Monday, July 23, 2007


Piper is a spitfire. Drama. I am scared of the teenage years! She has already learned that in public, she can get away with more. The minute she starts to holler and cry, we get The Look. And then someone tries to take her away! Or they try to feed her instead of me! Today I was not in the mood. It has been a long week and and now it is the start of a new long one. We lay low today because I was not feeling people friendly. Plus, the poor baby has not had a nap in a bed since I got here, and that is pretty much the only thing I am pretty hard core on. I am big on keeping a sleep schedule and we are getting none of that here. So she got one today. Me? I am cranky. Tired, messed up stomach, no Diet Coke, tight quarters in a hotel with a toddler who has no idea what I am saying...it all adds up! I will be more social tomorrow.



Piper has such a personality. She is definitely flirtatious, already! She seems pretty quick and has learned a few words. She will turn around when I say her name. She can say no, Piper, Bro-Bro(that is her brother, Brodan), DaDa, and Mama. We are working on Cam's name now, but it seems hard to say. And I think we got a thank you earlier, but not completely sure on that one, yet. She is walking tons now, which is great. She'll also play peekaboo. Unfortunately, she has a small stripping problem that apparently offends some Ethiopian men, so we are working on that.

Today as we were walking into a restaurant, a man sitting by the front door said "Hey, Angelina, where's Brad?" Ha.Ha.Ha. Wrong day, mister. I do think he may have been American, as I don't recall an accent. It was also the same place that apparently I wasn't feeding her mashed potatoes properly, so the spoon was taken from me and the waitress/hostess did it. AND THEN ANOTHER ONE DID IT LATER!! For crying out loud. Then we went to Kaldi's(the Starbucks equivalent here) and things were much better.

Tomorrow we are going out for breakfast with everyone and then in the evening we will go to the traditional Ethiopian restaurant at which it is being suggested that I dance. They are going to have to liquor me up or something, because otherwise, AIN'T HAPPENIN'! Can we say laughing stock? Maybe I'll stand up and shout "Diarrea!" and take off.

Thank you to those who responded to the "potty" sign. She is apparently confused and just to make it easier, we are going with diapers until we get home. All of this running around does not make for easy potty training!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Rachel ... we feel your pain! Been there!! Yes, people in Ethiopia love their children, but to the point where they would much rather just pacify them when they cry instead of teaching them that they can't have everything they want. We had the same thing going, and it was a hard sell when we got home and got to finally do things our way. And STILL doing things our way ... love the spunk of this little girl, but working on getting her to lose the attitude!

Best of luck for the rest of the week (it's almost over).. especially for the trip home.

Jana said...

I canNOT believe they were feeding your baby for you! the nerve! :)

that last picture of piper is priceless. she's really a beauty.

Anonymous said...

you crack me up and piper is darling. i've learned so much from your blog! sounds like a rough time away from home. soon this will be a memory!

Owlhaven said...

What a cutie!!

Mary, leaving soon to get my girls

Amy said...

She's gorgeous.

Lori said...

I don't know how I would have responded to the Angelina-Brad comment. Oh my, what a jerk. That fire-y girl you've got there is *gorgeous* though. It's so cool to see her smiling so big! Awesome. Please remember what an inspiration you are to the rest of us in the waiting stage!

Susy Q said...

Oh, my! What a GORGEOUS little girl!!!!

It seems like you're having a great trip. My family was in Ethiopia picking up my little sister three weeks ago and I already miss it!

Can't wait to read more!

-Susanna (age (almost) 16)
Big Sis to two bio brothers (11 and 8) and one sister (18 mos.) from Ethiopia
http://www.bigsisdiaries.blogspot.com

P.S. If you're desperate for a Diet Coke, they sell them in cans in the little grocery store at the Hilton. It was the only place we could find that had them!

Ron said...

How rude of that man in the restaurant?

Glad to know the potty sign is working.