Just Hanging Out & A "New Normal"

Today we were scheduled to go to nearby Springs, but the weather was not ideal.  It was raining.  Since Savannah Faith has significant wheezing, I decided it was best to stay indoors and hang out at the hotel for the day.  We are rescheduling our outing for tomorrow, weather-permitting.

It has been a great day to get to know Savannah Faith a little better.  We've discovered she is a VERY suspicious eater.  She has yet to allow any food to cross her lips, despite the fact  I know she was eating some at the LWB Healing Home. 

She will drink her bottle, but ONLY from the one bottle that was delivered with her.  Every time I make her formula in one of the new bottles I brought from home, she looks at it with disdain and shoves it away with force.  I'm not worried about her eating.  She has thighs that would make any sumo wrestler jealous. Too funny!

She loves to play with her toys.  One of the bellboys at the hotel gave her a toy turtle yesterday.  That has now become one of her favorites.  She likes to blow raspberries against it.  Don't ask me???

We brought a singing phone from home.  She enjoys listening to it too!

She wants nothing to do with crawling or scooting to get her toys.  She enjoys sitting and reaching for toys but will make no attempt to get to them if they roll out of her reach.  I think our physical therapist, Nikki Degner, who has helped with all our girls upon their arrival in the States, will have her work cut out for her again.

I realized today that our family is accustomed to a "new normal."

We met another adoptive family in the lobby today. 

They, also, were adopting a little girl.  Almost three years old. 

Just a few months older than Savannah Faith.

The couple adopted through the regular route (their little girl has no special medical needs) and are over the moon at having their first child!

After receiving their daughter, a running, chattering, potty-trained, developmentally on-target almost three year old, the mom came over to me and with both pity and compassion in her eyes said,

"It's okay.  I'm sure she (meaning Savannah Faith) will be alright." 

Savannah, developmentally a 10 month old and the size of a 12-18 month old, happily sat in my lap, unaware of the drama playing around her.

I confess at first I didn't know what the mom was talking about.  Then it struck me.  She thought I was comparing our two girls and was worried about Savannah Faith. 

The thought NEVER entered my mind.  This is our "Normal."

After adopting three previous "heart" daughters, we understand the developmental delays that accompany their diagnosis.  In China, heart children are protected by their ayis.  They are typically kept sedentary out of a false sense of helping them.  Of course who wouldn't, instinctively, keep a child still who turns blue every time they become active!

Due to this inactively and the subsequent lack of stimulation, our heart children come to us with significant delays.  Some of our daughters have caught up quickly, others are still playing catch up.  All of them have needed some combination of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy in addition to their open-heart surgeries.  That's our normal.

So Savannah's lack of willingness to try to crawl, let alone walk, although concerning, is not alarming.  It's just our normal.  And I celebrate for the mom of the developmentally on-target toddler/pre-schooler.  But stand amazed at my warrior who not only has survived abandonment and an open-heart surgery already in her two short years but is willing to accept me, without question, as her forever mom!

We love you Savannah Faith!  Welcome to the family.