It’s Friday night here in Addis, and I have had two full days of Belane all to myself. She is an amazing little person.

She definitely can hear, as she has started repeating things that I say, even things that I say in a quiet voice. She may have a mild hearing loss as I do notice sometimes that she doesn’t hear things when there is a lot of background noise…and it could be that she had ear infections along the way that affected her hearing and caused others to worry. Whatever the deal is, it is a minor issue and not a major one. She is a chatterbox!

She is still potty trained…not a single accident day or night. She does enjoy trips to the bathroom, and has quite the routine that ends with handwashing and lip gloss. She goes so often that she thinks the English word for bathroom is “Again???” because that is what I say everytime she has to go. So now she points at the bathroom and says, “Again???”

She continues to eat anything and everything…especially if there is cheese on it, which is funny because cheese is one of only two things that Ben won’t touch (potato of any kind, even chips and fries, is the other). In an attempt to save money from eating everything here at the Hilton, I walked to the little grocery store with her today and we bought some imitation Pringles and imitation Cocoa Puffs (and other groceries). Belane loves them…I am not so impressed.

She has a whole bag of funny faces and has dimples you could fall into.

She is genuinely affectionate and sweet. She grabs my face with both hands and gives me big old smooches, and I am hoping she doesn’t figure out that in the moments after she does that, I would give her just about anything she wanted and let her get away with just about anything.

The absolute best thing though that she does is when she says, “I luff you” in her amazing little voice. At first I thought she was just copying me, but when she says it she hugs me and pats my back. I’m butter…

I think it’ll be sheer joy for her when we get home and she has brothers and sisters to play with. I have a feeling she may not like sharing me much at first, but we’ll work it out.

So, t hat’s the update from today. Josh made it home safely and I called home this morning and got to talk to all of my kids except for Mercy, who had spent one more night at her friend’s house. It was wonderful to talk to them and it did my heart some good to hear them all happy and cheerful, but it made me miss them even more too. Belane did get on the phone and would say, “Bye Bye” in a super cute voice, which had all of her siblings oohing and aahing (and Dad too!)

We’re planning on visiting AHOPE tomorrow and joining in a field trip with the kids, and spending time with some of the other adoptive families that will be moving to the Hilton this weekend. Being busy helps the time pass.

More soon.