Friday, March 30, 2012
Horrible blogger!
Well I am still trying to figure out how to work and get other things done! So I am one of those horrible bloggers! But to make up for it I give you photo's of just the cutest thing in the world! Yes this weekend i will give an update on how things are going, where we have fallen and risen! Life is very good though! Just look at this smile, how could it not be amazing!
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
She had a dream
The other night Chaltu had a dream about her first mom, myself and Duane. We were all together, how beautiful is that! She was telling me about it last night, which prompted us to play a new "game" what do you miss about....A few weeks ago when she was grieving and I was struggling to get her to open up a fellow adoptive mom suggested that I relate to her in things I am sad about. So now we have a great game which allow her to openly speak about what she loves, misses...and feel safe as I am doing the same thing. Last night she really opened up and started telling me stories about playing with her brothers and sisters. She misses them very much. We went back and forth for about 30 minutes, I learned so much from her. Overall the whole thing broke my heart, why did she have to leave her first family. I am pretty sure she does not know why and there is not yet the opportunity for us to talk about it (I am creating a safe zone for her and will not push it). I think there is a lot of confusion there which is completely understandable, it makes me very sad for her. I know that she is happy here, she is bonding well with us still, she is a survivor though and realizes this is her forever home and I think a part of that makes her sad (which is a GREAT thing- she has emotions). I will never let her forget her first family and all that she did with her siblings- we laughed so hard last night at some of the funny stuff we have both done that we cried.
What I did realize last night though is that we need to make sure we are doing things that create new memories for her. I know that we are on a small scale, but I really need to accelerate her play dates, making friends and doing things with other children. This is a huge miss for us, while we have started doing this, not at the level we should. So operation play date will be taking full force!!
Now for a few funny things she has been saying/doing lately..
1. touches my belly, oh mommy belly too full
2. Mommy peasant (this was taught to her by Duane!) she is the queen
3. in watching the Brady Bunch- she thought in the song where it talks about the golden hair of the girls- that is said 3 terrible girls!
A few other things, she is a candy freak!! LOVES it! at the store yesterday she wanted candy so I am now having her buy it, it was pretty funny to watch her maneuver through value and desire!
She is still dancing every second of the day that she can!
She wants to take some sort of an instrument lesson!- I am thinking drums- although I know piano is the best option, but she loves to pretend to beat on drums
Food is still a sore subject around here, it is her connection to her home, ALTHOUGH, at the store yesterday when we saw Naan bread she hugged and kissed it, when 3 weeks ago she was choking it down!
She is not thrilled with swim lessons, loves the water but not to sure of the lessons, we will see after today it is the 2nd one so maybe it will be better.
Math is definitely her favorite subject and the Bible is her favorite book.
She is a perfect 7ish year old!!!
What I did realize last night though is that we need to make sure we are doing things that create new memories for her. I know that we are on a small scale, but I really need to accelerate her play dates, making friends and doing things with other children. This is a huge miss for us, while we have started doing this, not at the level we should. So operation play date will be taking full force!!
Now for a few funny things she has been saying/doing lately..
1. touches my belly, oh mommy belly too full
2. Mommy peasant (this was taught to her by Duane!) she is the queen
3. in watching the Brady Bunch- she thought in the song where it talks about the golden hair of the girls- that is said 3 terrible girls!
A few other things, she is a candy freak!! LOVES it! at the store yesterday she wanted candy so I am now having her buy it, it was pretty funny to watch her maneuver through value and desire!
She is still dancing every second of the day that she can!
She wants to take some sort of an instrument lesson!- I am thinking drums- although I know piano is the best option, but she loves to pretend to beat on drums
Food is still a sore subject around here, it is her connection to her home, ALTHOUGH, at the store yesterday when we saw Naan bread she hugged and kissed it, when 3 weeks ago she was choking it down!
She is not thrilled with swim lessons, loves the water but not to sure of the lessons, we will see after today it is the 2nd one so maybe it will be better.
Math is definitely her favorite subject and the Bible is her favorite book.
She is a perfect 7ish year old!!!
Saturday, March 3, 2012
very random!
So what are we up to? Chaltu had another explosion of English last week, when our Amharic speaking friend watched her last week, Chaltu always replied in English! Last night she read the book 5 little monkeys to me! It is a bit overwhelming how smart she is and how quickly she is catching on, I have to keep up and keep pushing her! She got another 100 on her spelling test and 3 of the 5 bonus words correct- including- Stations of the cross- try explaining the "tion" sound to a limited speaking English kid! she got it!
We got her a bike last weekend and she LOVES it! we were able to go twice this week and she is really enjoying it- as am I, it allows me to run!!
Dinner is my favorite time of day with Chaltu, it takes about an hour for her to eat...so I now take advantage of this, we practice spelling words, we talk, it is typically a very fun part of our day, this week though we wrote funny sentences about each other! This was great, it allowed her to practice writing, to be silly and creative! We had such a blast and this girl is very funny! I think we are going to find a theater camp to put her in this summer!
Dancing, have I told you all her love of dancing? Seriously this girl is always dancing, we were at a TGI Fridays restaurant a few weeks ago and she and I went to wash her hands, a song came on with a good beat, and we had to stop what we were doing and bust into a dance party in the bathroom! Every night she and I dance together, if I ask her to go get something/ do something she dances her way there! Yes we are thinking of putting her in dance, but I am so conservative on somethings, that I really don't want her shaking her booty and wearing short shorts to dance in...we will see...I am still researching! I have relaxed a bit with the music I let her listen to so we can dance...the messages out there can be so...well you know!
Her eye...some of you know she is blind in one eye, it was due to an accident when she lived in her first home. We went to the Dr. 2 weeks ago, we were very hopeful that maybe there would be some vision there...nope, none, nothing, nada, we have to get a ultrasound to ensure that there is nothing "growing" there (they are 99% sure there is not). So it is what it is...it definitely does NOT stop her from anything!! we go today to get her new glasses finally! We are all excited about this!
Her newest chant (doing it right now) "Chaltu queen, Daddy king, Mommy princess" although last night Daddy taught her the word peasant! so then mommy was a mere peasant!!! She and I have gone over the order of queen and princess a lot!!! It is pretty funny!! She gets it and wants to reign!!
Well it is the first day in a few weeks we all have together and they are both up! I think we are headed out to breakfast, get glasses and then who knows what!! But I know it will be great!
We got her a bike last weekend and she LOVES it! we were able to go twice this week and she is really enjoying it- as am I, it allows me to run!!
Dinner is my favorite time of day with Chaltu, it takes about an hour for her to eat...so I now take advantage of this, we practice spelling words, we talk, it is typically a very fun part of our day, this week though we wrote funny sentences about each other! This was great, it allowed her to practice writing, to be silly and creative! We had such a blast and this girl is very funny! I think we are going to find a theater camp to put her in this summer!
Dancing, have I told you all her love of dancing? Seriously this girl is always dancing, we were at a TGI Fridays restaurant a few weeks ago and she and I went to wash her hands, a song came on with a good beat, and we had to stop what we were doing and bust into a dance party in the bathroom! Every night she and I dance together, if I ask her to go get something/ do something she dances her way there! Yes we are thinking of putting her in dance, but I am so conservative on somethings, that I really don't want her shaking her booty and wearing short shorts to dance in...we will see...I am still researching! I have relaxed a bit with the music I let her listen to so we can dance...the messages out there can be so...well you know!
Her eye...some of you know she is blind in one eye, it was due to an accident when she lived in her first home. We went to the Dr. 2 weeks ago, we were very hopeful that maybe there would be some vision there...nope, none, nothing, nada, we have to get a ultrasound to ensure that there is nothing "growing" there (they are 99% sure there is not). So it is what it is...it definitely does NOT stop her from anything!! we go today to get her new glasses finally! We are all excited about this!
Her newest chant (doing it right now) "Chaltu queen, Daddy king, Mommy princess" although last night Daddy taught her the word peasant! so then mommy was a mere peasant!!! She and I have gone over the order of queen and princess a lot!!! It is pretty funny!! She gets it and wants to reign!!
Well it is the first day in a few weeks we all have together and they are both up! I think we are headed out to breakfast, get glasses and then who knows what!! But I know it will be great!
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