Ana: Wanting to be like her sister!!

The news is flying fast and furiously. The reason is, while I was at the hospital with Emily, I had very little access to the internet and so by the time I got home I needed to respond to 145 emails. A daunting task! I am slowly getting caught up and so I am sending many emails from the families who have adopted from us. Between painting the apartment, Jasmine's adoption and getting ready for that and all the other daily tasks I have to take care of, I am not doing too well on getting back to everyone.

Anyway the reason for this email: An update on Ana (Angel while at Starfish). I absolutely love getting these emails if you have not figured that out by now. It makes us all so happy to know how well our little Starfish Alums are doing.

Ana is doing very well. I attached a couple of photos---as you can see in the one with Sophie, Ana wants to be just like her big sister (note the 'book bag' and headband). She grows more beautiful every day and is now saying quite a few more words including "snack", "eat", and "more". Fancy that! She seems to eat constantly, but her belly is getting smaller. She is down to about 1/4 bottle of 1% milk at nap time and bed time---she is about ready to be done with bottles.

I painted her fingernails a sparkly bubblegum pink yesterday and she can't take her eyes off of them. She really loves shoes---she and Sophie wear the same size and there are lots of arguments about who gets to wear which shoes. She has pretty, silky ducky curls and we had her hair trimmed a couple of weeks ago. We went to the dentist and she had her teeth counted after Sophie and I had our appointments---all looks well and her overall health is perfect.

You may remember that Ana is very strong willed. As she gets more comfortable here, she asserts her wants and needs very vocally and strongly. She says "HELP", and "UP" and "NO NO NO NO NO" all day long! She really loves to play babies and pretend to do laundry and she especially likes to help load and unload the dishwasher and help put away groceries. She likes her snacks stored just so for easy access! She continues with her music class and speech class. She is doing a language-focused play group this summer with other kids her age. We are trying to get her into a little gymnastics program, because she likes lots of action---I think she would like it.

Other than all that, we are doing pretty well. Patrick has been working lots of extra hours. Last week, he went to DC to present to a Cabinet member about the opening of the new Veteran's Hospital he is working on. It was very exciting for us, but we hate it when he is out of town. You've never seen a child so in love with her Daddy as little Ana is with Patrick. Although, I have to say that she loves me a lot, too. She makes little kissy lips and I'll bet I got twenty kisses today!

All our love,
Jennifer

Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda
Starfish Foster Home
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
www.chinesestarfish.org