Portrait of a queen

I'm going to come right out and say it. Layla is bad! Okay, I could put it nicely and say the girl has attitude, she has spunk, she knows what she wants and isn't afraid to say it. But what it comes down to is that she is bad, bad, bad! What am I doing wrong??? Don't get me wrong, she's a complete angel most of the time. But at other times, she is just downright a bad, bad girl! Maybe 80/20? By bad, I mean she is demanding -- she yells very loudly and points at what she wants. She has this voice that she uses that, well, it's the polar opposite of angelic. (She has started to use her angelic voice on the cats when she says "hi kitty kitty" -- so cute! -- but she quickly switches to the devil voice and she chases them away.) She also doesn't hesitate to scratch or pinch me if I don't do what she wants.

I don't jump at her every beck and call, really I don't! In fact, sometimes I feel guilty and that I am being mean by not giving in or fulfilling her wishes right away. I am trying to teach her some manners and that she can't have people waiting on her hand and foot like the queen that she thinks she is. But at the same time, I'm trying to bond with her and show her that I'm her go-to person and that I will always love her and that I'm a fun mama! How to do all that while not spoiling her is difficult to know, but I don't think I'm being too extreme either way.

Funny thing is that I spoke with another adoptive mom who brought home a baby around Layla's age around the same time, and her daughter is the same way!!! And it is getting worse with time, not better, with each of our little Ethiopian angels. That makes me feel a little better, that it's not just me!! Maybe it's a combination of the age and the transition period? Whatever it is, I hope it gets better. I'm open to suggestions!!

Tonight I took some video of Layla dancing and being bad, then played it for her on the TV. Here she is watching it, she thought it was great. You can't really see the image on the TV because the lighting was not good.

By the way, I know we must seem like trailer trash since she's hanging around the house in just her diaper. I don't often do that, honest! Also, she's starting to look a little chubby, isn't she?? Those thighs have some meat to them!

In the meantime, the little queen had her first professional photos taken. The first two pics are of her in her traditional Ethiopian dress that I bought for her over there. I'm not sure if Ethiopian traditional dress includes wearing scarves around their heads, but I wanted to try it that way since I saw another adorable Ethiopian girl posed that way in her photos. The quality may not be that good because these are pictures I took of the pictures, since the place where we went didn't provide any electronic files.

Without any further ado, I now present Queen Layla!