We are home!

We are home!!!

The kids are in love with Olivia. The first night home we laid her down in her crib and she slept from 9PM till 8AM when I woke her up. The next night she woke up every couple hours but would go right back to sleep. Last night she slept through the night again. I think we are getting there. She takes all her naps in her crib and has no problem with laying down and sleeping in her room.

When we got home on Wednesday she was a little overwhelmed because there were other people at the house but by the next day Katie and Morgan were both carrying her around and playing with her. She pretty much runs around the house but she still does not like our two dogs (Yorkie & Pomeranian) so if she sees them she wants you to carry her. Now when people come over she plays and shows off for everyone but still won't let others pick her up. It is amazing how she has come out of her shell. In China she would not let anyone talk to her. Not Chinese or American. She would turn her face away from them. We just thought she was very shy. Here she will walk up and bop them in the head with a balloon and laugh.

Eating is a different story. She was still on 4 bottles a day at the orphanage. She does not take a sippy cup or drink out of a regular glass or know what a straw is. It is bottles only. She won't even try anything different yet. She will eat dry cereal, granola bars, bread, rice, ramen noodles, french frys and not much else. The other night she did eat a chicken nugget. We figured we will just keep putting things in front of her and eventually she will have to eat something. I am keeping her on formula at this time since she is so little and until I know she is eating better. She sure has a strong will when it comes to food. We are just trying to not make a big deal out of it so that it does not become a power struggle and so she does not realize she has the power in this.

We were amazed when we put her in her carseat. It didn't bother her a bit. She acted like she had always been in one. So that was a relief.

In China we had a couple major temper tantrums or what I call a melt down. These can last up to about 45 minutes. She wants me to hold her but does not want me to touch her. She screams and cries and squirms. I think it is her way of grieving and releasing the trauma that she has gone through. We had a couple of these episodes in China and one since we have been home. I am not sure if there is a trigger to them or if she just hits a time and it just has to happen. It is really heart breaking to see. She acts like she is in physical pain. She will not let you comfort her but if you put her down she panics and immediately needs to be back in my lap. While she is screaming she wants to kick and hit. It is like every emotion is coming out at the same time and she has no control over it. I imagine these will become less and less frequent as time goes on.

She runs around the house and steals the show. She loves to make faces and show off. We call her Pistol Pete and she knows she is the center of attention. She is quite the actress. The introvert we were introduced to two weeks ago has disappeared and we have seen our little extrovert take her place. We wouldn't have it any other way.