Developments

The evil that is Daylight Savings Time:
Whoever thought of the sadistic idea of "fall back"... never asked me for my opinion.
My kiddos who are "like clockwork" 6am-waker-uppers... suddenly became 5am waker-uppers.
This simply will not do!
So, like any sane mother, I calmly stumbled into their rooms Sunday and Monday at 5am, begged them to go back to sleep, covered them up, mumbled something about it being super dark outside, something about an un-Godly hour, and left the room with a prayer tossed over my shoulder for 30-60 more minutes of rest.
Yeah, I didn't really think it would work either.
Last night I decided to try melatonin to "reset" their clocks!
HELLO, 6am! Woohoo!!
NEVER thought I would be happy to be awakened at 6am.
So, to recap... DST= bad, Melatonin= GOOD!

Kitty Cat Love:
#5 comes to me yesterday and says...
"Mommy, I like kitty!"
Me: "Yes, I know! Kitties are nice!"
#5: "Can I have it please kitty?"
Me: "No, kitty's house is OUTSIDE..."
#5 "Mommy, Kitty NO outside. Kitty, I like it."
Me: "Do you want a cookie?"
Yes... I am THAT mom. The one that changes the topic with sweet treats.
We will not have a cat.
And that is that.
And no adorable, wide-eyed, sweet voiced little girl is going to change that.
Nope.

Speak and be heard:
#6 is learning to put words together to form sentences!
If you know me personally, you know this has been a huge struggle.
We are somewhere between the Amharic/Wolaytinga phase and the English phase of things...
and that means lots of things like "Mommy. Milk!" which makes my blood boil.
We are very much a "how do you ask?" kind of family.
Demanding milk is NOT how you ask.
So now she can stumble through "Please have milk?" and I am thoroughly pleased!
Her hair is also getting longer and allowing me to ALMOST do something other than our little puffs all over her head... stay tuned for some kind of cute style soon!

From the sleep deprivation files:
#7 - baby boy.
Whew.
Well... Friday night he decided sleep was for wimps.
Not sure what was going on there...
but he was ALL THE WAY AWAKE
till after 10:30.
Seriously.
Jumping, playing, singing, talking, poking, running, jumping some more...
for 3 hours and 30 minutes PAST bed time.
He finally passed out in sheer exhaustion in the bed with us and proceeded to kick us all night long AND wake up at 5am.
Lovely.
He attempted to do the same thing Saturday night... which is when we discovered the melatonin.
Happiness is a baby back on schedule.

The "Processing" process:
#5 has been processing her adoption.
She tells me ALL THE TIME about stuff they had in Ethiopia, food in Ethiopia, clothes in Ethiopia... etc.
It goes like this:
while getting her dressed...
    "Mommy- this Ethiopia's!"
     Me: "Did you have a dress like this in Ethiopia?"
     Her: "Yes!"
While making breakfast:
     Her: "Mommy... this injera?"
     Me: "No, baby... mommy is making dabo - bread."
     Her: "No injera? Injera Ethiopia's?"
     Me: "Yes, Injera is in Ethiopia. Do you want some injera soon?"
     Her: "Yes. Injera soon."
While eating breakfast (chocolate croissants):
     Her: "Mommy, this NO have it Ethiopia."
     Me: "They don't have this chocolate dabo in Ethiopia??"
     Her: "Nooooo!"
     Me: "Do you like it?"
     Her: "Yes! Dabo good! I like it!"

And that's just three references in one MORNING.
This happens ALL DAY LONG.
It's a good thing...
She needs the freedom to process all that has happened to her.
Sometimes though I do get a little annoyed...
"No, you did NOT have a dress like THIS in Ethiopia.
Sorry. You didn't."
                  But I keep that inside my head.
                        I'm not THAT mean, y'all!