Latest update for May

Hi Everybody!
I'm going to give you the news on what has been happening here at home this month. Thank God I have been keeping a journal for Sara so I can look through it and tell you what has been happening! I've been keeping quite busy with all 4 of our kids. Especially now with the weather being so nice. Working on attaching and bonding also takes up a large amount of time. She has my undivided attention all the time. The days seem to fly by. These are things that I've been doing to promote attachment:
Lots of hugs & kisses all day and everyday. Holding Sara in my arms as much as possible. Playing baby games with her like peek-a-boo and pat-a-cake. Rubbing cream on each other. She loves this and I never had such soft skin! Letting her play with my hair(brushing and putting barettes in my hair). Naming the parts of each others face and touching each one. Pointing out what we have alike , same hair and eye colour, we both have the same necklace, we both have the same clothes items, some of the same foods we like etc. etc. Singing to her. Telling her she is a good girl and a beautiful girl. Telling her things like, my darling child, you are my sunshine, you are so smart. I also get her to do simple tasks with me, like, emptying the dishwasher together and helping me put clothes in the washer and cleaning up together. I then thank her for helping me and give her lots of praise. She usually goes on saying that she is doing it just like mamma. I have done "holding time" about 6 times now with great after results. I am also the only one who feeds her, brings her to the washroom, bathes her, kisses her boo-boos and holds her. Actually this was the pediatrician's orders. He said, because of her age (not a baby) I must be the only one to do everything for her for the next 6 months. This is vitally important for a good attachment or their can be problems when she gets older. That means no day-care or activity classes either. I've also spoken and explained this to our other 3 children and they are doing pretty good. I've also explained this to my mother and my sister who are over often. They understand but I know its hard sometimes and I also hate to have them hold back. They give her just enough attention that it isn't too much.She is a delightful and kind little girl. I am so proud of her. It is trully amazing to me how well she is adapting after all she's gone through in the past and the all the changes her life has taken. Its like she has always been here.

This is what has been going on this month:
Friday, May 5th
Today was the first time I brought her with me in the grocery store. We were there for about 30 minutes. I sat her in the cart which Sara thought was just great. I could see that she was amazed at the amounts of food there was in one place. She kept pointing out the different things she recognized with excitment. She was alittle shy with the cashier when she said hello to her. She did say bye-bye to her and waved when we were leaving. I thought she did pretty good. There were no tantrums or signs of over stimulation. After we were done I thought I get her to try McDonalds. It was lunch time. I decided to go through the drive-through and eat in the car together. I think the grocery store was enough for one day. Sara took a couple of bites of her hamburger and didn't want anymore. She loved the fries! I don't know anyone who doesn't like McDonalds fries! She has also begun to repeat alot of english words. She already understands quite a bit of what I am saying to her in english.
Sat. May 6th
We went to our campsite where we have our 5th wheeler parked. This is a wonderful Park. Lots of activities for young and old. I looked up how to say camping in Russian. I explained to her that we would be sleeping there tonight and tommorrow we would go back home. I think she got alittle confused at first and thought that we were just packing and moving to another place. She went for a nice little walk in her stroller with her sister Marina. Sara seemed to be enjoying herself. At night time we went to our friends campsite because they had a fire going. She really liked sitting by the fire and eating some peanuts. Everyone met her there and thought she was just adorable. It was a little too overwhelming for her after a while. She was getting alot of hugs and kisses from everyone and I thought she was being too friendly too soon with our friends who were just strangers to her. At one point she was reaching for me then 2 seconds later she would reach for a friend of mine and then she would run to Papa. Thats when I thought I'd better take her back to our camper where it was quiet and she could wind-down. I didn't end up saying anything to our friends because I thought they might not understand and be hurt about holding back attention like that till alittle later. I'll just have to give her extra hugs & kisses and holding tommorrow.
Sun. May 7th
Today we've been home for one week! So far so good.
Late this afternoon we got a house full of people. Everyone came all at once. I was worried that it would be too over-whelming for her. She received lots of hugs & kisses and also got held a few times. For the most part she played with my friends 2 little girls. One is 2.5 and the other is 4 yrs of age. They got along great. She had alot of fun with them. It was nice to see everyone again and chit-chat.
Sat. May 13th
Today we visited our priest at the Roman Catholic church in the near by town. We went to meet with him because we wanted to discuss Sara's Baptism. He asked for a copy of her birth and adoption certificates. We've decided to have her baptized on June 11th. We will have celebration for her at our home afterwards.
Tues. May 16th
Sara's eating alot better now. She is tasting everything. Sometimes she asks to try things. She loves her fruit. Especially oranges! She likes this better than candy. She has been giving me hugs and kisses for no reason. I also did holding-time. She was kicking and screaming for about 40 minutes before she calmed down and fell asleep. After that I felt like I just had good work-out. She is a very strong little girl! She has also begun to regress. She is drinking milk out of a baby's bottle. I try to give it to her instead of her holding it by herself which is what she wants to do. I then say to her that I'm the mamma and she is mamma's baby. This seems to work and she begins to pretend to be a baby.
Well I've got to go now! I will continue updating very soon!
Bye for now,
Gina