Celebratin'

Before I dig into this post, let me just comment on my last post...

I was stunned by the supportive emails that I received from many of you--thanks for your kind words of encouragement. Perhaps I'm turning a little bit crazy these days (OK--maybe a lot crazy) but please know that no one is performing exorcisms in this here part of town. I'm just a worn-down mamma who decided to share a vulnerable moment with the public in the name of keeping it real. I'm not training in fire-throwing. I'm not juggling swords. I'm just embracing the depth of my relationship with my daughter and looking to keep the forces that surround us from above. That may have been the most out-of-character thing I have done in a long time, but a mamma's gotta do what a mamma's gotta do and I'm not backing down from it. For what it's worth, Sosi slept without one night terror for 7 straight nights.
Now, onto the real reason I am posting today...

Wednesday was Sosi's first official Adoption Day--the one-year anniversary of the day we legally adopted her through the Ethiopian courts. Has it really been a year? We decided that this would be a special day for specifically celebrating her Ethiopian heritage each year. When we were in Ethiopia we bought one gift to give Sosi each year until she is 18--we have a trunk of goodies in the attic that we'll have to hide in future years. What better to give her on her first Adoption Day than a traditional Ethiopian dress? How flippin' adorable is she? I spent hours on youtube fiddling with my white-girl "locks" in an attempt to learn the art of head-wrapping so that I could dress her up in the matching head scarf, but no go on that dream. Sosi wouldn't let me come near her with that thing despite my efforts.

We went to the park and had a mini photo shoot with our photographer friend, Billy Scanlan. It's refreshing to have photos of the three of us together. Since Donovan is a photographer, we so rarely see Daddy-o come out from behind the lens --thanks, Billy!

because everybody loves an out-take

After getting her white cotton dress dirty, we feasted on Ethiopian food for dinner. The Ethiopians at the restaurant were eager to see her chow. I was a embarrassed that Sosi was not into it even though her regular diet consists of lentils, lentils and more lentils. She's becoming increasingly picky as her toddlerness progresses, so it's no surprise that she put her nose up to our shared plate of goodness. What she did like was the fresh mango juice--she slurped down two large glasses like nobody's business and called it a night. Oh, happy day!