The sweetest music...

Here I am, supposed to be doing some work-related stuff while S is looking after Yummy. He took her to our bedroom, and all I can hear is the sweet sound of her squeals of pleasure and her babbling and her laughing with him, for whatever reason and whatever is happening in there...

It sooooooo doesn't get much better than that!

OK, back to pretend-work...

Genius!

Before we went to China, I had read a bit about signing for babies, and liked what I found. Also, having used it with success with kids with Down syndrome in my "other" life, I could see the benefits for young children who don't have verbal language yet. I taught S a few signs, and he became the consistent parent in terms of teaching Yummy the signs for "milk" and for "more".

Well, guess what? This afternoon, as I was getting her milk ready (the girl has no patience and usually screams for the 32 seconds it takes...), Yummy clearly squeezed her fist at the bottle!!! AND, I've also seen attemps at "more", with a big smile, especially when I ask her if she wants more chicken, her favorite food.

10 and a half months, 19 and a half pound of genius! :o)

Rythms and change

I just realized that I haven't written in 3 days... Whew! Time flies so much faster with a baby than when at work!!! Since Yummy, I'm never really sure what day or date it is, everything is kind of blending in together. I even wished a neighbour a good week-end today when she told me she was off to Quebec City!

I'm in awe at how busy a little 19-or-something pound person can keep you! Yummy is still doing great, and things are slowly getting into a nice rythm, which I know will change the minute we get use to it, unfortunately... Going to sleep is much easier (well, generally speaking....), and she "only" wakes up 2-4 times a night now, usually with one bottle at around 3AM. We're getting somewhat regular with naps, and I'm slowly organizing my life so that there's actually some time for MY life at some point in the day. Sometimes, like tonight, it's a choice between sleep and doing something for me, but I'd rather be sane and tired than depressed or grumpy but better rested...

Before I left for China, I got one of the best advices ever, from an experienced mom (let's just call her "genius"): she said "Remember that nothing is permanent", relating to what would happen in China. It helped tremendously on those first few crazy-scary-wonderful days. The real genius part is that it is still helping, and is actually slowly changing the way I see life. Adjusting to a new baby is tough work! But the more I remember that nothing is permanent, the easier everything gets, and the more I enjoy every moment with our wonderful baby.

Nothing is permanent... So, she went to sleep easily at naptime? Not so easy at bedtime!... She loved broccoli today? Forget it tomorrow, the love will be back Thursday or Friday... Woke up smiling, woke up crying, woke up smiling, woke up babbling, woke up crying... Stayed quiet in the car seat, screamed as if a tiger was chewing her leg in the car seat... These are the kind of rythms I'm getting used to, accepting and recognizing them as her way of growing up and coping with everything. Nothing is permanent indeed, and it's a good thing!

With dad, on a hike during my "half-day off" last Sunday











Loving books!














Corolle makes a wonderful chinese doll, which Yummy got as a gift














Oh, how I love that face!
And THAT is permanent! :o)

I saved a life today!

We're slowly getting used to being the center of attention everywhere we go, Yummy being so cute and all... But the comments, oh the comments! Most are well-meaning though, and we have yet to encounter anything too nasty, although we know it will come. S came close a few days ago, when an older man very bluntly asked him "how much she cost": S was taken aback until he realized the guy was talking about the stroller! :o)

Today, at the grocery store, the lady offering samples of some new bread "without fat or sugar" (how boring must it be...) came up to me, as I was waiting for my pastries "with lots of fat and sugar", and told me she adopted 18 years ago, and congratulated me on saving Yummy's life... I got my dessert, and took off with a smile, thinking that if it wouldn't have been us, there are now about 30 000 couples waiting to adopt from China who would have been quite willing to "save a life"...

S is going back to work on Monday, a week early, because he's very much needed at his work right now. He'll take another week off sometime before Christmas, and his boss had the supreme elegance to send me a very, very nice flower bouquet yesterday, thanking me for "lending them S"! For his last day off, yesterday was so gorgeous, we decided to go for a walk by the lake, in Oka and try the baby backpack, which our Yummy loved! It was kind of cold, but the light was absolutely gorgeous. Here are some pictures:

ONCE!!!

Yummy only woke up once last night, at around midnight, for her beloved rag!

When I woke up again at 6h45, the sun was up already and that I didn't remember changing a diaper, giving a bottle, or comforting my baby during the night... I actually went to check to see if she was still breathing: of course she was. When she woke up and Dad picked her up a bit later, she actually was holding a rag in each hand, so I guess she has finally figured out she can pick them up all by herself...

All this after a pretty traumatic bedtime last night, as she refused to consider closing her eyes, even though she was quite tired. We dealt with an hour of crying before she finally settled down for the night.

So, this is progress, right?

A bath, a rag, and a visa

Yummy continues to amaze me at how well she is adjusting to her new life! She now decided that she loves baths (and showers with one of us!), and had this look of pure joy when we put her in the sink last night. Dad figured out that she was fascinated by the running water from the tap, and that kind of did the trick. There was water splashing everywhere, so we'll move to the bathtub really soon, before we flood the downstair neighbour...











Thank you for the sleeping tips! They helped me, and knowing they come from real moms makes them quite valuable compared to my books! :o)

We are slowly figuring out a sleep and naps schedule that works, and even though Yummy still wakes up 7-8 times a night, we are seeing small, slow changes. There are now (occasionally...) some cries that can be calmed down with a simple "shhhh" from outside her room, but the really loud ones still need us to come in and give her her rag (actually a sof baby facecloth) back. She was used to comfort herself with one at the orphanage, and still uses that method here, which generally works wonders. The beauty of it is that we have about 18 of them, and can rotate (and wash!) them without any fuss. When she loses one in her bed, she cries with her eyes shut: even though I've tried putting a bunch in the crib, she can't find them! So we go in, gve it back to her, and everybody goes back to sleep for another hour or two...

We are also starting a "going to bed" routine, with dinner, some play time, a bath (during which she had so much fun and got so excited that it totally defeated the purpose...), a few books, a bottle, and then the crib. We've started putting her in bed just before she falls asleep, and it actually sometimes work.

So, all in all, we have an amazing baby, with sleep really being the only issue. And according to your comments, they all have issues with sleep at one time or another. So we're good. And getting better. And completely in love... :o)














Oh, and we got her a visa that will allow us to go (spend money! Love that exchange rate right now! :o) in the USA, before she gets her citizenship. Yay!!! If you are from Canada and wondering what the steps are, let me know!

Week-end news...

Nothing much to report, just some tidbits...

• Yummy had her first shots at the pediatrician on Thursday: didn't cry, but got really sick for 24 hours, with a runny nose, fever, swollen face, crying eyes, and drooling mouth, this one from the teething... Oh, she was lovely! Everything is better now, except for the puddles of drool she leaves everywhere.
  
• She is starting to tolerate being more than 2 feet away from us for more than 10 seconds! Yay!
• She imitates more and more, the current funny skills being the "fake cough" and the air kisses, which she does with her top teeth and bottom lip. Very cute!
  
• The girl loves books! She'll point at images, and listens when I name them. Curiously, she's not too found of baby images, but really likes animals and objects.

On a longer topic, sleep is still difficult. We are now making a conscious effort to try to establish a routine, and to slowly help her learn to fall asleep on her own. It works sometimes, but definitely not others, and she still wakes up 5-8 times a night. We haven't had any other night terror episodes since the one last week though. Am I ever thankful for that!!!

She sleeps in her own bed. Co-sleeping is not really an option, as she thinks that when we are in bed together, it's party time! It was like that in China, it's like that here. Plus, we know that she was used to sleeping in her own bed.

Most every site or book I found that talks about sleep talks about co-sleeping, or gives recommandations that a 10-month old baby simply wouldn't understand. Or they say to wait a few months before doing anything too proactive... She's doing great during the day, although can get a bit whiny if she hasn't slept enough. She's more and more secure, we can even leave the room for a moment and she'll wait for us, she's eating well, baths and showers are no longer a problem. Am I asking to much to want sleep to improve somewhat?...

Any good advice from adoptive parents out there???