I've had the stomach bug for a few days and now that I'm recovered, the kids seem to be coming down with it. It's almost ten in the morning and they're both still asleep, which is a practically unheard-of occurrence in this household. Hopefully they'll be over it quickly!
We're three months in now, which is hard to believe, and we're still completely in love with our girl. We're still having many new experiences, and since her English is growing by leaps and bounds we're learning more and more about her every day! Yesterday I brought out my old makeup and let her play with it on me and do my hair, which was definitely a new experience for us both. I told her she could be "as crazy as she wanted," and she took me at my word and lunged for the dark green glitter eyeshadow.
I ended up with eye shadow up past my eyebrows, the entire upper half of my cheeks painted bright pink, crimson lipstick and wildly teased hair. She had an absolute blast. I wanted to post a picture to show all of you, but she made me swear not to put on online. Evidently she was either worried about protecting my reputation or she's trying to protect hers. She has no idea that it's way, way too late-- thanks to roller derby I've already worn my underwear on the outside of my clothing in public and thus have no reputation left to protect. Either way she's adorable. But I promised her, so you'll just have to imagine how fabulous I looked.
Now that her English is coming along well, we've had some funny misunderstandings. The other day she was at swim practice and one of the kids on her team started singing "This Girl Is On Fire." She was very concerned. "What girl? Why she on fire? Not good!" She thought the girl should find some water and jump in right away.
We're still working on idioms.
Connor's had a couple of small seizures this week, but overall the medication seems to be working well for him. I've been a bit worried about how taking him to Ellen's swim practices and meets would work out, as it can get pretty warm and humid in there and we're always worried about his core temperature getting too high. So far so good, though. He actually seems to really enjoy going to the practices, probably for a couple of reasons. He seems to like watching the swimmers-- as long as he doesn't have to get in the water, he seems to think all of the splashing and whatnot is pretty cool-- and he likes the two hours of uninterrupted snuggle time. I'm doing my best to make sure that both kids get some one-on-one time every week, but it's quite the adjustment for a kid who is used to being the undivided center of attention 24/7. I think you get that same adjustment any time you have a new sibling in the house.
He'll get a chance to shine soon on stage; Connor is going to be in a talent show! It's in April and is being put on by his therapy center. He's going to be clapping along with a group of kids to a song; I'm excited to see him on stage! We're bringing the video camera for sure.
~Jess
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4 years ago
2 comments:
I'm sure I am like many of your readers, love your blog and never comment often enough. I am thrilled that things with Ellen are going so well. Having a Mom, like you, who put in a lot of effort before she came home to learn some Thai and read about the needs of older adopted kids is paying off. There is also luck, involved, as no matter how prepared, you are, just never know, and you and she (Dad and brother also)are lucky to have each other and to be a good fit for each other.
I enjoy youre sense of humor and how willing you are to share yourself, and be vulnerable. I need to make it down to the Summer/Puyallup area and meet up with you sometime in person.
Sammie
Mom to Andy now 17, adopted from Thailand and Alex 14 from China. I live in Shoreline just north of Seattle, and I also have spent my shre of time at Childrens Hosptial, maybe we could meet up there sometime. Thanks again for your great blog.
So awesome! She sounds like an amazing young lady. Just wanted to let you know there is an app that explains idioms. It's targeted to adolescents with autism spectrum disorders.
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