Sweet Pea is 16 months old today...or yesterday if we take into the account the time zone difference...or tomorrow since this is only a 30 day month. Anyway, she is approximately 16 months and has been home 6 and 1/2 months. Seems like it might be time for a little update.
She is amazing and that is all that needs to be said.
Oh, okay. After about a month of waiting 5 minutes before going into her room while she was crying, she started sleeping much, much better. (Thanks for the encouragement. It means a lot.) Partly we weren't going in quite so quickly and so if she could find her pacifier herself she would just go back to sleep. Who knew. Partly at about 5 months home she just reached a whole new level of comfort at being here.
In mid-September we went to a large birthday party, possibly more than 20 families so like 80 people...maybe a few less, but it was large. And she wandered. None of us spent our time right next to each other, so she would travel from one of us to another, give us a hug and move on to the next family member. To get to her brothers she often had to push pass 3 or 4 other little 8 year old boys. They would feed her some of their snack and she would push past all those other kids again to run to me with a giggle and a hug. It was delightful and Oak and I kept remarking on how comfortable she seemed. She isn't really clingy, but she does usually stay close. That night she started sleeping through the night. Yeah! Sunflower went back into their room shortly after that. Some nights we still have to go in a time or two, and this week has been a cold and teething so a bit more than occasionally, but we do have a little more sleep reserves and life is good.
Aside from sleep everything else about adding her to our family is just about perfect. Not what I was expecting when reading all those books on International adoption at all. I intended to be as real and honest on our blog about our family adjustment so people could see the real picture, but there just isn't anything to be honest about.
Except I honestly knew I would love our daughter but it might take a little time for bonding. I never knew I would love her instantly and fully without even knowing her and that at times I would wonder if maybe I love her a little more than the other children. (Oak says it is just I have a soft-spot for my toddlers that don't talk back, so we'll judge it again when she is four. I love all of my children a ton, really, I do.)
But she is just so delightful!
Sweet Pea shows her happiness quite often by clapping. She also claps if I say "good girl." So the whole family spends a lot of time clapping because it is just so fun for us to be part of her delight. Those first few months home she would clap and give a wiggle of delight every time we returned to the house. Now she is blase about it which I believe shows her comfort level and security is growing. But she finds lots of other things worth clapping over so there is still lots of rejoicing here.
She loves to dance. Anytime there is music playing she is dancing even if it is only for a few seconds as a commercial comes on. She does stop for her food. Tonight we ate out and she wiggled and shook in her high chair most of the time, but every time Oak would feed her a bite she would be instantly still.
Recently she has started offering hugs and kisses to us all. Sunflower was the last to receive one, but now Sweet Pea will even give Sunflower a drive-by kissing as she moves from one toy to the next. Her first kiss was bestowed on my friend's dog at the end of September. I received one later that same day so let's count that one instead.
She is very adept at coloring and I have the masterpieces on some of my walls to prove it. With 3 older siblings keeping writing utensils out of her hands proved impossible, so now we just make sure there is also lots and lots of paper around. Someday we'll paint, but we aren't THAT caught up on sleep and energy.
I could go on, but I know some of you are skipping the words anyway, and really do you want to know that she is so cute when...she eats...
...sleeps...
...plays...
...giggles...
...laughs...
...explores...
...tickles us, runs, pushes her brother's over and roars in laughter (this really is fun to watch and the boys find it hilarious) etc, etc. Because well, she is just adorable and I think that is obvious to all.
I should probably mention she has two molars coming in and 7 teeth in the front, weighed 27 pounds a few weeks ago, can walk quite confidently, and has a few words...mostly "more." A few of her words are still only in sign like please (which is not an optimal sign to have your child do when her hands are covered with food and she wants more...just so you know) but more she can say quite clearly in sign and voice...especially if there is a cookie on the line. Tickle, Mama, Dada, a jumble of sounds that is Huckleberry's name, go, and ball are some of her other words. She understands most everything we say and if you say go...in any context...she starts handing everyone's shoes to them and getting her own shoes, too. Unfortunate when the sentence was "it is time to go to bed."
This is her "la, la, la, la, la, la, giggle" face. Love it and her, our amazing Sweet Pea!
She is amazing and that is all that needs to be said.
Oh, okay. After about a month of waiting 5 minutes before going into her room while she was crying, she started sleeping much, much better. (Thanks for the encouragement. It means a lot.) Partly we weren't going in quite so quickly and so if she could find her pacifier herself she would just go back to sleep. Who knew. Partly at about 5 months home she just reached a whole new level of comfort at being here.
In mid-September we went to a large birthday party, possibly more than 20 families so like 80 people...maybe a few less, but it was large. And she wandered. None of us spent our time right next to each other, so she would travel from one of us to another, give us a hug and move on to the next family member. To get to her brothers she often had to push pass 3 or 4 other little 8 year old boys. They would feed her some of their snack and she would push past all those other kids again to run to me with a giggle and a hug. It was delightful and Oak and I kept remarking on how comfortable she seemed. She isn't really clingy, but she does usually stay close. That night she started sleeping through the night. Yeah! Sunflower went back into their room shortly after that. Some nights we still have to go in a time or two, and this week has been a cold and teething so a bit more than occasionally, but we do have a little more sleep reserves and life is good.
Aside from sleep everything else about adding her to our family is just about perfect. Not what I was expecting when reading all those books on International adoption at all. I intended to be as real and honest on our blog about our family adjustment so people could see the real picture, but there just isn't anything to be honest about.
Except I honestly knew I would love our daughter but it might take a little time for bonding. I never knew I would love her instantly and fully without even knowing her and that at times I would wonder if maybe I love her a little more than the other children. (Oak says it is just I have a soft-spot for my toddlers that don't talk back, so we'll judge it again when she is four. I love all of my children a ton, really, I do.)
But she is just so delightful!
Sweet Pea shows her happiness quite often by clapping. She also claps if I say "good girl." So the whole family spends a lot of time clapping because it is just so fun for us to be part of her delight. Those first few months home she would clap and give a wiggle of delight every time we returned to the house. Now she is blase about it which I believe shows her comfort level and security is growing. But she finds lots of other things worth clapping over so there is still lots of rejoicing here.
She loves to dance. Anytime there is music playing she is dancing even if it is only for a few seconds as a commercial comes on. She does stop for her food. Tonight we ate out and she wiggled and shook in her high chair most of the time, but every time Oak would feed her a bite she would be instantly still.
She is very adept at coloring and I have the masterpieces on some of my walls to prove it. With 3 older siblings keeping writing utensils out of her hands proved impossible, so now we just make sure there is also lots and lots of paper around. Someday we'll paint, but we aren't THAT caught up on sleep and energy.
I could go on, but I know some of you are skipping the words anyway, and really do you want to know that she is so cute when...she eats...
...giggles...
...explores...
...tickles us, runs, pushes her brother's over and roars in laughter (this really is fun to watch and the boys find it hilarious) etc, etc. Because well, she is just adorable and I think that is obvious to all.
I should probably mention she has two molars coming in and 7 teeth in the front, weighed 27 pounds a few weeks ago, can walk quite confidently, and has a few words...mostly "more." A few of her words are still only in sign like please (which is not an optimal sign to have your child do when her hands are covered with food and she wants more...just so you know) but more she can say quite clearly in sign and voice...especially if there is a cookie on the line. Tickle, Mama, Dada, a jumble of sounds that is Huckleberry's name, go, and ball are some of her other words. She understands most everything we say and if you say go...in any context...she starts handing everyone's shoes to them and getting her own shoes, too. Unfortunate when the sentence was "it is time to go to bed."
