Mia continues to make huge leaps and bounds as far as adjustment. She is now sleeping in her own bed! Yes, I said her OWN BED, as in her OWN BED IN HER OWN ROOM! WHOOOOOOOOO! Love the little girl, but am super happy to have her in her own bed. ;) We really thought it would take months to make this transition happen but again she surprises us in the most delightful way.
She is understanding virtually everything we say to her. She does not use her English words very often without being prompted. I am thinking she is convinced she is going to teach us Mandarin. In fact sometimes when we tell her the English word for something she will tell us no and tell us the Mandarin word. Other times she will repeat it happily. Regardless, we know her speaking English will come in time and are not worried.
She is not loving the transition to her American name Mia. I fear it is because we mostly called her Jing Jing while we were in China expect for one night when she was taking a bath and she would shout "mama" I would say back to her "Mia". Of course I was calling her name like she was calling mine but now when we call her Mia, she says "Mia Mama". When she says it over and over again, it sounds like Mama Mia. Ugh. :) Sometimes when I just call her Mia she will tell me no Mia...Jing Jing. The no is in Mandarin but I know what she is saying. Sometimes she says no, your name is Mia and points to me. Uh-oh! Again, all in good time. We love the name Jing Jing (it just seems to fit her) too but we do want her to have and know her American name as well.
She is such a funny girl. She likes to joke around all the time. She likes to mix up names of people and things and giggles. She also thinks she is so funny when she is getting dressed and puts on her clothes wrong (backwards, on the wrong feet etc.). When playing she will look at you while pretending to eat playdoh or whatever and just smile and giggle. She also loves to make silly faces (as you can see below).
She is still very strong willed and I do not expect that to change. I sincerely believe it is just a part of her personality. Honestly, I love that side of her. That said, when she gets into trouble, and I tell her to say sorry Mama, she will say sorry Mama, Baba (which means Dad). She does it just so she is saying it her way. Usually asking her if she wants to go to time out curves the behavior and she will say "sorry mama". I used to do something similar when I was young. When my dad would spank me I would try my very hardest not to cry, but eventually I did. I was so mad that he made me cry (not caring about whatever I did that caused me to get a spanking in the first place) that as he was walking out of the room I would shout "didn't hurt". Of course he would come back and spank me again. We would go round and round like this until I finally learned to not say anything. I remember my older brother telling me to just be quiet but I was so strong willed I just did not want anyone else to "win". All that said, I TOTALLY understand her and would not change a thing about her. Obviously my goal is to help mold that strong will into something positive and amazing.
Mia LOVES Kai Lan and also seems to really like Sesame Street. I think both of those are great learning tools for her, especially for the language. I love it when she repeats what they say and shouts at the TV. I also love to hear her giggle when they do silly things.
Yesterday as she was going down for a nap, I could hear her sing a sweet little song in Mandarin. LOVE IT! :)
Food is continuing to be a challenge for Mia. Right now she is pretty much living on fruit, noodles, french fries with a TON of ketchup (she uses one fry and licks the ketchup off it over and over again before she finally eats it - YUCK!) , chips and bread. I know she would like more things if she would just try them but she just will not try most things. If she does, it entails her sticking her tongue on it for a half a second and shaking her head no. If she actually puts something in her mouth 90% of the time she spits it right back out. Regardless she very rarely wants another bite. NOT MY FAVORITE THING!
Logan is being such a great big brother and again, I am so proud of his caring, nurturing spirit. As you can see from one of the pictures below, without being prompted, Mia climbed up on the chair where Logan was playing on the computer and put her arms around him. Although she practically took up the whole seat and I am sure was quite the distraction he did not seem to mind. So stinkin' sweet. We did have a bit of a melt down on New Years Eve. We had my parents over and they invited him to spend the night. We said he could go and thought Mia would be okay as he left for a play date the other day and she did great. Anyway, when she saw his suitcase she LOST IT! She cried like she did for her friend (and the girl who was in the crib next to hers) in China and that was just seeing his suitcase. We think seeing the suitcase triggered something because her friends in the orphanage would pack a bag and she would never see them again. We tried to calm her down but there was no consoling her. Eventually we told Logan that it was just too early to leave her for the night and he could not go. Then I had two crying kids. He felt like it was Mia's fault that he could not go and of course that did not go over well. We tried to explain it to him but all he was hearing was that he could not go like he was always able to do in the past. It took about an hour for everyone to calm down. NOT the way I wanted to spend New Year's Eve, but again, I totally get it and all in all it has been a fantastic transition for everyone.
I cannot say it feels like Mia has been here forever but I can tell you that it feels like she should have been. Having her has been such a joy and such a blessing. We love her more than anything and she completes our family in the most beautiful, amazing and fantastic way.
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