And.. it's a tie! After beginning the week down a point (let's recall the chocolate bunny rampage).. I have redeemed myself by hopefully resolving the big 'dinner' issue. Completely unexepected actually, as I did not think there even WAS a resolution to this issue. For the past couple of months (at least), Maya has been boycotting dinner. I have no idea why.. as she is clearly hungry and I almost always make something that she finds appetizing. Well.. I gave up the act of 'requiring' her to sit at the dinner table a few days ago. She wore me down one day and I just decided that if she was truly hungry, she would come to the table and get some food. I told her that she could eat at the table if she was hungry.. if not, she could just play. To my utter shock - she played for about 1 minute and then came to the table! Not only that, she requested her booster chair.. and then she proceeded to actually EAT her dinner! OMG! Somewhere in hell, icicles were forming. So mom learned a lesson, and toddler has eaten every night since with no struggle, no screaming, no whining, no thrown food. WOW. It's also been a special week b/c potty-training has gone very well this week.. and Maya has moved to a toddler bed - in a new room! Of course, the room and bed switch just happened today, but so far so good. Funny thing Maya has been doing recently: the weather has been warming, and we have been able to spend play-time outside most days. Her fav thing to do is take her little pink car outside and 'milk' it. Yes.. she milks her car and makes 'cow juice'. She sits behind it on the ground, reaches underneath the back, and 'milks'. ?? I can only assume this stems from her over-watching 'Barney On The Farm'???
In other news, we rec'd Devika updates this week. Early in the week we were told that she has a bad eczema flare-up and needed to receive medical treatment. It didn't sound too worrisome other than they mentioned that she was responding to treatment and slowly gaining weight. I was very worried that she had lost weight, so I requested some add'l info. We rec'd an update yesterday that her weight was 11 lbs, so that sounded good. And.. they said she was sitting up a little, she was smiling when spoken to, she was rolling over (all over her crib!), and she was trying to crawl!! :) How exciting! I'm very sad that we are missing her milestones, but I'm so happy that she is developing well. TGI(almost)F!
** If the Easter Bunny is going to leave a much-yearned-for chocolate bunny for your toddler, be sure that it is small enough to be eaten in one day (ie.. VERY VERY small). **
I don't know what that Bunny was thinking, but he left a (hollow, thankfully) bunny for Maya that should be split into ~ 3 days of eating. Especially as she gets super-hyper from chocolate. So I let her have it while I am doing dishes earlier.. I check on her after a few minutes and 1/2!! of that bunny is eaten!! So that was it for the day. And what did I hear for the remainder of the ENTIRE day?? Every minute of the rest of the day? 'More chocolate bunny mommy? More bunny? More chocolate bunny? I WANT MORE CHOCOLATE BUNNY!' GIVE ME THE CHOCOLATE BUNNY! CAN i HAVE THE CHOCOLATE BUNNY PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE? PLEEEEEEEEEEEASE?? CHOCOLATE BUUUUUUUUNNNNNYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
Yes. My mistake. Lesson learned.
Btw, this video reminds me of an annoying experience I had yesterday. I was in a check-out line with Maya and the cashier said 'Is that YOUR daughter?' .. which I instantly and with some annoyance replied 'Yes she is.' .. and the stupid woman gets a super-annoyed look on her face and says 'I mean, is she adopted?'. sigh. I replied, 'yes, she is my daughter and she was adopted.' She follows with 'How long have you had her?'.. which isn't really rude, but was seriously irritating me. I answered with 'she joined our family almost 2 years ago'. And then I'm irritated that I actually gave her that information. I really need to say 'Her daddy is Indian' the next time some idiot makes this statement to us. I mean - hello - she is old enough to hear and somewhat understand what you are saying. Shut up! Keep your thoughts to yourself! She finished by saying 'Oh, god bless you for doing that'. ARGH! My daughter wasn't a charity project - she was the fabulous result of years of working to grow our family. I need to be better prepared for this conversation in the future. This wasn't the first time, though it has been several months since I've had a complete stranger be so blatant about it. And I know it is probably surprising to see a dark-skinned child with me - as I am super-white.. but Hello! If DH and I HAD given birth to a bio baby, it might have had dark skin. And then I would be uber po'd by these people. So I basically get uber-po'd anyhow. :)
Anyhow.. hope you all had a festive Easter! I'm off to eat some chocolate!
Wow, life has been a bit crazy lately and I have had no time to blog! So much has been going on.. I guess it's time for an update! First and foremost - our NOC (No Objection Certificate) was issued by CARA (India's governmental department that oversees adoptions) last Friday! We received word on Wednesday that it was received by the orphanage and being immediately forwarded to the Kolkata courts. Now as exciting as that sounds, it is this next step which is the source of most stress and frustration. Or shall I say.. it can be. The current judge is not big on pushing adoption cases through quickly. On occasion I have heard of him hearing the case and approving it in a timely manner (which I would say is within 2-3 months).. but he has been known to delay hearing the cases for 6+ months. I guess at this point we can just pray that he somehow finds it in himself to hear our case immediately!! This step is to issue guardianship. After this 'legals' step, we only need to wait for Devika's passport to be issued (3-4 wks normally). Please - pray, cross your fingers, send us positive thoughts, whatever you can do to help us through this phase!! In other news.. Devika's nursery has now turned into Maya's new room. :) That might sound odd, but it really made sense once I began thinking it through - esp. economically. So the room is going to be Maya's, and it has changed from under-the-sea them to rainforest/jungle theme. Penny Erlich (www.pfheaven.com) has been here and has performed her magic once more for us! The mural is complete and it is AMAZING! Photos coming soon. I purchased a cherry-wood sleigh-type toddler bed for Maya.. it is so small and cute! And.. a 56" stuffed giraffe (her fav animal of the moment!) arrived today and is hiding in the closet - an early delivery from the Easter Bunny. :)) Anyhow.. I'm looking for a fun indoor swing to hang in the room also. I found one at IKEA, but we don't have one anywhere near me.. and it really isn't the right color (I've seen that they have bright blue and white.. and her room is in more muted colors). So if anyone has a recommendation, let me know. I know this might sound wierd, but Maya loves, loves, loves swings.. and I need a little 'push' to get her to be agreeable to this room change. She isn't quite sold yet, even though she loves the animals in the mural. In more Maya news.. she met the Easter Bunny today. Frankly the thing creeped me out, but she loved him/her! She went running at break-neck speed over to give it a huge hug! She sat on it's lap and smiled for a photo! ??? This is the girl that won't smile when her professional photographer mother tries to photograph her.. sigh. Anyhow, I was appalled by how tacky the rabbit was, so I didn't purchase the photo. We are going to a egg-hunt type of festivity tomorrow, which will have another photo opportunity with a different bunny. I hope this one isn't quite so creepy. I am also taking my camera, so watch for photos soon! Maya's daddy has started traveling for work again, so her behavior has taken a down turn. She's very into hitting people.. and I haven't found a good way to work with this. I tried a 'go to the zoo' chart, but it only worked for about 3 days. Time outs simply don't work.. she enjoys them and actually hits in order to go to them. {eye roll} Hopefully she will get used to his schedule again and will settle down. Meanwhile, I hope we don't get kicked out of gymnastics class for beating up the other little girls and boys. ;) She might be small, but she packs a fierce smack! In other news, I have received a request to donate one of my custom DVD Adoption Journey slideshow movies to an upcoming silent auction fundraiser in Denver, CO. It is sponsored by Journey To Me and Adoption Today magazine. If anyone is local to Denver and interested.. check it out! Journey To Me has a blurb about the event on their homepage: www.journeytome.com. So on a personal front, I have begun to get antsy about this adoption now. It took awhile - things have been easier to this point, since we have Maya home and life is busy and full of entertainment! Well it finally hit me in a big way last week, before NOC came through. I was shopping and walked past a display of adorable little baby clothes. I just suddenly became really bummed.. as I started thinking about how Devika will be too big to wear those when she comes home. And then I started thinking about how much of her life we are missing. It is so very hard to miss these baby days. To think that RIGHT NOW as I type this, my baby - MY CHILD - is alive and breathing and on the other side of the world. And I'm not allowed to see her or touch her. I've never met her. I haven't smelled that sweet baby smell, or rocked her to sleep, or fed her a bottle. I wish I could just fly over there and stay until we could bring her home. Anyhow, I almost burst into tears in the store! Good lord. {security - crazy woman hugging baby clothes and sobbing - aisle 8 - alert!alert!} ;) So anyhow, for everyone who has asked if the process is easier on an emotional level this time.. the answer has changed from 'maybe' to 'uh.. no'. And maybe part of what is making it hard is this judge in Kolkata. When we went through this phase with Maya, the judge was awesome and our case was heard very very quickly. Now we simply have no clue when we might be united with our child. People everywhere always ask us.. our neighbors, our banking reps, the post office employees, our dentist, our clients, our vendors, etc., etc. I seriously don't think that I go 24 hours without someone asking. And as sweet as it is, and as much as we enjoy sharing our story.. it is difficult right now. Hopefully soon I'll be loving to answer the question b/c we'll have travel plans!! Oh - and have you seen the movie 'Juno'? I thought it was great.. but.. argh! When that jerk told Juno he was leaving his wife? And I thought that the adoption wasn't going to happen? Omg.. I was so sad for Jennifer Garner's character! I would have been SO po'd if the movie had ended that way. And that 2nd-to-last scene? With Jennifer Garner's character asking if she looked stupid? Ok.. I felt EXACTLY like that the first time that I held Maya! I was so trying not to burst into tears during that scene!! I need to buy that movie and watch it in the privacy of my own home so that I can do that. :) Anyhow, I luv'd the movie.
Here is a video that I created for entry in a 'love story' themed video contest. And I won 2nd place, so not too shabby. Though.. still a little irritated that I didn't put a little more into it to win 1st. ;) Oh well.. we will add it to Devika's Adoption Journey film in the future! Enjoy.
It was 72 degrees yesterday. The fish were swimming in the pond.. the weeds (how DOES this happen so fast?) were beginning to sprout.. the bees were buzzing (just ask Maya!).. people were running around in t-shirts and shorts..
..and I am 2 1/2 yrs old. These are currently a few of my favorite things:
My new Dora 'princess dress' nightie (see photo). I want to wear this all day, every day. Mom won't let me.. she is so mean sometimes!
Talking on Mommy's phone - to anyone .. or no one!
Whining 'I DON'T LIIIIIIKE IT!!!' ..I used to just make whiny noises, but this is much more fun!
Tasha - my dog. I call her 'love bug' and 'big baby'. I give her lots of kisses and I include her in my bear tea-parties. Sometimes I try to ride her like a horse, but she doesn't understand 'go horsey!'.
My angel-bear. I feed her dinner and tea every night.. sometimes hot chocolate. She likes to eat strawberry-cheese-french fry ice-cream. I spend a lot of time cooking her dinner on my stove, now that I understand how to use the pots/pans, burner, and sink (pretend of course!).
Making up songs about Thomas the train - I don't really like watching Thomas, but I love my Thomas toys and singing about him!
Still love the swings at the playground (wheeeeee!)! I often start singing Thomas songs very loudly while I'm singing.
My new Dora bike (big wheel, but I call it a bike) and my pink car.
BUBBLES!
I just learned how to use the potty! I'm very good at it now, and I like to use it ~25x/day and try to get a piece of choc-o-late (m&m) or a sucker every time! I tell everyone! {yes, EVERYONE!}
Mommy and Nanny. I'm not in a big Daddy mode right now.
My friends - Raina, Owen, baby Ella, baby Brandon, Krista, and Shannon
My grandparents, aunties, uncles, and cousins. I don't see them much, but I talk about them all the time and pray for them every night.
Grandma's turtle and snake (stuffed toys). I also pray for them every night.
My security-bear. I cannot sleep without him. I like to dress him up in my clothes.
Presents that come in the mail!
Gymnastics class. Well, the first 15 minutes. The other 30 minutes is not very fun b/c I exert all of my energy in the first 15. I love the Lollipop song and movements.. and I love doing 'popcorn' and the 'tuck, pike, straddle' song/moves. I don't jump yet, but I'm thinking about it. I do like to walk on the 'Thomas Bridge' {aka balance beam} - but only the high one! {go figure!}
I love to sing and dance! I still love the Broadway Kids singing 'Maybe' and 'Tomorrow' {Annie}.. and I sing VERY loudly with the songs. I know most of the words!
I love being around other kids and going places! I get very excited at the store (any store), and I get super-hyper when I play with kids at a playplace or museum! Mommy signed me up for pre-school starting in August at a local Montessori school. I think I will love it!
I do NOT like:
BEES (one flew by my ear yesterday and I freaked out! It buzzed right in my ear! I tell everyone.)
Mommy's bathtub. I wanted to take a bath in her big tub for so long.. but I tried it last week and it was SO scary!! I do NOT like mommy's tub. I tell everyone this also.
My car seat. I have always hated this, and now I can actually throw a HUGE fit when I'm getting buckled in so that everyone in nearby cars can hear this and think that my Mommy is beating on me. :) Hm. Maybe this should be filed under 'things that I like'?
Mommy and Daddy hugging. That is MY MOMMY! Hands off! Family hugs are acceptable.
Being tired or hungry. I am very very vocal about this!
.JPG)
