This video totally made me laugh out loud because it reminds me of where we were last month in teaching Sefan English. The "do exactly as I do" and the "lid, lid, lid, lid, lid" and the blank stare from Patrick (Sefan)....oh and the JOY when she finally gets it!

Sefan's language has improved soooo much in the last month! She has a large and growing vocabulary. Her sentences are 5-10 words long...though sometimes listening to her is an exercise in word scramble...you know like the ones you did as a kid....they put all the words to a sentence in a mixed up order and you have to put them into the proper order to derive the meaning of the sentence....that is Sefan. She says "My chapstick big pink dip dip put it on your lips in Ethiopia I left it." meaning "I left my big pink chapstick (the one that goes dip dip put it on your lips in Ethiopia". It takes a bit to decipher but she is learning sooo quickly. Most of this is thanks to Wubitu. The girls talk NONSTOP from waking until they are asleep, so Sefan gets A LOT of practice.
I don't know what we did without Sefan....oh wait...I remember....go crazy from Wuby's chatter! I never realized how much little girls talk until recently. The boys are more physical...they wrestle, romp, and play video games. The girls talk: tell each other what to say, how to say it, where to stand, what to wear, and on and on. For example today in the van this was the conversation
Wubitu- Sefan say "where is your chapstick"
Sefan- Where is your chapstick
Wubitu-It is at home.
(chapstick is a highly valued commadity in Sefan and wuby's world)
I remember the days before Sefan where Wuby would try to get me to say stuff like this and i would play along for about half an hour and then need to go get something done and Wuby would whine or act out for attention. But now she has Sefan to talk to all day and Sefan has Wubitu. They are seriously the BEST of FRIENDS right now and I am so glad we are finally at the point where things are settling into place. The girls still have their moments but I finally feel like their sibling rivalry is at a normal level (for basically twin 5 year old girls). I had someone tell me early on when bringing Sefan home that the intense fighting and jealously was "just life" but i don't think they understood the intensity of the situation...without living through transitioning a newly adopted preschooler into your home it is hard to understand the complexity and stress of it all. I am just glad we are making such good progress as a family now and feel like we are living our "happily ever after"