Lily

Lily is having a few issues right now. For most of my life, Ps 122:1 (for I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go to the house of the Lord) has been true for me. BUT . . . Sundays have been really hard for the last 6 weeks. We aren't sure what is causing it exactly, but something is triggering fear in her. She has been waking up really early and not wanting to let us out of her sight. I really think her internal clock is telling her it is Sunday and she will be going to church.

It is probably a combination between a number of things. One being that the Holidays were hard on her. She gets overwhelmed by lots of people. Large numbers of people and or children can trigger memories of the orphanage. This is why large gatherings and the nursery are hard for her. Large gatherings can be hard on any kid, but they are especially difficult for Lily. She continues to have a hard time being away from Steve and I (with the exception of G-ma and G-pa Robey).

I wish that we could just leave her and let her cry it out. You can do that with most 21 month old children. Most attachment specialists recommend that you treat an adopted child by the amount of time they have been in your care. Anytime you pull a child permanently from their primary caregiver (even if it is a nanny in an orphanage), they start over emotionally in their ability to love and trust. Lily is 21 months old, but has only been in our care for 9 1/2 months. She is emotionally only 9 1/2 months old. "At about 9 months, your baby gets upset when you or another caregiver leaves." In this regard, she is normal :) for her emotional age!

She doesn't have the same amount of trust and security that a 21 month old child born into a family would have. If we were to let her kick and scream and get really worked up after us leaving her somewhere, it could disrupt the progress that she has made to date. We might not start back at square one, but with my teaching position in May, we can't afford to lose any ground at this point.

Please Pray for:
1. Lily's Attachment and Healing
2. Socialization skills for Lily
3. Sundays

Teaching in May

I observed in the classroom last week and the principal has confirmed that I will receive long-term Substitute pay, so it looks like I will be filling in for Mrs. Young at Central Elementary in Amherst County. As of right now, I will start April 28th and finish the school year (25 days).

Off to the Races

As I type this, Steve and Lily are just finishing up their races with the shopping cart and baby stroller. Most of them involved going from one end of the house to another, but his particular one was just going in circles around the blanket on the floor. Enjoy, It made me smile!

The Ark

Lily has started really playing with and enjoying her Little People Ark set. It is the first thing that I have found that will occupy her for 15-20 minutes. I have been able to get a few things done while she is occupied. Thanks Aunt Kim, Uncle Chris, and cousins Luke and Hannah. The best Christmas gift to date!

Who needs a furnace?

Well, it has been an interesting 36 hours here at the Woof house. Yesterday morning it felt like the house was getting cold. We tried the reset button. Didn't do much good.

I (Yes, me) changed the oil filter for the furnace. No luck, but I sure got oil all over myself. We called and got on a list for someone to look at it. We ended up calling it off, because we thought we had it fixed at 6 pm, but once again NOPE.

Called to get back on the list, but they couldn't come until 9 or 10 pm, so we threw an overnight bag together and headed to my parents for the night.

By about 1:30 we had heat again. We still had 1/3 of a tank of oil. Due to the age of the tank, the bottom third is useless. We just needed to get more oil, $483.13 worth. We have about 80 gallons of oil that we will never be able to use sitting at the bottom of the tank! We are in process of getting estimates to switch out the oil furnace after the heating season is over!

21 months!

Can you believe it? Lily is 21 months old today. In only 3 months, we will officially have a toddler and not an infant, a TWO year old. Yikes!

Back to Normal?

I think Steve and Lily are pretty much back to normal. They are both eating normally with no ill effects. I had some stomach cramps, but that was it for me.

I did find out that if I do one of the long-term substitute jobs, I will most likely not be starting until May. It is a good thing that I have more time with Lily, but I have to check and make sure that the job will be for 20 days. If it is under 20 days, then I only get regular sub pay. That doesn't even pay for gas and childcare, so I may not take it. We'll see!