Jodi Speaks Her Mind

We’re a Family! 10/31/2005

The rumors are true. I am back on U.S. soil and Adelina is now a U.S. citizen!

Here are the details…

Adelina and I arrived home Thursday night. She was a real trooper on the flights and actually found flying pretty exciting business. She can fight sleep off unlike any child I’ve known (except maybe my niece) and stayed awake for all but about 20 minutes of the 11 hour flight from London to Phoenix. Needless to say, she was quite “toasted” upon arrival. Nonetheless, once home she had a joyful reunion with her daddy and once to the house she loved meeting the cats and exploring the house just long enough before we gave her a quick bath and she was out for the rest of the night.

Our cats, Jake and Lucy, are an eternal source of joy for her. She rather quickly got over her fear of them, and they have all become fast friends. She is very good with both of them and pets them how they like and gives them lots of attention, which they have been lacking for quite some time as you might imagine. She even gives them kisses and then runs to each of us and makes sure we know all about it!

The first 48 hours were touch and go as far as eating and sleeping, but otherwise she has adjusted really well. She is now eating much better and has most recently discovered peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as well as cake - yum! She still fights sleep both at naptime and bedtime, but we hope she will get better with this as she becomes more acclimated to the new surroundings and routine.

We visited the nearby park almost first thing and she loves it. She finally figured out how to make herself swing, so we will try to get over there as often as possible so she can enjoy her new skill.

On day two we took a trip to Target to get a few essentials and some items we needed for her. She did really well and especially enjoyed the few items we picked out just for her. The concept of personal ownership is a welcome one to Adelina!

Today she had a couple more firsts. Steve ended up being called in to play bass for worship at church, so Adelina had her first experience of saying goodbye to Daddy. She didn’t like it at all despite our reassurances that he was going to come back. Fortunately, she got over it pretty quickly thanks to the cats and she and I had a really pleasant morning until Steve returned, and then all three of us went back to church for the second service. When we arrived, much as expected, everyone was so excited to meet Adelina, and she was very cheerful and smiled and shook hands with everyone, but was obviously a bit overwhelmed by all of the attention. Then we took her inside just for worship and then let her observe the Sunday school class for a few minutes before heading home. A short but successful first trip to church!

As far as communication goes, she is really doing well with the signing. There is so much she finds interesting, and we are doing our best to give her the signs to tells us about what she sees and is doing or what the cats are doing. We have been watching some signing videos her grandma sent and at first she showed no interest, but now she is really enjoying them. They are teaching signs that she knows already, but she likes seeing the other kids signing them and it is obviously reinforcing what we’ve taught her. Steve and I are trying to get into the habit of signing to each other as well so she can see that signing is not just an occasional thing (like it has been so far for her) but is the same thing as “talking”, which she knows is how people communicate, even though she doesn’t do so herself. She does mimic speech and is a real riot when she is “telling” us all about some adventure she just had with one of the cats all the while nodding with a knowing look on her face as though we understood every word. In reality, unless she was signing or gesturing at the same time, we have no clue what she is trying to tell us. It’s really cute!

The communication barrier is really evident when she is really upset about something (like having to go to bed), or if we are trying to convey something is dangerous. Hopefully, we will learn more and more signs so she can have greater understanding and even get to the point where she can share her feelings with us. This is so difficult because everything is so overhwelming for her right now. She is living in a new country with new people and is expected to eat new foods and sleep in new beds and go to mysterious places and so on. Sometimes it all just becomes too much, especially when she is tired, and sometimes she has a sort of a meltdown. She recovers fairly quickly from these, though, and just wants lots of holding and caressing. Most of this is probably pretty typical with international adoptions (and even with children in general) and overall we think she is doing phenomenally well.

Steve plans to get more pictures up on the website in the next couple of days. In the meantime, we will continue to work through the transition to a new world and a new life! Adelina truly is a joy and we are both blessed to be her parents.