Flor's Birthday (#10!)

It's really hard to believe, but we have a TEN year old! Our little tiny and petite sweet thing is growing up. I remember so well her first birthday in Quito, and feel blessed that in addition to that one where I was there, she has been able to spend her 7th, 8th, 9th, and now 10th birthdays in a family. What a blessing. I still look back on our entire experience together, starting way back in Hospital Baca Ortiz in Quito in Dec 2005 and look where we are now. We're a family and it's nothing short of miraculous. It's sometimes easy to forget that God plays such a large role in our lives in these days, but He does. Flor is a testament to that. 

Anyway, we celebrated her birthday by going out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant. She loves everything, but since she particularly loves rice, we thought that she'd appreciate that. We then came home for cake, ice cream, and presents. To be honest, Flor's birthday is always stressful for me because first, she is already our hardest child to shop for, and second, it comes right after Christmas, so double whammy of difficulty in the gift department. Soooo, good thing she likes cute clothes, right? Clothes are always a good gift. She got a bunch of new dresses, some outfits, and a new case for her ipad. She also got the traditional balloons from daddy. 

Flor with her loot!

Cake--yum. I know I have been very lazy about making our kids' cakes lately, but hey, when you can get them at the store and they are just as good, why not?

Not the most flattering picture of Flor, but this was her gift from Hallie- a few nickels and a homemade bracelet from her Chrsitmas loom. What a sweetie! :)

"Thanks sister for the present!"

 

New jammies from Grandma Lisa! She loves them> We have even let her wear them a few times without problems! YAY! (Typically she wears zip up jammies backwards due to a certain ahem, desire to strip in the middle of the night...)

A few things about Flor at age 10:

*She is able to make some sounds and tries to repeat the sound of words. She can do p, m, d, h, and a sounds. She definitely says "Mama" and "Hola" and has started sometimes saying "hi" while waving when prompted. When asked to say "Hallie", she says "Ha". Good start!

*She has a "boyfriend" at school, a boy with Down Syndrome named Lance. Her teachers told me about him and said that she says "lance" (haven't heard that yet...) and that she gets super excited when she sees him. The other day, I was at her school dropping some things off, when Lance came into the room. I said, "Hi, you're Lance, right?" and he said yes. I told him that we talk about him at home sometimes because he is a good friend to Flor. He walked over to Flor and gave her a hug and then, as if to confirm the suspicions, Flor took his face in her little hands and planted a big old kiss on his cheek. I about died laughing. Her teachers all went running over there to prompt her to "use appropriate touch" and to give him a high five instead. She had a big old grin on her face because she knew she'd been sneaky. Haha.

*Flor is friendly as ever and people love her wherever we go. In church, she's always waving at people and I'll turn around to look and see multiple people waving back at her. There is a woman in our ward who is her activity day leader who has been just incredible with her. She always has a big hug for Flor when she sees her, and you can tell Flor just loves her back. This woman always sits by us in Sacrament and has activities and games to keep her (and the other kids) entertained. We love it.

*Flor still has a naughty streak, especially when Devin and I are not around. I got called into work last week and had two neighbor girls come over to sit with the kids. The younger one is Flor's age and she is so sweet with her at church and otherwise. Anyway, when I got home, Hallie told me that Flor had pulled Maddie's hair and kicked her in the face and made Maddie cry. Oh, dear. She just gets a little wild, especially when she is excited and knows that she can get away with stuff when mom and dad aren't home. Flor and I have had a lot of talks since then about how we don't hit our friends, how we don't pull our friends' hair, and that we definitely don't kick our friends. After the first talk, the next day was church, so Flor apologized to Maddie (she signs sorry-- definitely knows the correct usage of that one!). We'll keep working on that...

*Flor is still hard to entertain generally, but she likes books (flipping through the pages), music, coloring, babies (real ones, not dolls. Don't even try to give her a doll- she will throw it), her ipad (a lifesaver when we need to keep her entertained for a minute), Mickey Mouse, Barney, and some movies (especially if they are musical). She doesn't really love any toys, so really she spends time looking at books, coloring, and listening to music if she is doing something on her own.

*Flor continues to be an amazing eater. No one believes it, because she really hasn't gained any weight since we have had her home, but I am here to tell you, this girl can out eat any person in this family, easily. We took her to a new doctor recently and he asked me to keep a food journal so that he could see if she was getting enough calories. I just laughed at him. I told her teachers at school too, and they laughed and said that they could verify that she certainly eats well. They said that at lunch, she eats her own lunch and then tries to swipe other kids' food. They said that there is a girl in her class whose mom only sends super healthy food, so she has learned to throw it down the table to Flor and Flor will eat it for her. Hahahahh.

Anyway, we love our Florinda Binda!! She is a ray of sunshine and happiness (most of the time). We count our blessings often that she is ours. We learn so much from her and love the sweet spirit that she has.