handsful

Lunch today was a hit…the girl loves fruit, so the peaches went first.

It’s been 18 days since Gotcha day! We’ve been home for 7 days, we returned home a week ago tomorrow. For the most part, Lainey’s transition (and ours) is going well. She has her “moments” which I believe is just a result of a lack of discipline (i.e. pitching a fit in the orphanage meant treats were given…), so we’re gently showing her that the fits won’t work around here and sometimes we just have to say “no” to something she wants. Generally, she’s a very happy girl, unless she’s tired or hungry. But, isn’t that any 20 month old? We are heaping on the love and attention, which is easier given there are 6 of us to do it!

What else have we learned about Lainey so far??

She can wave hello / bye-bye

She loves shoes…gets very excited to see them, and sticks her foot out ready to go!

She has many, many facial expressions. Some are silly, some are adorable (her eyes turn to closed slits with a big smile!), some are pitiful (the girl can cry), and some will make you fall over laughing.

She’s very good at imitating actions and some sounds.

She has few vocalizations so far. She can say “ma” which usually is accompanied by her handing you something…so, we’re interpreting it as “here ya’ go”. She can say other vowel sounds, like “uh”. Nothing meaningful yet, that we can tell. She’s not responding to “go to dada/mama” yet, but we’re working hard on that.

She knows her name, Lainey, and responds to it. She never responded consistently to QingQin, so we dropped it early on.

She knows the word no, immediately backs away from what she was trying to touch, and grins.

She still does not like stuffed animals, though we made some headway on that today as I helped her play with some of Marley’s. She actually touched them herself.

She REALLY hates the big, stuffed animal Barney of Payton’s. We use it to block off the opening in the family room between the chair and couch. It’s our Barney gate. She doesn’t scream or anything, just backs away.

She seems to like her blanket now, and has stopped throwing it off of her.

She likes the stroller (as long as it’s moving) and tolerates the car seat.

Her favorite game is taking the toy magnets off the fridge and chucking them over the gate.

The only food she’s turned her head to is babyfood green beans (who can blame her?)

We introduced her to her swing yesterday…

Lainey has her 1st pediatrician appointment tomorrow morning, and it just might involve shots. Thankfully, she knows nothing about it. :)