Growing

Rosie has been home for six weeks now. Boy is that girl growing! She has gained 3 pounds, 2 inches, and gone up a shoe size. Her hair is growing, too. She was so excited when we managed to get 2 little pony tails in last night.

She's growing so much that several of her little dresses are too short. So, I took her to the mall to check out the clearance sales for size 4 clothes. She LOVED clothes shopping! We must have tried on 80 outfits. She had very clear opinions on what she liked and didn't like. As I would take a dress off the rack, she would either hug it shouting, "Yes, Mommy, Rosie", or she would look at me like I was crazy and shake her finger, saying "No, Mommy, No". The dressing rooms were hilarious. She would try on each outfit and then twirl to see if the skirt was full enough. If she liked it, she would dance and sing and there were nearly tears when I had to get it off of her. But, if she didn't like it, she couldn't get it off fast enough.

Her English is progressing, too. She understands much more than she says, but what she says is coming along. We have 1-10, the ABC's, colors and most of our body parts down. We also have yes, no, please, thank you, excuse me, welcome, hello, good-bye, night night, tomorrow, Sunday, church, baby, bear, cat, doggy, I love you too, See you tomorrow, bath, shower, brush teeth, let's eat, breakfast, supper, hungry, drink, water, potty, mud, flower, bow, Let's go, come here, be nice and I'm sorry down pat.

Unfortunately, be nice and I'm sorry have been a mainstay of her week. She has set out to prove that she is definitely a female toddler this week. Hence my absence on the web for most of the week. She is struggling to share and to not hit when she doesn't get her way. The last couple of days, she has struggled to obey at all, let alone the first time. And, I know when she knows better, because when I walk into the room or she catches me looking at her, she drops what it is she isn't supposed to be doing and says, "Sorry". People ask how things are going, and the answer is still great. Rosie is a toddler. She's doing what toddlers do.

While on the phone with a family member last week, I mentioned how much I was longing to be able to start the adoption process again and wondering if we'd ever be able to afford to. Their reply was, "Maybe you should try to get a baby next time". I was NOT impressed. Yes, Rosie is high energy and we deal with some bad behavior from time to time. But, so does every toddler. Rosie is doing what toddlers do, and even though I don't like it and it's hard work, it's also re-assuring that she feels secure enough in her position in our family to be naughty. And, she's grown so much. She might still get mad when she is disciplined, but it doesn't last for more than a minute or two, and when she is done, she comes for hugs and kisses and to tell me, "Rosie, be nice".

Doing the right thing isn't always easy, but it is much easier to parent her because we believe that God answered our prayer when we expanded the age range on our home study and asked Him to provide the perfect child for our family and that we would be the best parents for. Seeing just how well she fits into our family, how could I ever doubt that parenting this toddler is the right choice? Even on the rough days, I would do it again in a heartbeat.