Day 2 with Mahaela

Tuesday was a free day for us, with no appointments, which was nice. Mahaela slept until 9:30. She had a great breakfast--toast, yogurt, milk, banana. I put down a half a banana and then had to look under her chair to see where it went. Aubrey was sitting with her and didn't see what she did with it--she ate it! She devoured the second half just as quickly.
After breakfast she just played around a bit. I gave her a bath and Aubrey joined her. She played in the tub quite a bit and liked it. They had put on lotions and perfumes on her at the orphanage making her smell pretty, which she did, but it was nice to make her smell familiar like all my babies have smelled. I even washed all her clothing in Dreft which says "baby" to me. Her hair was in a little french braid right down the middle of her head--I took it out and will probably never be able to duplicate that again.
Around 1pm we headed out for lunch and stopped at a restaurant. We just fed her anything we had that she would eat. She ate a chicken finger, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, spaghetti, salad. As they sat the food in front of us, she grabbed the cheese off of my salad and then used her fork to dig in. She appears to be short and stout--she is like me in many ways. She is solid and heavy, but her pants are long on her.
We used the backpack carrier to walk around and after getting in it 2-3 times, she liked it. It is great because she enjoys walking, but is so slow and the sidewalks are a walking hazard. We stopped at a park. She doesn't really like to get on the play equipment, but does like to watch the other children. She would occasionally say things to people as we walked by and they would say hello in return. She is probably saying "save me, help me!" Haha.
She tripped over Bill's foot and did a face-plant with a loud thud. She absolutely smacked her nose and upper lip and forehead. No blood, just a little red nose. She cried hard, but got over it quick. It was good to be able to console her.
Mahaela took a good little nap in the afternoon. She definitely shows signs of being sleepy and still needing a nap--yawns, sucks thumb. She just snuggled right up to Bill and took a snooze.
We went out for a walk and then to dinner. She sits patiently and does well eating out--such a Hauter, for sure. Bill went up to the dessert case and she had a royal fit when he wanted her to come back to the table. Thankfully, we were the only ones in our area. We just let her have her little fuss. The waiter spoke English, so he probably knew she was giving us the "what for."
She went to sleep at night about 9:30 with a little crying, but very mild and very short. She slept until after 8am Wednesday.

Here are some random details that I have not written about...

She makes a really cute sour face. We have some soda, which she apparently hasn't had soda before, that is pretty sour berry flavored. She puckers up in the most animated way. At one point, she even smacked her bottom like it was so sour.

She walks a bit pigeon toed, sometimes it is much more pronounced like a little waddle.

She had her first McDonald's, allegedly, the first evening. She liked french fries. She had a little bit of a McFlurry also. (Aubrey was starving so we stopped to get her something.) She likes ice cream, but just takes one bite and she is happy with that. We think the cold is a bit much for her.

When we try to get her to pose for a picture she squats down, but so do we. Aubrey had to point that out to me, because I wasn't getting it.

She really likes to copy things, especially Bill. At dinner, he took off his jacket, so did she. He crossed his arms across his chest, so did she. He takes off his shoes and puts them by the door, so does she.

She says "Shht." Sometimes she is just being cute with it. Other times she is mad about something. She says it a lot to Aubrey.

She has a tendency to hit, especially Aubrey, but she has taken swings at all of us. We say "Nay" and try to stay clear of it. If she tries to hit Aubrey, we give Aubrey a kiss. We all kiss, and then she usually softens and wants a kiss too. We will keep doing that so she understands that we love each other, not hit each other, and unless she wants to give kisses, she will just be left out.

She has had slight color changes, but not major. Mostly she gets a little "dusky" looking in the face, but after a big cry. I went to change her clothes and noticed her legs were a little purple, with a little sluggish capillary refill. If you didn't know she had a problem, most wouldn't notice these slight color issues.

She is very independent--just so typical for a 3 year old. She wants "Dow"--down. She has her own ideas and is defiant at times.

At the moment she is walking around eating potato chips like there's no tomorrow, and loving it.

Here are some pictures in no particular order.

Ready to walk out of the orphanage--"I will not leave you as orphans!"

Walking through the water for good luck--but we know luck had nothing to do with this day!

Parading us through the orphanage to show us her room

Mahaela's crib and room for three years

At lunch on Tuesday, getting a little sleepy

Riding around on Daddy's back