6 months later

Last Sunday we celebrated 6 months of being a family of four! It seems like we have always been a family. Rita's transition has been beyond anything we ever hoped for.

In celebration of our 6 month anniversary I am doing a post. Yes, I've been a total slacker with posting. I've been busy with 2 very active girls!

Obviously I can't post all the amazing things that have happened in 6 months so I am going to talk a bit about Rita's personality.

She is happy, happy, happy! She is sunshine-on-a-stick! She is the most joyous person I have ever met. When she wakes up in the morning she gets so excited about identifying everyone in the family. She points to herself and says "Reeee-aah!" Then she does mommy, daddy and Lucy. And she laughs, laughs, laughs! Then she does it all again.

Rita has been going to daycare 1 or 2 days a week. It took her a while to get used to it, but now she loves it. I think her favorite thing about school is singing songs. She gets VERY excited about singing! She sings "Twinkle Twinkle," "ABCs," "Wheels on the Bus," and "Moon, Moon, Moon." She REALLY likes "Moon, Moon, Moon."

When we pick her up from school she gets crazy excited to see us! I've never seen anyone get so excited about anything! Hugs, kisses, more hugs and kisses! She squeals "mommy!" over and over. Even 6 months later she still gets that excited to see us. It's awesome.

She is becoming quite a talker. And eater! She is a two-fisted eater. She gets ridiculously excited about food, junk food in particular. She is finally starting to try some vegatables as well as a bigger variety of fruits, but she would eat nothing but chips and candy if we let her.

Her first full English sentance was "I want more." That was quickly followed by "Lucy did it." She blames her sister for everything. Her 3rd sentance was "Mommy tooted." I have no idea why.

One of my favorite things is putting her to bed. We have about 30 - 40 minutes of uninterupted Rita-Mommy time. She loves to read "boops." We have fun reading the Sandra Boynton books. Then she likes to play "Patty Cake" and "Peekaboo." Then we sing songs. Lots and lots of songs. When we finally get to singing "Billy Boy" she lays her head on my shoulder and starts to go to sleep.

When we first got home from China I could put her in her crib and walk away. She would put herself to sleep without any books or games or singing. I guess I "untaught" her to put herself to bed but it is totally worth it. We have the best time at night-night.

Lucy and Rita are awesome sisters. They play and they fight. Rita is very physical and defintely has the upper hand. We are teaching Lucy how to dodge a direct hit. Lucy loves to dance, and it is very funny to watch Rita try to mimic her every move.

Rita also mimics everything she hears. She loves to "God bless us"after we sneeze. She's very quick with a "please" and "thank you." and "you're welcome." We haven't intentionally taught her any of this - she just repeats whatever she hears. With gusto.

Its been an amazin 6 months. It truly feels like she has been in our family forever. She is the perfect addition. I really, really want to post more pictures but can't get the blog to do what i want it to do. *sigh*

Thanks for reading. Maybe I'll post again in another 6 months.