Monday, September 29, 2008

Mom-do

I did it.  What I said I would never, ever, ever, under any circumstances do.  I got the mom-do.  My hair has been looking pretty rough and neglected lately and very rarely has it been out of a pony-tail, so I knew it was time for a change... here's a glimpse of the "before"...


And after a trip to the salon on Saturday...






What do you think?!  I'm still adjusting to it.  I'm such a mom now!


....


Having fun at the playground...









Gotta go, I'm almost done with the last "Twilight" book...

Monday, September 22, 2008

Can you guess where Poppy is?





If you guessed the new rainforest exhibit at the zoo, then you were right!  She was absolutely obsessed with this bridge, she had to go back and forth a million times, holding up all of the other people that wanted to cross the bridge.  She could have cared less about the enormous ant-eaters strolling around, or the monkeys flying right next to her, just wanted to cross the bridge.  Oh, Poppy.

...

We've had a sick baby again this week.  Which means no-one has gotten much sleep this week.  Which means we've had a pretty boring week.  She was finally beginning to seem back to her normal self this morning- keep your fingers crossed.  Oh, but wait, I forgot about the teething.  We've had 3 molars in the past 3 weeks and then guess what decided to pop up this morning?  Molar # 4.  Dear God, let this be it for a while.  Poppy needs a break from the pain and discomfort they are obviously causing her and I need a break from the drool!

While we have been couped up in the house with runny noses all week, Miss Poppy has picked up a few new habits.  Our favorite is her whistling.  We are always whistling for Lola and earlier this week Poppy began making a noise that sounded like she was going to hyperventilate by rapidly breathing in and out of her mouth.  And she kept doing it.  Until finally she started to get a little whistle sound out of the hyperventilating.  And so she now walks around the house clapping and whistling, looking for Lola.  I'll try to get it on video because it just cracks us up everytime, but Poppy is definitely not one for doing anything on cue.  The other new thing this week is her obsession with her little fingers and hands.  They are constantly moving, trying to make her fingers snap, tapping her fingers to the beat of a song, waving constantly (especially when there is no one to wave to), doing sign language for her own entertainment, etc.  We were in the car yesterday and the whole way home she played with her fingers like they were a new toy.   And here are a few pics of the hour she spent sitting at the table with us reading the Sunday paper this morning.  Totally content using her little fingers to point at each and every word and picture.






Sunday, September 14, 2008

Obsessed.



Ok, I'm admitting it, I am obsessed with the Twilight books.  Obsessed to the point of ridiculousness.  I started the first book last Saturday and tonight I am about to finish the 2nd one.  Oh, and did I mention that they are young adult books about vampires?  Rediculous.  If you want to know what it feels like to be a heroine addict, just start reading these books.  I'm not kidding.



I did manage to put my book down for a few minutes the other night to go over to my aunt's house to pick up Poppy's 100 Good Wishes Quilt.  A year in the making and 101 wishes later, Poppy is now the proud owner of a beautiful quilt.  I absolutely love the way it turned out!





And it's hard to see in this picture, but Poppy had her first run-in with the concrete on our driveway this week, leaving her with a little brush burn scab on the tip of her nose.  Poor baby.

Monday, September 8, 2008

16 months


Our little Poppy has officially turned 16 months. Yikes! I know she is still a baby, but that just sounds old! And I can't believe how fast time flies with her! I'm sure I'll feel this way about her at every age, but 16 months is perfect - she is just so much fun, I wish she could stay this age forever. Here is a list of what our little 16 monther has been up to: (warning, this might get a little long because it's the first one)

Exploring - once she gets comfortable in someone's house or store or whatever, she is off to examine every nook and cranny. Everything has to be touched and inspected.

Signing - thanks to "Baby Signing Time" she is now signing: more, all done, potty, drink, food, banana, toothbrush, hot, and dog. She usually surprises us with a new one every couple of days. Tonight I asked Marc if he could get her milk ready and she immediately started signing milk! And both of our jaws drop each time because whenever we put the signing dvd's on, she doesn't even seem to pay attention, but apparently she does! And each morning can't begin until Poppy stands up on our bed and starts signing for Lola. When Lola hops up on our bed, her day can begin.

Potty training - we took a little break from this when she was sick, but now she will usually give me the sign for toilet if she is going to the bathroom, and as long as we are home and on schedule, she still goes on the potty 3 times a day.

Dancing - this girl has got rhythm! She just starts dancing as soon as she hears the slightest beat. We're starting 'mommy and me' music classes on Wednesday at the local community music school. She can't wait!

Talking - she still says "Mama" non-stop whenever she sees food that she wants. It's the cutest thing at first, but if you don't give her food fast, it can get pretty ugly. The only other thing she still says from Korea is "Ma", which is what she yells whenever she is looking for either me, Marc, or Lola. I was just thinking today I've got to catch it on video before she stops saying them. People are constantly asking if she says any English words yet. Does it count if she puts her finger up to her mouth (well actually in her mouth) and says "hush" when we get to the little old lady whispering hush in Goodnight Moon everynight?

Playing - she has very little interest in toys. She loves to pretend to read books, have books read to her, and just carry her books around. Her favorite things to play with are the tupperware containers and anything to do with water (watering can, Lola's water bowl, glass of water, etc.) and shoes (we could spend hours a day taking shoes on and off). She also loves to chase Lola around and try to pick her up (which Lola has made it clear that she does not want to be picked up by the little rugrat). And she has this uncanny ability to turn any object into a phone. A soup can, a credit card, a water bottle. You name it and it's up to her ear and she is deep in the middle of a conversation with someone!


...BFF's...



Eating - she still LOVES to eat. Eggs, rice and tofu are still her staples, although she is usually pretty good about eating any meat we give her. She is getting a little picky about vegetables, and if we let her, she would eat fruit from the time she wakes up in the morning until she goes to bed (we call her our baby fruit bat). She still hates just about any typical "american" food, such as pizza, fries, spaghetti, etc. (you know, pretty much anything a typical toddler would love to eat).

She is still a huge snuggle bunny, which I absolutely love. She is getting better about not having to be held by me 24/7, but every couple of minutes she looks around for me and will need either a hug or to be picked up for a few seconds. We call this her "mommy re-charge". She still loves for one of us to carry her in the Beco baby carrier and a lot of the time she will end up falling asleep in it. We take a walk in the stroller at least once a day and she is always super laid back and always has to have one leg hanging over the side.

There are so many things about this little girl to love. She constantly has us cracking up and you just can't help but smile when she is in the room. It's hard to believe that she has only been with us for less than 2 months. And it's even harder to imagine our lives without her in it. Pure love.


...modeling the sweater Grandma made for her...



...sprinkler fun...

Friday, September 5, 2008

Sleep update

So putting Poppy to sleep in her own crib the other night turned out to be traumatizing for everyone involved. As soon as she was in there, the screaming started - she skipped the crying and just went straight to screaming. I held her hand and sat right next to the crib trying to calm her down, but she wanted none of that - she wanted out! But this is what I was prepared for, so I got out my watch and tried my best to try to soothe her. 35 minutes later, we were both in tears and I immediately took her out of the crib, apologized profusely and gave her ice water for her poor little throat. We laid down on my bed and within minutes she was asleep.  Now you may be thinking that I'm a big wimp and that I need to just let her cry, and if I were not an adoptive parent, I would agree with you.  However, being the adoptive parent that I am, the entire time she screamed, everything within me was screaming that this was all wrong!  This was going against everything that I have read and learned about attachment parenting.

And that is why this afternoon my new little family went to an appointment to see a highly reputable attachment therapy psychotherapist.  And what a relief it is that we were able to see him so quickly and that his office is in our area.  He was absolutely amazing and basically said everything we needed to hear.  Nothing new or earth-shattering, he just reminded us of just how much trauma our little girl has gone through in her short little life.  He said that at this point in our attachment process, the last thing we should be worrying about is getting her into her crib.  Poppy has spent her entire life sleeping on a mattress on the floor along side her foster mother.  So if it comforts her to sleep next to us, then that is what we need to do, for however long she needs it.  He also went over different reasons for why she might not be sleeping through the night, all of which should go away with time.  He gave us a bunch of book recommendations that I will start diving into tomorrow.  It was also re-assuring to hear that it's totally normal that she really isn't going to anyone other than me, sometimes not even Marc.  He gave us some tips on how to deal with that, but basically he said we need to relax and give her time.  And that is exactly what we plan on doing.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

The Beach






...building a sand castle with dad...




And her favorite part of the beach? Sitting on the nice clean blanket, eating her pretzels. Of course.




...smelling the flowers with Uma...





We've been waiting all summer to take her to the beach, but we had to wait for her Alien card to arrive from US.CIS (Korean adoptions take about 6 months to be complete, so she isn't a US citizen yet). So her card finally came in the mail last week and first thing Saturday morning we were on our way. The funniest part is that when we were coming home, the immigration officer never even asked about her - no id or anything! Anyways, we had a great time, we went super early in the morning so that the beach wouldn't be crowded and it wouldn't be too hot. At first she seemed to like both the sand and the water, but after about an hour she decided that the beach blanket under the shade of the umbrella was the place to be. And I had to come to the sad reality that my days of laying on my lounge chair in the hot sun, reading a great summer book all day long, are OVER!

.......

Today is the first day back to school and I am not there. This is the first time in over 20 years that I have not "gone back to school in September" and to say that it feels weird is an understatement. As weird as it may feel, there is no where else that I would rather be right now than home with my baby. Speaking of being home with my baby, we've just gotten over a pretty rough week - she still has her cold, major teething (2 molars) which usually means about 4 outfit changes due to drool, eye infections for everyone in the house, and mostly sleepless nights. Our pediatrician feels that most of the sleepless nights are due to our co-sleeper and she is really pushing for us to move her into her own room in her crib. Our pediatrician is an adoptive parent, so I'm usually pretty good about taking her advice, but this one is going to be hard. But after spending an hour trying to get her to sleep last night (in our own bed), I've decided that it's time to bite the bullet and go for it. The method our ped. is recommending is called the "Sleep Sense Program". We start off by doing our normal bed-time routine and then placing her in the crib and pulling up a chair and staying next to her until she falls asleep. It's going to be a long night, but I'll keep you posted as to how it goes. Wish us luck!
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