I'm going to call this the post about things that I forgot to post about earlier.
Her orphanage gave us a little photo album on the day we received her with two pictures of the orphanage and a few pictures of her. Only one set is labeled with the date. Two of them are alternative shots for the two referral photos we have.
Julianna has a fascination for plants. When we are out walking (which is a lot), she will touch the leaves and point at nearly every plant we see. She also likes to point up. We are not sure if she is pointing to the sky or to the canopy of the trees, but she likes it. We are convinced that her first word will be "up", because we say it a lot.
She has suddenly developed difficulty sleeping. She went down without any fuss the first two nights, even slept in the crib all night the second night, but it was downhill from there. At first we thought she just felt bad from the cold, but now I think it is that she remembers when she sleeps. I think the first two nights were from shock and now she is trying to deal with her new circumstances. I have taken to letting her sleep with me, which at least gets us through the night, even though I may regret it in a few months. But I am too exhausted from her only wanting to be with me to not sleep at night. Now I'm rationalizing.
I got to order off the children's menu last night. It was great. When we have gone out as a group, our guide has done all the ordering and a vat of congee magically appears for all the children to share. Last night we went out with just the other family from her orphanage and I got to order for her. She had noodle soup with chicken, which was the thin oriental noodles and a small amount of chicken. She loved it and ate a fair amount of the noodles.
We spent a good amount of time at dinner comparing notes with the other family from her orphanage. Their child is 18 months and also special needs. It is nice to be able to reflect on our struggles with someone at the same place.
Tomorrow is our orphanage visit. We are concerned that we may have a set back in our transition when we go. Please keep us in your prayers.
6 comments:
Jessica spent MANY nights with us in our bed for a long time. When Dennis is gone she still wants to sleep with me. Sometimes it is just easier than trying to get her into her own bed. She did eventually start sleeping in her own bed everynight somewhere around age four or five. Some nights we would move her after she fell asleep.
See you soon!
Love, Penny
PS-I think Jessica is coming with me. She wants to see her new cousin!
The following is from Andi:
Everything be ok! Cool Baby Julianna!!!
Love you Julianna!
Your friend, Andi
I believe you are right. Night time ushers in the memories often resulting in nightmares, tossing and turning. We had a very similar experience. After months of trying to get Mikayla to sleep alone, we decided it was more important to get rest and to provide the comfort she needed through those difficult nights. It was great. The cuddling upon going to sleep and rising in the morning was our best bonding tool.
Don't fret...she learned to sleep alone before starting 1st grade! Ha-ha!
Phil, hang in there. Julianna can only adjust to one new person in her life at a time. Soon she will run into your arms crying , "Daddy!" It's not you but I'm sure it feels "personal." We'll be praying for her to adjust as quickly as possible to both of you.
We love you and can't wait to see you!
Teresa P.
Happy Easter! Sherry & Phil, I'm enjoying reading, how your days are going. Sounds like your hands are full. Bless her heart, getting a cold. And bless ya'lls, too.
We had 1,500 in church today. Very nice! Nice service, too.
HUGS, Mary Ellen P.
Hi Phil and Sherry!
Happy Easter and congratulations! I am so glad to see that it does finally happen!
I asked Teresa for your blogspot name (I couldn't find it earlier).
Y'all really look like parents! And Julianna is beautiful!
I can't wait to see y'all Saturday!
Katherine
Ahbee slept in our bed all the time in China, but she moved to her own bed when we got to the States.
Hang in there; you are doing GREAT!
Joy
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