I LA HOO

I have decided to blog today!

Everything is happening to fast and it is hard to keep track of the time and the days.
Faith is still adjusting to her daddy-and she smiles and talks to him on the phone but she does not want to sit with him alone yet. It doesn't help that he has been snoring lately either-I guess we're all tired with the new changes. Her sleeping patterns are up and down and it has been hard figuring her out. Her eating habits are also...uhm interesting as she is always hungry! She hides food in drawers and in her high chair and in her clothes. She is the only child in the house that runs to the dinner table every chance possible. So yes there are behaviors that she has brought from the orphanage and we know she is trying to figure this all out. She is picky as well. She doesn't like milk, Almond milk, chocolate milk, formula or Pedia Ensure. None of it. So we have been giving her yogurt. She loves eggs and cereal but not oatmeal. Our neighbors from Taiwan have been so wonderful, they bring rice congee every three days for her and that has helped. But food is still a trial and error ordeal around here. Our dog Ryder seems to be very happy, as Faith is constantly, flinging mysterious foods over to him. He is also very protective of her that it kind of drives me nuts at times to hear him barking at who ever is approaching her. We have gotten back into homeschool rather smoothly, it helps me keep my mind sane I think with the lack of sleep and with Faith being so clingy to me. She does some pretty, funny things at times though: like when she throws her hands up in the morning for me to hold her and then whacking me in the face and saying, "Ma I la hoo!" Yes, we can thank the boys for showing her that hitting is funny. Because I am constantly putting creams on her for her itching and scratching, so she now attempts to put cream on us. I can see that she finds that funny and I guess relates that to caring. She is constantly screaming out "ma" and sometimes she sings to me and I don't understand her and my neighbors from Taiwan say they don't understand her either. So go figure. She also has a habit of talking on the phone...she walks around and babbles and laughs on her play phone-guess I am looking at myself in the mirror? She is running around here like she's got wheels on her heels and she climbs the stairs...scary, yes but she is quite confident now. She loves Hope's room and I am glad because it will be nice when they are in the same room. She's still sucking that thumb but smiles at me when I ask her what she is doing with that...that's when she responds in English and says "dondodat" and then "BUYAOW" which is Mandarin for don't. She often wants to snuggle with me and kiss me and she loves to be kissed back. Its adorable to have her around here and its so funny discovering her little personality-as every day its something new. I am sure its hardest for my husband though, and I sympathize for him greatly...we've tried to do certain activities like bike riding, where she is in the wagon behind him-she loved that. I've also left them together, like twice which didn't go great the first time, but went better the second and I got to see her smile at me when I returned home. We have not seen her Pediatrician yet, in which I am kind of anxious because now she has a slight cold. I have been blessed that I have been able to be home with her all this time without disruption. As next week I will begin tutoring again and I will have to leave her in the nursery-I hope it goes well, sigh. I just want to protect her because I know this has all been so hard on her. Faith's adoption is definitely unique because of her loss. It wouldn't be right not to blog about it. I am sure every child goes through their own way of grieving and Faith's has been obvious to me. So I take her 'I la hoos' very seriously when she expresses them. We are trying to speak to her in English and in Mandarin, so that she understands what we are saying and at the same time, we want to communicate effectively with her. Though my neighbors and I agree that there was probably not a lot of dialogue between Faith and her nannies...as she is very intrigued by conversation. When we play videos of her orphanage she always stops and stares....and it kind of breaks my heart I know they are apart of her and so they are apart of us too. We miss China and those precious kids.