Weeks 32, 33, 34 of 52 - Picture Overload

I got a little behind on the picture posting...sorry about that (whoever out there even cares!). Life is busy and full and crazy and wonderful and trying and difficult and fun.

Week 32 of 52

2010: 08/06

Just a picture of the Ollie-dog. Used to be all my pix were of the dog...that changed about 2.5 years ago! 2010: 08/07

Skipped nap and passed out about the time I put dinner on the table. Typical.

2010: 08/08
The simple joys of water play.

2010: 08/09

Working on a 100+ piece puzzle...pure concentration.

2010: 08/10

This is a V-tech train/alphabet set Mari got for her 1st birthday (2 of the 20ish animals included). It still continues to be one of her favorite toys ever.

2010: 08/11

It was PJ and crazy hair day at school. While I wouldn't consider a 'fro to be a crazy hairdo, hers was definitely the biggest 'do at school.

2010: 08/12

Amari wrote her name! All by herself!!

Week 33 0f 52

2010: 08/13

Mari's first trip to the fair. She LOVED it! I was really surprised that she rode some rides and touched some animals.....positive peer pressure from Cousin Madi helped! 2010: 08/14

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzz 2010: 08/15

Mari with her "Mari flies a kite" shirt.

2010: 08/16

Mari wanted a Kai-Lan hairstyle to go with her Kai-Lan shirt.

2010: 08/17

Made Mari an Advent Calendar using a mini muffin pan, foam squares, magnets, and lots of Christmas doo-dads. Can't wait to fill it with little prizes.

2010: 08/18

Totally zoned out on Little Bill. Totally zoned out.

2010: 08/19

The only brand of gummies I've found without the dreaded Yellow Lake #5.

Week 34 of 52

2010: 08/20
Mari is having so much fun playing with my camera these days. She snatched it from me and snatched a picture of her cousin Madi.

2010: 08/21

Made homemade poptarts with pie dough and preserves (I'm going to change icings next time - didn't like the icing recipe at all). 50 freezable poptarts for about $10.

2010: 08/22

Little Old Church Lady

2010: 08/23

Butterfly, Mariposa

2010: 08/24

Making kiwi puree in preparation for homemade fruit rollups.

This puree is incredible!!

2010: 08/25

Beautiful rainbow...picture does not do it justice. The colors were SO vivid and you could see the entire arc - plus a reflected rainbow above it.

2010: 08/26

Mari passed Little Book #2 (that's 2 in 2 weeks - wooohooo!). She can "read" several 2 letter combos without help and her first three letter word "Sam"!!!!

Here is her homework these days....she breezes through it in seconds.

Adios until next time!!

Is Your Family Complete?

This is a video I made to promote adoption through our local orphan ministry. I want viewers to see different families and be able to identify with someone like themselves...Adoption IS special but you don't have to BE special to adopt.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Where, oh where has my Mari gone?

Mari has gone away...permanently, I think. She's been replaced by a much older, much more sophisticated Amari. That's Ah.Mar.Ee. Please note this.

I've been meaning to do a post lately about the way Amari is blossoming - another one of those developmental explosions, I guess. Today I think the explosion turned into all out glorious fireworks - beautiful, amazing, breath-taking, and always surprising.

So here's the low-down on my BIG girl. (Which BTW, she asked me tonight if I was growing down into a little girl since she was growing up into a big girl....I told her I'd meet her half-way!).

• Eating - Sippy cups are gone. We have 1-2 we use for times of emergency (like strep throat last week) and we have lots of plastic cups with lids...but Mari likes a regular cup. No more booster seats....Mari sits at the table on her own, on her knees but that's fine (she actually seems less wiggly that way). Mari has also become a great help in the kitchen...she usually tells me what to cook for supper (after I ask her) and she's pretty good with ideas. She loves helping and can hand-roll pizza dough, spread sauce, and add toppings all on her own. She can also run the hand mixer by herself (as long as you watch her to make sure she doesn't try to stick a hand in the batter for a taste while the mixer is still running).
• Stats - Mari has grown over an inch and a half since her birthday in March but she has stayed within 2 pounds for over a year....that means that she not only has a long graceful neck, but she sprouted legs too!
• Potty-training - She's been completely potty-trained for over a year now (thank you!) but she's completely independent now except wiping for #2. I don't even go in the bathroom anymore or remind her to go. It's extremely nice. Extremely. Unfortunately, thanks to lots of outside time this summer, she's developed a fascination with peeing on the grass. Oh well. She's 3, no one cares.
• Brains - not sure where to begin with this one. She BLOWS ME AWAY! She can count to 59 without any help and up to 100 with a little assistance (60, 70, 80, 90). She can also recognize these numbers. She has finished all her letters and even told me the other day to draw her a d.o.g. We are working hard on sounding out full words now (3-letter words). She passed her alphabet today at school (YAY!!!) - this means she knows capitals, lowercases, phonics, and can pick out words starting with that letter. She will be moving up into the Advanced Class at school because of this...this is the last class level before Kindergarten and we are still 2 years away from that! Holy Cow! She will now work on writing more....she can almost write her name now!
• Physical stuff - physically, Mari has always been a little behind but I don't notice it much anymore. She has actually started throwing a ball fairly accurately (forget catching, though!). She loved swimming lessons but I was a little disappointed they didn't push her more....she always says "no" when asked if she wants to try something new but will usually do it if you insist (and then love it) - but they won't push the kids at this level. But after a few days of playing in our pool this week, Mari decided tonight to just duck under and swim (and yesterday she refused to put her face in the water!!). And she did it over and over and over again.

So that's my girl...not so little anymore. So sad but I'm a very proud Mommy. I've never taken time to do a full-out attachment post but the difference in Mari lately has been nothing short of a dream-come-true. She is super snuggly, she has actually slept with me several nights (we've never made it a whole night before, she usually can't sleep with someone else), she is very touchy-feely and just all-around wants to be hugged on and loved on. I'm definitely NOT complaining about having a velcro kid right now. At the same time, she's very independent. I sense a new confidence in her.

Funny things:

• Mari calls parmesan cheese sprinkles - Pasketti and meatballs and sprinkles. Not going to correct that one, I love it.
• Mari has decided that ambulances should be "Band-aid Trucks" - I'm okay with that too.
• We stopped and saw my dad at work tonight and Mari was very worried that Grandma was home alone because Granddad was at work.
• I told Mari tonight that Grandma was going to pick her up from school tomorrow and she said "Pretty Sweet" with a thumbs-up.
• When Mari is being silly, I say "You're a nut." She now counters with "Well, you're a coconut."
• When Mari's happy, she gives me a thumbs-up, I give her a thumbs-up, we touch thumbs and she say "Best Buddies, Mommy?" And I say "Best Buddies Forever.

Week 31 of 52 (or the week we'd rather forget)

Actually getting a post up on time! Better mark that down. And I've decided to change the format and go from beginning of the week until end....it really does make more sense from a post-reading standpoint....if I were posting daily, they'd be posted with most recent on top but it doesn't make sense to post weekly and then document our weeks backwards. So, I'm changing it. Deal.

This week has definitely been a tough one...Mari got strep throat and got it pretty bad. The sore throat wasn't the bad part for her, it was the unrelenting high fever and general yuckiness. We had many nights of less-than-adequate sleep, lots of tears, lots of clinginess. I will say, having a velcro kid was kind of nice since Mari is generally a noncuddler. But we could have done without the ickiness.

2010: 07/30

Mari managed to keep her sleep cap on all night (sort of).

2010: 07/31

Last day of swim class. After an impromptu sleepover with Cousin Madi - Mari was less than energetic. Lack of sleep, upset that Madi was not coming to swim with her, probably already starting to feel sick.....

She did, however, conquer a huge fear....laying back in the water. She freaks doing this at home to rinse her hair so it was a major deal to do it in the pool (maybe she was just thinking it was naptime!).

2010: 08/01

Mari's favorite place in the world - swinging. She is a superstar pumper but always claims she can't go high enough. Truth is, she swings herself higher than I'll push her.

A couple hours later, she was planted on the couch, all pathetic and sad.

2010: 08/02

Hanging out in Mommy's bed, waiting on fever to cool down a bit - Mari can't sleep when she has a fever and they seem to spike in the middle of the night for her.
2010: 08/03
Finally cool and feeling better, sleeping soundly.
Only to be awakened a few hours later with a temp of 104.
2010: 08/04
Catching an early morning nap before going back to the doctor's. She would get about 30 minutes of cool sleep before her temp would start creeping back up.

2010: 08/05

Having gotten a shot of antibiotics the day before, Mari was able to go to school and stay the whole day. No fevers, no sore throat, no ickiness - just a little soreness in her leg from the shot.

And this is what she looked like after school. Feeling SO much better. Finally!

Now, I have some serious sleep to catch up on. See you later!

Weeks 29 & 30 of 52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. We're over two weeks behind now. And I've not been very good....well, last week I was but the week before I was not in a picture taking groove. So I've had to cheat. Again. You will get some "flashback" pictures as well as some "filler" pix - they represent what was going on that day....maybe just were not taken on that day.

As usual....pix are from the most recent to the oldest. Hold onto your socks - this might be so thrilling that I knock them off!

Week 30 of 52

We spent this week going all-natural on the hair: finger-combing only, trying out different products.....so lots of hair pix this week. And I'll do a hair post soon to let you know what I learned this week.

2010: 07/29

Just a picture of Mari's hair in the morning...when it looks tame.

2010: 07/28

Mari hit her head at school. On another kid's head. While they were trying to kiss. Oy.

She asked me for "cold green peas" to make her boo-boo feel better. BTW - there was no actual boo-boo to be seen.

2010: 07/27

Just another hair picture - curls looking luscious.
2010: 07/26
You guessed it - another hair picture. After being soaked in the sprinkler.

2010: 07/25

Birthday party at the roller rink. Mari rocked it - she skates much better without holding my hand but she couldn't be convinced of that. Luckily one of her little friends from school was there, so they skated together.

2010: 07/24

Birthday party/cookout for a friend. I love that Mari is the only one looking at the camera in this picture. Cute.

2010:07/23

Just playing around with some pix.

Week 29 of 52

Ahem....a few "filler" pix here. Sorry.

2010: 07/22

Just feel like Mari's coloring is getting SO much better. She is really learning to take her time.

20102009: 07/21

Flashback picture!! Yup, this is from last year on this date.

Mari still loves watercoloring best of all her artsy skills.

2010: 07/20

Took a bunch of videos this day - Mari singing Bible songs in the tub. Something about the tub puts her in a singing good mood. Here's the only pic I took this day....Mari relaxing and singing.

20102008: 07/19

Can you believe how little she was? We had only been home about 6 months here.

What a little ray of sunshine!

2010: 07/18

Probably my favorite non-natural style. So beautiful, so easy, so "Mari"

2010: 07/17

Oh so tired.

2010: 07/16

I told Mari to pose on the rocking chair, so I got the "monster face." Sigh.

Are your socks still on? Was that exciting or what? I promise to try a little harder in the coming weeks. I promise to also put up some posts that are real posts....we are long overdue for a real update. So stay tuned.