Well, we’ve been home about 10 days and each day just gets better. We want to say thank you the Douberly family for the beautiful welcome home posters, balloons and streamers that were waiting for us. We also want to thank them for buying us groceries. I had envisioned going to the grocery store at 5 a.m. the day after we got home. But, I was able to relax and enjoy my first real cup of coffee in weeks.
Here are photos of the beautiful
posters:
Thanks also to Sydney for the beautiful birthday cake that she made for Lacey. The cake had both chocolate and white icing, and even a number 6 candle. Cassie helped Sydney with the red trim. Gladis came to dinner and we had a little birthday celebration. This was very exciting for Lacey.
Gladis and Lacey with the birthday cake
Lacey has experienced many “firsts.” We’ve tried to keep things low key, so that she doesn’t feel overwhelmed. But, at the same time, I can’t sit in the house with both girls all day. Last week, we visited the farmer’s market. We also went to an outdoor bluegrass concert. A couple days ago, we visited the thrift store. Cassie loves to shop here to find unique pieces. Lacey caught on very quickly. Apparently, size has never factored into her wardrobe selection before. It took quite a bit of convincing to get her into the proper sized shirts. I found a couple lovely pieces for myself – things that I never would have paid retail price for. We walked away with 10 garments for $45.
Lacey picked her outfit by herself for the first time -
a red flowered shirt with orange plaid pants.
Tasting watermelon at the farmer's market
I’ve been learning how to spread myself between two kids. Yesterday we went shopping for school supplies. So, this wasn’t exactly enriching for Lacey. We tried to use the picture dictionary to explain what we were doing. If we had been shopping for pencils and notebooks, she might have gotten excited. But, seriously, Ziploc bags and wet ones just didn’t do the trick. As a result, anxiety was a little high while we shopped. Now, when we’re out shopping, my left hand has always been reserved for Cassie. So, I naturally extended my right to Lacey. She would have nothing to do with it and lunged for my left hand. I made my way across the parking lot, almost dragging the two girls who were clinging to my left hand. We crossed the parking lot this way not once, but twice. I didn’t say anything the whole time, thinking that one of them would budge. In kids we call this stubbornness. When it comes to adults, I like to think of it as perseverance.
I discovered that Lacey likes music. Every day we’ve been playing a variety of music – gypsy, zydeco, classical, kids, etc. We get out the tambourines and the drum and go crazy. This is a great way for Lacey to communicate and provides great stress relief for me.
A really positive note is that Lacey has become interested in books. I’m hoping that this is because she sees all of us reading so frequently. Cassie has valiantly tried to read a stack of books to Lacey every day while Lacey rolled around on the floor, chattered, did jumping jacks, chased the cat, and any other thing that she could do to avoid books. But, over the past few days, Lacey has become genuinely interested in looking at books. I’m guessing that she has had very limited exposure to print. She has latched onto a couple cardboard books and likes to look at these over and over again. She is also making a huge effort to learn vocabulary from the picture dictionary. We have been going over the vocabulary related to school and home multiple times every day.
Watching TV together
All the adoption literature I read said that for the first few months, the “new mother” should forget about housework. Well, I tried that, but it didn’t go away. I’ve been finding a little time to work in the garden. The tomatoes and peppers are doing nicely, and my raspberries are getting ready to blossom a second time. In what must be a tribute to my Dad, the horseradish that he gave me a couple years ago is strangely spreading all over my yard. Neither the lack of rain nor the lawn mower has harmed it. For some unknown reason, it is simply exploding across the back yard!
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