Abigail "fits in" here

We have been home almost 2 months. Abigail is adjusting to life here, just as we are adjusting to having her here. Our focus now is all on her: not on all of the extracurricular things we used to sponsor at school, not on each other, certainly not on ourselves. But this is where we are and where we want to be in our lives.

I was just thinking of Christmas a little over a year ago, which was Christmas 2009. It was the first Christmas after Lar's dad had died and his mom was spending the holiday with my family in the snowy north. I remember one evening when Lar and I made the announcement "We are going to apply to adopt a Chinese baby with special needs." There was stunned silence for a few beats, our parents realized we weren't joking, and my mother ran for the Manischewitz and

glasses.

On paper Abigail might have a special need, and of course, we don't know if her cleft repair will have an affect on how she speaks. But this wonderful, happy, creative, thoughtful, beautiful, loving, amazing little girl is anything but a "special needs" kid. Although people always tell us what a lucky little girl she is, we know we are the lucky ones, to be allowed to raise this girl, our daughter.

Thing are so blissfully ordinary now. We take walks. We go to playgrounds and parks. We snuggle under blankets and read books. We adults never stay up late anymore. But at the same time, it is everything but ordinary. We get to see the whole wide world all over again through her eyes and it is astonishing, fascinating, and wonderful.

For example, this weekend, Abigail took her

maiden voyage in her new wagon (funded mostly by Jim & Steph). Just a girl and her dog. Having a nice evening ride in a wagon. In a beautiful neighborhood. On a warm spring evening.

Today, Abigail took a ride in her wagon to the duck pond. She was supposed to be taking stale pretzels for the ducks to eat. But most of the pretzels did not make it to the duck pond.

Abigail had very little regard for the ducks. We found out anyhow that ducks do not like stale pretzels anyhow.

Abigail "fits in" here

We have been home almost 2 months. Abigail is adjusting to life here, just as we are adjusting to having her here. Our focus now is all on her: not on all of the extracurricular things we used to sponsor at school, not on each other, certainly not on ourselves. But this is where we are and where we want to be in our lives.

I was just thinking of Christmas a little over a year ago, which was Christmas 2009. It was the first Christmas after Lar's dad had died and his mom was spending the holiday with my family in the snowy north. I remember one evening when Lar and I made the announcement "We are going to apply to adopt a Chinese baby with special needs." There was stunned silence for a few beats, our parents realized we weren't joking, and my mother ran for the Manischewitz and

glasses.

On paper Abigail might have a special need, and of course, we don't know if her cleft repair will have an affect on how she speaks. But this wonderful, happy, creative, thoughtful, beautiful, loving, amazing little girl is anything but a "special needs" kid. Although people always tell us what a lucky little girl she is, we know we are the lucky ones, to be allowed to raise this girl, our daughter.

Thing are so blissfully ordinary now. We take walks. We go to playgrounds and parks. We snuggle under blankets and read books. We adults never stay up late anymore. But at the same time, it is everything but ordinary. We get to see the whole wide world all over again through her eyes and it is astonishing, fascinating, and wonderful.

For example, this weekend, Abigail took her

maiden voyage in her new wagon (funded mostly by Jim & Steph). Just a girl and her dog. Having a nice evening ride in a wagon. In a beautiful neighborhood. On a warm spring evening.

Today, Abigail took a ride in her wagon to the duck pond. She was supposed to be taking stale pretzels for the ducks to eat. But most of the pretzels did not make it to the duck pond.

Abigail had very little regard for the ducks. We found out anyhow that ducks do not like stale pretzels anyhow.

Home and Getting into a Routine

Hello Readers!

Thank you for your patience as we have been spending the last 2 weeks getting into a routine at home. Abigail is down for the night (I think) and it is only 9:38 PM so I have a few minutes to resume blogging!

Our first week home:
It was one of the most difficult things Lar or I have ever been through. Abigail's days and nights were backwards. She wanted to be held most of the time and she only slept for 1-3 hours at any given time. I think that being sleep deprived is one of the worst feelings a person can be forced to endure. We had *no* idea how we were sleeping the same 1-3 hour increments as the Little Monster and she had the endurance and energy of a Jack Russell on speed.

Then our amazing agency came through for us again! They told us to not try to put her to bed at 7:30 or 8 like in China, but to put her to bed at 11 or midnight until she could sleep through the night and then move her bedtime back gradually as she became accustomed to our time zone. IT WORKED!!!! She now sleeps from around 10 until 6 or 8 AM and we feel much better.

After we got home, Abigail got to open her Christmas presents from Grandma Kathleen and Uncle Jim and Aunt Steph. They gave her nice clothing, books, and a doll, among other things. She is going to be spoiled rotten!

Our elderly Chihuahua Jedi has been very accepting of Abigail. Jedi circles her high chair at meal times like a shark circling a sinking raft and puts up with the pokes to her eyes and the yanks on her tail. Abigail, in return, LOVES Jedi.

As far as food goes, Abigail knows the baby sign for "food" and gets a kick out of using it to obtain a snack whenever she feels like it. She seems amazed that this easily performed communication works so quickly to meet her needs and wants. She eats everything we have tried to feed her (including curry!) except she doesn't like vegetables. Her favorite foods are cheese and bananas. She really wants to feed herself with a spoon.

Her first check-up with her pediatrician lasted 75 minutes and the doc couldn't find anything wrong with her, other than being about 4 pounds on the "too light" side of the scale. Abigail was in perfect form at the doctor's office, gregariously running around, playing with the doctor, giggling/laughing non-stop and showing off her best tricks. The doc decided that there was no reason to send her to the adoption clinic at the medical university for some TLC: she does not seem like a baby who spent her first 13 months in an orphanage.

I am amazed at the patience that this little kid has, as well as how driven she is to accomplish tasks. During her first week home, she had a shape-sorter toy that she could not figure out. I showed her how to put the cube in the square hole and the right circular cylinder in the round hole, etc. Then she practiced. And practiced. And practiced some more. She spent almost 35 minutes putting those shapes into the correct holes until she could do it quickly. She studied it, turned the shapes in her hands and studied them. She clapped for herself when she got it right. Lar and I are SO happy that we have an intellectually curious and intrinsically motivated little girl! We hope to nurture that as best as we can so that she will succeed academically and be good at something she enjoys doing.

Abigail is a few months advanced in her motor skills too. She can walk easily, pick up objects while walking and run. She is working on using crayons, PlayDoh, and eating with a spoon. She loves to dance, particularly to "Step in Time" from Mary Poppins. She can sleep through the night and if she wakes up, sometimes comfort herself back to sleep. She uses baby signs to communicate "food", "drink", "up", "Baba" (daddy), and is working on "diaper", "bath", and "doggie". She loves the swings and the slide. Her orphanage said she can fall asleep without being held, and maybe she can, but she prefers to be held and sung to softly, and why not? now that she has two parents who love her to pieces?!?

Home and Getting into a Routine

Hello Readers!

Thank you for your patience as we have been spending the last 2 weeks getting into a routine at home. Abigail is down for the night (I think) and it is only 9:38 PM so I have a few minutes to resume blogging!

Our first week home:
It was one of the most difficult things Lar or I have ever been through. Abigail's days and nights were backwards. She wanted to be held most of the time and she only slept for 1-3 hours at any given time. I think that being sleep deprived is one of the worst feelings a person can be forced to endure. We had *no* idea how we were sleeping the same 1-3 hour increments as the Little Monster and she had the endurance and energy of a Jack Russell on speed.

Then our amazing agency came through for us again! They told us to not try to put her to bed at 7:30 or 8 like in China, but to put her to bed at 11 or midnight until she could sleep through the night and then move her bedtime back gradually as she became accustomed to our time zone. IT WORKED!!!! She now sleeps from around 10 until 6 or 8 AM and we feel much better.

After we got home, Abigail got to open her Christmas presents from Grandma Kathleen and Uncle Jim and Aunt Steph. They gave her nice clothing, books, and a doll, among other things. She is going to be spoiled rotten!

Our elderly Chihuahua Jedi has been very accepting of Abigail. Jedi circles her high chair at meal times like a shark circling a sinking raft and puts up with the pokes to her eyes and the yanks on her tail. Abigail, in return, LOVES Jedi.

As far as food goes, Abigail knows the baby sign for "food" and gets a kick out of using it to obtain a snack whenever she feels like it. She seems amazed that this easily performed communication works so quickly to meet her needs and wants. She eats everything we have tried to feed her (including curry!) except she doesn't like vegetables. Her favorite foods are cheese and bananas. She really wants to feed herself with a spoon.

Her first check-up with her pediatrician lasted 75 minutes and the doc couldn't find anything wrong with her, other than being about 4 pounds on the "too light" side of the scale. Abigail was in perfect form at the doctor's office, gregariously running around, playing with the doctor, giggling/laughing non-stop and showing off her best tricks. The doc decided that there was no reason to send her to the adoption clinic at the medical university for some TLC: she does not seem like a baby who spent her first 13 months in an orphanage.

I am amazed at the patience that this little kid has, as well as how driven she is to accomplish tasks. During her first week home, she had a shape-sorter toy that she could not figure out. I showed her how to put the cube in the square hole and the right circular cylinder in the round hole, etc. Then she practiced. And practiced. And practiced some more. She spent almost 35 minutes putting those shapes into the correct holes until she could do it quickly. She studied it, turned the shapes in her hands and studied them. She clapped for herself when she got it right. Lar and I are SO happy that we have an intellectually curious and intrinsically motivated little girl! We hope to nurture that as best as we can so that she will succeed academically and be good at something she enjoys doing.

Abigail is a few months advanced in her motor skills too. She can walk easily, pick up objects while walking and run. She is working on using crayons, PlayDoh, and eating with a spoon. She loves to dance, particularly to "Step in Time" from Mary Poppins. She can sleep through the night and if she wakes up, sometimes comfort herself back to sleep. She uses baby signs to communicate "food", "drink", "up", "Baba" (daddy), and is working on "diaper", "bath", and "doggie". She loves the swings and the slide. Her orphanage said she can fall asleep without being held, and maybe she can, but she prefers to be held and sung to softly, and why not? now that she has two parents who love her to pieces?!?