Finally an update!

Yes, I have not been the blogger I once was, I have not commented, written, almost forgot I had this!!  Not really we are just so busy that I typically do not have a minute to sit and do!

Chaltu is just amazing, she has been home 1 month and 1 week and while I kept thinking the other shoe was going to drop and everything was going to go crap, it hasn't and I really do not think that it will. 

It is interesting though she has not gotten in trouble yet...now this is not because we think that she can do not wrong, (I refuse no matter how adorable to have a bratty child).  But she really does not test those limits.  however; she did almost get there this week!  But it is with such small stuff, truly it is about her pace, 90% of the time this girl is a fast mover, she runs EVERYWHERE, except when it comes to washing her hands, brushing her teeth, getting into bed...you know the usual kid stuff and at night after asking her 42 times to do something my patience wears thin!  She asked me what trouble was and was I going to hit her? So I explained to her that I would not hit her, but what trouble could mean and when she realized that she might not be able to watch Jungle Book 2 (we just call it Mowgli around here) well she really understood it!  Not to say that her pace is quickening but now she can tell the difference in my voice. 

One of the biggest things that I learned this week is that I am truly her role model (I know duh I am her mom) but she is really looking to me for total guidance and how to maneuver through all this new.  I learned this on 2 occasions one with her communication at school, she is doing very well at school but not socializing too much, so we had  a talk about this and I really encouraged her to start talking to the girls in her class, the next day I received a great email from her teacher that she was talking and asking for help!!! She is also very aware of what I wear and what I look like...meaning I need to make sure that I don't always look like I rolled out of bed, not that I do but the month has taken it's toll on me.  While I will also put the emphasis on the inside not the outside, there is still a huge importance of how you are presenting yourself and the way it makes you feel!  She is really looking to me to shape her moves right now and I need to make sure I am helping her through that!
The hard part right now...Duane and I work opposite schedules- I am days, he is evenings, I am off wed/sun he is off fri/sat.  For logistical purposes this is awesome, he takes her to school, I pick her up, we don't have to worry about a baby sitter...But I miss him! and not in a way of I want more of him without Chaltu, but just I want to see him.  We also only have a snippet of family time a couple of hours on Friday and maybe Saturday.  It is hard, it is hard in the evenings to be a "single parent", it is hard trying to relay all the cool stuff she is doing, it is hard not to see each other.  If we make changes to our schedules it will cause more difficulties in the long run, so for now it is what it is and we need to get through it, but boy I wish something wonderful would happen to change these things!

this is where we are right now!  In case I have not mentioned it enough, my Chaltu is an amazing smart girl, who is my hero and I could not be any luckier to have her as my child! Leaving you all with a quote from her this week...
"mommy I have had 4 homes 2 Woliso and 2 in Ethiopia (confuses this) but this is HOME"