A Happy Girl

When we first met Sena back in October, she was not exactly thrilled to meet us.  We, of course, had been counting the days until we would finally be able to hold her in our arms.  Inititally, she did not cry, but after the realization that a strange man and woman were holding her and trying to talk to her sunk in, the tears began.  Poor baby.  She was in shut down mode for the most part that first trip and we occasionally saw her come out of that.  On that first day, we have video of her sitting on her nanny's lap and her nanny was playing with her and tickling her and Sena just laughed and laughed.  I was so happy to see that side of her and wondered when she would be like that with us.  Well, it didn't take long!  In spite of the difficulties of our embassy trip, we did have amazing one on one bonding time with Sena and I know that paved the way for a smooth transition at home.  It took a few days for her to really warm up to us in Ethiopia, but once she did, there was no turning back.  I have heard that it can take months before you really see the true personality of a child come through, but that does not appear to be the case with this little one.  She is SO different than the child we picked up on January 17th.  Sure, we are still in the "honeymoon phase," but she has already trotted out behaviors - both good and bad.  She is inquisitive and wants to explore her surroundings.  She gets angry when she wants to do something we would rather she not do and she lays on the ground face down in protest and cries.  We pick her up and she is fine and easily redirected to something else.  She loves to laugh and play.  She gives kisses and high fives, but only if she is in the right frame of mind at the moment.  She has times when she just wants to be held and we happily oblige. She loves her bath, but detests the period immediately following that where she is lubed from head to toe as quickly as possible so as to lock in moisture and prevent her skin from drying out.  She does not like to have her diaper changed and isn't a big fan of having her clothes changed either, but nibbling on her toes and saying silly things to her takes her mind off of the unpleasantness of it all.  She loves to eat and if it is something she really likes (such as pasta) she asks for more before she has even finished the bite in her mouth.  I could go on and on, but the moral of this story is that in just over a week at home, this girl is doing BEAUTIFULLY and we cannot imagine our lives
without this little ray of sunshine.  She is a blessing from God and we are thankful that He has entrusted her to our care.

Silly!

  

Sena loves her Daddy!  Can't you just see it in her eyes?  He is pretty smitten with her, too!

She liked the box more than the doll that was in it.

Funny girl

I am so thankful to have this crew together at long last!  They are so good with her and she just loves to play with them.