Day 11 - 12/28

SAVE THE DATE - 1/10/16

I keep forgetting to mention that we will hold an open house/meet and greet/birthday party/going away party on the afternoon of January 10th at Broadway Christian Church.  It is open to all of our friends and family (and our blog readers).  It would be helpful if you could RSVP by commenting on the blog, sending us an email or text, or a Facebook message so we can plan accordingly for refreshments and drinks.

Chris' commentary from this morning:
Kelsey decided to try a new form of torture today.  She left for work right after I got out of the shower.  Under normal circumstances, I am relatively self-sufficient but we definitely aren't operating under normal circumstances today.  I made breakfast for us and sat down to an uninterested child staring at me.   Obviously I made something other than what she wanted.  She entertained me by taking a couple bites as I spoon fed her.   She also played with it for a couple minutes before showing her disgust with my asking her to eat food she normally likes.  We are in go to work mode so we continued on with the process to leaving.  Brushing her teeth was pretty normal other than she didn't want to brush her own teeth.  She wanted me to brush her teeth.  When you are in a hurry, there isn't time to argue so I brushed her teeth.  We then put her ointment on and got dressed.  It is about then when she realizes that mama was not in sight.  She started by going to our room to see if she was there.  I kept telling her that mama was gone but she insisted we continue our search.  She went to the kitchen, then to her room and finally downstairs.  She even decided to check in the garage.  It was soon after we finished getting dressed in our outside clothes and headed to Effingham.  The trip was good with no gagging noises though the rain was crazy.  We got to the office and she had no intention of playing with any of the things we brought with us.  She didn't want anything to do with any of it.  She instead just made very large circles running around our new office with me chasing after her.  She did duck into a closet at one point which sent me searching the entire office before going back to my office to find her giggling.  She then went into a mama mode.  She kept asking for mama over and over again.  Being the somewhat insightful person that I am, I recognized this was a precursor to melt down mode.  We reached home without any issues and for the following 10 minutes she kept saying mama every 5 seconds until Kelsey showed up.  I am not a doctor but I feel this time would be diagnosed as a stage 5 meltdown (on a 10 point scale)  It was a very stressful 10 minutes.

I worked this morning and ran to the store to pick up a few things.  We are thinking our detergent may be irritating her skin so I purchased some dreft and re-washed everything.  "Mama" finally came home and to the rescue.  Everything Chris showed her for lunch, she said "no."  It took some convincing, but I was able to get her to eat a hot dog, green bean casserole, some mashed potatoes, white rice with soy sauce and 1/2 a vanilla yogurt.  I was pretty pleased but she obviously overate because she kept holding her belly and whining.  We played ball for a little while because she needs some work with throwing and catching.  She is already improving.  Somehow we managed to knock one of her top front baby teeth loose in the process.  She keeps playing with it with her tongue so I'm sure it will not last long.

Chris laid down with her for her nap.  She immediately wanted rice for a snack when she woke up.  It was nice to have no where to be today and have what seemed like more playtime than what we have had.  When she woke up, we played school.   We are working on tracing English letters.  We also did an alphabet puzzle and worked on alphabet and animal flashcards.  We still have a long ways to go.  We also played with play-doh and she showed more interest than last time (probably helped that she played with it over the weekend with Peyton).   We tried playing with the ball but she keeps covering her mouth.  I'm guessing to protect her already loose tooth or prevent others from getting loose.

Mealtime is always somewhat of an issue with her.  She never seems to want what we are having, but we try to not let her push our buttons too much.  We want her to eat well and gain weight while she is here.  She likes to give sass and eye glares but she will usually cooperate with me.  Tonight we had teriyaki chicken, white rice, and carrots.  She did not want anything to do with the carrots but she ate most of them (minus the few that she fed to our dog).  She is still skittish around the dog but is doing exceptionally well.  We even spent some time petting the dog tonight.  She gave Bessie her toys.  Leaps and bounds ahead of where we were a week ago.  Tonight she has wanted to be cradled and talked to like a baby.  She has had Chris and I both do it multiple times.  Obviously catching up on things she missed out on in the orphanage.  We also found out the results of the bone age test.  The good news is that her bone development is delayed (that doesn't sound good, but it is).  Although she is nearly a nine year old, her bones think she is a 5 or 6 year old.  This means she has the potential to grow and catch up to her peers.

After dinner, we had an art project with puffy paint.  I didn't figure she would enjoy it because she does not like her hands to be messy.  She played a little but it was a short project.  More fun artwork for my fridge.  She also likes to ride piggy back.  She just giggles and carries on.  We also tried on our shoulders but not near as many giggles.  She played with her reuseable sticker book again.  She found a dog sticker and wanted to share it with Bessie.  Chris was eating ice cream and she decided she wanted some.  Despite what a disaster the last time was (since she doesn't like cold things), she actually ate 5 bites and then proceeded to feed Chris.  While Chris was brushing her teeth at bedtime, she lost her tooth.  (Just to recap, yesterday she felt out of bed and today I knocked her tooth loose with a ball - poor girl can't seem to catch a break)  I guess the tooth fairy will pay us a visit but I'm pretty sure she has no idea who the tooth fairy is.  It will be fun to see what she picks out at the dollar store with her stash.

Chris took her to work at Vantage

Posing with Chris

"Running" around the office

Having fun with Chris at work

Petting Bessie

Painting fun

I need to wash my hands

Being silly

Sticker fun

Eating ice cream

Notice the hole on the right is new
and she is holding her tooth

Playing catch and Mama knocking my tooth loose