Back to work :(

Well, I'm back to work tomorrow. I'm not really sure how I feel about that, as most days I have thoroughly enjoyed staying home with Ginny. Plus I'm going back just in time for testing! Oh well, only 8 weeks left! I think I'll manage!

We had our first post-placement observation on Wednesday, which went very well! Only 5 more to go over the next 5 years! For those of you who don't know the process, adoptive families work with a social worker before the adoption for the home study. Then the social worker comes to the house after the adoption and send reports back to china on the child's development, bonding and everything. Our next visit should be in September.

We also received Ginny's proof of citizenship, which means we can apply for her birth certificate and social security number!

Ginny has also earned a new nickname in the past few days: Hufflepuff because of how she huffs and puffs when she doesn't get her way!!! It has really been amazing spending these last 8 weeks with her. She is such a happy, lively and silly girl. She is communicating very well and using the potty! I'm looking forward to this summer and spending more time with all three kids!

Potty girl & temper tantrums

Ginny is now officially potty girl! A day or two after my last post she just started going on her own! She sometimes tells us when she has to go, but usually she just goes and lets us know afterward. I've even been putting her down for her nap with in her underwear and she's been waking up dry! She still wears a pull-up to bed and when we go out. She sometimes will let me know if she has to go potty while we're out but usually not. I'm going to try her in underwear when we go to tkd this afternoon. We'll see how she does!

Just as a clarification, Ginny is not TAKING Tae Kwon Do. She just comes with and either watches or plays in their playroom! If she wants to, I will put her in it next summer.

I'm trying to limit her naps. She wakes up at around 6am every morning and if she naps too long during the day she's up in the middle of the night, too!

For the past week she has been throwing temper tantrums every morning when I tell her she can't have candy for breakfast... At least two or three times. She also throws one when I tell her she can't get a new glass for water because she already has three! (I swear, she's like the little girl from Signs! I wonder if that means aliens are on the way?) Her temper also flares at nap and bed time, sometimes when I ask her to pick up, when I won't give her something new to eat because she didn't eat the last thing I got for her, and when the mood strikes her! This morning has been good though, so I'm keeping my fingers that she's finally "getting it"!

I've finally found a tv show that she'll actually sit and watch! Lazy Town! It's the only show that she'll just sit and watch most of the way through! I generally keep the tv off most of the day, but she sometimes asks to turn it on even though she won't watch it. Now I can just put on a Lazy Town I've recorded and she'll sit and watch for 20 minutes!

I've had a few people ask if we'll put her in Chinese classes. As of right now, we're hoping to, but it won't be for awhile. If anyone speaks Cantonese and wants to help us out, let me or Brian know! I'd like to find someone who could come over and hang out to let her get used to them and then try to talk to her.

Ginny is a really awesome kid. She is smart, funny, silly, affectionate, and absolutely gorgeous. We are do lucky to have her in our lives!

Destruction 5000 strikes again! And again! And again...

So I started this blog post about a week and a half ago and it mysteriously disappeared! That's why it has taken so long for me to post again, although I have loads to write about!

Destructor 5000 has proven an appropriate nickname for Ginny a few times over the past couple weeks! While she was supposed to be napping once, she emptied out Zoe's sock drawer onto the floor and then filled it with clothes from her T-shirt drawer! She starts almost every morning by pulling out all her favorite toys and peppering them throughout the downstairs. She takes everything apart. Any toy that is battery operated she has figured out how to take off the backing and remove the batteries!

Potty training is.... Going... She does best in the evening, but even then she cries and fights for 5-10 minutes before she goes. Half the time she wiggles so much half her pee ends up on the floor!! I'm been getting very frustrated, as it's obvious when she has to go, but she refuses to sit down and just go! She cries and wiggles and fights it until she can't hold it any longer!

One thing that Brian and I have discussed is how fast she goes from screaming bloody murder to a complete goofball! She still has anxiety about people leaving, but she's easily distracted. The thing is her crying usually comes on in stages, starting with dirty looks, a few tears, maybe a howl, and grows to hyperventilating balling within a few minutes. Then in the middle of a scream, she'll stop and do something goofy. I think some of it might be frustration at not being able to communicate fully...

Speaking of communication, it's really going pretty well! She understands most of what is said to her, either verbally or in signs or hand signals. She can say some words and is constantly trying to "explain" herself by babbling and using her hands in a very serious way. I've tried to get a video of it, but she turns either goofy or shy whenever a camera is pointed at her. I can't tell if she's speaking some approximation of Chinese or if it is really just babble.

Well, I think that's enough for now. I will try to post again soon!