Facts and Updates

In the spirit of National Adoption Month, here are a few facts that point to the crisis occurring worldwide in regard to children who are orphaned/homeless:

• There are estimated to be approximately 143 million orphaned or homeless children in the world today. Different sources quote different numbers (Joint Council on International Childrens Services, UNICEF, etc).. but that number seems to be an average.

• 200 million children under the age of 5 are malnourished (Global Health Council)

• Each year, more than 10 million children in low- and middle-income countries die before reaching their fifth birthday. Seven in 10 of these deaths are due to just five preventable and treatable conditions, or often a combination of them: pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria, measles, and malnutrition. (World Health Organization)

Makes you think eh? Sure we are having massive economical issues within our country - and worldwide - but many (if not most of the blog-reading community) of us still have roofs over our heads, food on our tables, and clothing to keep us warm and protected. Not to mention computers to blog on! My request for all of you who are reading this post: PLEASE take a minute out of your busy holiday preparations this year and think about these kids. PLEASE find it within yourselves to give a few dollars to help with this global crisis. If we all do a little, we can achieve so very much.

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In other, more personal news. All of you who told me that 2 kids are more than double the work of 1 child - you weren't kidding! Ok, I'm looking at this from the perspective of having 2 kids with bad colds. This is one of those days that we will go thru at least 1/2 a box of tissues. Not to mention the number of uses of that dreaded nasal aspirator and the saline spray. Y U C K. It's a challenge, that's for sure! When Maya sees the bottle of saline spray come out of the cabinet, she mysteriously disappears with total silence! I might start using this as a sanity break in the future.. ha!
I recently put Devika down for a nap. I propped up one side of her mattress to help her breathe while napping... and of course she fell asleep with her head at the opposite end of the mattress and her feet at the high end. Sigh.
Now Maya is smacking her toy piano keys and yelling out 'Mommy could you PLEASE DANCE WHILE I PLAY???!!!' 'MOMMY! YOU HAVE TO DANCE! DANCE DANCE!' Criminy.
Yesterday Maya and I had 'Mommy and Maya Day' and ventured out to a local museum which had the Grossology exhibit on display. Now THAT was interesting! Seriously, I never had the need to know that much information about vomit/poop/hairballs/gas/belching. I do have to admit that I found much of it pretty entertaining though. :) Especially Maya's reaction to the 'scent' exhibit. We didn't linger at that one!

Funny story from yesterday:
We are in the car (all of us), and Aj is driving. Some woman turns in front of him and is driving quite slowly. Aj yells 'Hurry up - IDIOT!'. Suddenly Maya yells (mimicking Daddy's tone perfectly): 'Hurry up - INDIAN!'.
Haahaa.. ok we found this hilarious and laughed so hard that Daddy almost had to pull over!

Maya update: She is doing so well at her school! She is now actually interacting well with the other kids (not playing alone), and likes to answer questions during 'math', etc. She loves dancing - I'm going to sign her up for dance classes which are held by a 3rd party teacher at the school. She loves singing songs - finally she is singing again. She stopped for a couple wks after India - a big sign that she was going thru some tough adjustments.
She has recently discovered her skin color is 'dark'. Must be from school. There are no other dark-skinned kids in the preschool classes. She constantly talks, quite matter-of-fact-ly, about how she and Devika and Daddy are 'dark' and Mommy is 'light'. She doesn't ask questions or seem concerned about it.. just making note.
She luvs using her kid-scissors, luvs stickers, luvs anything messy, luvs poop (don't ask.. but yes, it is called 'the anal stage' of life for a reason..ick), luvs swings (still), luvs diapering dolls/bears/thomas the train/her sister, luvs reading books to me (more than listening these days), luvs new clothes/shoes, luvs slurping on 'bottles', being treated like a baby, going to the store/museum/postoffice/coffee shop, talking about her grandparents, and food (thank god - this is a new one!!).

A little Devika-update: She is still doing great, other than the respiratory issues. We ventured out to a party last night (she wasn't bad yesterday, obv this wasn't the best idea on our part..) and she had so much fun! She didn't seem overwhelmed by the amt of adults and kids. She ate several teeny bites of my pizza (as did Maya and another girl.. I had no bites myself - felt like I was a momma-bird).. she crawled and cruised all over the house.. she licked the drink cooler (oops.. taking after mommy already!).
She has been working hard on her walking - she can now take up to 6 or 7 steps, though she has to stop a few times to gain her balance. She is in the drunken-sailor phase! It is so cute. :))
She has gained an entire pound and 1/4" since her first doc appmt - yay! She is still best-fitting-into 3-6 month clothing, but can wear a few of her 6-month outfits. Depends on the brand. She is hungry ALL the time. It's insane! Sometimes we forget.. she is whiny.. we suddenly think 'could she want food.. AGAIN??'.. and yep - that's the solution! Keep it up little girl!
She has a word for 'daddy' and a word for 'mommy'.. though daddy is something like 'de-jjjjj'.. and mommy is something that begins with the 'm' sound and goes in another direction. She hates having her nose wiped, face wiped, bathing, putting on clothing, touches to her hair/head, going into her bedroom, and having toys taken away by her sister. She loves taking toys from her sister, food, hugs, toys, the dog, picking her nose (ugh), dancing/music, the phone ringing, and taking steps.
Devika has a very strong personality and a cute sense of humor that is beginning to show. Daddy calls parenting the girl 'the taming of the shrew'. I'm not sure that is very nice sounding, but he means it in a very loving way. ;)

Phew. Can't believe I had time to blog all of this today! Now baby is waking and Maya needs more food/attention. The Jets are WINNING (omg!).. Daddy just made me a Mimosa.. so it's mommy-time. Happy Sunday!