To Infinity and Beyond...Our Story of Becoming a Family.

Here we are 3 months later. It is incredible how fast time marches on. Tori continues to grow physically, emotionally, and we think, spiritually. Her vocabulary has increased from learning new words to creating multi-word sentences and she is capable of actually having a conversation. She amazes us daily with what she remembers even from almost a year ago. She is very loving and shows it through "big hugs." She hugs all of her teachers and aides when she leaves school for the day and says thank you. Today she said,"See you on Monday!" Tori has learned so much at school, and from what we are told is a natural leader. She even has a "best friend," Athena, and they are always together. She LOVES to sing and has many songs in her repertoire now. Her favorite is still "Itsy Bitsy Spider," but she also likes to sing her prayer before meals, especially the part she adds on at the end, copying her teacher,"Now go wash your hands!"

Tori loves to play and will entertain herself with her toys or drawing for quite a while. Her newest love is having someone read to her and doing puzzles. She is pretty good at putting them together without much help. Here is a picture of a flower she drew the other day and we could even tell right away that it was a flower.

We had a "staycation" in Waikiki over the Labor Day weekend and had fun walking around, playing tourist, and swimming in the hotel pool. It's great to get away even if it's just for a couple of days.

Jaydee's school participated in the Nike 5K Run foi Kids on September 20. Tori fell asleep about a quarter mile into the 3 mile walk and woke up at the EXACT moment we crossed the finish line. She must have sensed she needed to receive her participant's medal. We had fun while raising money for the school. Tori liked the bananas at the end of the race and running around hiding in the plants.

After the race we went to the opening of the new Babies R Us store and Tori got to meet two of her favorite charcters, Dora and Wubbzy. She was SOOO excited!

I have attached a few random pictures of Tori eating s'mores for the first time and some shampoo pictures that show just how much hair she has now! We can even do pigtails! She also likes having a spa foot treament in Tutu's bathroom!

We are excited about the holidays, and again, Tori is surprising us with what she remembers from last year. She loves Halloween and this year she wants to be a pirate. She has been very taken with pirates ever since we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. She practices saying "Aaarrrr, mateys!" and sings "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!" We went looking at costumes the other day and tried to entice her with fairy princesses and dancing girls, but she wanted the pirate costume. Now she tells us we have to find her a boat and a parrot. Mommy went shopping today though, and found an adorable flower costume on sale. Had to buy it, and Tori really likes it, so now we have 2 costumes! We will have to find two events that require costumes or Tori will have to change halfway through! But what fun we are having!