Settling in.

Well... we kinda disappeared for updates since we came home. Don't worry if you aren't friends on Facebook, there was next to nothing there either. Reasons being jet lag, the sickies, and getting used to a new little one around. But here's a long update with lots of pictures to make up for it.

Today is one week home for out sweet girl!

On the way home.. both of us looked pretty drugged from lack of sleep. ;)

So how has Grace been doing? Amazing, and better than we hoped for!

Ball with her siblings the night we got home

Grace fits right in and acts like she's always been here. She is adjusting so well, better than we expected! Rachel seems to be her favorite sibling, and they can often be found hugging. :)

Jonathan could care less, and Elijah isn't too thrilled but tolerating her. Anna, Isaac, and Rebekah are smitten, and I'm just glad she still prefers me slightly over the other kids and doesn't hate me after our trip home. :)

She is still working on the jet lag, but otherwise sleeping well. She doesn't get out of bed, or let us know when she wakes up (orphanage thing, Elijah was the same way), but goes back to sleep when told "spee" at 6am. :) Little Miss has trouble chewing from her teeth being flat from her grinding, but is eating well with more mashed up foods, and is drinking well.

Opening Christmas presents the night after we got home!

Still not liking the hairbows! lol

Grace does have some stimming and institutional behaviors, but nothing like we expected. She grinds her teeth, and rocks and jerks her neck back and forth sometimes. When she's tired or going to sleep, she puts her left arm over her face... that's it, no rocking, no nothing. She pockets food in her lower lip and certainly doesn't refuse food, but she doesn't stuff like Elijah did, nor go scavenging in the garbage like Elijah did. When we were in our apartment in Kiev, I have the garbage out because I was peeling pomelo. I gave her a bite or two of it, and she wanted more so got close and was looking in the garbage. I told her no, don't touch, and she backed off right away and didn't touch it. And that's not the only time she has shown how good her self control is. We had no problems having her tray of food in front of her on the airplane, as long as she was being fed. This is HUGE considering where she was, and how long she was there. God is so good!

She quickly figured out how to open presents and was very neat about it, getting up and bringing every little scrap to mom after she ripped it off. ;)

Many have asked about Grace's language. She understood/understands Russian very well. Unfortunately, our Russian is limited, but we do know the essentials like yes, no, good job, pretty girl, don't touch, chew, sit down, sleep, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa, etc. And I think she is starting to understand some English. She is non-verbal, in Russian and English, but gets her point across when she wants or doesn't want something. She has spoken a couple words though, like "Vika", referring to one of the girls in her grouppa during a visit. The other one I can think of right now is "go" in English, which I'm not sure she completely understands, but says sometimes after we say something like "let's go upstairs" or "let's go eat".

Of course learning some Dora Spanish doesn't hurt!

As for signing... not going as well as we hoped. Mom worked on signing more with her every visit when she would give her her snack, with no success. Elijah was signing mama and papa on Day 3 after meeting them. We have decided that it's not inability, or not understanding, she's just choosing not to. She signed more, or something close to it once or twice, but that's it. She just refuses to do anything when encouraged. She is watching her brothers sign, and then get what they want, a lot, so maybe she'll change her mind soon. :)

That's all I can think of for the moment. Happy New Year Everyone!