Friday, December 12, 2008

Update

I can't believe it has been almost 2 weeks since we posted last. The time is flying by.

I may have to make this quick. We are headed into Atlanta today to go Christmas shopping and it is about time for Faith to wake up. After she wakes our day begins and we go pretty much non-stop until bedtime.

She is adjusting very well. She is sleeping soundly most of the time with very little restlessness. She has been restless and cranky the last couple to days but I think it is because she is teething. Her gums are bulging. I think several are getting ready to come through. I've heard from several sources that if adults had to go through teething they would need to be sedated because of the pain.....poor baby!

She is communicating so well! She says many words and is signing several as well. I will list the words I can remember: Ba ba(the daddy one), now she says Da da, upa (up), upa (is also down but down is coming soon), aaaa duuu (all done), wata (water), dotul (bottle), dat (that, like want that), hot, appa (apple), hi, bye bye, and uh oh. There are more I just can't remember them right now. Some she said but hasn't said them for awhile. She signs more, please, eat, hi, bye and down. A friend just gave us some sign language DVDs so we will be learning more sign language (thanks Brandi!). I think it will really help with the language barrier, although she is understanding so much. It's hard to know what a baby understands at this age anyway but when I say things to her she responds as if she knows exactly what I'm saying.

The other day our little dog was on the couch and I wanted him to get down. I told Faith to go over and tell Micky to get down. She marched right over, put her finger up and and said "Dawn" very forcefully. It was so funny. She knew exactly what I said and did it with the same inflection that I do.

That reminds me of something else she does. It's not exactly a word but she says that "uhhh uhhh" sound to the dogs. You know that sound when you are trying to warn pets or children? She seems to really understand that it is a warning and does it appropriately. Sometimes she gets confused about what the dogs should be warned about and warns them when they are not being bad.

Her communication also consists of a loud scream when she is trying to get attention or when she is not happy about something. I am hoping the sign language helps this behavior. She gets so frustrated and it seems that screaming has helped in the past to get her point across.

She gets along great with the dogs. She's even been known to share a meal with them a time or two. Their dishes are in the laundry room and the door is usually closed but on occasion when it hasn't been she has been found sitting eating the dog food right with them. I think we got her before she ingested too much. I'm so proud of the dogs, they never missed a beat and shared very sweetly with the baby sitting among them.

Faith has also learned how to clean her hands independently while sitting in her high chair. When Murphy is waiting by her to catch any morsel that might fall to the floor (by accident or on purpose) she puts her had down, he licks it and she goes back to eating and this is repeated several times. Ewwww, yuck! That only happened once and now Murphy is banned from the kitchen while the baby eats.

She is doing well in social situations but we have tried to keep those to a minimum. She is shy but is so busy that she does not stay in my lap for long. She walks around and investigates everything but I make sure I am close by so that she is able to see me and know where to go when she begins to feel insecure.

Speaking of busy, this is one busy baby! She is in constant motion. I'm glad because we love to see her move. She is so funny when she dances and runs. She just runs around just to be running with no particular place to go. I think we have video of the running and the dancing. I will try to post it sometime this weekend.

As I said before, we will head out on the longest trip yet since our trip home from China. I hope she does OK. I have a lot planned to keep her occupied but her busyness makes sitting in a car seat difficult for long periods of time.

I know I say this every post but I so appreciate all your prayers and comments. You can't imagine how much they mean. I was thinking the other day how smoothly things are going compared to how they could be going. We hear so many stories of children coming home who get so sick or have severe attachment issues. We have only been together for about 6 weeks now and anything can happen but so far the transition has been rather smooth. At the moment I was thinking all this I realized that we and many of you have been praying for Faith for years, before she was even thought of. How could I discount how much the Lord has been present in these years and recent weeks working His will by answering our prayers?

Love you all!!!

Janet

Monday, December 1, 2008

It's been 2 weeks and things are going well

Hey,
It's been 2 weeks home with Faith and everything is going great. We are still tired but very, very happy.
Faith continues to adjust and draw closer to us. She is laughing, dancing, playing and eating constantly. She is always in action. I've been promoted to "OK most of the time unless something is wrong then I want Mama". I'll take it, and be happy about it.
"It's snowing, no school" was the cry around our house this morning. So we bundled up and headed out to play. Faith wasn't to sure about the whole thing so we headed in after a while, but it was a very nice morning.

It didn't snow much but it was a nice touch after decorating the Christmas tree and house this weekend. Christmastime is definitely here in Murphy NC.
We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. The Lescalleet home has a lot to be thankful for this year. Moving into our new home, Faith finally coming home and everyone being healthy and happy
are on the top of the list. We are looking forward to our first Christmas together.
Gotta go, we have three kids trying out for soccer today.
Talk to you soon,