That Hair

Although Meredith's glasses are always the first thing mentioned by anyone commenting on her exceptional cuteness, her hair is a close second. I remember thinking that Meredith had a decent amount of hair when we got her....here's what it looked like:


Since we came home just over a year ago, her hair has developed a life of its own. Luckily, it is quite fun to try to tame it (though our babysitter Jenee is better at it than I am). Here's a recent photo that shows Meredith's hair in its natural state. (We have only ever cut her bangs.)

And here are some of her many amazing styles! Please note that no styling products have been used, so the wildness and curls are all her own!

1) The Classic Single Pony

This sometimes goes on the side (as below) and sometimes in the middle. It often depends on how much Meredith wiggles as I try to get it centered. (Note that the thing on the right side is something in the background - she doesn't have a spike coming out of her head!)


2) The Post-Pony "Big Hair" Look

Yep, it's a lot of hair.

3) The Double Pony

Only Jenee has ever succeeded at this masterpiece. The most I've done is a little one on each side, with the back part still down.


4) The Multi-Pony Extravaganza

I was quite excited to pull this one off. By the end of the day it starts falling apart, but it looks adorable while it's in!


5) The Post-Sweaty-Nap Curly Head

When Meredith's hair is dry, she has some wispy curls at the back. When it is wet....


I hope Meredith will love growing up with such a wonderful head of hair!

The Miracle of Communication

It is fascinating to begin to know what Meredith is thinking about. She has over 50 understandable words now and seems to know what most of them mean even in different contexts.

For instance, we taught her that the oven is "hot" and the car is "hot" (always dangerous to touch the outside of the car here during a FL summer!). The other day I warmed up some food for her, and when she touched it she said "hot." What a delight to realize that she knows what the word actually means!

I like to think Meredith spoke her first sentence yesterday, though Rob says it doesn't quite count. What do you think? Here's the scenario:

***

We were sitting in the dining room for breakfast, where Meredith's high-chair faces the window, which has blinds. She often likes to look at vehicles going by in the mornings.

Meredith: "Oh-bul!"
(this, of course, means "open".....she says "apple" very similarly but the context usually helps us know which one she's talking about!)

Mommy: "What do you want opened?"

Meredith: "Window!"
(pronunciation clear as day, taught by her Oma a couple weeks ago)

***

So I say - it had a verb and a noun, so it's a sentence, albeit with a Mommy interruption :)

Meredith's most commonly used word, like many other children, seems to be "no." However, it is only sometimes a whiny or obstinate "no"....it's more often very matter-of-fact:
Do you want more chicken? "No".
Do you want more noodles? "No".
Do you want a drink? "No".
Do you want some fruit? "Mmmmm!!!!"
Can you say 'yeah'? "Yeah!".

Until she has a clear "s" sound, we are going with "yeah" or a nod or "OK", which she is beginning to use without prompting. What a big girl!

better late than never - Easter pics!

I had promised long ago to post Easter pictures. I am finally organized enough to do it!

Most of these are from our church's Easter Egg Hunt on the Saturday before Easter. At the end I'll post her photos on actual Easter in her Easter dress :)

We were very blessed that the church decided to divide the Easter Egg Hunt into three age groups this year instead of just two, so Meredith's age group (I think it was 0-2!) had an area of the grass that was covered with eggs in the wide open so everyone would find some :) Here she is, hard at work!





I should explain why she has an Easter bag instead of a basket. She actually does own an Easter basket. I got it at an after-Easter sale in spring 2006 (yes, 2006) because we thought we'd be traveling that summer for the adoption. Little did we know we'd have to wait for two more years! I was so excited to finally be using that Easter basket this year. So why doesn't she have it? Well, between getting the diaper bag packed up and figuring out how we could help out at the event itself, it was forgotten! Just goes to show that the child is more important than the stuff :) Fortunately, we had her personalized toy bag with us (thanks to the Rushes for that!) so we emptied it out and used it for eggs. Worked great!

Here's Meredith with her little friend Lily. They have been hanging out together a few times a week for quite a while now -- her family is in our small group Bible study, and Meredith and Lily play together there as well as at church and music class. They are just getting to the point of playing together rather than alongside each other - it is SO cute!


You may recall that Meredith was the big winner at the Fall Festival Diaper Derby last October. Well, her winning streak came to a screeching halt at the Easter Egg Hunt's "Egg on the Spoon" race. But she was so cute...totally understood what she was supposed to do and gave it a good effort!

The starting line...


Look at that speed! Well, OK, it was just the wind blowing....but so far, so good!


Looking good....er....wait. Where's the egg?


A careful Meredith looks for the egg.

Back in business! Although notice that the other kids are already done with the race and moving on....
(The careful observer will notice that the egg appeared to move - that's because I "spliced" together footage from two rounds of races -- the first one involved a failure of some kids to follow directions related to holding the egg with their free hand! Both rounds went about the same way for little Meredith though).

It was certainly a fun day and we look forward to next year!

Meredith wore a beautiful dress for Easter (thanks to the Omlis!) and even willingly kept her hat on for quite a while. What a cutie!



In Sunday School that week, Meredith learned that Jesus is alive. Amen to that! He is alive and has certainly been blessing us!