Well, it's only been two days but it seems that instead of Michella pulling back out of fear, she has thrown caution to the wind and has grown increasingly more comfortable with me and our home. Michella and I now have several play times each day that include many smiles and much laughter from both of us. She gave Andrey smiles and waved from a distance both days as well (this may not seem like much but it is much more than before!). He's even been able to come close a few times (depends on her mood) and rub her back and tell her he loves her and kiss her on the head without her protesting or even stiffening her body. For portions of our playtime, she walked and ran around the house, leading me or being chased by me. She is beginning to play near me, as opposed to while on me. This is a welcome break for my back. She continues to initiate play with me and is clearly beginning to feel secure in our home enough to explore. The best part? We are beginning to see a bit of her personality.
This girl is wild! I was so tired just trying to keep up with her today! Comparing today with our first days together is like night and day. What happened to the calm girl that just rested in my arms all the time? I noticed today that she is quite funny, very energetic, and tough! Today she played peek-a-boo with me with a hairbrush and accidentally knocked herself in the nose pretty hard. I thought for sure she'd cry but she just cracked up laughing about it. She has started to test me and my boundaries. I see this as a positive sign.
Another thing is her resisting my usual care - diaper changes, bath time, nap time, eating, hand/face wiping after meals... Before yesterday she hadn't protested any of this before, now I have to resort to gimmicks to get her to cooperate (normal 2-year-old stuff, right?). Part of this I know has been due to her being tired from not getting great sleep the past few nights (will have have to discuss the sleep issues in another post) so her mood can deteriorate very quickly. But despite this, I am happy to say I've been successful in most important things and the rest, well, if it's not super necessary, I just let it go.
It's getting late and the little one is actually sleeping well right now so I'd better take advantage and get some sleep. I'd just like to leave you with a few random thoughts:
- I realized today that I used to care more about my appearance. Now I don't even have time to think about how I look. Yesterday I didn't get to shower till 4 pm.
- I am starting to love this little girl! And there is much room for growth.
- I still can't believe I'm a mommy. I'm finally part of the club!
- Andrey and I had a really, really good 8 years of just the two of us. Those days are gone forever! (This is not a complaint, just an observation)
- Yesterday Michella ate 1/2 cup mango yogurt, 1/2 of a mango, a banana, and a huge slice of papaya during snack time. Who is this kid? I love it when she eats and enjoys healthy food; makes me so happy.
- Michella is really, really cute - even when she's mad. I couldn't help but laugh today when she rejected every single thing I had prepared for her to eat for lunch (not usual), all because I tried to help her peel her banana. She nearly threw a fit (she was REALLY tired today). Hilarious. When she threw a piece of mango I handed her across the kitchen I had to take her to our room for a little time to calm down cuddling with mommy before she got her "second chance lunch," which she proceeded to eat a huge amount of. Good fun.
- I am working on getting Michella warmed up to the camera so we can get some photos of her in action.
- My husband is amazing.
- Our friends and family are the best.
- Good night!
2 comments:
Jen, I love these updates so much. Thank you for sharing everything with us! A little wild hey?! I'm thinking she will bring you a lot of laughter:) And I also love it when my kids love healthy food, it makes me happy too. You guys are such wonderful parents.
Yay!
It can be hard to navigate what's an adoption issue, what's a discipline issue, what's a tiredness issue, etc, etc, especially with two year olds!! =) You're doing awesome, momma!
Food and motherhood are very intertwined. I never understood it til I had kids!
sleep disturbances/issues are very common in toddlers in general, and even more so in adopted toddlers during transition. Hang in there! Sleep deprivation can REALLY hamper feelings of love from a parent towards a child, and frustrate kids and parents quickly. Looking forward to hearing about what kind of sleep issues you guys are having? There are lots of things to try, but mostly for adopted toddlers, it's about responding quickly, consistently, and just surviving til they settle. Pray hard. Prayer always worked for Matthew (he had nightmares).
It's tough because most sleep advice is designed for well attached bio kids with no behavioral or developmental issues, so navigating sleep issues with an adopted kid can be kind of lonely and trial and error!
I had to laugh when you mentioned no shower til 4 pm--I remember when Ayden was born I was surprised that I didn't even cross my own mind for hours and hours at a time! There's just so much to do! And now I wonder what on earth I did with all that time before I had children. I never felt like I had enough of it, but now I look back and think, I could have been so freaking efficient!!!
Another thing--I'm glad you have a helper. Without it, the house falls down around you.
xoxo
You and Andrey are awesome. Michella has the MOST KISSABLE LIPS possible; every photo I want to eat her for breakfast, she's so cute! I can't wait to meet her!
Louise and I went to Tories last Friday and were commenting on how many nerdlets are the same age: Michella, Riley, Addie, Koen, and I think Caroline's littlest one might be around two now? So cool! Bring on the nerdchaos!!!!!
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