An Online Journal of Our Adoption Journey

Summer '04

August 18, 2004
We're at the beach, playing in the sand. I've brought a half dozen plastic containers along and we're building sand castles. Well, actually, I'm building; Autumn is in charge of demolition, apparently. The castle isn't getting done on time and under budget. Autumn's enthusiasm outpaces my ability to get the structure up. 

Then she decides we need water (probably to make it even harder for me to build the castle). So my intrepid daughter takes one of the small plastic bowls and runs on down to the edge of the surf, a good hundred feet. There, she manages to scoop up some of the saltwater. She starts back at a run. Autumn gets halfway and notices that the dish is now empty. She stops, turns back, and runs down to the shore. She refills and tries again. Each time the seawater splashes out as she tries to run back. Finally, about the third try, she decides she's going to reach me and the sand castle, water or no water. She runs up run and dumps about a teaspoon of the sea on my hard packed sand sculpture. Undaunted, she heads off to repeat the process. I, of course, can't stop giggling. 

Autumn's summer has been a fun one. She's started swim lessons, and went on her first campout, and is really starting to get into outdoor activities. She likes to walk the dog, especially if she gets to hold the leash. She loves the playground, although I should say, she loves the swings at the playground, spending 99% of her time on them. 

She's grown even more willful, and demands her way all the time. The statements, "I do it!" and "Wait, stop!" are both used often. She wants us, and the dog, to follow all of her commands, and gets upset if we don't. She's had several tantrums, all kicked off when one of us didn't follow a particular edict from the little empress. 

Autumn is still sleeping in crib, and hasn't tried to climb out (she did manage to fall out one time a good five or six months ago, and that was her only attempt so far). I glad she puts up with it, because once she's in a toddler's bed then she'll be able to wander at night and during naptime. 

Her toilet training is going well, and most of the times her diaper is dry when she asks to go potty. I think it's time to switch to regular underwear, at least during the day. But, and I'm sure this is true of a lot of parents; I'm not looking forward to all the accidents so I've been slow to do the final transition. 

Our little girl's vocabulary continues to grow, and she talks nearly nonstop now. She sings, and sort of knows the entire ABC song as well as Itsy Bitsy Spider and Little Star. Of course, she slides from one to the other and jumps around, but the melody is definitely there. She counts as well, going up with one, two, three, four, six, eight, fourteen, sixteen, twenty, yeah! 

She likes to read the paper along with her breakfast, just like Mommy and Daddy.  Sometimes she eats at the table, sometimes in the high chair. But my guess is that in the next month or so the high chair will become obsolete. Autumn's been really hungry lately. "Nutter bowl?" she'd ask after having some cereal or a snack. I think she's about to have another growth spurt.