3 years old!

June 3, 2011

My Sweet Zoya,

I cannot even believe you are three years old! It seems not so long ago that you were 10 pounds less and 6 inches shorter and just a baby not knowing a thing about love or life. When we brought you home you were a frightened little girl with no opinions of your own. You always behaved yourself in fear of what would happen if you didn't. Your mischievous streak that I love so much was hidden away.  You were pretty lifeless then compared to now. You are a different child in so many ways on this birthday than you were on your last.  You amaze me with how much you've changed in a year.

On your third birthday here is what you're like:

1. You are a girly girl who loves bows and has to wear one every day...if I forget to put one in your remind me. You like to look in the mirror after you get dressed and after I do your hair...you look at yourself, stroke your face and smile while saying your best version of "pretty." Then you look at me and tell me I'm pretty too! You LOVE lip gloss and so delicately put it on your beautiful lips.

2. You're also a little bit of a tom boy too though...you LOVE cars and motorcycles. You don't mind getting dirty and you really enjoy wearing baseball hats....or any sort of hats!

3. You have many opinions. You like to pick your color bow, your snack, how you want to wear your hair, what movie you want to watch, what you want to play with, where you want to sit at the dinner table. You make your opinion known by telling us "sad" if you don't like what you're told to do, or if you're not given a choice in the matter! You are fiercely independent.

4. You love bananas but now you will only eat one if you can hold it yourself. You're a messy eater, but you like to wipe your face too and try to stay clean.

5. You love playing hide-and-seek with Daddy and I upstairs before bedtime. You squeal with delight when we chase you. You love when we jump out of hiding and scare you!

6. You know all your colors, numbers 0-10 and your shapes! You use over 100 signs to communicate with us and about 15 words.  You are so smart and you get so excited when we work on colors and numbers and shapes. You like me to carry the flashcards in my purse so we can look at them when we are out and about!

7. You are wearing pull-ups and are starting to tell mama and daddy when you have to go potty....but you'd also rather keep playing than take a potty break :)

8. You've grown a lot in a year! You are 30 pounds and 36 inches, putting you at the 75th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height (on the DS charts). Your daddy and I think if you keep growing at this rate you will be taller than us! In the past year you've gained six inches and six pounds!

9. Your most ticklish spot is on your back between your shoulder blades....you also giggle uncontrollably when I kiss the back of your neck.

10. You still have a love affair with Elmo....Sid the Science Kid gave Elmo a run for his money this year, but in the end you were loyal to your first love Elmo and he's still your favorite. You love Dora...not so much the show, but anything with Dora on it like an umbrella or hat or backpack. You call her "Dooooo."

11. You enjoy being outside when it's nice out and even when it's not. You don't mind thunderstorms, in fact you seem so relaxed and sleep in such a deep sleep when it rains and thunders, just like me.

12. You sweat A LOT just like your Daddy. I don't know how you did it wearing all those layers in the orphanage because you're warm all the time!

13. You still love music just as much as ever. Your favorite song on the radio is "Hey Baby" by PitBull. Your favorite (child-appropriate song haha) is ABC's. You like trying to sign each letter of the alphabet with the song. Itsy-bitsy-spider is also one of your favorites.

14. You like to grab Daddy's face with your chubby little fingers and lay a big wet kiss on him while he is holding you.

15. You love asking Daddy for piggy back rides and you like riding on his shoulders.

16. You still wake up happy as ever every single day. You smile at Daddy and I like you just won the lottery when we walk in to get you in the morning.

17. Your pink heart-shaped pillow is your comfort item and you have to have it to go to sleep at night or when you are feeling sad.

18. Your favorite foods are veggie straws, pretzels with peanut butter, green beans, and cheese sticks.

19. You enjoy playing ball with Mya and ask at least 3 times a day for ball, you say it so nice bbb-aaa-lllll...but sometimes you get mixed up and say blah blah blah and it makes me laugh.

20. You are a night owl and like to sleep in just like your mama. You like sleep just as much as I do!

Sweet girl, on your third birthday I hope you know just how amazing you are. You have a way of brightening even the cloudiest day with your sweet smile, hugs, and kisses. Every single day, you remind Daddy and I what is important in this short life. You've taught us a lot about resiliency, love, trust, and living with reckless abandon. I don't often think about your birth mom except around your birthday...then I think about her a lot. I am so grateful that she chose to give you life. I am sad for her that she is missing our on the beauty you are, but I am deeply thankful that I get to be the one to wake up to your beautiful sunny smile every single day for the rest of our lives together. 3 years ago today you were brought into this world. I have no idea what I was doing the moment your sweet face entered this world.  I have no idea what your birth story is.  I have no idea what your first moments, let alone first years, were like...but none of that matters.  3 years ago today you were given life and that is what matters.  Even though I wasn't there to celebrate with you on that day, I'm here now and will be for the rest of your birthdays.  I am so proud of you. You have changed me in ways you may never understand. You have burrowed into the deepest part of my heart, filling me with more love than I ever knew existed. Happy 3rd Birthday big girl. I can't wait to watch your grow and change even more this year.

Love always and forever...to the moon and back,

Mama

How Old!?!?

I am in denial that my baby is turning 3 tomorrow......

EXHIBIT A:

Yep I sure just came home from the store and proudly showed Shawn the candle I picked up for Zoya's cake.....HA! Forever 2 in my heart :)

Colors Part 3

I posted about Zoya learning her colors HERE  AND HERE. Zoya had a really hard time learning to match two similar items until just recently. You can see her matching the color card to the one that looks the same. It seems like a simple skill but it's not so easy to teach and it wasn't so easy for Zoya to learn...but she's got it down now :) She is able to do the same with her numbers and shapes (I havent posted about shapes yet but she has recently learned the 8 shapes in the preschool prep series). You can see her in the beginning of the video smiling with her cheesy face because she thought I was taking a picture with my phone..she didn't realize I was trying to take a video.

We recently started working on sorting colors into the correct color group.  I've been using little color counters and having her put them on the correct color character on the placemat. Next I will use different colored placemats or bowls and have her try to sort colors that way without using the color characters.

Summertime and the Livin' is Easy...

Add it to the list......

OF THINGS I WILL NEVER ATTEMPT AGAIN.....giving this dog a bath while I am home alone with Zoya....you can't even begin to imagine....

Mya decided to dig in the mud while Zoya and I played in the water table!

Sure it looks cute but if you saw my picture you'd understand just how difficult this task was!!! After I got Mya all wet I realized I had only conditioner and no shampoo for her so she now smells Herbal Essence fresh! My bathroom is soaked, I'm exhausted...but the dog is clean and the Zoya girl is happy!

A much cuter post coming later :)

A Great Weekend

The weather here is FINALLY starting to take a turn for the better :) I love our little city once the weather is nice.  We had a fun filled weekend and soaked up every minute of the sun!  On Saturday we went to the Zoo parade and then stopped by the zoo to ride the carousel at Zoya's nagging   persistent request :) Zoya really enjoyed the parade. It was her first ever parade! She didn't even flinch with the loud Shriner guys on motorcycles doing circles forever. I remember hating that part of parades when I was little because it was so loud! She really liked motorcycles so she enjoyed it. She also liked the therapy dogs who stopped to visit with her!

(This girl has some serious attitude! It looks like she's saying "You wanna take this outside?" LOL)

(clapping for the firetruck)

(kissing the therapy dog)

(she woulda joined the parade if we let her)

After the parade we went to the zoo. Ever since we went a couple weeks ago Zoya has been signing "horse" and "ra ra" for round and round. So we took her and she got to ride twice. She was signing sad when I told her all done. She kept saying "more!" She would ride that thing all day if we let her! It's funny when I think of how she used to be scared of it!  After a stop at home for a nap we took her to the lake for a little bike ride. Uncle Bub got us a bike trailer for Christmas and it was finally nice enough to use it!

It was pretty humorous to see people as they walked or rode by doing double takes with that freaky life-sized baby doll next to her. They must have been thinking what the heck...that baby is not even strapped in!!

I think Zoya enjoyed her weekend. She and I were driving to the grocery store tonight and she said "Mama." I looked in the mirror to see her in her carseat and I said "what baby?" she signed "horse." I told her that we weren't going to the zoo today and she singed "sad." Then her eyes got real big and she signed "bike." And I told her that we weren't riding bikes today, that we were going to the grocery store. She signed "sad" again. I love our little conversations and I love how she is learning to tell us what she wants and tell us how she feels (although she's definitely milking the sad sign because if she gets in trouble now she sings sad and if she doesn't get what she wants now she signs sad and it makes me laugh). I love my little girl!

This weekend I had many perfect moments. As I rode my bike behind Shawn and Zoya I praised God for the gift that these two are in my life. I wondered how I am worthy enough to be so blessed. Zoya has been home over a year now and there are many days I barely think about her orphanage life anymore. I thought it would always be floating in the surface of my thoughts but that is proving not to be the case. These days it's mostly the opposite. No I will never forget where she came from as that is part of her story and part of who she is....BUT lately I've been surprised when the thought that she was an orphan enters my mind....I'm surprised because I truly do forget she hasn't always been mine.  Sometimes I'm like "oh yah...she was an orphan" and then I think to myself "that is so strange."  

I guess that's how you know the healing is underway...when the good memories start to overtake the sad ones.