gotten so lucky is beyond me!!!! But who am I to question God's amazing plan for us!
It was in the 70's this day, but this little girl discovered some gloves in one of her drawers so she told me: "Mama, Hanna beredesh" = Hanna's cold .... and she put the gloves on.
After the playground - while waiting for dinner - I had them snack on some apples and watch tv. This is one of those quiet, no running around, no fussing, no bickering precious moments I just had to capture.
On the ride home from the playground, Hanna fell asleep first while Jalen was playing on his Nintendo, but soon after when looking back, this is what I saw ... both of them knocked out.
Hanna copies everything Jalen does ... which I'm glad ... accept for coping the bad things he does too, or those things he knows better than to do them ..... oh well, kids .... right .... but I wouldn't have it any other way ... these two are my life ... I love them both so much!
Before heading out for a stroll through the neighborhood to go to the "konjo wuha" = the pretty water ..... a pond in our neighborhood I discovered she likes going to .... we sing all the way to there and once there she likes me to park her at the end of the pier surrounded by a fence and she likes to comb her doll and give her hair-do's ..... I love this activity with her, it's so peaceful out there during the day .... everybody's at work and all kids are probably in school .... so it's just us, the water and the fountain in the middle ...... beautiful!!!
Jalen pushing his sissie around in his old stroller - so glad I kept it, she fits in it perfectly.
One other thing she loves is posing and taking pictures herself on the toy camera.
... oh yes, and bubbles .... she loves blowing bubbles ....
My silly silly boy.
She was a bit apprehensive at first to slide down, but after the first try she kept doing it over and over again ... and seemed to love it. That's typical of how she is with foods too .... she'll look at new foods she hasn't tried yet with disgust but as soon as she sees her brother start eating she'll try it and then she'll say "itafta Mama" .... see, I told you it's good my silly silly Hanna-Girl ... to which she would reply "my silly silly mama girl" ...
Sliding down together at the McDonald's indoor playground. She loves playing at the McDonald's more than she likes the food .... but she's started to eat her Cheeseburger, and seems to like the fries even better. This little girl is like a dream: she doesn't like McDonald's food and cries to go to school ...... crazy, huh .... I love it .... I know in time she'll forget these good qualities a child should have and will start liking McDonald's like every kid and not wanting to go to school like most kids I know ..... and definately Jalen ... he'd rather be home any day than go to school.
Jalen pushing his sissie around in his old stroller - so glad I kept it, she fits in it perfectly.
One other thing she loves is posing and taking pictures herself on the toy camera.
... oh yes, and bubbles .... she loves blowing bubbles ....
My silly silly boy.
She was a bit apprehensive at first to slide down, but after the first try she kept doing it over and over again ... and seemed to love it. That's typical of how she is with foods too .... she'll look at new foods she hasn't tried yet with disgust but as soon as she sees her brother start eating she'll try it and then she'll say "itafta Mama" .... see, I told you it's good my silly silly Hanna-Girl ... to which she would reply "my silly silly mama girl" ...
Sliding down together at the McDonald's indoor playground. She loves playing at the McDonald's more than she likes the food .... but she's started to eat her Cheeseburger, and seems to like the fries even better. This little girl is like a dream: she doesn't like McDonald's food and cries to go to school ...... crazy, huh .... I love it .... I know in time she'll forget these good qualities a child should have and will start liking McDonald's like every kid and not wanting to go to school like most kids I know ..... and definately Jalen ... he'd rather be home any day than go to school.
