The dance of the turtle and the exotic bird. Yes, this is a relatively new activity that I do each night with Abby. Let me back up a bit. :-) Pretty much every night after dinner, Abby and I go for a walk. We did, that is, until summer hit Atlanta. Many nights lately have either been too hot or too wet. So, we had to find a new form of exercise. We chose to dance. Each night I find some new music that Abby has not yet heard and we dance. It is the funniest sweetest time! Abby laughs and dances and laughs some more. Which, of course, causes me to laugh right along with her as her laugh is pretty infectious. A couple of weeks ago, my mom gave me 2 hats for me to give my dear friends Meredith (8 years old) and Sam (6 years old). Both hats are kind of like visors. One is a turtle and one is an exotic bird. Since I have not seen Meredith or Sam since I got the hats, they have been sitting in my living room. Abby loves carrying them around. Well a few nights ago I put a hat on each of us while we were dancing and that was it. We have a new tradition - dancing while wearing those hats. If anyone were to see this through my window, I'm sure a quick call would be made to a mental outpatient facility as I doubt Abby is visible through the window and it likely looks like I am dancing alone wearing a turtle hat. :-)
So, what music do we dance to? Well, I try to really mix it up. So far Abby's favorites include Etta James, Barry White, the Jackson Five, Green Day, some cool jazz and blues from the 1940s, Black Eyed Peas (yes, she still loves them), Martina McBride, and anything from Mary Poppins or The Sound of Music. My little music girl!
This past weekend was a very full one for us and Abby finally recovered from it just today. We definitely had a lot of fun but I have long since discovered that Abby needs her full 12 hours of sleep at night plus a good long nap in the afternoon (if not a morning nap too). Friday night we met up with several other single moms who had also adopted from Kazakhstan. These are people from a variety of agencies and it was great meeting all the beautiful children. They ranged in age from 10 months to about 7 years old. We also met up with them Sunday morning at the Children's Museum (Imagine It) in downtown Atlanta. We had been to this museum before but this time, being a few months older, Abby absolutely had a blast! She fell asleep before I even got out of the parking lot.
Saturday we went to Athens to celebrate my friend Ginger's daughter's birthdays. Kiersten turns 16 this month and Maya just turned 1. The weather in Georgia that day hit a record for the year. I did not hear the actual temperature but can officially say that it felt like 127 degrees. It was a great party though with lots of good food, good cake, and good people. If you are keeping count, that would be 2 nights in a row where Abby got to bed late. As a result, we spent Sunday afternoon at home. We did not go anywhere after the museum. We had the best afternoon. Abby played and played and I read. I am working on helping her to be able to play by herself some. Right now this is not a popular thing in her mind. I figured out though that if I am in the same room, she is content to play. So we are starting there. I actually prefer to be playing with her but I know this is something she needs to be able to do.
Yesterday when I picked up Abby from daycare, her teacher told me there must have been something in the milk because all the kids had some kind of meltdown that day. Yes, this included Abby. Apparently hers was shortlived. I know this was a leftover from the busy weekend. Today she had a good day!
I have been increasing the number of books we read each night. Abby absolutely loves to be read to which thrills my heart to no end. We are currently up to about 6 or 7 books now. Of course these books are all pretty short but it is cute when I finish each one and Abby says "more!" :-) Makes this mom who loves to read very proud!
So, it has been a great week! Take care and good night from Georgia!