Exploring

This morning Miranda was awake and playing in her pack'n'play when I woke up.  I kept still and just watched her.  First, I noticed that she was scraping the sheet again and again and I couldn't figure out what she was doing.  Then, I realized she was trying to smooth out the wrinkles (which was impossible because the sheet isn't the right size for the mattress).  Then her foot hit a stuffed animal that rattled so she sat up to investigate that.  She shook the lamb but that didn't rattle, then she shook the dog and it did rattle.  Then she shook the dog really hard to see how loud it would sound.  Next, she ran her hand along the netting on the sides and tried to push her fingers in the holes.  It was fun to watch her investigate her world.

This afternoon Miranda was playing in the pot of water and doing lots of splashing.  Then disaster struck - a dog came and took a drink out of her pot!  Miranda did not like that at all.  As soon as the dog came near to us she ran over and climbed into my lap.  Then she pulled her feet up so there was no possibility of the dog touching her feet.  Even when sitting in my lap she would not reach out to touch the dog.  She was very alert to the location of the dog the rest of the time we were outside.

As Miranda spends more time with us she is quickly increasing her English vocabulary. She is also very quick to imitate what we say and do, including curling her tongue, blowing raspberries, and humming (we have to make sure we are teaching her things we really want her to learn :)

Miranda is starting to exhibit some nap avoidance techniques.  One day I read books to her until she fell asleep.  Now, she refuses to even look at a book if it is close to naptime and actually pushes the book closed.  I usually rock her and sing to her until she falls asleep, so the last two days she has run away when I went to pick her up at naptime.  Then, this afternoon she was following me and I walked into the bedroom.  As soon as she saw where we were, she tried to run back out the door but Dad was there and blocked her escape.

Miranda continues to be a big eater.  We had Swedish meatballs for dinner and she ate 5 meatballs, several scoops of noodles, and quite a few carrots.  Then when we cleared the table she found a noodle that had fallen on the floor and was ready to pop that in her mouth, too!  I went to talk with her house mom today and I asked her how she knows when Miranda has had enough to eat.  She said that Miranda will leave food on her plate and not eat anymore when she is full.  Well, this has not yet happened with us.  She always clears her plate.  We sometimes notice that she is starting to eat slower but usually she shovels it in at a pretty fast pace!

Today a social worker interviewed Dad and I to evaluate the level of bonding that Miranda has with me.  The social worker then has to write a report for the court hearing that we have this week.  Our court date was originally scheduled for Thursday but has been moved to Wednesday.  The social worker was pleased with our bonding and felt comfortable recommending that the adoption be finalized.  She was very helpful to talk to as she also adopted a toddler as a single parent and her daughter is now grown.

Animal sighting of the day...Dad, Miranda, and I walked on a trail that borders the game reserve and we startled a very large lizard that was in the grass.  It scurried across the path and into the brush so fast that there was no time for a picture.  Dad and I had a discussion on whether we saw a lizard or a crocodile but agreed it was a lizard.  We both thought it was about 3 feet in length!