A month of milestones

Today marks the one month anniversary of the best day of our lives. It is hard to believe that Maya has been with us for 4 weeks already and we have almost been home for 2. Time seemed to stand still during our 20 month wait and now it is just flying by. It is amazing to see the changes that have occurred over the last month. Each day we have little milestones which might seem insignificant to the average person but are a pretty big deal to us.

When we first got home Maya would barely like to be put down and would be freaked out if we walked more then a couple of steps from her. Now she is exploring each room of the house and not scared to venture into other spaces without us. Today she sat happily playing with her toys in the dining room while I cleaned up from breakfast. This is a huge step which shows she is getting more secure in her surroundings. She also woke up yesterday happily playing in her crib. We have only had this happen one other time when we were in China. This morning she was back to crying herself awake but hopefully we will get more happy awakenings as time goes by.


"Here I am!"

She is also becoming very vocal. She is still quite shy around other people but when it is just the three of us we regularly hear her babble to herself and to us. She is definitely discovering that her voice has volume. She thinks it's fun to yell really loud for no apparent reason other then to hear her own voice. Then she gives a giggle followed by a raspberry sound ppppppppllllllllllllll! Yesterday we went to the park where she sat quietly observing the other children. She sat on the curb with one hand on John's leg which was very sweet. She definitely was taking it all in. She didn't like the feel of the sand on her feet but would curiously touch some in a bucket with one finger. When we left the park she started talking away as if to tell us all her commentary on what she thought of the other people. Today when we returned to the park she would let me bury her toes and then proceded to like the sand enough that she wanted to eat it. The weird thing is she seemed to enjoy the taste even though I kept trying to reinforce that it was yucky to eat.


Maya and her bodyguard


Maya is also starting to meet other children beyond those in our adoption group. Fritzna who is my good friend Dawn's little girl just loves Maya and likes to play mama. Fritzna is only two and I think she looks at Maya as her personal baby doll. Fritzna will sweetly stroke Maya's head or hold her bottle for her. These two will be great friends I predict. She has met several other children and seems to respond really well around them. They have all been so gentle and patient with her. So far she likes to share but we'll see if that lasts long.


Fritzna feeding her baby doll Maya

This week also marked our first visit to her pediatrician. She wasn't too happy about the three shots she got but stopped screaming long enought to blow the doctor a kiss on the way out. That is her newest and greatest thing lately. She loves blowing kisses and will even make the smooching sound when she does it. Unfortunately she did not respond that well to the injections and became really irritable with a fever for the following two days. She just wasn't herself which made me feel really bad for her. But she rebounded and is back to the sweet silly little girl we love. She has gained almost one pound since we have been home and is now 13.7. The doctor said that despite her small size she is in excellent health which was music to my ears.

I'm completely amazed at how one tiny person can completely take over a house. The house gets cleaned up after she goes to bed but then promplty looks like a tornado hit shortly after she wakes. But she is such a good helper. Laundry consists of me folding and Maya unfolding just to make sure I do it right the second time....or even the third for that matter. And she definitely is going to give Emeril a run for his money in the kitchen. She has discovered how many fun things can be found in the lazy susan. I'm just waiting for her to crawl in and take a ride. Luckily for now she likes to pull out all the seasoning packets and spices making suggestions for mealtime.

Riding in Style


"I found the perfect ingredient"



The biggest problem we have is that she loves to play in Skeeter's water dish. Splashing is so much fun and she does it until she is soaked. We've tried distracting her with other things and saying no but she just flashes a grin and giggles. We've decided she likes being caught in a naughty, spicy act so we are trying to ignore it in hopes that she will just lose interest.


"Shhhhhhhh, I hear someone coming!"


"Skeeter made me do it!"

Speaking of Skeeter..........yesterday Skeeter had a tumor removed from his bladder. We are not sure whether it is malignant or not but the vet suspects it is. Poor Skeeter is 12.5 years old, blind and almost deaf. He is still very happy though so we opted to have the tumor removed in hopes that it would buy him another year or so. He had a catheder in last night which was really rough for all of us but mostly our poor boy. He was in a lot of pain and whimpered all night. We had to get up several times and carry him outside with bag attached to collect his urine. Each time we would finally get him back to sleep Maya would then wake up. I felt like we had two kids on opposite schedules. Luckily he seems to be feeling much better today since getting the catheder removed. Maya thinks he looks pretty strange with a lampshade on his head. Skeeter is just plain embarrassed.


Recovering at home




"This is soooooo humiliating!"


We hope to see many of you that we haven't gotten to see yet. Maya is changing both physically and emotionally every day. Before we know it our little girl will be all grown up so don't wait too long!