Just a taste and a nibble…

Ya-ya is making huge strides in so many areas but the one that makes me the most excited is her new interest in food and tableware. She doesn’t eat anything yet, but she is getting very curious. She has more than once snagged Eden’s sippy cup when Eden was distracted and put it in her mouth. She must wonder why Eden likes it so much when nothing appears to come out of it. She thought as much about my acrylic tumbler with straw tonight as well. She grabbed the cup and put the straw in her mouth (with my guidance and protection, I didn’t want her stabbing the roof of her mouth by accident). She tried it several times and then looked at me like, “I don’t get it.” Sweet girl, one day your mouth will let you work a straw and a sippy cup. Last night Eric had a hug piece of ham on his fork and she lifted it up to her mouth. She also grabbed a honey roasted peanut out of Eden’s snack bowl today she actually got it as far as resting on her tongue before I snatched it up. She then fought me to get to the bowl again. I was thinking, “A peanut is not the first food she needs to try out…A) what if she has a crazy peanut allergy and B) she has no idea how to chew something she’d suck it down and choke and then never want food again! (a little over the top dramatic I know but it was my thought). My Mom said she wanted some of Eden’s M&M’s earlier as well. Then tonight at dinner she picked up Eric’s butter knife (by the blade, to my chagrin) and drug the handle through his pot roast mashed potatoes then put it in her mouth! She did this a few more times and then we got her a baby spoon…with that she just “fed” Eric, but it was progress!

Another huge thing is that now when Hope meets people she will quickly check in with us via eye contact and then look to the person. Almost all biological children will do this when meeting new people for the first time. They look at the person, then to the parent, then back to the person. It is a sign that they trust the parent to make the “safety” decision for them. Hope just started doing this about 3 days ago! Huge deal! We are very excited about that.

As an quick general update…Hope’s one month Gotcha Day anniversary was last Thursday. It triggered a lot of grieving for her and she has had a pretty tough week. She is just now pulling out of it and we are seeing her fun-loving sweet personality again. Sleeping and eating have been greatly disturbed and she has had to be “on” either Eric or I, for the past 6 days. And when I say “on” I mean that. She wouldn’t sit on the floor or anywhere else other than our laps, legs, stomachs…you get the idea. So it has been an exhausting week for all of us and poor Eden has been neglected more than I like. Praise be to God my Mom came in on Wednesday so Eden’s personal care has significantly improved. My sweet girl. This is the hard part for me. Ignoring one to care for the other…especially when the one who is almost always ignored is the one who has just been displaced in the family! I know that God knows just what Eden needs and he allowed this to happen to her…perhaps the refiners fire for her starts at age 2.5. But we are seeing fruit from this sweet girl, she is actually beginning to care for Hope now. She brings her toys or shares the ones she has. Tonight in the bath tub she decided it would be nice to help Daddy wash Hope. So she sweetly washed her hair and then got more soap and washed Hope’s back with her hands…it was so unbelievably sweet I even got it on video!!! Love that girl. Noah went to Grandma’s for 4 days and came back renewed and refreshed. I am getting some sleep which is helpful. Eric is re-building our front porch that he tore off last week. Praise Jesus my Dad is here to help him.

We are asking for prayer for those of you hard core people that still check in on our family via the blog. Hope’s big doctor’s appointment with the International Adoption Clinic is this Monday. They will check her from top to bottom and inside to out! The blood draw is my least favorite idea. The attachment therapist is my favorite idea. I hope we see the attachment therapist BEFORE they start poking and prodding her! This appointment is like 3-4 hours long and it is apparently exhausting and grueling. So please pray for her and for us. Also, Eric goes back to work next week, the day after the appointment. He is trying to get approval for fulltime work at home but it is currently being thwarted. Please pray that he can get approval for that. He really would like to stop driving downtown everyday. Plus, we could see him for lunch some days!

In the words of Tigger….TTFN (ta-ta for now)