Actually, with Sasha, we really don't need to be concerned about that. At barely two years old, she can hold scissors correctly and cut perfectly, as demonstrated by the following video. How smart is this little thing? Maybe it's just me, but I find that pretty impressive.
Oh, just a note on the word little: the doctor noted today that Sasha is now in the 75th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight. At the time of our referral, she was below the charts in both categories. I think I see a model in the making...
Okay, I admit the following will sound like bragging on my part, but since I'm not genetically related to her, I feel almost as if that gives me a right to go on and on about how perfect my sister is.
Of course, Sasha has grown tremendously since her homecoming. In fact, I almost find it frustrating because there is no way I can explain it all here. She's obviously an absolutely adorable child, and strikingly pretty (although my dumb camera can never capture the perfect picture!) She has this charm though. I can't explain it. She's the most social child I think I've ever seen, and is so aware of her surroundings and other people. She knows exactly what you're feeling all the time. Yesterday, I was frustrated because I couldn't get a good picture, and she immediately stopped cutting and came over to give me a hug. She has this instinct to pick up the most minute facial expressions and personal actions and this is heightened by her amazing memory. One time, Carsten got a slightly pained look on his face when he was having his temperature taken, so Sasha makes that face whenever the thermometer comes out.
Sasha's acute memory became very clear when we went to Michigan last month for my grandfather's funeral. In my grandparents' appartment, my grandfather had had a room to himself where he had to stay at all times. Sasha would go visit him in there and play little games in the only ways my grandfather still could, like Peekaboo. When we walked into the appartment this past January, Sasha headed straight for his room and, finding it empty, asked in confusion, "Where'd he go?" After we distracted her, we thought she had forgotten about it, but she did the same thing the next day; it's almost like she had decided in her mind that he'd be gone for the day but would of course be there the next day.
Today, I overheard Sasha saying to her baby doll, "Wanna-go-see Papa?" in this really tender voice, just like my mom says to Sasha when they go to see him in another part of the house. When Sasha and her baby walked into the office, she chirped "Papa!" and demanded that he kiss her doll.
She also, I think, has more than just a touch of undiagnosed OCD. In the doctor's office today, when my mom said it was time to go, Sasha said, "Okay, okay" but refused to leave until everything she had played with in the waiting room was in order. Even the little subscription card that fell out of a magazine had to go back between the exact pages it had been in before. I find this incredible that she's already like this at not even 25 months old, but I do recall that the nannies at the care center reported her to be the exact same way at only 16 months of age.
Lastly, I wanted to mention that Sasha met another little Ethiopian-adopted girl this past Tuesday. Both our mom and the little girl's mom met for coffee at a local shop, and Sasha had a ton of fun interacting with this other girl. The other girl is about eight months older than Sasha, and came home this past December. Sasha, as always, was the one to initiate the play; it's so instinctive for her to take the lead in everything. This, in combination with the fact that she's soooo hyper-organized, should make her a very powerful businesswoman; but then again, her height and exotic beauty would also transform her into a supermodel!
