I can't even begin to describe how lucky and blessed I am. There is a lot wrong with my life currently, but adopting that little girl was the best gift ever (even if it's driving us to the poor house) Baby J is now 27.5 months and the growth I've seen in her the past couple weeks has been amazing. Last week she finally stopped crying at daycare when I drop her off. She still has to be handed to someone, but she now tells me bye and knows "mommy go to work" and "mommy be back in a minute."Not only can I drop her off there with a little more piece of mind, but she
has started to talk at daycare. Despite the fact that she talks nonstop at home, she wasn't really talking at daycare and now they are being blown away by her vocabulary. And she's starting to finally remember some names from there. She is also doing so well at rehearsals. She plays with the high school kids, actually will let them hold her, and has even let me leave the room. And she talks a lot to them. There are moments still where she is hanging on me and refuses to get off, but I finally can do a few things without her hanging on me. Every day when we leave she kisses the dog goodbye and when we get home she hugs and kisses the cat. It's so cute.
Baby J mostly dresses herself now and refuses to let me help with her shoes. She uses the potty and mostly stays dry (but still doesn't know when she is going poo). And while we still have tantrums and fits, they are becoming farther and fewer in between and because she is using her words better, I almost always know exactly why she is upset....usually something like she lost her piece of tape. Her early childhood appointments are going well and the lady even said she is ahead in her independence. She is still standing on tippy toes a lot and that one leg crosses in. It is so much fun to see her start to really pretend play and to love on our
animals. The cat finally stays out almost all the time and even beats up on the dogs sometimes. She has started to pretend play more with her baby, read books aloud to herself, and has imaginary animals in the house ---mostly a lion that she so badly wants to pet. She is very consistent on that--wants to pet a lion, wants to ride a horse. She now will swim a few feet on her own and she climbs on everything...and out of everything. That girl can not be contained.
The last couple of weeks have been so busy with the show starting and school and other things, but Baby J is handling it like a champ. I know she is tired and I was sooooooooo happy to be home tonight and sent her off to bed early. While most nights have now become a constant stall to go to sleep, tonight she went right to bed. She is the queen of staying awake --mostly now using hugs and kisses and "I love you mommy" to stay awake longer. 
Every day I'm still blown away by the words she is using--mainly because she now uses them in conversations. We have had our first big argument--she wanted to go to the football game, I needed to go to rehearsal. lol. She copies books like crazy. For a few weeks we weren't getting in books like we had been and I noticed that it affected her behavior. When we read books regularly she behaves better and there are less tantrums. So we now regularly go to the local library and get new books to read and make it a point to sit down and read them.
While I did basically reach the goal of no tv till 2, I was trying to hard to continue that. And I thought I wouldn't buy electronics for her, but at rehearsal I so badly need her to be occupied and she was going to break my school computer...so I got a little dvd player and she can now watch dvds there at school. Thankfully she doesn't really care to watch for very long. Every once in a while we watch a movie, but she doesn't really watch to much and the nights we have rehearsals that is the only place she watches. So while I feel bad she is watching more, I know she isn't getting very much and it's very limited on what she can watch----mostly educational.
I wish we were more financially stable (her adoption really put me VERY far in debt and I can't seem to get out of it-so buy YL essential oils from me or have a party---cause I have no time to get another job), I'm so happy I get to spend time with her and watch her grow. She amazes me everyday and watching how quickly she learns is spectacular. She is so smart and loving and fun. She is the most polite 2 year old I've ever known, saying thank you to everything, even when she is upset. Today I heard her say god bless you a bunch. The best feeling though is the moments when she randomly says Josie happy or I love you mommy. I hope I can continue to be the mother she deserves cause that little girl is a miracle that deserves the world.
