The China Connection: Flourishing

Every day is filled with new accomplishments for Charis, as well as Lyndsay. This week we awoke to Da...D, Da....D, Da....D as Charis made it clear she was waiting for Bane to come get her out of the crib, as she was done sleeping! We have heard her speech daily improving, and realized that a big part of her delay was the huge hunks of hard wax deep in her ear canals. Once she had the doctor remove the build up she immediately was hearing better. She could not hear clearly due to these "earplugs", so she was saying what she heard and it was mumbled. She has increased with her mimicking us more and more. We also noticed that she doesn't sleep as soundly as she had....bummer!

We have discovered that she is a problem solver, she will patiently work with stacking cups, rings or anything that requires thinking skills and work them successfully. She has an engineering type mind. I suppose she will be our future office person, marketing specialist and Lyndsay, who is creative, but needs help in the patience area, will be our future photographer. Charis has also proved be a genuine clown, delighting in entertaining us and making us laugh. Laughter is the best medicine for all of us.

The last two weeks we introduces her to eating with spoon, we had waited to do this, feeding her ourselves for the first month to help with requiring her to make eye contact (something she did not do at first). The second process was allowing her to feed herself with her fingers, helping her develop fine motor skills with her index finger and and thumb, something she didn't have much experience with. Now she is quickly picking up the skills of using utensils to eat....it ain't pretty, but she's getting it!

Though she is much more patient when it comes to food, she still struggles with being convinced that she has had enough, so we must stop her with every meal. She does not get quite as worked up when she is hungry, but some days are harder then others as she cries hysterically while we quickly prepare a meal for her. The improvement is obvious, since a couple of weeks ago she would burst into tears when she had food in her mouth, some in her hand and a little in her bowl, but could see the bottom of the dish. It was as though the end of the meal was the last food she would see and she didn't want to eat the last bites, as she might not have more later. It made us sad to think of how she might not have had enough to eat. It must have been very hard having been in a place of not feeling satisfied, not only with food, but emotionally and physically as well. She came from a very good orphanage and though they loved and adequately met the needs of children, they can only offer so much with so many children. Charis was not a demanding child so I'm guessing she sometimes was temporarily overlooked, as the more demanding, boisterous children were attended to. We are so delighted with her progress and can't imagine life without her.

Lyndsay has done better adjusting to the changing dynamics of our family and the role each member plays in our daily life. Though we are daily having to correct her for various undesirable behaviors, she is showing signs of improvement. I guess she has determined that this little "invader" isn't leaving and she tries to interact more in play. The remainder of the time is spent tormenting her or telling on her. Ah, the joys of sisterhood....it's wonderful!

I've attached some photos from the past several weeks to make you smile including her first haircut, or really a little trim.

Three treasures from China