5 1/2 Months

 

Hi, it's Nicole here this time.  I'm trying to give Dale a break.  I'll warn you right now - this entry is heavy on photos.  When I read friends' blogs, the photos are always my favorite part.

It's been 5 1/2 months since Camellia came home, and slowly but surely this child is turning into a lovely little girl.  Don't get me wrong, we've had our share of trials, as does any family who goes through the adoption process.  Thankfully, our agency did a great job of preparing us for these challenges, so we don't feel like we're on an island by ourselves.

One area that is showing improvement from when she first came home is the tantrum issue.  All I can say about tantrums is...WOW!  This is something we have never experienced with the other three.  It is such a testament to the difference between children who have grown with love and nurture from the time I carried them in my belly and then the child who was left abandoned at five weeks old, most likely out of fear that she was failing to thrive and no other way to get her the help she needed.  It's amazing that God saw the big picture in all of this and knew that we would be the family who could help this little girl grow and thrive and hopefully lead her to a personal relationship with her Savior. 

 

Camellia's speech has been slow to develop, but we had been warned of this in her pre-adoption reports. After consulting with the international adoption specialist at Children's Hospital, we were reassured that speech delays would be expected given a child from Camellia's conditions. I have to say that we are so relieved to know that her little mind is working. She understands most of what we tell her and is able to follow simple directions. Oddly, the directions she seems not to understand are things like be quiet, sit still, don't move, or don't touch. However, if we ask her things like whether or not she wants to go bye-bye, have a snack, go potty, watch a TV show, or have a hug, she immediately responds.

Speaking of hugs, this little sweetie is growing to be so affectionate. She has allowed us to hug and kiss her since she came home and would also return the affection, but now she is initiating these acts of love...frequently. One thing she has learned to say that would melt any parent's heart is,"I love you." I really feel like she's beginning to understand what that means, as she will come up to me and embrace my legs or reach for me to pick her up and then wrap those tiny arms around me and say, "I love you." She is also saying this to her big brothers and sister.  This morning as we were picking the kids up from their classes at church, she ran up to Jack, threw her arms around him, and said, "I love you!"  Her little kisses are oh so sweet, though we tease her about wiping our kisses off. It's almost become a game; if I kiss her, she immediately looks at me with that ornery smile and very dramatically wipes her mouth. When I tease her and say, "Don't wipe off my kisses," she giggles and wipes some more.

Though her speech is not where a typical 4 1/2 year old's should be, she is picking things up. She is very good about please and thank you. Unfortunately, one expression she has learned from the other three is, "I don't know." She's gotten to where she can say it pretty clearly. If she does something she shouldn't have done and we ask her why she did it, you can guess the answer. She must figure if it works for the other kids, then hey, why not! We have often joked that we should have named Jack, Ian, and Chloe: Not Me, Because, and I Don't Know.

Much to her daddy's pleasure, Camellia enjoys a good tickle.  She almost asks for it in her special little way.  She has developed a new phrase which makes me chuckle every time she says it.  When she's getting tickled, she'll shout, "Stop it, Mama!" or "Stop it, Baba!"  Then she'll tease us for more.  I think she just likes feeling like she's in control.

In other news, Chloe lost both of her two top teeth this past month, and she couldn't be more proud!  She begged and begged me to pull them out, and I kept telling her no way.  She finally wiggled each one until it turned completely sideways in her mouth and said, "Now will you pull it?"  She looks silly with that gaping hole in the front of her mouth.

Camellia wanted a picture with Lamby.  That's her favorite stuffed animal, but he turns up missing about a day after we find him, and then he's gone for a week or so until someone finds him and she "hides" him again.

The kids had an opportunity to go to an event at the local archery shop called Kicking Bear, and they thought it was absolutely great.  Kicking Bear is sponsored by the Mission line of bows by Mathews, and it focuses on teaching kids to be constructive instead of being destructive. 

 

You know the kind of person that you can tell he loves kids about a minute after meeting him?  Well, that's Ray, the guy who runs the Kicking Bear events.  Dale and the three oldest kids found it an absolute pleasure to meet him.  They're now looking for future events in Ohio and getting them on the calendar.  Oh, and the coolest part about Kicking Bear - it's a ministry.  Ray teaches the kids all sorts of outdoor activities and then teaches them about Christ.  He told our kids that he's spoken to crowds of 1200 kids and had 400 of them get saved.  You can imagine how fired up our kids are about that; they want to be a part of this!

 

Ray taught the kids how to throw tomahawks.  To say that Jack and Ian were thrilled about this would be an understatement.  That evening after they got home, the boys asked if they would be allowed to purchase tomahawks with their own money.  When I answered that would be fine, as long as they treat them like any other weapon and only use them when Daddy is outside to help them, they responded in shock, "Really?  We thought you'd say 'no.'"  I guess I should win some sort of Cool Mom award.  We had to look up throwing tomahawks on Amazon that night, and they arrived four days later.  I know this because as I was trying to get ready for the day, my boys came stampeding up the steps shouting, "Our tomahawks are here!  Our tomahawks are here!"  When I asked how they knew for sure that's what was in the box, they confessed that they couldn't resist themselves, and they peeled back a piece of the packing tape to peek inside the box. 

 

Each of the kids had a chance to shoot the new Mathews crossbow.  I think Daddy wants one now! 

There were several archery activities, one of which involved the kids trying to hit flying frisbees with arrows that had big foam cushions on the ends.  If you've ever seen jumbo marshmallows, that's exactly what the arrows looked like they had on the tips.  Ian managed to shoot Daddy in the chest, as Dale was helping out with the throwing of frisbees for awhile. 

The kids also got to play a couple rounds of tug-of-war.  The girls won the first round, and the boys were not happy about that!  The kids battled the parents later in the day and won.  I think the parents may have had mercy on the kids!

 

Last weekend, we celebrated Chloe's birthday.  She wanted to keep things low-key and asked to have a birthday playdate with two of her friends, Amanda and Annabelle.  The girls had a delightful time.  For extra fun, we made fairy terrariums, and they turned out really cute.

 

Okay, so maybe this spread is a little excessive for three girls!  My close friends know that I have made every single one of my kids' birthday cakes, no matter how elaborate their requests.  I want them to have the memories of me doing that for them.  This year, Chloe did not want a cake and requested cake pops and Oreo truffles instead.  If you haven't tried either, you must.  Yum! 

 

Dale was gracious enough to take Jack, Ian, and Camellia to the park for awhile so Chloe and her friends could have time together. 

Then, just as were about to start our tea party and have birthday treats, everyone else came home.  Talk about perfect timing; all the kids were able to sing "Happy Birthday" to Chloe and enjoy treats together.

The number 7 candle Chloe picked out was a dud, so we had to resort to this candle which was as long as her cake pop.

After treats, the kids all went outside to play.  Camellia's run just cracks me up.  It's more of a run/hop.

 

Sunday was Chloe's actual birthday, so before church Daddy took her to Krispy Kreme for breakfast.  Cute little family tidbit...our kids call them Smile Donuts because you can't eat them without smiling.

 

After church, Chloe opened her presents.  A friend had highly recommended The Jesus Storybook Bible on Facebook, and she was right; it's very nice.  It even came with audio CDs, which Chloe just loves.  Our kids really enjoy audiobooks.

I'm almost embarrassed to say how tickled Chloe was with this pink pocketknife from her brothers.

Of course, there were the usual American Girl items.  A special occasion wouldn't be complete for Chloe without something American Girl.

Chloe's big request for the afternoon was family movie time and then some games.  Her brothers were even kind enough to play a pony card game with her.  We tried to keep Camellia busy with some crayons.

Of course, we had to sing "Happy Birthday" again.

I'm pleased to say we've finished up our school year.  Even our tests are complete, and we've already received our results.  I'm still not sure how I feel about standardized tests, but it gives me something to compare the kids against themselves year to year, as well as something to send to the school district when I send in my paperwork every year.  We love being done by Chloe's birthday; it's our goal each year.  In order to stay on track for this school year, we did a fair amount of work last summer.  Since we didn't know when Camellia would be coming home, we wanted to have some flexibility in our schedule.  That hard work paid off.  As a reward, we went to the zoo this week.

Funny thing about the zoo...Dale and I have been saying, "We need to renew our membership to the Akron Zoo.  Camellia will just LOVE it."  Okay, we were wrong.  She was scared of every animal and freaked out if I pushed the stroller close enough to let her see the animals.  I think she would have been more content if I never made an effort to make sure she could see!

This may have been my first mistake.  I wanted to let her walk up to the observation area to see the penguins (which happens to be the first thing you see when you enter the zoo), so I got her out of the stroller and let Jack lead her up the steps.  Then, I let her stay out and walk to the duck area.  When it was time to ride in the stroller again (because she tries to run away from me and there's no possible way to keep this child under control if she's loose in a public area), she was fit to be tied.  I heard about it for the rest of the day.

As Camellia fussed through the entire zoo, I kept telling her, "Camellia, this is supposed to be fun!"  I think I may have been trying to remind myself of that. 

At least Jack, Ian, and Chloe had a nice time.  We'll keep trying with Camellia.

 



The entire aquarium area freaked Camellia out.  I would try to show her different animals, and she would just wave her arms at me and scream, "No!"  At least she's learned to say "No," right?

Count your many blessings, name them one by one:

 

Our handsome Jack (10):

Our handsome and oh, so ornery Ian (8):

Our little princess, Chloe (7):

The Dragon Warrior, Camellia (4 1/2):

(Have we mentioned that we call her the Dragon Warrior because the girl is crazy?  Seriously, she growls and attacks us like a little Chinese dragon.)

 

And here they are again:

 

 

I just had to include this photo because it's so stinkin' funny.  Honestly, this is what her face looked like the majority of the day.  There was an incident with a water bottle just seconds prior to snapping this photo, so it took a tremendous amount of dancing around and cheering to get her to smile.

And here's our girl:

The Fabulous Four:

I hope you enjoyed the photos.  Dale will try to get another update up here soon.  He had a fantastic weekend with the boys.  They went down to the farmhouse in southern Ohio where Dale hunted as a kid.  It's been over 10 years since he's been there.  Our boys, especially Jack, love to be outside.  They had an opportunity to do a lot of shooting, hiking, and playing in the creek, which is one of their personal favorites.  They were even able to call in some turkeys.  I don't think that made Grandpa too happy since he'd been down there a week and hadn't seen or heard a turkey till they showed up for one day.  Dale got some excellent photos of the boys, so I'll see if I can get him to do a special update about their manly weekend.

Chloe and I had a chance to see the Cinderella ballet today with Chloe's friend Annabelle and her mom.  Dale's cousin Lily was in the performance too, which made Chloe feel special to have a relative in the show.  I think there may be more ballets in our future; the girls are already talking about it.