Lack of Posts

I've had a lot of ideas blog post ideas rolling around in my head, but haven't put any of them on my blog.  Since I need to start somewhere, I'll start with some updates.

We have a remodel project going on in our house right now.  We're putting down new flooring in our kitchen and dining room, pulling out the slider in the dining room and putting in a window, then painting both the dining room and kitchen.  Dave has about 1/3 of the flooring down in the kitchen and it really looks nice.  It's a laminate flooring that looks like ceramic.  Less expensive than ceramic and shouldn't be easily damaged by dogs and kids. 

We also had to replace our refrigerator.  Our old one hadn't worked well for several years.  It was freezing things in the refrigerator, the seal around the freeze door was going bad and it was leaking water.  It was about 16 years old and not worth putting 100's of dollars into it.  We are now the proud owners of a Samsung side-by-side refrigerator with all kinds of electronic controls for ice, water, energy saving, etc., etc.  It's a nice refrigerator, but may be smarter than I am :-) 

I'm in planning mode.  Dave and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary in November and decided that we wanted to take a cruise.  We won't be cruising in November though as it was kind of a last minute decision and because we wanted to invite some people to come along and help us celebrate the milestone.  I haven't decided on the exact cruise yet, but we'll most likely set sail the end of January or beginning of February.  We've cruised one other time and absolutely loved it.  Of course that cruise was B.L.A.N. (before Lili and Naomi) so it will have a different dynamic, but we absolutely loved cruising and can't wait to go again.

I'm also working on the next TAFRU, which is being held in Chicago.  Not a lot of planning to do right now, other than finding a hotel with decent rates (somewhat challenging in Chicago), but am excited about the event next summer.

The other planning I've done recently is our trip to Southern California.  My niece is getting married on the 22nd of this month.  Unfortunately, Dave has to go on a business trip that same week, so the girls and I will be flying into Orange County a couple days before the wedding and then daddy will join us the morning of the 22nd so at least we'll be able to attend the wedding together.  We couldn't very well make this trip without also visiting Disneyland, so we'll spend a couple days with Mickey and the gang before heading back home.  I also hope to meet up with some fellow Toukoul adoptive families for dinner one evening.  It will be a jam packed trip, but one I'm very much looking forward to.

Now, onto the girls.

Lili started pre-school last month and absolutely loves it.  Her teacher told me this morning that she is the only one in the class that consistently tries to write their name.  I taught her to write her name over the summer and fortunately L-i-l-i is a pretty easy name for a 3 year old.  However, being the independent child that she is, she doesn't want me to help her with her name and now spells it L-i-i-l.  At least she has the right letters even if they aren't in the correct order :-)

I'm also told that Lili makes her teachers laugh every day she's at school.  She is a funny little girl with a good sense of humor, so it doesn't surprise me.  My concern is that we may have a budding class clown on our hands and that could spell trouble down the road, but for now it sure is cute!

Lili still loves books, play-doh, coloring, and painting.  She also loves being outside and especially loves playing in the sandbox and swinging.  She can swing high on her glider and is trying to figure out how to pump her legs to keep herself going on the swing, but hasn't quite accomplished it yet.  I'm sure she'll be swinging high before we know it.  Her other loves are music and dancing.  I asked her last night if she wanted me to sign her up for a dance class and got an enthusiastic "YEAH."  Guess I should be looking for a dance instructor who is ready for Lili :-)

Lili's language is awesome.  Granted, she's almost 3 1/2 years old and should have good language skills at this point, but it is still amazing to know how much her language has developed over the last year and even over the last six months. 

Lili is mommy's helper.  She loves to help me bake, dust, wash windows and do laundry.  For a matter-of-fact, I can't dust or wash windows without her help.  She also likes to wash dishes, although her definition of washing dishes is quite different from mine.  Hers looks a lot like playing in the water, but she assures me that she's washing dishes.

Our challenge with Ms. Lili right now is her melt-downs.  I was concerned that she may have some attachments sensitivities, but after discussing it with our social worker and doing further research I think the true cause is that she is simply a strong-willed child.  My research also strongly indicates that her melt-downs are very normal for 3 year olds, even though they seem pretty over-the-top to us.  They occur when she is not allowed to 'get her way,' and not every time she doesn't get her way.  Primarily they happen when she's tired (mornings before she's completely woken up, prior to nap or after an incomplete nap and prior to bedtime).  Again, not necessarily everyday during those times, but when they happen, those are the times they tend to happen.  Fun times with a 3 year old.

Naomi is really blossoming lately.  She is almost 16 months old now and has been walking for a couple months.  She has also discovered a love of climbing.  She regularly climbs up on Lili's step stools in the bathrooms and last night managed to climb onto the couch using daddy's legs to get herself up there.  I regularly catch her hiking her leg up onto a piece of furniture as she tries to figure out how to get up onto it.  She has taken a few tumbles in her attempts, but that hasn't stopped her from trying again.

Naomi's speech is starting to take off as well.  I've been trying to keep a list of words, but it seems that everyday she's saying a new word that doesn't get added to the list.  Granted, most wouldn't be understood by anyone other than mommy and daddy (sometimes not understood by daddy), but she's really interested in talking and turning into quite a chatterbox.  Here is a list of words I regularly hear.

ni-ni = night night
yi-yi = Lili
ayah = Jada
dada = daddy
mama = mommy
wa = water
e-i-e-i = singing Old McDonald Had a Farm
yigh = light

Her respective language is what truly has been amazing to me lately.  It was the same for Lili, but just knowing that English was not the language she heard for the first 9 months of her life and having her appropriately responded to questions and requests boggles my mind. 

Naomi has started showing her independent side recently.  She would rather climb up the stairs then be carried.  I gave her a fork and her plate a  couple weeks ago so she could start working on her feeding skills.  As a result, she now hates to be fed and will actually throw a mini tantrum if I try to feed her.  It's okay at home, but a bit more challenging in a restaurant.  Oh well!  She also weaned herself from the bottle.  She just wanted to drink out of a cup like Lili, which made it pretty easy on mommy. 

Naomi loves books and will consistently bring books for us to read to her.  She also thinks it is great fun to color, but only for very short periods of time.  Apparently she enjoys the crayons more in her mouth than on the paper, so I'm finding other avenues that will allow her to express her artistic side.  Travel size Magna Doodles have worked well so far. 

Unlike Lili, Naomi is showing an interest in dolls and stuffed animals.  Lili is just starting to play with dolls a little bit and I think that is only because the girls at school play with the dolls in the classroom.  Naomi, on the other hand, will pick up dolls or stuffed animals and shows them love by giving them kisses and hugs.  Naomi also loves to hug and kiss Jada and Lexie, which is really cute.  If only I would have the camera ready, maybe I could get a good picture of her showing love to her doggies.

Naomi continues to be a good sleeper.  If our schedule would permit, she would still take a morning nap and many times does get in a short nap while we're out and about in the mornings.  By afternoon she is really tired and typically takes at least a 2 hour nap and still sleeping 10-12 hours at night. 

I think that pretty much covers the updates for now and I'll do my best to post some new pictures in the next few days.