I won a food war!

Since coming home, Amanda has decided that she really only want to eat a limited number of food items. She'll eat anything noodles, rice congee, steamed eggs, 2 vegetables, 1 fruit, and graham crackers. So, when she decided her only fruit was no longer a thing to be desired, I put my foot down. I want to increase food items, not decrease. So, we had a showdown. I went into her room and gave her a banana slice. Then, to distract her when she was eating it (so she wouldn't spit it out), we did the happy banana dance - "yay, I'm eating bananas - whoo hooo, whoo hooo". It worked.

People see her in church and in public and comment on what a pleasant child she is. She is. She has a lot of personality and an overall sunny disposition until she wants something. Then the behaviour she's learned in the orphanage comes out. Basically, whoever can cry the longest, the hardest, and the loudest gets their way. So today when she wanted her brother's car that he was playing with, she put on big tantrum girl. She's slowly learning that while she may be the only little girl around, she will not be given everything she wants. After all, spoiled princesses grow into spoiled queens and THAT is not a pretty sight.

A final happiness. Last week, we taught her how to say "mama". I know she would say it and not realize what it meant. In the past few days, she's gotten it. She looks at me with a sparkle in her eye and a smile on her face and says "mama". While I have made a decision to be her mama since the day I knew she was ours, she has finally chosen to make me her mama. I can't say what joy that brings to me. It helps me realize what God feels a bit. He had chosen me from the foundation of the world. The day I chose to make Him my Daddy made His heart sing and the angels rejoice. Mama - how could one little word make all the other stuff seem so small?