Liz enjoying herself on Dad’s shoulders.

Liz has abundant energy (think energizer bunny).

She is tiny all over except her belly.

We’re pretty sure she has a hollow leg – she can drink an entire milk box in one sip and has had food in her mouth pretty much nonstop since the moment we met her.

She loves riding in a grocery cart, car, bus, subway – doesn’t matter.  She loves to be on the move.

She can laugh with her whole body.

She can put on and take off her own shoes, but sometimes chooses to let Mom help.

Ditto with her pants and top.

She doesn’t seem to like eggs or meat.

She loves french fries with ketchup.

She can eat an entire bowl of noodle soup with chopsticks and a spoon and not spill any of it on herself.

She likes for her hands and face to be clean.  She will throw away any and all trash she creates or finds on the ground and is quite proud of her efforts.

She loves having pretty things in her hair, but only for about five minutes.  Just long enough to put it in and look at herself in the mirror with admiration. Then she will pull it out and throw it, literally, wherever.

She loves to be tickled.

She can hold a pencil perfectly.

She is potty trained during the day and has developed a love of both flushing the toilet and washing her hands.  More than once she has made urgent demands to go “niao niao” so we jump 1,000 feet hurdles to get her to a potty in time, only to find out she really didn’t need to go but urgently needed to flush the toilet and wash her hands.

She likes to sing songs, but we aren’t familiar with the songs she sings.  She does sing one that says “Wo ai ni, Baba” (I love you, Dad).  We like that one.

She can count at least to ten, but typically skips 4.

She likes animals, especially dogs – she gets excited every time she sees a little doggie on the street, and she loved the animals on the Little Einstein’s cartoon she watched.

She doesn’t seem to love crowds.  But she does love cars.  Once she was standing on the side of the street just looking out, and when I ask her what she was looking at, she replied, “All the cars”

Her English vocabulary consists of “Hello” and “yummy!”

She knows the general names of everyone in our family – mom, dad, older brother, older sister – and is learning our actual names.  It appears her orphanage worked with her regularly, because she can turn the pages in the photo book we sent her and “read” with accuracy! (And the fact that she actually got the package we sent her, that is a blessing for which we are hugely grateful.)

She can fall asleep in five seconds flat – but only if she has already consumed the afore-mentioned milk box. Do not try to get her to sleep without first giving her milk.  It’s just a bad idea.

Her favorite time of day seems to be bath time.