Six months ago today, we stepped off the airplane and our Laurita became a US citizen.
Since then she has stuck more than 20,000 stickers. (We buy them in packs of 5,100 from Amazon and she sticks them, "only on paper," while she watches speech therapy videos, attends mass, waits in doctor's offices and rides in the car.)
She loves noisy machines - vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, power tools - the louder the better!
Every night she asks hopefully, "Sleep then chocolate?" (Easter baskets made quite an impression.)
She likes water play, the sandbox, swinging on swings and books.
She does not care for apples or salad, but thoroughly enjoys peanut butter, watermelon, salsa, pasta, broccoli and mashed potatoes (though not all together, of course).
She has seen all of the requisite specialists at least once and we are well into follow-up appointments.
She sang the alphabet song on stage with her co-op class at the end of the year presentation last month.
Through the magic of social media we have been in touch with one of her adult half siblings and know a great deal more about her birth family.
She can count to ten and usually even remembers four and six.
She can dress herself, put on her own shoes, unload the dishwasher, drink through a straw, string pony beads and jump on the trampoline 100 times in a row.
That's the good and it's very, very good.
It's harder to write about the hard because this is a public blog and Laura's privacy is important even though we have truly had a very easy adjustment in the grand scheme of things.
An online friend posted this list a few years ago, it's a good, honest look at older child adoption and parts of that list most definitely describe our Laurita. They describe her, but they don't define her. The real Laura is loving, feisty, curious, hardworking, determined and has a very strong sense of herself. She is loveable and loved beyond words and we remain so very grateful to everyone who helped and prayed and encouraged us along the way to bring her home.
Since then she has stuck more than 20,000 stickers. (We buy them in packs of 5,100 from Amazon and she sticks them, "only on paper," while she watches speech therapy videos, attends mass, waits in doctor's offices and rides in the car.)
She loves noisy machines - vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, power tools - the louder the better!
Every night she asks hopefully, "Sleep then chocolate?" (Easter baskets made quite an impression.)
She likes water play, the sandbox, swinging on swings and books.
She does not care for apples or salad, but thoroughly enjoys peanut butter, watermelon, salsa, pasta, broccoli and mashed potatoes (though not all together, of course).
She has seen all of the requisite specialists at least once and we are well into follow-up appointments.
She sang the alphabet song on stage with her co-op class at the end of the year presentation last month.
Through the magic of social media we have been in touch with one of her adult half siblings and know a great deal more about her birth family.
She can count to ten and usually even remembers four and six.
She can dress herself, put on her own shoes, unload the dishwasher, drink through a straw, string pony beads and jump on the trampoline 100 times in a row.
That's the good and it's very, very good.
It's harder to write about the hard because this is a public blog and Laura's privacy is important even though we have truly had a very easy adjustment in the grand scheme of things.
An online friend posted this list a few years ago, it's a good, honest look at older child adoption and parts of that list most definitely describe our Laurita. They describe her, but they don't define her. The real Laura is loving, feisty, curious, hardworking, determined and has a very strong sense of herself. She is loveable and loved beyond words and we remain so very grateful to everyone who helped and prayed and encouraged us along the way to bring her home.
Those are amazing accomplishments in such a short time. She looks wonderful! I lover her hair in the last photo!
ReplyDeleteSue H.
She is adorable, and I love your updates.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I should keep my children's issues more private....and yet, if I didn't blog I might go mad. Plus, I know that other people's blogging about their children gave me such insights, such a greater degree of wisdom, as well as the blessing of not feeling alone.
ReplyDeleteI try not to share anything that isn't positive with people who know us (though one party has certainly made that difficult!)
Oh Annie, It's such a tricky thing because reading your blog (and others who have been open about their adoption/trauma related struggles) has been so helpful to me, too. I think I am temperamentally a very private person so perhaps that's why I 'under-share'. I am frank about the hard stuff in private, even online, but in this particular space it would make me uncomfortable. I hope that isn't too selfish or hypocritical!
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