Princess Chloe

Chloe is a princess, but I am sure you all knew that!  I think this phase has come about from watching Alice in Wonderland.  She has gotten where she wants to wear a dress all the time.  Then she curtsies with her dress and says "Yes, your Majesty," like Alice in the movie.  On Friday Chloe dressed up in her purple princess dress and crown.  She was so cute.  We were going out to dinner and Chloe insisted on wearing the dress to dinner.  I was able to convince her to leave the crown in the car.  The next day Chloe wore her dress and crown all day.  Caleb and her were outside playing almost the entire day.  I tried to get her to change her clothes so she would not get her dress dirty.  She would not.  Caleb called her Princess Chloe and said he was her body guard.  Last night I put her to bed in her pajamas.  This morning when I woke her up she had her princess dress on over her p.j's.  I asked Kevin if he had put that on her and he said no.  She had gotten up sometime in the night and put it on.  Too funny!  Today she insisted on wearing the dress all day.  She wore it to speech, the library, to run errands and even to a doctors appointment.  Everyone was so sweet to Princess Chloe.  I am sure the attention she got over her dress today will just keep her wanting to wear it more and more. 



Chloe LOVES her Great Grandmother

We went to visit Kevin's grandmother this weekend.  Last week we were telling Chloe that we were going to visit her.  We think she thought we were going to my parent's house.  The whole way in the car she kept saying," I want to go to great grandma's house."  She would say it over and over, almost so much it drove us crazy.  When we got there she was a little shy and we think a little confused, because we were at a different house than what she thought we would be at.  It had been a long time since we had been there, so she likely did not even remember Great Grandmother or her house.  But, it did not take long for Chloe to warm up to Great Grandmother.  Matter of fact, for most of the weekend Chloe was either sitting next to Great Grandmother, having tea parties with her, crawling into her lap, hugging her, or riding on her rolling walker.  It was so cute to watch.  Chloe would just go up to her and hug her and tell her that she loved her.  I think Kevin's grandmother probably got more loves and hugs this weekend than she has had in awhile.  I am sure she will be very worn out this week.  Chloe wears me out and at age 92, I am sure it will be much worse.

While we were there, Chloe was able to meet some second cousins she had never met before.  Hannah is 4.  Chloe kept saying, "I want long hair like Hannah's."  They played pretty well together considering Chloe's selfish ways.  There was this little kids size chair that Chloe did not like sharing.  When Hannah would sit in it, Chloe would get upset.  She would try and get Hannah out of it and then sit in it.  Chloe would even carry it around the house so that no one else could sit in it.  She was very possessive about it.  We had to make it a game to let Hannah have some time in the chair.  The funny part is that Hannah left and the next day Chloe did not pay any attention to the chair.  What a stinker!

It was a great time with family and a weekend I think everyone enjoyed.

Christmas 2012

Wow, it has been a super long time since I have updated this blog. So sorry and I will try and do better. We reached another milestone with Chloe. We have now had her longer than she was by herself. We got Chloe when she was 17 months old and we have now had her over 17 months. When you ask Chloe where she is from she says "I China.". If you then ask her how did you get all the way over here?  She explains how I came over and Kevin and Caleb came to get her.  She will often add that she was waiting for us to come and get her. How sweet!

She continues to adore Caleb. She copies just about everything he does. If Caleb is sitting a certain way, she will sit that way. Recently Caleb had a performance at school and Chloe was trying to copy the dance moves at our seat. The person sitting next to us said she had a hard time deciding who to watch because Chloe was so cute.  Despite her love for Caleb, she continues to be extremely jealous of him. She still does not like it if I hold Caleb or hug him or give him a lot of attention. She will often sit herself between the two of us so that she separates us. Caleb has learned to joke around with it and he is extremely tolerant of her. For the most part they get along really well.   It is fun to watch them play together.  Often when I watch them play, I think of what a blessing for both of them it is to have a playmate.

Chloe's speech continues to improve. She is talking a lot now. Sometimes Kevin thinks it is harder to understand her mostly because her thought processes are so much more complex. We still go to speech therapy once a week. For most sessions she works really hard and usually amazes me of what she will accomplish at a session.

For Thanksgiving we went to Vail Colorado. Chloe loved playing in the snow. This year she even tried skiing. She only lasted about an hour total, but she did really well. She enjoyed riding the magic carpet up the bunny slope and then would ski down into someone's arms.  She looked so cute in her pink helmet.  We will likely put her in ski school next year.

Chloe enjoyed Christmas again this year. She is however, afraid of Santa. When we went to go see Santa, the only way I could convince her to get her picture taken with Santa, was if she just stood next to his chair and we asked Santa to not touch her. She held Caleb's hand but was still very nervous and upset. Interestingly, she was not afraid of Mrs. Claus and readily climbed up into her lap and sat for a long time. A fun plus for us on Christmas was that it snowed. The kids had a blast playing in the snow and making a small snowman.

Chloe at her church dedication

Witch and Vampire

Kids on the gondola

Chloe riding up the magic carpet

Chloe skiing

Chloe with her pink helmet

Chloe skiing

Chloe riding the magic carpet

Chloe skiing

Kids with Santa

Kids in front of Christmas tree

Chloe with gift

Kids with their stockings

Chloe with a new doll

The snowman the kids made with the Christmas day snow

One Year Anniversary

I cannot believe it has been a year since we met our dear Chloe.  Wow, what an amazing year!  One year ago we spent the day sitting in a small hotel room with nervous anticipation trying to kill time until we met her.  Our last moments of waiting for this child that we had been praying about for so long.  Boy was the pay off great!  Now as we think back, the four year wait before this day seems like no time at all.  Funny how life is like that. 

This last year has been wonderful and I could not imagine a life without Chloe.  We certainly have faced challenges, but those are the same challenges anyone faces with raising an independent 2 year old.  She has her own opinion of how things should be and so do I.  Those ideas do not always match and can lead to conflict and sometimes crying and fits (usually hers not mine).  But the fits are usually short lived and most of the time she is easily distractable to other topics.  She has learned so much in the last year.  Anyone would agree that she is a smart little girl.  She has learned a new language and continues to progress on her speech. She can count to 10 by herself.  She can complete puzzles and read books (and even "read" them to you).  She has learned to swim and many other things.  Most importantly she has learned what it means to be part of a family.  

As I reflect back on the year, the thing that stands out to me more than anything else is how adaptable she has been, even from the very beginning.  When you think of all the things she has gone through in the last year it is pretty unbelievable.  I hope this is a character trait that will follow her through life.   

Just like a 1st birthday for a child, I wanted to do something special in honor of her first year with us.  I was going to write a summary here over her past year, but if you really want to know that, you can just read over my previous posts.  I decided to create a video that seems to adequately summarize her first year with us.  We have appreciated your support and prayers and feel honored that you are interested in our lives even though many of you have never even met us or Chloe.  Please enjoy.

Our American Girl

It was fun to celebrate Chloe's first 4th of July.  We were really not sure how she would like the fireworks.  She gets scared with the thunder and so we were worried she would be scared of the fireworks.  We tried to show her some videos of fireworks before and explain that they can be loud.  To our surprise she loved the fireworks! She even did sparklers and held Roman candles.  She was not afraid a bit.  Here are a couple photos of my American girl.



As I have posted on previous posts, Chloe loved our dog Bailey.  This spring we found out the Bailey had a terminal bone cancer in her shoulder.  We explained to Chloe that Bailey had a boo boo on her shoulder.  Chloe is all about boo boos and always makes a big deal when she or someone else gets one.  She would say Bailey boo boo and point to her shoulder.  It was really cute.  We finally had to say goodbye to Bailey on Monday July 9.  It was a sad day at our house.  I was crying and Chloe was so sweet to come over and sit in my lap and wipe away my tears.  She would say Mom happy, as to say, Mom be happy.  We did not know if Chloe was going to understand that Bailey was gone for good.  That Friday we picked up her ashes which came in a nice cedar box.  Caleb was explaining to Chloe that Bailey was in the box.  Chloe wanted to hold the box and she very sweetly held it and started to pet it and then gave it a kiss.  Maybe she does get it!  Here are a few photos of the kids and Bailey.

Looking forward to the one year milestone of getting Chloe this Thursday!



Chloe's Talking and Swimming

I know I have not posted something in a long time.  I am posting a couple of videos of Chloe talking.  She is doing amazing with her speech.  We are continually impressed with her progress.



Chloe also recently completed a session of swim lessons.  She is doing great.  She loves the wa wa as she calls it.



We are coming up on our one year anniversary of our Gotcha Day!  I cannot believe she has been with us for almost a year.  My how time flies and how things change.  

Chloe's Personality

Chloe seems to have a way with entertaining people.  I'm not sure if it is because we forgot how cute toddlers are to be around or if there is something different about her.  Her personality seems to shine more and more each day.  She is still pretty quiet and apprehensive in new surroundings, but when she starts to feel comfortable, watch out.  She has a laugh and a smile that are contagious.  Anyone that spends a little time with her falls in love with her.  I love to watch her tell a story.  Despite the fact that she still is unable to say many words, she has an amazing gift of communication.  The other night she fell off a chair and hit her head.  When she tells that story she makes the cutest face and hits her head with her hand and says bonk.  Then she points to the floor and then she pretends to cry.  It is amazing how expressive she is.  Her speech continues to progress by leaps and bounds.  Every day it seems like she is doing more word approximations.  I'm amazed.  I'm sure there will be a time soon when we will wonder if she will ever be quiet.
 
We have really been working on the potty training and now she mostly goes in underwear.  When I started to get serious with this, I would give her 2 M&M's (one for being dry and one for going on the potty) as a treat.  When she goes, she points to the cabinet and says treat, then she holds up two fingers and says two.  A few weeks ago Kevin's parents were watching her and Chloe told Carolyn she got three treats and held up three fingers.  Carolyn of course gave her three.  She is so smart.  She knows three is more than two and she had just the right person to try it out on.  Now she asks for three and occasionally five, but I am more of a stickler and stick to the 2!

Chloe does things that Caleb never did.  The other day I had baked some cookies.  Chloe loves cookies.  I gave her one along with the rest of the family.  Then she asked for another.  I gave her another half.  Then I needed to get ready so I went back to the bedroom.  Next thing I know Kevin is asking me if I gave her another cookie.  I said no.  We went into the kitchen and she had pulled a chair to the counter, climbed up and helped herself to another cookie.  She has also pulled the chair to the door and tried to unlock it and go out.  She is quite clever and we have to keep our eyes on her all the time. 

One of her cute new things is "taking someone's nose off"  She takes her hand up to your nose and then puts her thumb between her index and middle finger like it is your nose.  She has to concentrate so hard to put her thumb in the right place.  It is so funny and the first time she did it to me I laughed so hard.  I had never seen her do it before and I had no idea where she learned it.  Thanks to Kevin for that adorable trick.
 
Every year since Caleb was a baby we have taken family photos in the bluebonnets.  It was fun this year to have Chloe be a part of it.  Here are a couple pictures from that and some recent ones I took of her.

My sweeties

The Family

Chloe concentrating on putting her thumb in the right place to show the nose she just took off

How adorable is that?

Posing for the camera

Picking the flowers

So happy