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Winter '05March 26, 2005 She is talking pretty much non-stop now, and tells us all events, both things that are happening, and those she is refraining from doing. "I'm not picking my nose," she'll inform us. "I'm letting you read, Mommy." "I'm not saying stupid-head." and my personal favorite, "I'm being quiet, Daddy!" Other catch phrases include, "Don't tell me no, Daddy," and "I'm not your best friend!" But she also says, "Dude!", "I love you," and "Thank you," in a cute voice that melts all hearts. Autumn squeals with glee every time one of us comes home, or picks her up at daycare. She runs and jumps and plays with near-total wild abandon. She sings songs and laughs and dances more often than not. And she eats, and then eats some more. She'll have snack, then dinner, and dessert, and still, within moments of finishing all that off, she'll declare she's still hungry. She remembers names and places very well, and can pick which of her left and right hands and feet are which. She's counting to twenty, with errors and repetition, however. And she can pick out some letters of the alphabet. After her third birthday we sold her crib and got Autumn a loft bed, just like Mommy and Daddy have. She loves to climb up into it. It's taken her a while to figure out how to climb down, but has been getting better at it. Our biggest fight is attitude. She defies and she grabs. She pushes her limits daily. Autumn is a head-strong girl that has often tried our patience. Time-out works, but she cries and screams the whole time, and can get quite into hysterics. I think a three- or five-minute sand hourglass might help. Occasionally, Autumn will have a very strong nightmare, I guess you'd call it a night terror. She'll be very upset, crying and angry. She won't want to have anything to do with anything. She's usually sitting upright in the corner of her bed. Lise or I will pick her up, which she'll fight against, and hold her tight. She'll struggle and wail, and we have to work hard to keep from losing our grip. But within a minute or two she is suddenly clinging and hugging, crying but not combative. She then falls back asleep. Not sure if she ever was really awake. She never seems to remember the event the next morning, so it could be a form of sleepwalking.
We love you so much, Autumn.
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Autumn
has been with us for two years. On Gotcha Day we pulled out the
drawer full of stuff from China. We let her play with her stone chop
(a stamp with her Chinese characters) -- a gift from the orphanage.
We talked about the day we connected. The day the red thread came
together and we became a forever family. 
