Home stretch!

Today is Joel's Birthday!! A big day, seeing as he is now a teenager. Though he said he feels no different than yesterday. It's really amazing and heartwarming to see him interact with Anna. He keeps saying, "she's just so cubby and cute, I want to squeeze her all the time!" He makes videos of her on his iPad and sends them to his friends at home.  We love him and we pray that he will continue to use all the many gifts God has given him. 

The drawing he did for the fair! There is a little light reflection in the picture but you can still see it pretty good. He also got first for the public votes. He is disappointed that he is missing out on 2 weeks of soccer but I know he's glad he came! Anna was worth it! We went out for a GREAT dinner tonight with some friends here. We also got another cake from our Agency! Woohoo!! 

Today was a pretty casual day (at least for me). We had group pictures in the lobby at 11am and then had a meeting after to discuss everyone's departure and what to expect. Came back to the room for a bit and Ryan and Pauline took the boys out (I'll let Ryan tell you all about that) while I tried to put Anna down for a nap. Well she flipped out on me big time! She was screaming and kicking and crying so hard. It was pretty awful. We have never seen her like that. I don't know what was going through her mind. Was she mad because the boys left? I don't know. She wouldn't let me hold her , I tried to give her her juice, snack, nothing. So I opened the curtains, I turned the lights back on and told her "All done" I thought maybe taking her out would help so I said "let's get Anna's shoes" Her crying slowed down a bit....I got her shoes and she lifted up her foot, I put the shoes on, crying lessened a bit more and she stopped thrashing. I said "let's go for a walk" and she took my hand to the stroller. By the time we left the room she had completely calmed down. Phew!! She has triggers that will set her off and we will have no idea what the trigger was or how to help her. It will be by trial and error. But we know we have to BE there. Her having a nap wasn't worth her being so upset. This was not a 'I don't want to have a nap' fit. 

She has really started to show her personality! She is a lot of fun! She finds the boys quite funny, she thinks it's hilarious when they fart. (Just when I thought I'd have someone on my side that thinks that's gross too!) she's starting to say words in English but she also has started speaking quite a bit of mandarin. When she's had enough of the boys she swat her arm out and say something in Mandarin. We're pretty sure it means 'Leave me alone!'. She knows how to let them know when she's had enough, trust me that is a good thing! She has excellent fine motor skills, she even hold a pencil the right way. I was hoping she'd be a lefty like me but alas we have another right hander! She gets cranky and grumpy when she's hungry. Ryan says he knows someone else like that in our family. Ha! I was just mildly insulted, since there's maybe a little truth to it. She has not had one accident. She still doesn't tell me she has to go, she just goes every time I put her on the toilet. If I forget though she just holds it in which isn't good. After her bath I put cream on her skin, she likes it until I get to her back. She does not like me to touch her back. When I take the cream out though she'll put out an arm, like "I'm ready for my nightly massage!" She calls me Mama! Tonight the boys took her out of the room before me and she kept calling Mama! And looking anxiously at the door. She is the most comfortable and lively with just us in our room. Which is a good reminder to us to stay home lots with her when we get back and not giver her sensory overload. She wants nothing to do with the other adopted Chinese children. She completely shuts down around them. She'll be happy and playful in our room and we take her somewhere she shuts down. She will turn her head away if anyone other than us try to talk to her. I know it will just take time. 

I took the boys to the pool late yesterday afternoon and she was very happy to watch and squeal with delight when they would pop out of the water and say Here I am! 

I'm blogging on my iPhone and I took some great pics of her today with his iPhone so I just do a picture blog after this. Enjoy!