October 26, 2004 - Oops! Forgot to publish this one.....

Never before has the anticipation of Halloween been so much fun. I have always loved Halloween - the cheesy heroine in trouble movies, eating candy corn and m&m's until you feel your teeth will just pop out of your head, pumpkins everywhere - what's not to love? But this year, well, this year, I get to witness Abby's first Halloween.

Abby is going to be a very cute bunny this year. A week or two ago I put her costume on her to make sure it would fit. One of my very favorite movies is "A Christmas Story" and one of my favorite scenes in that movie is the "Deranged Easter Bunny" scene. Imagine Abby's face with the same expression as the kid in that movie and you will pretty much have her reaction. It was priceless. In addition, she could not figure out just what happened to her hands. She kept holding out her little paws and saying "hands!" I will never forget it. Fortunately the bunny costume has the option of popping her hands out of the bunny paws so I do believe all will be right with the world.

This fall has been a lot of fun. The weather in Atlanta has, for the most part, been very beautiful and very mild. We have taken full advantage of this fact and spent the majority of time outside. At the beginning of October, Abby and I went to an arts festival with Kris, Avery, Dawn, and Alec. It was a lot of fun and Abby got to experience a few firsts. She got to listen to her first really really bad local singer. The quality of music did not matter to her as much as the fact that she got to dance. I realized that watching Abby, Alec, and Avery enjoy the music more than made up for what the man's "singing" (and I do use the term loosely) was doing to my ears. That day was also Abby's first snow cone. The verdict was mixed. She seemed to like it but didn't really understand the necessity of the cold.

The next weekend we attended the World Partners Adoption reunion. This reunion is held every October in Atlanta. We got to finally meet friends in person. We also got to see 2 of the families we spent time with in Kazakhstan. While we were in Almaty, we had dinner with Charmaine, her mother, her new baby Jasmine, and their driver Emil. It was so cute to see Abby and Jasmine together again! They were both so tiny back in January. We also got to see one of the families from our first flight (Almaty to Frankfurt). Their son Lucas (also Abby's age) has grown a ton too. I am already excited that this reunion will be something we attend every year. We really had a terrific time. We were completely and totally worn out afterwards but it was absolutely worth it. It was especially nice to meet so many other single moms and their adorable kids.

Abby is so much fun right now. I absolutely love this age (19 months). She learns so much every single day and yet she is still so little. It is the best of both worlds. Bath time is extremely entertaining these days. Abby loves to play with a plastic cup and a plastic bowl. She will pour water back and forth between the two. It looks like she has a future with beakers. Splashing is also still a favorite past time, as it reading the plastic bath books.

Yesterday we had to stop for groceries on the way home. While I am pretty creative, even I realized the limitations of what can be created with mustard, 1 slice of bread, and noodles. I decided to have Abby help me carry in the groceries in the house. She carried in the bread and was quite the little professional about it. No squished bread. My mom has reported that my brother and I also used to help with this same chore and we would proceed to have flat sandwiches for the next week. Clearly Abby is more advanced in bread toting than her mother was.

Abby is really loving her class at daycare. Her teachers are just wonderful and Abby can name all her friends (complete with her very cute southern accent). She gets very excited to see them in the morning but still runs to me smiling from ear to ear when I pick her up in the afternoon (hands down best part of my day!!). I know she is learning so much there - especially things like sharing and playing with other kids. One of her teachers told me that last week Abby, Alissa, Marissa, and Caroline all spontaneously began to do ring around the rosie together (without any teacher help). They were all laughing and having the best time. This Friday the whole daycare is having a Halloween party (complete with costumes). I am kind of expecting chaos but can't wait to see all the kids dressed up. Oh, and Abby is signed up to bring the hot dogs.

Abby is talking more and more. And more and more she is saying real words on her own. She even puts together some short sentences. My baby is growing up.

We spent last weekend in Rome and Abby got to spend time with her grandmother, great-grandmother, and Papa Bryan. It is cute watching her interact with them and seeing how much they all love her. She definitely knows who they are too! My mom kept Abby for me Saturday night and was in grandma (Gigi) heaven.