Thankful for Thanksgiving

I had a great weekend. When I put Sentayehu down for a nap on Thanksgiving I went to take a bnapo myself, but just as I was about to doze off my best friend Debbie walked into my bedroom. She and her boyfriend Todd drove from Florida to surprise everyone. It was awesome. We got to do the Black Friday sales in our old tradition. She also came with me to get Sentayehu's photos done. Here's a sample.

Fizzy Lizzy

I pretty much feed Sentayehu foods that are good for her. Rarely does a cookie, candy or cake pass her little lips. It makes it easier that she doesn't like the sweet treats. However, she loves soda. How I wish she had never had it at all. When we went shopping the other day I saw Fizzy Lizzy. All natural soda. The only sugar that is in it is from the fruit itself. I got her the pineapple thinking that I would like that too ... ummm ... not so much, but she liked it and had it over two nights. It has little bits of fruit floating around in it. Seems pretty healthy. I think that next time I will check out the raspberry lemonade.

If you are interested you can find out more here.

A Streetcar Named Desire

A friend saw this little car being disCARded and took it for Sentayehu. After coaxing her into the house last night with the promise of allowing the car to come in I was able to get her upstairs into the apartment. She woke up this morning and started looking around saying, "Where car?". I had cleverly hid it in the hall closet. I took it out again this evening. We were going to go for a walk but it was pretty wet out. The car is sitting in the living room and she practially spent the entire evening in it - just sitting there. Well, she was playing with the keys. And the sticker eye fell off and she took a good deal of time to repair it. She wanted her snack in it (she wanted her dinner in there, but I think that after losing that battle last night she didn't try it again) and she drank her before bed milk in it. She always lies on the couch with me and drinks her milk. Ah, we will see how long the desire for the car lasts.

A Little Shopping (Cart)

After picking up Taye we went grocery shopping. It was hard to get her to go into the store because our friend gave her a toy car to ride on and it was in the back seat of the car with her. She really wanted to try it out. I promised her we would do it after shopping - and I "sweetened the pot" by telling her she could push her own shopping cart. She did great for a while, but everything fell apart when she kept abandoning her groceries and running in the opposite direction that we were going. After numerous warnings I had to load her groceries into my cart and put her in there too. It was quite a work-out. I will be sure not to let her push a cart unless we are just picking up a few things. You live and learn.

posting from my cell phone

I missed posting yesterday. I hope everyone had a good Veteran's Day. I am attempting to post from my cell so we will see. You may get a better post tomorrow.

Motherhood is ...

Your kid spilling mango milkshake with tons of ice-cubes ALL OVER your lap - it leaking through to the back of your pants (nice visual) while you are at someone's house that you barely know on the way to a shopping trip to Target and BJ's. You can't cancel the shopping because you really need milk. To top it off your friend tells you it doesn't show, but when you get home and take them off ... you can only imagine what everyone walking behind you was thinking!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Tonight was PTC and so I got home at 8:30. Kinda late, but just so I have a post for NaBloPoMo I decided to put this up. Will see you tomorrow.

The First Pics

These are the first pictures I saw of Sentayehu - before I met her. She's come such a long way.

Cheese-us!

Or should I say, Jesus! So, Sentayehu is becoming aware of who Jesus is. The babysitter has a crucifix near the door. As with just about everything Sentayehu sees she asks me, "What's this?" I tell her Jesus. Then we go to church and she hears Jesus' name in the songs. And Taye has a book called, What is Christmas? She just wants to turn to the page where baby Jesus appears on the scene. Then she talks to him saying, "Come, come." She holds out her hands and calls to the baby Jesus and says, "Cute!"

Today at church I taught my class (which consists of just one fabulous student + Sentayehu who is auditing the class) about the three wise men who came to visit Cheese-us bringing gifts. Then we made a crown. Here he is ...

The Pretty Much Not Too Much Dancing Going on Dance Class

Today was Sentayehu's second Queens Ethiopian Dance Class. All day she tells me, "I want dance." and then we get there and she basically just plays with the toys of the children who live there. There are 3 moms beside the host and myself who attend. The teacher goes over the steps and continues to show the children while the moms try their best to get the moves so they can teach the children later. Taye gave it a try a few times today, but she was more interested in all the things to play with. It is really fine because the idea is to get the children to know something about their culture and they are learning and meeting other children from Ethiopia. I am glad we are in the class. I hope Sentayehu decides to do a bit more dancing each week until she is a dancing queen.

This picture is from the first class that she went to in Manhattan. That class debanded after one session, but the picture is cute and I didnt take any from the Queens group.

A Little Christmas Shopping

So I hear that Black Friday has been spread out from now until Christmas. What is up with that? That takes away the excitment of it all. Ah well. I went out and did a little shopping myself tonight and then came home and looked for a few gifts online. I have a few places I think I will be getting a lot of gifts from.

Oh I supposed this post is going to be up for Saturday. I should have done it an hour ago but I was too busy watching my cousin on CSI: NY. She was on tonight. If you saw it she was the shooting victim named Vanessa Walters.

Day 4

Just some pics for today. Too tired.

NaBloPoMo Day 3

Harder than I thought - I almost forgot tonight. I have to do report card grades for all the classes that I teach. That is what is on my mind tonight, but all I want to do is go to sleep. I am so tired. Ah well, gotta do, what ya gotta do. It is easier said than done - some classes I only see once a week. Then school was closed a few days or my schedule was changed or the kids' behavior was such that a lesson was nearly impossible so I don't have tons of grades. Other classes the children are not really able to write responses so I have to base my grades on their work/projects/activities. For one class I came up with the idea to have them make something out of clay and then tell me about it. I made a chart and took a digital picture of their work and asked them to talk about it. I recorded their responses on paper. Extremely time consuming and takes a lot of classroom mangagment because while I am talking to an individual student - what are the rest of the class doing? Here is a sample of something the children made from clay. They had to tell me what the animal does to help itself survive in its environment.

The Big Apple (in more ways than one:)

This is the caramel apple that Taye and I got as a gift from Khloe's birthday party/Halloween festivities. How cool? I was trying to figure out how to eat it - it was overwhelming. So I just cut slices out - sprinkles, caramel and all. Love it - Thanks, Khloe!

Election Day ... Today I went to a workshop in Manhattan. On the way I saw this guy drumming for $ in the subway. I just walked by giving him a smile. I was thinking how much Sentayehu would have liked to hear his music. She is drawn to music in all forms. On the way back from the workshop 7 hours later the man had moved down to the train stop where I was getting on the train to go back. He had a bigger setup and all these kids were playing along with him with shakers. They were having a great time and their families were enchanted. They appeared to be on a family outing on their day off from school. It was really cool. I love NY.

The workshop was at my favorite museum in NYC- The American Museum of Natural History. I went there to get background information and training on the Moveable Museum which will be coming to our school in January. The museum has 4 of them. The exhibit for this one is on dinosaurs. It is very exciting. I actually learned a lot today - I learned is that all birds are dinosaurs. A dinosaur is defined as an animal having a hole in its hip which allows the legs to be positioned under the body for upright walking. Also, did you know that there are dinosaurs with feathers? Crazy! And the pterodactyl is not a dinosaur!

Day One

I will begin with a few Halloween Pics. This is the first year in YEARS that I have particpated in Halloween. I just wanted Sentayehu to have the fun of running around. She doesn't even like candy. Luckily she got a few pretzels here and there. The one piece of candy she did eat stayed in her mouth for a long time preventing her from being able to say, "Trick or treat," and "Thank you."

NaBloPoMo

Ok - so I know this is a stretch, but I am going to try to particpate in National Blog Post Month by posting every day in the month of November. It willbe hard but I should at least be able to get a picture up per day - if nothing more. There are a few good events coming up that I can posst aabout - see you every day this month (unless you've given up on me).

WOW - It's been a long time ...

I have no excuses .. sorry. If anyone is still looking in - these pics were taken by my cousin Elizabeth. I will do a slide show of the past of the past few months to catch you up on what is going on.

What's New

Sentayehu is doing so much every day that it is hard to keep track, but here are a few new things ...

1. Elmo is her new BFF. She can spot him from a mile away. At church on Sunday while I was teaching the kids she kept saying ELMO over and over. I looked all around and he wasn't there, but then the kids and I noticed that on the photo wall there was a picture of a child holding an Elmo doll.

2. Today she sat on her potty and said CLEARLY " I sit down"

3. She is trying to SING along to the songs on DVD's. Laurie Berkner has a song called "I'm Gonna Catch You" and she sings "CAT CHOO" soooo cute.

4. She loves putting all paper in the garbage so I have to be very careful what I leave around.

5. She tells me when she is hungry.

6. New words
JOO - juice
CA - Car
PEESE - Please
Elmo
Thanks
Baby
Thank You

I can't think of any more right now, but there are so many.

Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day Weekend - In Reverse

I forgot AGAIN that Blogger puts the pictures in reverse order of how you select them. However, here it is ...

This morning we went to the town parade. Sentayehu was pretty tired at that point, but she did enjoy it - especially the bands. My niece insisted on marching with her brother. She got it in her head and didn't change her mind. I thought she might have chickened out, but she didn't.

Taye with Granny ...

Saturday ... my good friend A took Sentayhu and her own daughter to the park nearby her house so I could get 2 more hours of sleep. It was great. I really liked that! Other than when my mom helps out I never get to sleep late on a Saturday. Sentayehu ALWAYS gets up early. (DISCLAIMER: my sis in law is always watching Taye - just not in the early morning and my friend Dawn watches her two afternoons a week while I work late).

D was so helpful with Sentayehu. I can tell that as S gets older they will have even more fun together.

A girlie slumber party. My friend A invited us to spend the night on Friday. After being in the car for THREE AND HALF HOURS of holiday traffic (it is supposed to take 40 minutes) we finally got there. It was a very special time. My friend was so thoughtful. First of all she befriended an Ethiopian family and brought me over to their house so S could have some more ET friends. Then she cooked a great Moroccan meal specially for me. And she got COKE and had ice. And to top it off she stayed up till about midnight. I was thinking that she would have gone to bed at 9:30 and since she lives in a studio I was worried that I would just be lying there staring at the ceiling for HOURS. I have to say how blessed I am for having such great friends.

Missing pictures: I went to a BBQ at my friend Stephenie's house on Sunday after church. Steph and her hubby have two cutie kids - a girl the same age as S and a new baby boy. My niece and nephew were also there and it was great to see all the kids playing nicely together. Last time we were there S yelled at Khloe and scared her. I was nervous that she would do that again, but she was fine. Khloe has a lot of the same toys at S and I think she thought that they were hers (but either way - S needs to learn to share).

Too Long

Just something to say I posted - I LOVE the Easter dress. Will work on getting more up in the next week or so - not even sure if anyone is even reading.

Spring Things

Silly Sentayehu

Didn't Know it Was So LONG ...

I disn't realize how long it had been since I posted. Life can get pretty crazy - ups and downs. Here are a few from today.

Sentayehu and I went to a fund raiser for orphans today that was held by our adoption agency. We had a good time - especially when we won the prize we wanted - a basket of African stuffed animals and books. I was so surprised to have won. Here is a picture of the loot. At the event there was Korean dancing. Sentayehu, ever the dancer, wanted to participate but was too small. There were beautiful feathery fans and small drums with sticks which she REALLY wanted to play with. At one point the dancer picked her up and was holding her which I guess is why she felt she had the RIGHT to walk right through all the other children and sit on her lap at the end when the group pics were being taken.

Momma and baby.

Sentayehu and her little friend M. We had a playdate a few months ago. It was good to see her again. She is adorable!

Trying New Things

I am happy to report another SNOW DAY - how crazy is that ?!? I brought Taye's table into the living room and tried to get her into coloring and puzzles. There was some success - until she started eating the crayons. I also got her one of those little flip couches. She loves it. Just before I snapped the picture of her with the remote she was sitting back with her head resting and holding the remote - looking like a real couch potato! So cute.

Trini Trip aka Beach Baby

Life with Taye

Today I had a list of things to do. We are going to Trinidad on Wednesday morning so I wanted to get a few things (beach shoes for the one who can now WALK). I left pretty early and we went to Target and to the mall where for the first she went on one of those 25 cent rides (THAT IS Now 75 cents). She was pretty surprised when it started moving, but loved the action. Then I REALLY wanted to get a pedicure, but wasn't sure how the baby would be - but luckily for me she slept the entire time. Perfect. Then a quick trip to Costco to stock up on some stuff for the sleepover. My goddaughter and her to BFF's (cousins) and her little brother (age 5) all came for a sleepover. Anthony asked me when dinner was so I let him help by running water in the pasta pot. Right after dinner at about 7:30 he wanted to know where he was going to be sleeping so I blew up the air mattress and he was out after a few rolls around with Sentayehu. Poor Anthony had to hear the wrath of Taye every time he played with one of her toys. I am not surprised he wanted to check out. I can see she needs some lessons in sharing. She just lets out a scream - OR says, "No, no, no!" and points her finger. Funny, but I guess I have to watch what I do around her because that is totally me! Not the screaming - just the "No-noing with the finger"! Anyway dinner was tri-colored pasta, salad and Costco chicken. I was not sure what the girls were going to say when they saw the colorful pasta, but I guess times are a-changing cause they ate and ate some more - even the salad. After dinner it was groovin' to the Wii tunes (at least for Sentayehu who will take any opportunity to dance). After she went to bed the girls made brownies and we played Sequence. I retired to my room to do a little blogging and they are out there doing what teenage girls will do ..texting each other while all sitting on the same couch, snacking, and playing Wii. They are nice girls and so helpful with the baby. She loves having them around - like big sisters. The girls were talking about how different the condo looks since their last sleepover when I first moved in and had no furniture and make dinner on the George Foreman.

A SNOW DAY! YAY!

New York City PUBLIC SCHOOLS CLOSED!!!! I took Sentayehu out for a stroll. She liked it, but didn't want to be out there for a long time. She kept going towards the doors of the buildings (which all look like ours). It was pretty funny. We saw two girls making a mini-snowman and a little dog wearing a coat just like Taye's. She was wiped out looking at her cousin Ren's picture after a nice bath.