Fun With Friends

Heather, Chloe, & Alexandria

We spent last weekend at an indoor water park with several adoption families.

 It was so much fun to compare stories and see how the girls have grown.  We all traveled together to China to adopt our girls in April '08.

 

 Alexandria and Chloe played hide-n-seek for a long time.  Their cribs were side by side in the orphanage.

 Chloe was a daredevil as always and loved the slides, even the big ones.

 

Thankfully we are seeing more and more smiles from Chloe.  Even though regression is still evident, she coming out.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Pain Tolerance

    Yesterday morning we made a quick trip to the doctor.  Chloe woke up not using her right arm at all.  The night before, I had picked her up by her wrists with her arms extended straight to hug her goodnight.  She told Greg at bedtime that I had squeezed her arm too tight.  There were no tears.  During the night she cried and was kind of in distress, but no mention of pain.  Two x-rays later, she was diagnosed with a dislocated radius and it was still out of place.  A wiggle and a twist later, it was back in place and by afternoon she was using it again.  At no point would Chloe actually tell us she was in pain!  I can't believe she was walking around with her arm out of place of place and not screaming.

   At therapy last night, I asked Arleta if this was common and she said it's sensory issue.  Many kids who have been in an orphanage do not have a good sense of their body.  They can be in really severe pain and yet pretend everything is okay.  Occupational therapy can address this issue and we will be looking into this in the future.



Social Milestone

      It has taken a long time for Chloe's social development to catch up with her age.  In Sept. we started taking her to Sunday School and she has really enjoyed it.  This is the first classroom setting she has experienced, so she's learning to stay in her chair and listen to the teacher, etc.  Chloe has always loved singing, so it was right up her ally to sing in church.  She wasn't intimidated in least :)

 I've been doing a lot of Christmas shopping online this year.  Greg made a great 2 story club house for Chloe and her kitties out of some of the boxes.  She's been playing in it for weeks.

Family Craziness!

  A quick update on Chloe's regression.  We had therapy this past Sat. and Chloe experienced new waves of grief.  It was so sad to watch as emotions rolled over her and rocked her.  As Arleta talked through her life story this time, fear was the emotion Chloe was feeling.  In the past, the emotion associated with her history was sadness.  Another layer has came off and now it is fear she is working through.  The fear is from being abandoned in a crowd, from not recognizing any faces around her at the police station, new sounds, new smells, hunger, etc.  As Arleta described what Chloe must have been feeling as an infant through those experiences, I could watch Chloe's face and see an emotion get triggered that she had experienced. Then the tears would come.  Thankfully, as she cried, the emotion was released and she no longer has to carry it with her anymore.  Although, we still see regression in Chloe, her eyes are "smiling" again and we know working through these newly uncovered emotions is the key to her moving forward.  Sleeping and separation anxiety and still a struggle, but we will continue to tow the line and know that this too will pass.