Adjusting to Each Other: June 20th

Ella is doing amazing! I didn't know how she would do after the first few days. Ella didn't cry constantly but there were so many hours of tears for the first 3-4 days together. It makes me laugh now seeing that the tears lasted only 3-4 days because in the middle of it all I felt so helpless to my new daughter and didn't know if she would ever trust us at times. But now just 6 days of being together and her adjustment has been amazing! Our sweet Ella is quite the adapter but we are promising her that she doesn't have to worry about adapting to another family every again. We are family for life!

Ella is now going to both Matt and I as well as Matt's parents. Ella tends to prefer whomever she was with at the start of a task. She'll trade people but that often comes with a few tears if it wasn't her idea. But at this point she isn't as scared when she needs to change the person she is being held by. No more pulling at shirts because she doesn't want to be moved away.

Ella already feels comfortable walking both around the hotel room and in the community. She likes to hold just our pinky finger when she walks if anything. She does not prefer the entire hand!

Ella is already calling us Mama and Baba and reaching for us when she wants us. I can't even put into words how amazing it is to hear my daughter who I hadn't even met a week ago call out for Mama as she is reaching for me! One of the best feelings in all the world.

Ella will need to learn how to play nice with others. Right now she likes to hit and throw toys. It sounds like she was pretty spoiled by her foster parents so I don't know if she was ever corrected or disciplined. We obviously will be doing our best to help her learn how to play nice. This will be a chore as Ella is very obstinate and stubborn. She does not like to be told no. At this point we are trying to balance giving a little and disciplining when needed. We want to continue building her trust without saying no to everything.

Ella and Ava are learning and adjusting to each other as well. Ava has had a difficult adjustment to not being the only one and the center of attention at all times. There have been many tears on her part as well as some tantrums but also lots of one on one talks about reminders of how much we love each of them and that we have to give each other time to adjust. It fills my heart with so much joy when they are playing together. I know that this will become more and more the norm as the adjustment continues.

Our hearts are full of joy with our two beautiful girls! I didn't know I could be this happy!