She Gets Weirder Everyday Now…

And by weirder, I mean weird for her but more like a normal kid for us. The first shocker was this:

 

A doll ladies and gentlemen she is holding a doll. Now it is a solid plastic doll mind you, no fuzzy soft stuff on this doll. Notice Yaya has taken the doll’s clothes off. Not only does she hold the doll, she takes it everywhere and cares for it! She feeds it, gives it a bottle, has us change the diapers, and bathes it…in the tub. (Then Eric has to rip it’s leg off and pour out all the water. Otherwise it will leak all over you…just ask Grandpa.) She started playing with the doll right around Christmas. This is a huge step for Yaya for two reasons. First, she is engaging in imaginative play and second, it is caretaking play. She kisses it and gives it lots of hugs, something we KNOW she learned from us. So it is pretty exciting to see.

The second shock was this:

She put the necklaces around her own neck and wanted me to take her picture. Yaya puts on NO accessories ANYWHERE on her body, unless it is her socks; which she has on all the time. (P.S. I did get her hair cut after this picture was taken and she no longer has Farah Faucet fly away sides. )

Then she came up with this:

These pictures crack me up! First off, she wanted to put on Noah’s night clothes and she looks hilarious! Second, her head is cocked sideways in two pictures because I was turning the camera sideways to take a vertical picture and I think she thought for the picture to turn out correct she needed to be sideways too! She is so smart…although the pictures don’t really reflect that…she looks not as sharp as she really is with her head that way.

Then TODAY she really did freak us out with this:

This is a STUFFED ANIMAL people!! Do you see her kissing, cuddling and hugging a stuffed animal!!!!??? A good friend of ours sent it home with Eric from work on Friday. This morning Yaya decided she was IN LOVE with this old school Curious George monkey. She took it with her all over the city, it and her hard plastic baby doll. They had to ride in the Target buggy with her. They rode in the car with her. They got out at Subway and ate lunch with her. They sat in the bathroom with her while she bathed. She took care of her two babies ALL DAY LONG. It was amazing to watch. We love to see her caretaking these toys! She has come a long way since May. She is doing so many things now that seem so…I don’t want to say normal…but it is the word that comes to mind. She is losing the orphanage behaviors and fears is a better way to say that. It is really encouraging to see.