Even more words

Hard to believe in the long list of words I posted the other day that I was missing quite a few.

In regards to the dog, who Mihretu loves... (not sure Auty is convinced yet although they are buddies when Mihretu is giving her food:) he knows how to say:
Lick you - it sounds more like Delagu - it's him basically hearing me say "she'll lick you" and everytime she does - he says that - so cute!
Bite you - this is me trying to tell him to be gentle with Auty cause I don't want her to bite you. I don't think he understands that if she ever does really bite him, it could be really bad. Nevertheless, when I tell him to stop swinging his arms at her or being so loud or not to get near her when she's eating- this is what he says "Auty bite you?"
And the rest of the words I missed the other day:
Book
Strawberry
Tomato
Keys
Careful - he hears this one alot and is now saying it as well
Ugh oh
Yes
Yeah - this one is so cute. He'll say "mommy" and I guess I often say "yeah" cause now he's saying it when I ask him something or say his name. Pretty cute.
Eggs - thank God he likes eggs cause it's hard to get any protein into this kid. He's not a big fan of meat and doesn't like bread or sandwiches. Today I put some tiny pieces of chicken in his mac and cheese for lunch:)
Clean up - he knows this one well and is such a good boy at cleaning up his toys
Broken - when something doesn't work, I say this. Now, he's says it too.
Gentle - he hears this one alot - mostly in regards to Auty. Now he's started saying it to me:)
One, two, three - he's learning to count!!!!
Swallow - he thinks it's funny to show me his food in his mouth so I always say "swallow buddy". Now he says it too!
Wow!
Owl
Fish
Bug
Bunny - he had just learned this word about a week ago and then they brought live baby bunnies into Sunday school this past weekend so he was pretty excited about that!
Pajamas
Bottle
Teeth - he says this a lot while pointing to his teeth - he loves, loves, loves brushing his teeth. He's been known to wake up in the morning and first word out of his mouth is "teeth". He likes to have good hygiene:)
Belt - he loves wearing a belt. Has become very interested in other people who are wearing belts as well and has recently started surveying who all is wearing one:)
Buckle - he likes to do the buckle in the stroller and carseat himself
Mommy cooking - when I am at the stove or just in general - making food in the kitchen - I've told him "I'm cooking". Now he'll say "mommy cooking?" and it's so cute!

and my very favorite of all which I can't believe I forgot to post the other day:
Baby Jesus - he loves nativity scenes and everytime he sees one in someone's yard - he points and in his adorable voice, shouts out "baby Jesus!!!!"

And prepare yourself for cuteness, here are a few little videos of my boy:

Update Dec 6, 2012

I can't believe I haven't written anything since November 21st. Holy cow - a lot has happened. Most days I'm just caught up in the moment of what Mihretu wants and needs and trying to manage it all. Honestly, I've learned a lot about myself these past 5 weeks. I am not as patient as I thought I was. Things I have thought were cute in the past when babysitting have now become extremely frustrating. Babysitting and being an auntie is so much more fun than being a mom. I know that sounds horrible to say. I'm just being honest. When you're not the mom - you get to be the fun one. When you're the mom - you have to be the one who creates boundaries and enforces rules and changes diapers and works on potty training and wakes up all throughout the night and is "on" all the time even and maintains consistency when you're tired and you've said "please close the refrigerator door" about 2 million times. You can't hand em over to someone else because you ARE the someone else. I'm not saying I don't want to be a mom because I do - I'm just saying it's different than I anticipated. All my babysitting and experience with kids surely has value but this is a whole new ballgame. And man, I wish I had a husband right about now. Ha ha  Just keeping it real folks!:) And trying to maintain a sense of humor too.

Even though there are still plenty of daily challenges and adjustments, overall things are SO much easier, and SO much better than those first few weeks. Praise the Lord for that. Mihretu is hitting, biting, digging and spitting WAY less. He's learned an insane amount of words in English (I listed them below and there may be more that I am just not thinking of right now). He is no longer afraid of the dog. Now the challenge is keeping him from going super hyper crazy on the dog so she doesn't get stressed right out and snap at him. He even did well with our friends little dog at small group two weeks ago. He's a super well behaved boy in Sunday school class and in preschool. He just started school this week on Monday and has done really well. He cries briefly in the mornings when I drop him off which is actually a good sign of our attachment and would be a concern if he didn't. But he doesn't cry long and he's following instructions and being super helpful with throwing away his trash and rinsing his dishes and using the potty. He loves one of the teachers and sort of follows her around a lot. I love this school because they have experience with adopted kids so when I called and they said "he cried at nap and wanted Ms. Charee to hold him but we don't want him to attach too much to her so we had Ms. Andrea hold him for a minute instead" - that was huge! I am so thankful they know to do that!! Plus Montessori in general seems like the perfect fit for Mihretu. He seems so happy when I pick him up and he's blowing kisses and saying "bye bye" to everyone when he leaves. Yesterday when I picked him up, as I was putting him into the carseat, he said "mommy hello, mommy bye bye, mommy hello" which was awesome because that's his way of saying he recognizes that mommy leaves but she comes back. This is super huge and amazing. What a smart boy!!! He's adjusting so well. When we get home after school, he's crazy hyper and loud. Maybe because he's so well behaved and quiet all day - he can't hold it all in any longer. Maybe it's because he's excited to see me. Or he's just over tired. Whatever the case, I hope that evens out over time cause he's like a little tazmanian devel ripping through the house the last few nights. He's doing every single thing he knows not to do, is jumping around and spinning and yelling and acting like he ate like a whole cake by himself or something. It's kind of funny but also really over the top and pretty annoying. I end up repeating myself a million times and sounding like a total nag. Not my favorite way to sound. Other parents tell me their kids are that way the first week or two after summer break so I'm hopeful it'll simmer down:)

Last weekend, my cousin Heather came to stay from Friday to Monday. Oh my gosh - having her here was awesome. She was so much help, Mihretu LOVED her and because I had that help, it allowed me to get to do more of the fun stuff and not focus SO much on each task at hand. I was even able to go to the bathroom by myself:) It's the little things people. We went to the zoo on Friday and saw ALL the animals this time and even ate lunch there. We had so much fun. It's just so valuable to me to have another adult with me. Merrill watched him for a few hours on Saturday so Heather and I could go see the Twilight movie. That was so great. And he had a blast at the park with Merrill. He loved playing in the sand! I was so thankful Heather came. Plus when I go to Michigan in a few weeks, I will be seeing lots of people so it was nice to have this one on one time with Heather. And when we go and he sees a familiar face, hopefully it'll make him that much more comfortable to be there. I can't wait for the whole family to meet him. They are gonna love him. He has such a fun personality.

Mihretu loves to make faces and roll his eyes and be silly. He loves elephants and bubbles and playing in the water and spinning in the swing in the backyard and showing you how many pictures he knows the word for in his favorite book and baths and hugs and running around naked and eating yogurt and having ranch on his pizza and ketchup on his eggs and avocados and mac & cheese and slides and skype calls with his buddy Sitota and her family and walks with Auty and helping feed Auty and letting her out and going places and doing the buckle on the seatbelt, stroller and swing all by himself and wearing shoes at all times and seeing animals at the zoo and cleaning up and putting things in their rightful place and all his aunties - Heather for sure and all the Nashville ones he has seen a bunch of times - Deb, Jessica, Merrill. He's doing so great and learning so much. When I take a breather and reflect on the fact that it's only been 5 weeks since we came home - I'm shocked at how far we've come. Although it's still hard and he's still a toddler and of course he tests boundaries and has meltdowns like all kids at 3 - he's doing amazing and I couldn't be more proud of him.

And speaking of proud, here's a list of all the words I could think of this morning that he knows. Whoa!! As I started thinking of more and more, it made me even more amazed. I might even have forgotten a few.

Words Mihretu knows

Movie

Moon

Lotion

Please

Help

Good to go

Ready

Goldfish

Yogurt

Thank you 

Welcome

Hello

Bye bye

Auty

Apple

Banana 

Cheese

Auntie Merrill, heather, Jessica, deb

Bath

Bubbles

Bike

Duck

Lion

Elephant

Tiger

Baby 

Kitty cat

Monkey

Come on

No

More

All done

Rock

Light

Off

Airplane

Truck

Ball

Coat

Zebra

Goat

Goodnight

Good boy

Mihretu 

Mommy

Potty

Pee pee

Kaka

Diaper

Yuck

Water

Milk

Table

Treat

Wait

Hot

Cold