"America?"

"America, yes?" I hear this question a lot from Grace. I first realized that she knew how to say America when I showed her a picture of us all that was taken in the airport after we returned from Ethiopia. To my amazement, she looked at the picture and said, "Grace America." Wow! I couldn't believe it. Someone must have told her about going to "America." Perhaps they prepared the kids at the orphanage about their upcoming trips, etc. After a couple of weeks home, we started to hear Grace say, "Mommy America?, Daddy America?, Grace America?" Well, it was all sweet and cute, until now...Grace is asking "America?" each time we get into the van to go somewhere. Clearly, she does not think we have arrived in (or at) "America" yet. When we went to Target the other day, she said "America, yes?"...well, I love Target, but I don't want her to think that it IS America. So, the question is, how do I explain to a three year old that we are IN America? It is tricky. We talk about Ethiopia a lot and we tell her how much we love Ethiopia, we remember the things we did in Ethiopia together, we show her books and pictures, etc. Now, any ideas on how to explain the America thing?

One thing is certain, she is a darn cute Ethiopian American!