The Tiana and Zari show: August 2010

So the big news of the last few weeks is that the kids were assigned a permanency worker (read: adoption worker) to their case. We were told that it is likely that DCF will file for Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) in December. We have been asked if we would like to be the adoptive resource for the kids, and of course we said yes. We are trying to temper our excitement because we know things can always change, but it is definitely a good sign for us.

Now for what the kids are doing:

Teanna-
You are talking more and more. You say a lot of 2 and 3 word phrases now. "More snack please" is a common one. When you want a different snack, you say "sing else" for something else. You are so funny with Zari. Now that he grabs things more (like your eyeball) you are very wary of him! When he grabs your face you shout "NOT NICE!" and when he grabs your toys you say "let it go!" One time you even told him "easy, honey!" Some of our favorite words to hear you say are applesauce (just because it sounds cute), pancake (panty-cake), and flower (flaffer). You can sing the ABCs on your own and count to 10, although you sometimes leave out 5 and 6 in order to get to your favorite number SEVEN faster. You are working on your colors, shapes, and animal sounds now. So much to learn! After a couple weeks of boycotting the potty, the other night you went over to the bathroom and said "pee pee potty" and when we sat you down on it, low and behold you peed! It was pretty awesome. You were very proud of yourself and thoroughly enjoyed your M&M.

Zari-
This weekend you will be 8 months! You have almost doubled your weight in the last 4 months. We are anxiously awaiting the day when we can say you have been with us for most of your life. You are still the most smiley, sweet, and cuddly baby. You have finally gotten interested in toys, and your favorite thing is to chew on them. You have a rattle that you love but we need to be careful because you get so excited with it, you inevitably whack yourself in the face with it. You are rolling from front to back and back to front now, but you don't do it very often. Some people would call you lazy, I prefer to say you're "energy efficient". You are getting better at sitting on your own. You can stay sitting for a minute or so but sometimes you fall straight forward onto your head. Instead of crying you just decide to start playing on your tummy. You have finally started letting us sleep at night. After going to bed at 7 you get up once for a bottle around 10/11 and then you sleep until 6:30. We are trying to get you to eat more during the day so you can sleep straight through the night, but you are stubborn!

Teanna turns 2 this Tuesday and we had her birthday party yesterday. The theme was Princess Tiana from Disney's The Princess and the Frog, which she has never seen but is obsessed with nonetheless. Once we started cleaning the house and blowing up the balloons, she totally knew something was up and she was PUMPED. When the guests arrived she got excited about all the presents but she was good about waiting until it was time to open them. Teanna LOVED all her presents! She was very skeptical of the cake (maybe because we've never given her any?) but after she tasted a tiny bite she discovered it was good and ate her whole piece. At that point it was after 8 and she was on the verge of meltdown city from fatigue so the birthday girl bid all her guests "night night" and after prying her new toys from her hands she went to bed.