Almaz and Alex update

Alex and Almaz are both such a delight.

First, Alex:
he is doing amazingly well with communicating his feelings and what frustrates him. There have been several stretches of time where he has gotten pretty aggressive and hits/bites/scratches me when he feels angry/frustrated/jealous. Obviously, this part of parenting is extremely difficult. Most of these most-recent actions came a few weeks before his birthday and a week or so after. We have an appointment in a few weeks with a post-adoption therapist from Children's Home Society to talk about his behaviour and to give us some good ways to respond. The past couple of weeks, however, we have seen a great improvement in his ability to handle his emotions and impulse control. In fact, we've even heard him say a number of times, "I've learned that it is not okay to hit or bite."

Alex also has mastered his balance bike so now when we are on walks and he is riding he can get away from me pretty quickly. I've been teaching him why this is dangerous so now he is curious about who is a stranger, who is a nice stranger, and who is a not-nice stranger. He asked our mail carrier yesterday if she is a stranger!

I've also discovered that I can get him to move and eat quickly if it is a race. He is determined to beat everyone. There is definitely a competitive spirit in him!

And now, Almaz:
Such a sweet sweet girl. She has become desperately clingy to her mom, her babies and her blanket. She talks a big game about her daddy, though! Lately whenever I say, "who loves you?" she says, "My daddy." And then I say, "who else loves you?" trying to get her to say "momma" and she says, "My daddy." She also walks around the house and says, "Daddy, whereareyou?" (all one word). She does great around Grant if I'm not visible, but as soon as she sees me or knows I am in the house it's like her world is coming to an end, "momma, momma, momma!" She has begun imitating me and loves nothing more than to have her highchair pushed up to the kitchen sink to help with dishes or to help with sweeping (we have a short broom) after meals.

She has always enjoyed music. From the first day we met her she would "sing" along with me. She now, however, is really trying to sing! It is very cute as she is now catching a word or two of each line I sing in many of our favorite songs. In the past week her words have really taken off too. She is definitely coming up with names for things and once she has a word she uses it over and over again.

I have been nervous about trying to braid and style Almaz's hair since she is so squirmy. Thankfully, about six weeks ago when I picked Almaz up from the childcare at the gym, the front of her hair was in braids! One of the Ethiopian nice ladies (as we call them) at the gym, Memena, has styled Almaz's hair once (sometimes twice) a week since then. I still plan on learning how to do this, but it is such a wonderful treat that someone else who is so fast at braiding can do her hair while Almaz is so young and impatient.

That's all for now! Thanks for catching up with us!
Anna

Almaz and Tarike. Tarike was adopted from Ethiopia at the same time as Almaz and she and her parents live just a mile from us!

Her punk hair-do.

Alex in the tub. It is so tough to get a picture of a moving target! I suppose I need to take pictures of him when he is asleep.