A Truly Happy Valentines Day

Shaela surprised me around Valentine's Day, saying "I love you. I love you sooooo much!" These are words that I say to her all the time. Now she is saying them constantly to me, in the most loving and sweet way. It made my heart sing, just like her first "Mama"s did. She is truly turning out to be the most loving and intelligent child I could have ever hoped for.

We have been so busy since before Thanksgiving, with plenty of company and travelling. We are finally at home for a few weeks at a time. After the holidays, having travelled to AZ, CO and FL, I went to Portland for a long weekend seminar. Shaela and Justin both got sick while I was away, and then I got it too when I came back. After two weeks of nursing our colds, we got well enough to go to Denver for Chinese New Years with my family. Shaela had a wonderful time at my parents party, dancing on stage with her beautiful princess dress. It was so sweet to see her so uninhibited and joyful. She even danced with her cousin Patrick who is 1 year younger and has been the brunt of her "hit Patrick!"

Shaela has always had a thing about babies, always wanting to hit them and dolls. She is getting much better about it, but recently has tried to take a few swipes at poor cousin Patrick. She also loves to wear dresses and since Christmas, has not wanted to see anyone else wearing dresses. She is constantly saying "no wear dresses." It started with cousin Sophia looking mighty beautiful in a dress for New Years Eve. The only way I could make her stop protesting the wearing of dresses from everyone, including the ones on strangers and seen on TV or picture books, is by telling her that she needs to be "ok with dresses, and then she will have a happy life", but if she is not ok, than she will be sad all the time or angry or frustrated." It is so cute, she will reiterate this line of reasoning when she sees someone in a dress now. She is really remarkable. She used to get into such foul moods, and again I would reason with her saying that she could be mad, but if she lets it go and is happy, she will have a happy life. She now may get in a bad mood, but then thinks awhile and chooses happiness, saying "I'm happy!" Holy Moly, what a girl!

It has been hard these winter months with Shaela in preschool and getting every germ under the sun. We are constantly battling something and then get better, only to get something else. Building up our immunity!

Shaela is talking up a storm and communicates remarkably. She still uses "you" when she means "me." So it gets confusing for people who don't know her that well. She says "you do it" when she wants to do something and "hold you" to let us know she wants to be held.

As Aunt Sue Sue says, she is butting heads a lot less, so we are not as worried when she gets mad or ecstatic. Her favorite TV show is Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius, but she doesn't love Carl ("no love Carl!"), the whiner on the show. She still can't stand it when anyone wears a dress. Her favorite books are: Its OK to Be Different and Bark, George, both given by Uncle James, Doug and Benjamin.

She recently had her second haircut with Artemis, before the New Year and looks adorable. We are trying to motivate her to get potty trained so that she can be in the "big classroom" with Martha and Martha's Drum, which is her favorite part of preschool. She still refuses to sit on the potty though. Oh well.

She is eating all of Mommy's Hot Pockets and Mac and Cheese and smoked salmon. She has been really good about not eating a lot of sugar. She knows it is bad for her cough, so she limits herself. She also has been enjoying ribs and white rice at the Chinese restaurant and loves Thayer Slippery Elm lozenges, tangerine flavor. We call that the "big candy". She reiterates "Don't chew it, Suck it!!"

She had a really bad day today, with an "owwie belly!" She has a really painful bad stomach flu, poor thing!
Hope everyone is doing well. Much Love to you all.
Debbie, Justin, Shaela, Kobi and Tara