Zaleeya Turns TWO!

Hello! It's Zaleeya's second birthday today, our first with her and we celebrated with a fun filled day of activities that she enjoys (books, playing in the pool, crackers, balloons, stickers, bubbles)! We plan to do a big celebration later in September with the whole family, so today was a lot of mommy and little Z time. :) Pics from the day are littered in the post.

Things continue to go incredibly well as we start to move past the adoption issues and into "normal" parenthood. Moving to Ladera has been a huge help to making us feel comfortable about our new roles, and keeping Zaleeya active with other kids her age. Here is the update...

Her weight continues to increase and she is a pretty good eater on most days. Teething has calmed and her fork/spoon control has improved. She still loves rice and crackers the best. I've kept her away from most sugary stuff and was happy to see her barely interested in the cupcakes that were offered her today! She is not about 21 lbs and looks much healthier than ever.

I am so happy to see many of our attachment

behavioral issues resolving. My favorite change is when we walk into a new situation and she clings to my skirt for a short time (under 5 mins). Soon thereafter she is off and running but those few minutes make me feel confident that she really knows where her "safety net". The grabbing of toys out of other kids hands in getting less and sitting in other moms laps is better too. However she is, and probably always be a very "touchy feely" child and super friendly. Most other kids don't react well to her when she tries to hug and kiss them but she is learning to be "gentle" in her love. :)

She has become quite attached to her stuffed animals since the sleep training process which I know is very healthy and normal. Now, during our bedtime routine, we must be holding: pepe, monkey, doggy, googoo, paula, and blankie all at once! Again it's wonderful to see her developing habits and comforts that represent her attachment to her "home".

SLEEP is amazing! Now after the routine we put her down and walk out of the room with hardly ever ANY crying! She talks herself to sleep in usually under 15 mins and wakes up talking to herself usually about 12 hours later. IT IS GLORIOUS!! Nap however still is an issues. Since her nighttime sleep got better, nap has been averaging 45 mins. Grrrr for mommy

who barely has time to get anything

done! However I really can't complain after all we've been through. It has made a huge differe

nce in all of our lives.

She is talking up a storm! This week's full sentence was "Ziggy Take It Outside". We are counting to three, we know all the names of the characters on Seseme Street and we love to say NO! She loves people and really knows the names of all the people in her life (there are a lot!). We have a few cousin babysitters now ("uby" for Ruby and "eesha" for Neesha and "ofia" for Sofia) As she falls asleep she runs through the names of all the people she saw that day. We especially like our new neighbors with a son exactly her age ("Locu" for Logan) who is her favorite playmate.

We have started some "terrible two" stuff with tantrums that feel a little different than her adjustment tantrums. These we can tell are related to her "wanting" something an

d not getting it. Since we feel more comfortable in our roles we now let her cry things out a bit or ignore her when she is acting out. Our biggest challenge in now "hitting", both other kids and us (especially mom). We've started some times outs and removal of privileges (Elmo gets turned off!) and we suspect it will just get better with time.

I must say that personally, I still have moments of "what have I done!" but in general I am settling into a groove. I do enjoy not having to juggle a thousand things at once! I can focus on keeping house and keeping Zaleeya busy. I have launched a new Jewelry business that I can do casually on the side (take a look at http://www.stelladot.com/zeena) and hopefully I'll take some Pilates clients in my new home studio in a few months when we put Zaleeya into a preschool program nearby. Phew I just can't sit still!

Anyhow enjoy the pics and thank you for reading!