Judah and Applesauce

My little man is amazing me with his increasing vocabulary. I can't imagine just learning a language [Amharic in his case] and all of a sudden being dropped into a completely new language with 2 "white" people [of course, Brian's brown, but that doesn't matter to him]. He's become a pro at parroting words. He's not communicating more than 1-2 words at a time, but he's definitely learning to communicate and understanding significantly more. The other day I asked Judah, "Can you get Addise's water and bring it to her?" HE DID! Obedient and super smart.

His tantrums have also dramatically lessened now that he can communicate better - for obvious reasons! With the help of baby sign language and his ever-growing-vocabulary, he's just a much happier kid. He gets SOOOO proud of himself when he learns a new word. Yesterday he said "veggie straws" and giggled with immense pride, especially when I called his Daddy in to hear him share his new triumph.

Our social worker sobered us with the reality that it will probably take 4-6 months total [we've had him 2.5 months] for Judah to catch up to a "normal" 2 1/2 year old's language ability. **Experts calculate 1-2 months for the child's age. Judah was 2 1/2 years old when we got him. That's discouraging, but WOW what a long way we've come the past few months.

Enjoy the 47 seconds of pure adorableness...he's really good at saying the letter "p". The video's ending is quintessential of a 2 1/2 year old's willingness to cooperate with a crazy momma.

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April L. Diaz

April has been a visionary activist her entire life. She has made it her mission to lead high performing teams and develop leaders in the margins of society while caring for our bodies, mind, and spirit. Secretly, she’s a mix of a total girly girl and a tomboy, and is still crazy about her high school sweetheart, Brian. Together, they co-parent 3 fabulous kiddos and live in Orange County, CA.

Addzilla's Coming!

Addise has been 2 or 3 steps for the past month, but just in the past few days has she become more prolific at her walking skills. I don't think she's started walking yet because she simply gets too excited and pleased with herself when she starts walking...and so do we. So when she takes a step or two she starts squeeling, smiling, and falls down. But on Sunday I grabbed my iPhone just to see if she might cooperate.

Cooperate she did! This is her longest walk to date!!



As for the name "Addzilla", she's such a big girl that Brian coined the term when she would start attacking Judah. They made a game out of it. Judah would giggle and play along, and the name stuck. Somehow it makes her awkward walking funnier knowing that her nickname is "ADDZILLA".

4 Comments

April L. Diaz

April has been a visionary activist her entire life. She has made it her mission to lead high performing teams and develop leaders in the margins of society while caring for our bodies, mind, and spirit. Secretly, she’s a mix of a total girly girl and a tomboy, and is still crazy about her high school sweetheart, Brian. Together, they co-parent 3 fabulous kiddos and live in Orange County, CA.

Addise in 21 Seconds

Our daughter is a HOOT! Her dramatic, expressive, full on personality make us laugh all day, and occasionally drives us mad. Daddy got this video of her a couple weeks ago. We couldn't stop laughing at how "Addise" these 21 seconds are...

2 Comments

April L. Diaz

April has been a visionary activist her entire life. She has made it her mission to lead high performing teams and develop leaders in the margins of society while caring for our bodies, mind, and spirit. Secretly, she’s a mix of a total girly girl and a tomboy, and is still crazy about her high school sweetheart, Brian. Together, they co-parent 3 fabulous kiddos and live in Orange County, CA.