Pictures from Halloween to today!

It's 2010!

So I'm WAAAAAY behind on blogging and there is a LOT to update on Zaleeya and her current developments! I am now making a commitment that I will post ONCE a month. I wanted this to be a great scrapbook for Zaleeya someday... so I need to post regularly!

I am very very happy to report that she is doing SO WELL! I had our final adoption court date on January 13th where she got her teddy bear from the Judge (that we have aptly named "Judge"). In general, sleep has been much much better in the last few months. She is talking up a storm and starting to really form a personality. Most of her adoption behavior patterns that we used to see all the time (sitting in moms laps, trying to get the rooms attention, hugging other kids to death, stealing toys etc) are all under control and she is simply now just a normal, sometimes defiant, 2 year old who loves her parents and generally loves all people!

I will post a separate blog entry with pictures that can sum up the last few months, but here is a bullet point list of Zaleeya's favorite things/actions/people etc:

We went to visit Santa in December and since her sentences were still developing at that time I prompted her to tell Santa she wanted "princesses" for Christmas. Of course when Santa asked, out of nowhere, Zaleeya said "Shoes!". Go figure

We visited Vancouver for the holidays and she did VERY well with sleep in a new place. She napped at least an hour a day and 11-12 hours at night. The interesting part was that all 3 of us were sleeping the same room, something that Azeem and I were somewhat nervous about. But she managed to sleep well at night in her playpen. She threw no major tantrums, loved to play with her cousins Amina, Inara, Jayden and most of all just fell in love with ZAHID BHA! ("Bha" means brother)!

Getting back to sleep patterns after Vancouver took a few days of tough love, but eventually in the month of January we somehow settled into a sleep pattern of 1.5 to 2 hour naps! Mama is just such a happy woman.

Vancouver really spurred on an onslaught of new words and phrases. Now she speaking full sentences and loves to point to us and say "That's my mommy, that's my daddy". I love it when she tells me her glasses are "upside down". And I'm always impressed when she asks for "Mayai" and then asks for "Egg" which both mean the same thing in 2 different languages. Quite smart!

She continues to show an affinity for music and just LOVED watching Pink's Grammy rendition of her her favorite song of ALL time the "LaLa" song (Glitter in the Air). She now asks Daddy to sing "Papapeche Mode's'" "People are People" before night night and can recognize their songs when they come on. She also will immediately recognize Lady Gaga and loves her some Alicia Keys. Golly the girl has taste!

Barbie Shoes and pink sunglasses are her prized possessions. Yes, she is a girly girl.

Elmo seems to still be the only TV show that attacks her for long periods of time. Fine by us.

Food continues to get a little pickier... fruits and veggies are tough and crackers RULE. She still makes a bit of a mess when she eats but it's usually because she knows it makes Mommy mad.

She LOVES to talk on the phone. It's still a random conversation, but she looks cute and sounds cute doing it.

MommiYA! DaddiYA! ZaleeYA! ZiggYA! This is her favorite rhyming game.

Every night before we leave the room we have to sing happy birthday to someone, anyone, and sometimes anyTHING. It's a nice way to remember the people we might have met that day.

She continues to be very social around all our friends and family. She has a few favorite people that she loves to ask about, which is fun because now we'll just call them on the phone. And she is now a bit cautious around new people which we love because it signals to us that she is attached. She is a joy (and sometimes a terrible two year old) but in general she is just becoming more and more, OURS. :)