Anyway..update.. Life is moving along:). Ava is doing well and is happy. Her newest thing is "narrating" my every move throughout the day! For example: "Mom wash dishes". "Mom clean up". "Mom take a shower"....and on, and on, and on it goes. This is how she's learning the language, but oh my!;)
She also likes to ask, "Doin' Mom?"...a LOT!
She is doing excellent on the potty, but just doesn't tell me when she has to go...she holds it until I take her...siiiiggghhh, again the language barrier.
She's eating better now...and I just gave up trying to get her to understand that she needs to eat first then drink...after every bite she would say "drink, please"..and I mean EVERY bite! So now, I give her a sippy cup with some milk/juice with her meal and if she drinks it all, she doesn't get more till the end(or not, depending on how much I gave her to begin with). I know, this is probably a "no-brainer" to you all, but I swear this has driven me bonkers!!!
Took her to the ophthalmologist Monday..only to be told that "yes, she's blind in her left eye"...ummmm, we drove an hour for that? We KNEW that;)! She will be getting glasses very soon though, and later(years down the road), she can get a "fake" eye...kinda scary..
Thanksgiving went well..we traveled to my family's house and she did well in the car(thank you Lord for the men/women who created portable DVD players...8 hours!!) Although, every time a movie was over, she would say "out, please". Poor kid, she had no idea what she was in for...and NO, she didn't sleep the whole time!!!! Did I mention it was 11 hours in the car on the way home....!??
We got our house all decorated for Christmas this weekend and I'm trying to concentrate on homeschooling, when I really want to bake cookies(and eat them), fudge(and eat it), and cranberry bread(and eat it)...we'll say how much longer we last...I LOVE homeschooling!
What else, oh yeah...we're updating our homestudy! And yes, it looks like we may be adopting again! Not sure where(probably US though), but just getting our ducks in a row while we decide;)! We've talked about going back to Bulgaria, and that is NOT out of the question, but we've discovered that there is a NEED for families for full African-American babies here in the US..so we'll see which way we go..praying and seeking direction right now. Okay, who am I kidding, I have the agency picked out for AA(thanks to a bloggy friend), and I'm ready to go either way...!
Now for some pictures:)!
Love the pictures and glad to hear that Ava is doing so well!!!! Who or what is AA???
ReplyDeleteSo happy to see the update! Blogging can be a challenge.
ReplyDeleteDebby - AA is African American.
Rena, I am glad to hear from you!!! I am double glad Ava is doing well and congrats on the next big step.
ReplyDeleteAmie
Ava might be ambedextrious? spell? Our 2nd birthdaughter was. Public school told us if she didn't choose a hand she'd have mental health issues?? She picked her left hand. But continued on using her right hand for other things! :o) She's 31 now, she's doing fine!
ReplyDeleteAlso I wanted to tell you we have 2 children, Molly adopted from Korea (by another family) we picked her up in CT,(she had 2 previous adoptive families, 2 orphanage, one foster family and us) and Andy US born (from abusive family, two foster homes before us, 1 mental health stay 8 weeks and we foster/adopted him) both had "institutional" type behavior, like post traumatic with RAD. Molly was also Daddy's girl up to the day she died in August this year.(she was 26) You describe Ava's behavior as Daddy's girl perfectly! I know exactly what you mean! Molly and Andy never got along because they survived and continued to survive so similarly. Always using their survival instincts. (Molly even reported me for child abuse to get away.) They'd do anything and I mean anything for candy or toys even from a stranger. :o( They fought for attention in the only way they knew how to-negatively. If Andy "liked" a non-family adult person we met and was wanting to be with them, our radars went up because he was drawn to abuse. They both could understand neglect better than hugs. Anyhow, my humble opinion, children use the same coping mechanisms whether from orphanage, institution, or abusive environment in America. If we only could have saved them before the saw the things they saw and learned the things they should not have needed to learn. My Andy turns 35 on 12/31. He lives in a group home with 4 men semi-independently. He is mentally ill from the 7 years of abuse still. He is also slow. But his learned behaviors haunt him to this day.
Sorry to ramble-just wanted to share!
We laughed hysterically over "Where's chicken"!! What a doll!
For some reason your blog won't show up on my feed and with the insanity around here I just love when I get to sit down and catch up with a bunch of posts. It's wild when I think how far our families have come....God is so very good.
ReplyDelete