Secure, Loved and Very Smart

October 29th was my birthday. All I wanted was a romantic evening with Justin. So for the first time since we got her, we had our friend Lleta come and watch her, while we went to dinner, gelato and a movie (Little Miss Sunshine). Boy, how liberating and wonderful that was. Our first date night. Shaela was amazing. She had been with Lleta about 4 times before (while I was around the house). So she felt comfortable and we explained that we would be back after she was asleep. She didn't even cry when we left. She was so good, and didn't squirm like she does with us, when Lleta changed her diapers and put her in p.j.s. I think all the love, security and respect that we have shown Shaela is being reflected back, by her great behavior while we were away.

Shaela is understanding so much and so happy. What a wonderful way to wake up every morning to her beautiful little face looking up at me.

Today, for the first time, we had Lynn our new neighbor by the house we are building, come by and play with Shaela while we had our weekly meeting with our architect and contractor. Usually, we are trying to appease Shaela, who is sitting in a backpack on Daddy's back, while we are talking. She gets so bored and makes a fuss. It is very difficult for either of us to be fully present. This time we could both be fully present at the meeting and happy knowing Shaela was having fun. I think we are entering a new phase where Shaela can be watched by others without much trauma (for her and us). What a wonderful phase this is!

Shaela loves to sit on rocks, logs, pillows, door jams, anything very low. She even sat on the ball chucker at the dog park, and crates at a stone company. She seems to enjoy the freedom of being able to walk up to the item, sitting on it, getting up and then walking a few steps away, and then walking back to sit on it. Her favorite place is when Mom is on the ground and she sits on Mommy's leg or lap. No better place than Mommy's lap.

Shaela has the ability to communicate so well without any words. The other day she made a three word sentence out of sign language. It was amazing. We have some interesting conversations with her. Lleta even said at the end of the evening with her, "It may seem strange, but I felt like I was having conversation all night long with Shaela."

Shaela's new animal is the zebra. "ban ma" in Chinese. She likes to look at zebra pictures.
Her new sign language is the "moon" and has a clear sign for when she wants water. All this helps so much! Thanks James for the "Baby Signs" book and video.

Shaela was a fairy for Halloween. We went to our friend Mark's house for a party. He is a collector of some amazing masks. He decorated his house with goulish things including a talking head on a platter of candy. Justin was trying on all the different scary and funny masks. Shaela was not afraid in the slightest. It was great! She enjoyed all the dress up very much. Mommy had a blonde wig on and Daddy had long red hair, we wanted to film her as she saw us for the first time in them, it was anticlimatic, it didn't phase her in the least.

What a very smart girl we have.
Feeling extremely blessed and loved,
Debbie, Justin, Shaela, Kobi and Tara