Week One

We've made it through our first week as a family of 4. It has went really, really well. Better than we expected. We've learned a lot about Hattie in this week!

• The orphanage description of her being meek and quiet was a bit off. She's probably going to be the most extroverted of all of us. Which isn't hard given the introverted nature of the other 3 of us. She babbles and sings a lot. She loves yelling and scolding. She has a few English words like: ball, more, flower, doll, ducky, sister, and baba. She's really let loose and is very expressive.
• She is becoming increasingly picky with eating. In China she loved things like yogurt and cantaloupe, now won't touch them. Some of her favorites: noodles, fruit, rice, milk, chips. She does not like chocolate at all. She picked the cookies out of her ice cream last night. In contrast to our Naomi, who is crazy about anything sweet.

Hattie continues to love bubbles and digs taking walks. The playground was scary at first but she loves swinging and will play a little as long as Naomi is. She has no fear of the street or cars, bad news! In fact it's a game to bolt towards the street. Her walking that we were concerned about has gotten a tiny bit better.

We definitely have two goofy, nerdy girls. Perfect for us! Hattie loves putting all kinds of things on her head. Hattie and Naomi are getting along really well. Naomi is being such an amazing big sister and relishing in her role as that. She tries to help Hattie all of the time, and takes it well when Hattie isn't so keen on the help. Hattie's a swiper when she gets upset. Naomi is sharing and Hattie is a
much better sharer than she was a week ago. We put them to bed together at night and Naomi loves to read us all a book. Morning cartoons are becoming a routine. Hattie is letting Naomi in a little bit more each day and is less jealous than when we came home.

Baxter is still a bit of an issue. She tolerates him being out and at times will pet him. But if he gets near her face or is around the table at dinnertime, freak out! We also caught her yelling/scolding at Baxter yesterday, which Naomi also does. Learned from us. Poor Baxter! Naomi has still been giving him attention. She enjoyed playing "baby Baxter" last night again.

Hattie loves sushi, thank goodness! It's one of our family favorites on Friday nights. We went out for our first Friday Night Sushi this week, a little bit of a family tradition. She is a little better than Naomi with chopsticks.

We've been out and about a bit this week and Hattie handles it super well. We went to Artsarben this weekend and found some cool art. Out for breakfasts. Grocery store and Target of course. Finally made an appearance at Home Depot yesterday, I think they were worried about us since we hadn't been there in over a month. Excited for some new home projects this fall.

It's crazy to think of where Hattie was 3 weeks ago, and how much her life has changed. Three weeks ago she didn't care to be held and had no idea what to do when picked up, she didn't have a family. Her legs were stiff, muscles tense, head straight up. Now when we take her out of bed, she wraps her legs around you, puts her arms around your shoulders and rests her head on your shoulder. She has come so far and I think genuinely is enjoying her new family, almost as much as we are!