I am special. I am getting special treatment.
She tolerated me holding her simply because I was giving her attention.
We spent no more than a half-an-hour at the orphanage saying goodbyes and suddenly we were in the car with this stranger of a three-year-old.
She drank two bottles of water and every single snack we had brought for the almost four-hour car ride back to the capital. When we arrived at the passport office she lost it, screaming uncontrollably and wondering who we were and who those creepy people were. They were speaking Bulgarian, but they were still creepy and ordering her to stand still in a box-like structure to take a photo.
Dinner ended up in our room as she screamed uncontrollably in the crisp, white, well-lit when we sat in a booth in the restaurant in our hotel. Bedtime brought on a stronger pair of lungs and behaviors. They had warned us she didn't like sleep. I found myself in the bathroom most of the night, crying in the shower and texting family and friends. The adrenaline had faded and reality had arrived.
Our time in country was precious and bittersweet. We had the privilege of watching her let her guard down a little bit each and every day and more of her personality emerge. She was on a natural sedative (yes, I really just said that) and while she took it like a pro, we didn't see any changes. She enjoyed going downstairs to the restaurant to eat....and eat, and eat, and eat. She enjoyed outings-although in very small increments. Going from one building all your life to multiple locations with strangers was not her cup of tea. Honestly, nor was it ours. We all needed the downtime. Her brother was struggling here at home, which made the distance bittersweet. Loving on one baby while your other is suffering 5,000 miles away is not cool. Oh wait, we've been doing that-we just traded kids.
She didn't have much language, except for calling out for her teacher and saying "Da" when she'd hand you something/want something. She was a copycat and repeated English words very well. It didn't take her long to learn the words up, water, and bath. The first issue we saw with her vision was her consistent walking into the glass walls of the restaurant entrance.
Our first flight to Amsterdam proved to be everything I had prayed it wouldn't be. The moment passed security and wiped the sweat from our brows, I felt that familiar panic. This precious sweet girl, whom we love more than she could ever fathom, is in the middle of one of the biggest changes of her life. She had no idea what was happening. She screamed from the moment we boarded to the moment we landed, with the exception of a 10 minutes exhaustion nap. All of the memories of our trip home with AJ flooded back, as did my PTSD I spent years in therapy battling. We were there for her, even though she didn't want us to be.
The flight to Minneapolis from Amsterdam was remarkable. I held my breath most of the time and watched her dig into slight contentment of the situation. She was thrilled with the constant meals on board. By the last flight she was a pro, climbing in her seat and she was OUT even before we took off. She came home exhausted, sleeping barely an hour in over 24 hours. She came home much more fragile than I had expected her to.
She motioned for the stroller as we deplaned. As much as I wanted to hold my baby girl and greet those who came to welcome her, she needed to just be. She looks irritated and exhausted in photos from that moment. No doubt she was.
She sat quietly, although confused, in her car seat for the first time. Folding her hands gives her comfort. When we arrived home she was calm, until our dogs came inside. Understandably, she was terrified. After they returned to the backyard, she was fine. She walked into her room as if she had been there before. She asked for pajamas and was out cold before I even hit the floor to sit next to her toddler bed and make her feel safe.
She met her brother the next morning and was, for the most part, not impressed. They began to notice each other throughout the next few days.
She made fast friends with our black lab and shepherd, giving them treats and learning that they really are just gentle giants. She had some fear when they would be in her face or come around over her shoulder, which we attributed to her vision.
We took her off the natural sedatives she had been on once we were home. We don't believe they ever did anything for her.
She didn't need sedatives, she needed
a family and consistent love.
a family and consistent love.
She saw the ophthalmologist a week later. We learned that she is extremely
While we were waiting for her eyes to dilate, she returned to the very chaotic, wild child we saw in the orphanage. A group of children came out of one of the rooms into the waiting room and she changed instantly. A few moments later the group ran back into one of the exam rooms and she ran behind them laughing like a hyena. We knew she wouldn't do well with group of children. Not yet, at least.
A few days later we were sitting in front of several medical professionals at her international adoption clinic appointment. She received raving reviews. We were told how lucky we were. We walked out of that appointment stunned. Wait a minute. No specialists to consult? No medical tests? No therapies?
Something has got to be wrong.
Because it just does.
We attended church much quicker than we ever anticipated, including Christmas Eve service. Christmas was fun, but she wasn't sure about all that was going on. Rightfully so. We played in the snow, she wasn't sure what it was.
She didn't smile very much the first month she was home. It was a large period of adjustment for all of us, much of which Jer nor I remember much of. She refused to let me rock her and she only wanted to be held on her terms. Her personality and smarts emerged a bit more each day, as did her defiance with the word "no" and anything else that was out of her agenda. She had/has some mild sensory issues, displayed in hand-flapping, rocking, and some other behaviors when she came home that subsided. The very worst was the first night we had her in Bulgaria. I spent quite a bit of time with our social worker talking about our concerns. Children who were favored in the orphanage come home with their own set of, ahem, issues. Bottom line, she was used to acting out, knowing exactly what to do to get attention, receive special attention....the works. If we didn't work on this with her, it would lead to a lifetime of her a manipulative person with poor relationships. The word "no" would spark 45 minutes of full-on meltdown along with some other rather ugly behaviors. Her brother's issues were all special needs related-not emotional. This was a whole new ball of wax for us. Toddler adoption is NO. JOKE.
Spring brought on her 4th birthday, which we celebrated very low-key. As much as this Mama wanted to throw a big shindig, our girl is a low-key gal. She had a special drink at coffee shop with mama and we painted our nails. We have a family tradition of ice cream cakes for celebrations. She was rather excited....
Spring also brought on evaluations by our school district and her first IEP. Knowing her history, we fought for her to obtain a mixture of services in a mixture of locations. We knew putting her in an early education classroom was going to be a disaster. Still, she needed and craved that learning component. She received special education instruction in the community (we'd meet her teacher at the park or library), vision services at home, and speech in the school setting. She didn't not allow new people into her world easily. It proved difficult to earn her credibility and for her to respond to outside authority. We should know, we had to learn it and we're her parents.
Left Eye vs. Right Eye via sight simulation glasses
{I wore them as much as I could
to see what her vision is like}
I watched from the sidelines as she struggled with large open spaces (hallways of the school and the entire setup of the children's area of our library) and ran like a banshee. Anything that was a wide open space like this hallway in the orphanage-she'd RUN.
I would sit and text friends watching the deterioration and disturbances that were happening inside her little being due to her past. I felt all the feels in each of those 45 minute sessions. I intercepted when necessary, but really tried my best to help her understand that these were her people too.
Honestly, I wasn't sure it would ever change.
No one truly understood. To be honest, I often felt like a four-headed monster trying to explain her adoption baggage. I was never making excuses for her, although my words were often taken that way. This was my first real experience with the lack of understanding of adoption in the school system. We cannot undue years in just a few months, people.
We can never undo it, we move forward.
Unless you saw her, in that environment, you don't get it-which is why I am trying to explain it to you. Sincerely, Heidi
Indeed things did change.
Her very last day of school she walked magnificently to and from the speech room with her therapist. On her very last day of the library, she rocked each step like a champ. We had learned that front-loading works very well with her and that we need to explain things to her before, during, and after...everything. She has learned English very quickly and is a quick learner. Most of previous language was receptive. Her vision teacher often tells me she's constantly challenged because she does things she shouldn't be able to do.
Of course she does.
We also discovered she has echolalia. This is common with children who have low-vision. It has proven to be an asset and to be honest, a nuisance. It both helps and hinders here depending on the situation. She repeats what she hear and often gets stuck on whatever she's saying. In a positive light, she repeats the proper sounds and pronunciations with precision and can repeat exact intonations like a boss.
Her first summer home was action-packed. She experienced standing in and listening to the rain. She was fascinated. She discovered the trampoline. We celebrated her brother's birthday. She figured out how to pedal a bike all by herself. She went to her first parade and had her first picnic. We learned of her fear of being in wet clothes and being immersed in water (lake). We spent a week with family at a lake resort and she had an absolutely blast. She loved smores, bubbles, seeing puppies, and the old playground. She loved cuddles with grandpa, crafts with grandma, sitting in the raft in the lake, and ice cream with her brother.
We had toured and chosen a school for her 4K placement for the fall. As a way to practice and get to know her environment, she attended some summer sessions. A few days before the fall semester began I met with her teacher who told me they didn't think their school was the proper place for her. Its still a very sore subject for this Mama. What I will say is that she was completely misunderstood and was not wanted from the moment she set foot in that building. She attended for a few weeks after which we pulled her and sought other placement. The last thing she needed was another disruption in her life.
What came of that disruption was pure redemption. She is now at a private school with a small class size and SOARING.
She was challenged by the group events her class participated in, from the pumpkin farm and
trick -or- treating. She rocked both of them.
It is such a privilege to witness these firsts in her life.
We have worked through a fear of wind and a fear of splashing (because she can't see either, they are difficult for her to anticipate). A few months ago I learned that the caregivers at her orphanage never let the kids go outside when it was windy as they believed it would make them sick. The girl had literally never felt the wind in her face before.
She has learned to take turns, stand in line and wait, and express her emotions. She learned to come to us for comfort and fall asleep in our arms. She learned that her brother is different and does not talk. She began to share with me the events of her day and tell me who her friends are. She seeks her brother out and misses him when he's gone. She thrives on routine, but is flexible when it changes...as long as we explain what's happening. She began to ask about her grandma and when her grandparents in another state were coming. She gained a preference in TV, she is Dancing with the Stars biggest fan. Her concentrated/examination face looks like she's giving you the stink eye. We've learned that large groups make her nervous as she can't see everything that is going on. She loves to watch and HELP me cook and bake. She loves to help me do everything. She's grown so much that its impossible not to recognize it.
A few weeks ago she was evaluated by a low-vision clinic of providers. This was an awesome opportunity. She did so well and showed how much she has grown in SO many ways since her first eye exam. We learned about technologies/adaptations that we can use to help her maximize her sight and again, didn't get a clear answer to the level of her vision. That will come. She's fascinated by magnifiers and let me tell you, navigates iPads and iPhones just fine. She has a hard time with books that don't have enough contrast example The Mitten by Jan Brett, or those board books where they have images of every day objects. Often they match the color of the item to the background, so a pear on a green background, which proves difficult for her. In the same way, she doesn't always realize there is more sour cream on her white plate or applesauce in her yellow bowl. We're working on print recognition that is about 2" inches in size. The jury is still out regarding braille for her. She is recognizing letters, numbers, and spelling her name.
Christmas this year was magical as she was really into singing at her Christmas program, celebrating "Jee Birday", baking cookies, and sprinkling the reindeer food on the front lawn.
Every update I asked the orphanage for stated she was 22lbs. At her medical exam in Bulgaria she weighed 26.5 pounds and was 34.5 inches tall. She was snuggly fitting into 2T clothes on pick-up and in a tiny size 5 shoe. . It is often true that once they know the child has a family and that they will be leaving, they feed them better. Not great, but better.
After a year home, she has gained 8 pounds making her 34.5 pounds, is 39 inches tall, and has gone up four clothes sizes and four shoe sizes. She now wears a 4/5 and a size 9 shoe. Her hair reaches all the way down her back and has a luster, shine, and curl to it that was not there in the dull-brown we had when she came home. She has some serious eczema which we manage to keep at bay most of the time. That decreased dramatically with proper nutrition and hydration. She has a sweet tooth and is not a picky eater. Vegetables have been her biggest challenge, but in size/texture rather than taste. She was used to casseroles and soups with minute pieces of vegetables, if any. Donuts are her absolutely favorite food. She loves music. She does not like books that sing or stuffed animals that sing. She has a fear of elevators. She loves to line things up and stack them high. She loves to figure out how things work.
Parenting her has been the polar opposite of her brother, in more ways than I can count. I still find myself looking over at her and wondering what it was like when she wasn't here. Part of what has been challenging is the ease at which she adjusted to so many things, its like she's always been here. Lest we forget that indeed she hasn't always and we need to remember that. And sometimes, I miss the good stuff because we are in the thick of all the things. I do, I'll admit that. We have been so blessed by this little ball of light and redemption. She's much like her brother in that respect. They both bring so much light and love. We can't wait to see what the next year will bring for her.
There is no shortage of miracles in this girl.
