I know this is a few days late but its been a ca-ra-zay few days, to say the least. I just love this video because, omg, addy was so so excited about the singing, the candles, etc. We had to light and relight the candles several more times after this. This birthday was so special because addy was really into the presents, really felt special, really participated in every level.

Happy second birthday, Miss Addison Mai Noelle Bradley.

Today we celebrate your life. We celebrate your first Mother who chose to give you life. We celebrate your past, your present and your future. We might not have all the answers, we might not be able to fill in all the blanks but there are some things we know. We know you are the most loved baby girl that has ever existed, we know that you have a gift to offer this world and we are incredibly blessed to be the vessel from which you are guided toward that gift. We know that two countries celebrate your life, your joy, your intelligence, your spirit, your beauty.

Addy-Mai, you do 2 like no other! Your spirit and joy are palpable and contagious. You have brought laughter into our home and hearts. People can’t help but smile when they see you, talk to you or watch you. You are a total character. You have sass, you have attitude, you have grace, you have humor, you have sensitivity. You have it all.

You understand that your birthday was coming, you know what this means for you: presents, cake, food! You talk about where you will eat on your birthday and get really excited with the options, you help decide how we will spend your day. You have opinions, you understand complex ideas, you are grasping the concept of time. We get to experience anticipation through your eyes!

You are a talker. You have big long sentences now, you convey everything you are thinking and feeling, you talk out your problems and discuss your opinions. How does this happen in just a matter of months? You still use a few baby signs, specifically the sign of banana, sometimes the sign for more and the signs for ice cream and bird. But now you use the signs like a flamboyant speaker, going on and on about birds while doing the sign, for instance. How is it possible that just 4 months ago you only just strung your first 2 words together?

You are a social butterfly, carefully feeling out situations but willing to giggle with a new friend very quickly. You love to play! You don’t understand when kids are mean or rough, it breaks your heart in a million peices. In your world, there is nothing but love and joy. You are accepted easily into groups because you will openly applaud and encourage other kids’ silliness and make them feel important.

You are still a total girly-girl. You love your babies and your play kitchen. Playing “house” is a full time job. You love to have your nails done. Now that you have long hair, you have developed the age-old ability to shake the hair out of your eyes or brush it aside with a flick of the wrist and you do it with drama and intent! If I brush that hair out of your eyes for you, you will intentionally replace it covering your face so you can dramatically shake it away. You like the accessories - shoes, hats, bows, jewelry, purses. You have already asked to have your ears pierced and are sure you won’t mind the pain. You like new outfits, you love to shop. How does this happen to such a tiny girl?

But no, you aren’t a delicate flower. You are one physical kid. You jump everywhere if you aren’t running at full force. You climb, you explore, you get dirty, you fall and rub your knees and run off again. You will try anything at least once. But you are wiser now and have discovered your limits and so you are careful, steady, wise in your approach to some things. The exception to this would be gymnastics where you may break your neck but it will not stop you from contorting your body in new ways, pushing yourself to the limit. You have a natural gift, you are strong, determined, focused and fearless. This scares me to no end. You challenge all of my vulnerabilities as a parent, what a gift that is! When you aren’t back-bending, front-rolling or doing the splits all over the house, you are throwing and catching balls, playing catch with your baseball and mitt, kicking balls. You also love to dance and can be very dramatic with your dance moves.

Was there ever life before Addy-Mai? Sometimes one of the kids will say just that. No one can remember how we found joy, what we smiled about and who entertained us endlessly before you came into our lives. No one can remember what we did with the ridiculous amounts of love we feel for you. We are more complete, as humans, for knowing you and loving you.

And Addison now I can really say without a doubt that your love and attachment to me are every bit as strong as mine to you. While I loved you at first sight as if you had grown in my womb and sprung forth from my own body, you took much longer to learn to trust again, to learn to rely on human love and nurturing, to learn to feel things other than joy. I remember when I first met you I thought that I would never let you cry again. Now, when you cry, I know that you know I am here, I love you, I will make it better and you can count on me. I will hold you endlessly, carry you next to my heart whenever you need me to, dry your tears, feed your soul and grow your heart. And now I can see in your eyes, hear in your voice and feel in your touch that you know this too.

Today we’ll have a quiet family day…..well, as quiet as our family could possibly be! We’ll share fresh fruit for breakfast, explore the aquarium and ride rides together, cuddle up for a nap together, tear through your gifts, play and play, eat cake and celebrate this amazing human being that is you.

*** for my real picture post of the birthday girl, check out the photoblog

Finally. FINALLY!

After:

7.5 months since I first realized we were going to be done with diapers at Addy’s insistence and since I made the declaration that Addy would be easy to potty train.
6.5 months since she had her first 100% pee-free day and since she last pooped in a diaper.
3 months since the dreadful Pee in the Produce incident , and also the time I realized that this is HELL but that the end was near (or not!)

And finally I think we are done. I have to say - I have spent more time potty training this girl than I have with all three of my boys combined plus Tony’s kids from his previous marriage. After all of it, I can’t even say what finally really worked.

There were times when Addy would stay dry if she was naked. Or if she was clothed but not naked. Or only during her naps. Or all night long but not during the day. Or only when she wore pull-ups (which she absolutely detested). Or only in the car. Or she would do good for a day and then not. There were times when she would intentionally walk over and pee on the floor. Or the couch. We’ve had professional carpet cleaners here twice. There were times when I thought it was my fault - I wasn’t consistent enough.  There were times when we instituted the “PeePee Timer” as a reminder to both of us only to realize she would pee 10-20 minutes when the timer was set for longer.  Most recently there was a time when I just gave up and put her in a pull-up if we had to leave the house or wear clothes I did not want peed on an hour later.  I hate pull-ups, Addison REALLY hates pull-ups. Maybe that was the final straw for her - the motivation she needed? I don’t know. I can tell you it probably was not developmental or that she is suddenly more ready than she used to be.  But I can also say there are more noticeable signs now and if she doesnt remember to go potty, we can see that she needs to go and rush her in. And now the only accidents we have are if she is struggling to get down her underwear, right in front of her potty. I don’t think those count.

I think, in retrospect, at least some of this was from her life in Vietnam. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, but I can look back and see now that she probably had some sort of issue with disposable diapers (which she did not wear prior to her adoption). I think just the diaper itself created a constipation issue that had not existed prior and that we really didn’t even realize existed for a long time.  She absolutely hated to poop in a diaper, in her carseat, etc. Who could blame her!!?? So I think the insistence against her diapers and early poop training were related to that. Had the poop issue not existed, I probably would have just kept slapping diapers on her.

But she’s also always been very insistent, beyond her years, about what kind of potty situation she wanted. She really did show all the signs very early, she showed the ability to control her urine very early, the ability to get her clothes on and off by herself early and even now, at just about 2, she’s even already adept at wiping herself, washing her hands, etc. It seemed totally wrong to even consider putting her back in diapers but it was sure tempting!

So with that, here’s a super-short video we took last night. It might me hard to hear/understand but for some reason it totally cracked us all up. Usually Addy still uses “baby talk” when she has to go potty - she either says “butt-butt” (which is oooooold baby talk we used when we changed her stinky butt-butt diapers!) or she says “Peepee mama”, so I think her seriousness about saying “Uh-oh. I need to pee.” cracked us up.