Ballet Time

Today was Eva's very first ballet class. Well, actually, technically, Saturday was her very first ballet class but we had to miss it because of already scheduled plans. Eva woke up a little earlier than usual and asked if it was time to dance. She was so excited to put on her ballet dress and carry her dance bag!

The class is 30 minutes, just long enough to keep a bunch of 2 to 3 year-olds entertained, focused and controlled. She did a real good job of listening and following her teacher's instruction. And afterwards they all got stickers. So proud of my little one. Can't wait to see how she progresses over this next year!

                 

Both Hands Daddy!

A couple of months ago, while we were in Bermuda, John made me aware that there was a block of time in July in between my birthday and our anniversary that he had off from work. We discussed going back to Florida to see my parents and booked our airfare. When we got home from Bermuda, we had 3 weeks to decompress and get into a somewhat regular routine before it was time to get back into travel mode.

There is an M&M store in one of the malls in Florida that Eva and I just love to go to. They have so much cool stuff. Since the May trip to Florida, Eva had been requesting purple M&Ms and we told her that soon we would go back to the M&M store. Eva did get her purple M&MS, light and dark purple. That evening when we got home, something really funny happened between John and Eva. Here's what happened (in his words):

I took 4 M&Ms out of the bag and put it back in it's hiding spot! Just as I popped the first one in my mouth, Eva scooted around the corner and said "Dadda, whatcha got?" I quickly swallowed the chocolatey treat without biting or tasting it. I opened my mouth wide and said "I don't have anything in my mouth baby!" Eva looked at me knowing that something wasn't right and said "Whatcha got your hand?" 

Me, being a quick-witted adult, palmed the 3 remaining M&Ms in my left hand, stuck out my empty right hand and said, "See, there's nothing in my hand." I quickly realized that I had underestimated my 28 month-old baby! So as Eva approached me, I passed the M&Ms behind my back from the left hand to the right hand. Eva said "Show me your hands Dadda." I opened up my left hand, showed it to Eva and said "See baby, I don't have anything in my hand." 

Eva - now standing directly in front of me in a wide-legged stance extended her hands held together in a prayer-like manner. She unfolded them showing her palms, just so I wasn't confused about what she was wanting and replied "I said show me both hands Dadda!" I opened up both hands revealing the 3 M&Ms and Eva snatched them out of my hand, popped them in her mouth and said "Thanks Dad!" 

And once again, I have been duped by my 28 month old daughter!

Ohio State Fair

Two weeks ago I took Eva to the Ohio State Fair. It used to be a 4-week event but in the last couple of years it has been reduced to just 2 weeks in length. 

We got there early in the morning since it was supposed to be a scorching day. I was determined to introduce Eva to the wonders of Fair food: funnel cakes, cotton candy, caramel apples, mini donuts. I was all set to have nothing but junk food as our 3 meals of the day, but soon realized that I needed some real food or I would crash a lot sooner.

We ate some gyro for breakfast and started walking. I was able to find Kiddie Land and there we stayed for most of our time. Of course, the very first thing Eva wanted to ride was the carousel........wish granted :-) We rode a couple more rides and then I became aware VERY QUICKLY that if we were going to ride even a couple more rides, I'd better purchase a wristband so she could get on the rides all day. 

As it turned out, there were some rides, that only she could ride by herself. I was too big. I wasn't sure how she'd react. Sometimes Eva just has her moments where she's feeling clingy and I was hoping this wasn't one of those times. I wanted her to be able to ride the rides and have fun and not be scared that I wasn't right there with her. 

She did great! She rode the Water Gator and Bug-N-Around rides all by herself. I was able to ride a few rides with her...even the Wacky Worm, a little mini roller-coaster. She loved it.

I let Eva ride the rides until she was worn out. We got some lunch and then it was time for the really GOOD stuff.....cotton candy and funnel cake! We got a small bag of cotton candy that had blue and pink candy inside. I kept trying to get her to taste it. I even had to push it in her mouth. I mean really....what kid doesn't like sugar?!? Well, as it turned out, she didn't want the BLUE part, she wanted the PINK part! After a few bites of cotton candy, we got on the sky glider and rode from one side of the fair and back. 

By that point it was about 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Eva had not taken a nap yet. The heat was unbelievable with NO breeze, and we were both tired of walking around. I was glad Eva had such a good time. I was ecstatic that she got an even better nap! I was totally worn out!

Bye-Bye Ms. Lindsey

From June 2011 until August 2012, Eva took a movement class called Toddler Time. Every week for an hour, Eva got to bounce on a trampoline, hang from monkey bars, crawl, climb, run, dance, walk a balance beam and much, much more! Eva was excited every week to see her teacher, Ms. Lindsey. In the last couple of months, Eva couldn't wait to give her hugs when she got there and would sometimes go and find her in the classroom and pull her away from what she was doing and say "Come on Ms. Lindsey, let's bounce!" 

It's so amazing to see how much Eva has grown in the last year when I think about how she was June of last year. She used to be timid, and apprehensive. She wouldn't go anywhere in the classroom unless I went with her. She didn't like it when I tried to have conversation with the other moms. Now....it's 180! She's running around the room, squealing and having fun. She climbs on the equipment by herself and helps Ms. Lindsey in the classroom. 


Now it's time to say goodbye to Ms. Lindsey. Last Friday was the last class. The summer program is over with and Ms. Lindsey is pursuing her graduate degree out of state. Now that Eva is 2 1/2 years old, it's time to move her up to a class where I don't have to be there with her. A class where it's just students and the teacher. 

Goodbye Ms. Lindsey. Eva loved having you as her first dance/gymnastics teacher. Thank you for showing her how fun it is to learn and move her body and shake her booty :-) We'll never forget you. All the best to you in grad school. Kick butt!! 

My Happy Birthday

Last month, on the 15th, I woke up to a few birthday cards around me and just knew it was going to be a great day. We got showered and dressed and headed to I-HOP for breakfast. As I've said before, Eva's favorite song to sing is Happy Birthday but it was all the more special today every time she sang it. 

After breakfast we came home and John and Eva made cupcakes for me. It was so neat to watch him instruct her and let her help him. 

The end result. These cupcakes were so yummy! Eva did such a good job putting sprinkles on :-)

After a relaxing day, and Eva's nap, we headed out to my favorite Ethiopian restaurant, Lalibela for my birthday dinner. It was a blessed day!

Bermuda Vacation

Before we left for our vacation in May, a really wonderful opportunity presented itself to us to go visit family in Bermuda. After discussing it and confirming schedules with family in Bermuda, we booked our flights. Once we got back from our Florida road trip, we only had a week to decompress, re-pack, and be on our way again. 

Eva had been to Bermuda one time before, last summer. Because it was a cruise, we weren't able to spend as much time with family as we wanted. That's what made this trip so exciting! We were there for 9 days and had such a wonderful time.

We arrived in Bermuda to beautiful weather. My aunt picked us up and we were on our way back to her home. On the way home we did some grocery shopping and then unpacked and relaxed for the rest of the day.

The next morning a cousin came and picked us up and we spent the morning at his house with family. Eva spent her time playing with a little cousin and picking purple flowers. This was the view from their deck:

The next day Eva had her very first beach experience. We walked down to a small beach in the morning. It was just the 3 of us. Eva was not a fan of walking in the sand with her bare feet AT ALL, so she kept her crocs on. She absolutely LOVED being in the ocean. She was a natural as she rode the waves.

Later that afternoon, my aunt and uncle picked us up and we all had lunch together.

                

                                                   
Every afternoon, after her nap, Eva would feed the birds with her great-Aunt Joan. She had so  much fun throwing the bird feed and watching them all come down from the wire and eat. She would just squeal and squeal!

A few days later my uncle (mom's brother) and aunt came and picked us up. What a wonderful day. We thought we were going to have breakfast and spend a couple of hours and then be on our way. What a joy it was to be able to spend the WHOLE day with them. My aunt had one of her great grand-daughters spending the day with her so Eva had a playmate all day. It was so nice! We had a late-morning breakfast and then took the kids to one end of the island called Dockyard and let them see the dolphins and sea turtles.

The next day was Father's Day and John and I felt so blessed to be able to spend this day with this side of the family. After church, we went to my cousins' homes and had a wonderful dinner. Eva got to meet cousins of hers for the first time. She had a ball.

A couple of days later my uncle and aunt picked us up and off we went to the Aquarium. Eva had such a good time looking at the huge fish. She even got to pet a turtle that crossed her path. One of the best times at the aquarium was when she saw a larger-than-life sized cut out of a gombey dancer. Look at the grin on her face....she was in heaven!

That night it was all about packing up to leave the island the next day. We had a wonderfully blessed time with family and friends and Eva was able to have such great life experiences on this trip. We don't know how long it's going to be before we can do that again, but we thank God for this opportunity that He gave us. 

May Vacation

The three of us were in Florida visiting my parents for Mother's Day. Eva is always so excited to see her Poppi & Gaia. We flew down there a few days before Mother's Day. 



The day after we arrived we went to the mall where there was a carousel.....just one of Eva's favorite things to do. That.......

and swimming!

On Mother's Day we all went into Orlando and had Ethiopian food.....Yum Yum! The next day, John flew back home and Eva and I stayed in Florida for the rest of the month. 

We were truly on vacation. Eva had so much fun! She swam everyday, sometimes two times a day with me, her Poppi or her Gaia. The best part was after a week of being there, my brother (Uncle Scott) came to visit. He had been on a month-long, coast-to-coast visit with family and friends. We were the first stop in the beginning of the month and our parents was his last stop. Eva was so excited.....especially when she realized that he was one more person who could go swimming with her.

A week after Scott arrived, John drove down to be with us. Yup, that's right...16 hour drive. Thank God he made it safely. We were ALL under the same roof again.....something that hadn't happened since before Eva, Christmas 2006. 

A couple of days later was my brother's birthday. We all went out to lunch and then we hit Sea World! We went to see some really cool shows. Eva got to see stingrays, dolphins and Shamu all up close.

Afterwards to all of our surprise, Eva saw the carousel before us and could hardly contain herself with excitement about getting to ride it. How could we resist?!?

After the ride, we finally headed home where we sang Happy Birthday (Eva's favorite song) and had some cake. Happy Birthday Big Brother :-)

The next day was Memorial Day and my parents' community had a celebration that we attended. The singing group that my mom is in sang a couple of songs to celebrate the different branches of military service. Eva had a good time....see?

A few days later it was time for all the visitors to head back home. Scott was flying and we were making the 16 hour (2-day) journey home. Eva's flown numerous times, but we had never done a serious road trip like this before. We were already preparing ourselves to having to make several stops along the way to keep her satiated. After lots of tears (from me) and hugs and kisses we parted ways.

We all made it home safely and Eva did very well on her first road trip. John and I were both quite surprised at how much Eva occupied herself. We showed her a couple of movies. She also watched some Baby Einstein shows and read all of her books!

Uncle Scott

Or as Eva says "Uhnka Scah" She finally met her Uncle Scott on May 1st. He spent a week with us and Eva absolutely LOVED spending every waking minute with him. She had seen him a couple times on Skype (which is truly a wonderful thing I might add!), but this was the very first face-to-face meeting. I would say Eva was apprehensive for about 5 minutes, and that was on the way home from the airport. 

As soon as we got home Eva went straight upstairs to get her super cape. And this is where she sat watching some of her shows until it was time for bed. So cute!

Happy Correction!

Last week I posted about our July waitlist number. Talk about being excited with the amount of movement! Usually what we do after we receive our number for the month is we post it on our adoption agency's listserv. Every month an unofficial waitlist is generated from all of our numbers and that's how we all know where we stand, who's close to getting a referral, etc. 

Well it turned out that our family and another family were given the same waitlist number (109), which isn't possible; one number per family. So I sent an e-mail to our Case Manager and as it turned out, she gave us the wrong number. The Mancini Family is NOT 109 on the waitlist. Our waitlist number is actually.....

                      

2 1/2 Years Old!

To our Sweet Eva,

You are now 2 ½ years old. My oh my how fast the time has flown by! It has been so cool watching you grow and learning to do things and try some things that I wish you wouldn't.

Your toddling has turned into a full run with a pretty mean gait. You look good when you run. Daddy can’t wait for the opportunity when you and he can run together for real and not just push you in the jogging stroller! You almost have a full mouth of teeth. We’re still waiting for the last two of your second molars to come in. We've been so blessed that you've never gotten sick or had ear infections with all of your teething. It’s never kept you from sleeping at night and hasn't limited your food intake either.

You absolutely love food. If you see Mom or Dad eating something, you want to try it. Now you love Babybel cheese. You ask for it every day, several times a day...that, tuna fish, peanut butter, and grapes. You still love to take baths but if asked, will always say “Yes” to taking a shower with Daddy.

Your favorite color right now is purple. You still love to color and read your books. And now your favorite shows are Little Bear, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Ni Hao Kai-Lan, and Dora the Explorer. There is a cartoon now called Doc McStuffins that you absolutely LOVE and it is so cute to hear you ask to watch it. You’ve also gotten to the point where you can sit through a whole movie. You like to watch Finding Nemo, Rio, Monsters Inc., and just recently you watched Toy Story 1 & 2.

The amount of vocabulary you have is off the charts! You’re talking in full sentences, carrying on full conversations, and not at all shy about telling Mom and Dad what you want and don’t want; like telling Daddy "Come on, let's dance" or "Wake up, Sleepyhead!" You are always on the go. You can’t stop fidgeting unless I’m holding you. The only time when you’re nice and still is when we’re doing Rockasong at night.

We are so grateful and feel so blessed to be your parents. We love hearing your voice in the morning, watching you dance, and listening to your montage of songs! Sometimes the things you say crack me up 

We love you always. We thank God that He chose us to be your parents. You are our greatest blessing!

Love, Daddy & Mama

Blogging Again!

Well......it has been exactly 3 months since I last posted anything. That's right! For those family and friends who have been waiting on me to put something up here.......the time has come!

This summer turned out to be WAY more busy than I had ever anticipated. Trips got planned at the last minute, day trips got planned while we were on other trips. It has truly been exhausting. But oh-so-much fun! I'm actually still recovering from it all.

And the best way to start the blogging up again would be to do something that I haven't done since we were waiting for Eva.....post our new waitlist number. 

We started out on the list at #139 in mid March. We knew that we would be in the 100s. Not quite sure where though. Of course, we were pleased with where we started. We know the wait will be a long one. That may be the one thing that we've prepared ourselves for the most. But all the more reason to totally spoil and love on our sweet Eva before Baby B comes along.

Each month there has been movement. More movement than we had ever anticipated. And this month was no exception. Last night as I was scrolling through my e-mail, I saw that I had an e-mail from AGCI that said 'Monthly Update'. I couldn't believe it. You see, for the past couple of months we (all the AGCI families) have been receiving our numbers later than scheduled. I thought this would be another one of those months. Well, you can imagine my surprise when I opened the e-mail and saw that our new waitlist number is .....

You read it correctly....1-0-9!! John and I are beside ourselves about this number. I mean, who jumps 30 spots in just 4 short months?!? We may still be in the 100s, but we are SO CLOSE to being under 100 that it makes me a little giddy just thinking about it. God is so good and we are so grateful for these small steps. We are also so very happy for all the families ahead of us because it means that they are getting referred precious little ones that they will get to bring home very soon!