Hannah and I Both Survived!

Exhausted and recovering from a cold that Hannah decided to share with me, I am back at home with just hubby and dog. I have a new found respect for mother's of toddlers. They must power nap, which unfortunately, still eludes me.

I loved Hannah from the moment I saw her Labor Day weekend, but I grew really attached to her in the 10 days I was with her 24/7. She has more personality than any child I've been around. She loves to dance, to sing Jesus Loves Me (she hasn't got the words down quite yet as she usually ends up singing how much the Bible loves her), to ride her battery operated 4 wheeler, to watch t.v., etc. What she doesn't like to do is play by herself or for anyone's attention not to be on her. She would help me wash dishes with a little pink apron tied around her waist and do the laundry. I told Chris if we ever have a child, doing the dishes together will be a must. She was so cute washing all the bubbles off each plate and cup and handing it to me.

My favorite time of day was bedtime, and not just because I needed a break, but because after we read our 2 stories (she usually took the book from me and read or if she did allow me to read, she talked the whole time, so I ended up making up a quick story), she would pray. Hannah would close her eyes which immediately produced wiggles in her legs like I've never seen. Usually she ended up upside down in her bed. I wouldn't understand a word she said between "Jesus" and "Amen." But, one night, shortly after I gave her a ballerina necklace I'd bought for her, she included Chris and I in her prayer, and then she included her necklace.

After she prayed, she wanted to sing Jesus Loves Me. Sometimes I could sing with her and sometimes I couldn't. I had to wait for instructions. Then I would kiss her and tell her I loved her, and she'd tell me the same. For the first few nights I would get woken up with strange requests. One of them was for a band aid at 4 in the morning. She was obsessed with band aids, which my husband and mother said was fitting since I loved band aids when I was a kid.

On Saturday, a friend told us about a church that was having a fall festival with lots of games for the kids, so Chris (he was finally in town) and I took Hannah with us, dressed as a ballerina, of course, and introduced her to Halloween candy. At first she was timid, but after playing the fishing pole game and "catching" a bag full of candy, she decided the "party" was OK after all. We played that game over and over. I'll be putting pictures of her on our photo website you can click here to see them: http://s235.photobucket.com/albums/ee281/janemckean/Hannah%20October%202007/ Most of the pictures are at the fall festival.