One of those catch-you-up posts 11/3/2008
Starting with the present and moving backwards…
We just celebrated Sophie’s 1 Year Adoption Day on Saturday, November 1. We made her a “medal” that said “I was adopted today!” and had coffee cake for breakfast and bought her a two-wheel bike (with training wheels, of course). She loved it and will hopefully be riding it well soon so we can go on short trips to the park and such.
Even better than the adoption day was that Sophie picked that day to finally poop in the potty! We have been working on this for the better part of this entire calendar year, and we were beginning to think it would never happen. She just (as in five minutes ago) did her third self-initiated poop-in-the-potty success! We are so stoked about this. Proudest parents ever! LOL
Halloween was super fun. Grandma Phillips made gorgeous mermaid costumes for both girls. I had started one for Addy last year, but that one ended up going to Sophie (too big for her but too small for Addy) and a larger one was made for Addy. I had to abandon the project last year when we suddenly learned we would be in Russia preparing to bring Sophie home. Anyhow, pictures are in the gallery (or will be soon – click Photos link at the top). We were just going to go to a church festival, but we ended up going trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood, and it was really fun. Daddy chose to dress up as a pirate!
A couple of weeks ago, I took the girls on a field trip to the pumpkin patch. It was with a home school group, and we had such a nice time. There are (or will be) pictures in the gallery of them in the hay maze, on the hayride, feeding the animals. A few days later we went back to select a pumpkin for carving as a family. It turned out really cute, and we roasted the seeds, too – Yum! Actually, they didn’t turn out that great, so we tried again when the girls decided to carve their small “Oz Pumpkins”. That batch came out better, despite being forgotten in the oven! Maybe overcooking is the trick. 
We went on a family camping trip for one night in early October, and had a wonderful time. The weather was fantastic, the girls had such a good time and came up with a “family camping song”. It was Down by the Bay. Adelina was enjoying trying to make the rhymes. I think we sang it for a solid hour. We are hoping to get away for a family camping trip every month or so. It is such a great way to connect as a family and have fun without the temptations of TV, computers, and the telephone.
Addy’s Adoption Day was October 4, and we celebrated by allowing her to adopt her first pet – fish. We got a tank, gravel, plants, and all that extra stuff, got it all set up and then went back a few days later to get the fish. Unfortunately, two of them died fairly early on but we now have 3 mollies, and a baby guppie, and they all seem to be doing well. Addy is responsible for feeding them and she and Steve together will care for the water, tank, etc.
I’m home schooling Addy this year except for speech and language. She goes to public school for 30 minutes each day and gets one or the other, and I’m doing all her academics at home. It is working out to be a very good arrangement. Sophie is attending an oral preschool each afternoon for 2.5 hours and is making great progress on her speech and language, though she is still at the early stages. We are very proud of how well she is doing with her cochlear implants.
That’s all for this update. I’ll be uploading several albums of pictures in the next day or so and will let you know when they’re available.
