We have been home for 9 days now and things are starting to smooth out.. We are starting to get into a routine which is outstanding! She is making progress everyday. Sleeping is getting better! We are down to an occasional whine in the middle of the night. That is a huge improvement. She has also been sleeping longer which is great. For the past couple nights she is in bed at 8pm and waking up somewhere between 6am and 7am. I have been very strict about nap times, the length she sleeps at nap time, and making sure she is in bed at 8pm.
I am starting to finally get back to feeling like myself. That trip and adjusting once we got back really took a toll on me. It was a lot harder than I anticipated. I think the exhaustion hit me very hard. I was very irritable and not myself that is for sure.
Here are some things we are seeing from Jaelynn
1. Eating - She is not doing the best here. You would expect her to eat anything and everything but that is not the case. She likes very bland foods which was likely the staple of her diet in the orphanage. She will eat rice and ramen noodles like they are going out of style. The problem with ramen noodles is they are full of sodium. I drain all the broth from the noodles when I give them to her to reduce some of the sodium. She will eat a lot of fruit which is good. I just keep trying different things and sometimes she will eat it and sometimes she won't. We will keep trying!
2. Potty - She is potty trained which is awesome! I take her on a regular basis and she is fine. When she has to go #2 she will come to me and give me this look and yell potty or pull her pants down. I am starting to get the hint when she has to go now.. LOL. We have to work with her on taking her pants up and down so she can go on her own.
3. Bath - Good to go here! Loves it now. She is even starting to splash and get water in her face. She also lays down in the tub.
4. Language - It is amazing how quickly she is catching on to this! She understands a good amount of what you tell her already. She also repeats you a lot. She will have this down in no time. This kid is always talking and singing.
5. Development - She seems to be on track for a 2.5 year old. I expected to see some delays being in an orphanage for so long. She walks, runs, climbs, uses utensils to eat, and likes to write. She is also very social. She is shy at first but will get right in the middle of the kids and have fun with them after a couple minutes. She also has no problem entertaining herself with her toys. She loves to be outside. We took her to the zoo and she loved it. We have had her out on several small trips in the car this week so she has no problem with the car seat now.
6. Bonding/Attachment - She fits into our family perfectly! She is extremely lovable and affectionate. She will tell you love you and give you the biggest hugs and kisses. While she is a mommy's girl she has done good attaching to Philip and Devin. Philip stayed home this past week from work to spend time with us which really helped. This allowed him to really spend some time with her and start that attachment process. She has even went with Philip a couple times without me which is huge! Her and Devin are also doing good. They love each other to death. Devin is doing better coping with her crying. You can sense the jealousy sometimes with both of them. However, I would suspect that is pretty normal for siblings.
I will do my best to get some pictures posted on here soon. With everything going on I have not even got the pictures off my camera yet.
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