The China Connection: Home for a week now

Saturday we successfully past the one week mark of being home from China. We are all getting back to our normal sleep patterns now and I'm slowly catching up on some much needed sleep, as one of the girls had me up throughout the night...every night for many days. Lyndsay is still having issues with all the changes, but getting back to a routine is helping. Today she tried for at least a few hours to revert to being a baby again, thinking she could get more attention, it was short lived when she had to eat room temperature baby's mashed peas for lunch. She then decided she wanted to sleep in Charis' crib, so we accommodated her. She quickly realized that she couldn't do much of anything in there and is too concerned with what everyone is doing and where they are at every moment to want to stay in there for long. She told me that all she could do is twiddle her thumbs. I'm happy to report that we have our nearly four year old back tonight.

Charis is still doing great, her legs are growing stronger daily. This is apparent with her faster stride and even dancing. She's getting better with the potty now, and claps when she is done her business and proclaims "Good Girl" (one of the few things she can say). She is a marathon sleeper, one night during our readjusting to the time change, sleeping for 15 1/2 hours straight. The following night though look out, she was VERY rested and decided at 1:30 in the morning to use her crib as a trampoline, until about 3:30 in the morning. She had a ball and began laughing at her new discovery, not bothering anyone or getting upset at all, until she finally went back to sleep.

After dinner tonight she had a banana milkshake, showing her approval by clapping and declaring "ummm" then signing for more. She mimics EVERYTHING that her big sister does. This is a challenge, since Lyndsay thinks it's funny to teach her undesirable things or annoying behaviors. Saturday we took the girls to a local park to play, they seemed to enjoy that and the weather was lovely. It is probably the first time Charis has been on a swing or sliding board and she thought both were great. Slowly she is warming up to the dogs. They have both tried so hard to play with her, but she would start to cry if they got too close. Now she tolerates them being close, but not touching her or in her face. She even petted Sozo the other night with a bit of help from me and didn't mind it. Before long she will have a whole mouthful of teeth, as many are breaking through at the same time. Even with the obvious discomfort that this brings, she is typically in a good mood, wakes up well and seldom cries. If you do hear her cry, half the time you can count on seeing Lyndsay close by (or running the other way).

We have been so blessed to have them in our lives. Each day is an adventure (and a challenge at times!), but when they flash one of those ear to ear smiles, we know that we wouldn't change a thing.

I'm still working on more pictures, but they will come....soon I hope!

_DSC0086web Can't I pick just one?Who can swing highest? Two beautiful girls by beautiful fall mums. Yeah! The End....for today.