Saturday, December 2, 2006
7:05 PM
I thought I would do an entry on Gracie since it's been a while. While I do this, she is in her crib, supposedly taking her nap, but instead turning her sound machine on and off and on and off and on and off. It's like morse code for "get me OUT OF HERE".
I know some parents track their children month by month, but I keep forgetting and time goes by SO FAST, especially when your baby is over 9 months when she arrives home. Gracie is now almost 13 months old. Since she was left at the orphanage about two weeks after she was born (no one knows for sure when she was born) her official birthdate (October 20th) is noted as the day she was left at the orphanage, and her "assumed" birthdate is October 5th. So we "assume" in a few days she'll be 14 months.
The big news: Gracie took her first steps the night before last. She's been cruising- holding on to furniture and toddling around. She tends to walk on her toes, and collapses a lot on her tush, but her little legs have been getting stronger and lately she prefers to be up rather than down.
My mom and I were in my studio and my mom was sitting a few feet from me and I held Gracie up and she started toddling and I let go, and she took a step without holding on to anything! She did it one more time, and that was that. I'm not encouraging her too much- I'm not in any rush for her to walk although it might make things easier for me since I can't carry her anymore and it'll be a lot easier to move her around the house holding one or two of her hands than trying to navigate a fast-crawling baby.
She's not really talking- she babbles a lot and has a few words ("Delilah" was her first real word- I guess Gracie knows who the head of the household really is!) but besides calling out to Delilah in the morning (she says "Nye-Nah"), she doesn't say much of anything intelligible. We have been showing her two sign language videos and she'll do a sign from time to time, but the only one she REALLY knows is hat and since she never wears hats, she never does it unless we say the word.
She does point a whole lot. My favorite thing in the world is when I am working at my desk and I see this tiny hand slip up next to me and point to something on the desk, usually whatever I am drinking or eating. She's a very precise pointer. She also likes to "share"- she unpacks the drawers in my studio and sidles up next to me and presents me with whatever she found- a foam stamp, a wrapped block of clay, a candy mold, a paintbrush. She waits patiently until I realize she's there, hands it to me, waits for me to say "thank you!" and then goes off to get something else. After she gives me 5-10 things, one at a time, she decides she wants them back, one at a time, and points to the things in order she wants to receive them. I like this game much better than the "let's sit on the floor and stare at something for an hour and scream if mommy gets up to pee". She's actually DOING and BEING more.
She's like a little person now. I know some people go nuts over babies, but every day, I say "I love this age best of all". Maybe I would have loved newborn-ness, but we only came together when she was 9 months, which is a rough time for babies, especially when they are adopted and go straight from orphanage into a home.
The bonding is still an issue for me- since I can't pick her up, she knows it and does not come to me for comfort. I know she loves me because she'll initiate contact with me, reaching out to me and kissing me, but when she is sad or scared or hurting, she wants daddy. It's hard when I go to her in the middle of the night and comfort her and she won't look me in the eyes or let me hold her- she arches her back and screams for a while and then calms down. If she's really upset, and I come into her room, she'll look behind me to see if Tom is coming, too. That's hard for me, but he was the one who went to get her in Vietnam and he is able to phsycially carry her and pick her up, which she ADORES, so I know that there are reasons and she might grow out of it. I hope so. Having a baby arch away from you is so hard.
She still sleeps through the night and naps, but lately she's been waking up once or twice in the middle of the night screaming. We assume it's teething, and she'll go back to sleep after we come in and love her a bit, but I wish I knew exactly what it was. I hope she's not having nightmares or anything. We try and limit what she sees on TV (we don't exactly watch kid-friendly shows - Lost, Medium, House, etc.- so we don't watch any of that in front of her) but my mom slipped out that they watch Law and Order together at night when she stays over, and since I'm not familiar with the show I don't know if I should be worried.
As far as TV, Gracie is still addicted to the Backyardigans and watches it daily. After breakfast, she goes into her swing with a handful of Cheerios, some juice, a biter biscuit, and watches 1-2 episodes. If we try and get her to play or hang out during that time she freaks out. It seems like she likes a chance to wake up a little before she starts her day. She's not a morning baby- she goes to bed late (10pm) and wake up late (9-10am). She's not really chatty or energetic until noon, and she'll have a burst of energy, and then conk out for a nap. She also takes naps before dinner. After dinner we watch some Miffy together while she bops around and dismantles the entire coffee table. I really don't like that, but she only does it once a day and I refuse to not have stuff in and on the table (magazines, coasters, papers, napkins, etc.) for the half hour she messes with it, so I say "let's put it back" and so we do. I do. She watches.
Gracie always liked Miffy, but lately she's watching it more and more, especially the math segments. There are no other shows she likes at all. Which is good, I think. She loves the theme music to shows, but not the content of the shows. She's always loved Backyardigans- I don't know why, and she tolerated Miffy for about ten minutes, but now she'll sit through an episode from time to time. Neither of those shows have commercials, which I am happy about. I try and not let her see too many commercials- now that I am a mom and sensitive to what's on TV, there's so much CRAP on commercials. Even commercials for kids stuff.
Eating is tough- she's starting to get picky about food. We try and give her variety, and she loves veggies, but she doesn't like meat substitutes too much (besides fake-chicken nuggets) so we do the best we can. My parents feed her lots of chicken, beef, pork, etc. when she is over there or has dinner with them, so the doctor isn't too concerned. Unfortunately, Gracie loves ketchup, and sometimes we add a little to whatever she is eating to get her to eat it. She hates breakfast except for Cheerios. We can't give her eggs because she is allergic. We are now trying whole grain waffles with a little butter or veggie sausages. We'll see how she does. Lunch and dinner are okay- she'll eat what we eat. When she doesn't like something, she chews it and then sort of ejects it like a CD player spits out a CD. It comes out in one big long flat piece, already mashed up and mushy. And that's that.
We have gotten her dairy allergy under control, I think. She hasn't thrown up in a LONG time, since the doctor's visit when he suggested we change formula. She's now on rice milk and off formula, and is not losing weight, so that's good.
The cat allergy is okay- we are Roomba-ing daily and besides some sneezes and runny noses in the morning, she seems to be alright. She never touches the cats (except Ginger) and we wash her hands several times a day. We still need to go see the allergist.
She seems to know the holidays are coming and loves the lights and music and decorations. She's better about the tree than the cats- both Chester and Ginger have never seen a full size Christmas tree and both of them are driving us NUTS with the whole ornament/lights/claws combination.
And that's all from Cupcake Country. Have a good weekend.
I am so happy to see an update! :D I have been checking your blog often. CONGRATS Gracie, Mom and Dad on her first steps!! That is sooo exciting!
I cannot wait to share pictures of our little girl with you... we got word that the orphanage director HAS picked out a baby for us!! She is not legally cleared for international adoption yet, so as soon as that piece of paperwork comes in, we'll get an official referral. :) Hopefully not longer than another week!!
Merry Christmas from my family to yours!! :)
SandyPosted by Sandy @ December 3, 2006 01:47 AM
Thanks for the update!! That is so exciting about the first steps. I need to talk to you or Tom about travelling with Macs and if he had any problems in Vietnam getting computer access. Will one of you email me? Hope to talk to you soon.
Kelly
Posted by Kelly @ December 3, 2006 10:50 AM
I am so glad to hear her allergies are better. Gracie has the sweetest little chubby cheeks! My Gracie has adorable chubby cheeks and I can't wait to kiss them. I am going to get her later this month!!
Posted by Sherri @ December 3, 2006 05:49 PM
YAY! An update! I am thrilled she took her first steps and also happy the allergies seem to be under control. I have to tell you I almost cried when I read her birthday is Oct. 5 (estimated, I know). Our little guy was born on Oct. 5!!!!
Posted by Nina/SOS @ December 4, 2006 09:39 AM
She is getting so big! And of course beautiful as ever! What a sweetie!
Posted by heather @ December 5, 2006 11:26 AM
