Three weeks ago today little Hannah walked into our lives and stole our hearts. She is one amazing, brave, sweet little toddler. Our trek home was 29 hours long, and involved airsickness...for 2 of the kids including Hannah. We brought sea bands hoping they would do the trick. What are sea bands you ask? Sea bands are a small, stretchy bracelet with a little "nub" of plastic which is centered on the wrist to provide accupressure. Ordinarily, these work very well for one said child with airsickness, however, the turbulence of our United flight from Shanghai proved to overpower even the sea bands. Other than the airsickeness and turbulence, the 29 hours were relatively uneventful. We made it home, so glad to see our beds, and unable to sleep due to the profound jetlag. Now, everytime I travel to China there is jet lag, always worse upon coming home, and somehow I seem to forget. It.Is.Brutal. One parent and 4 children all jet lagged. Children falling asleep in their dinner, or on random spots on the floor. Who am I kidding. Parent falling asleep in dinner or on random spots on the floor. But, jet lag does not last, and for the past two days we no longer wake up for lunch in the middle of the night.
Despite jet lag, Hannah is really doing beautifully. She is a happy toddler much of the time. She continues to love eggs, ketchup, and chocolate. I think during my jet lagged state I gave her chocolate pudding for breakfast. I think I won her over with that move. She now loves her bath, and has been in a swimming pool showing her dare devil side by thinking she could swim and jumping right in. She is exerting some independence and digging her heals in at times, such as by refusing to come out of her car seat...typical toddler things. Her play skills are immature, and she has not found much interest in age appropriate things such as puzzles or her kitchen set. This is to be expected, and I am enjoying parenting a younger child. I know that these skills will come. Her favorite activity is water play, and pouring it from container to container. She loves helping, and will put food into the shopping cart at the supermarket, or help put laundry in the dryer. Hannah sleeps well all night, and no longer falls asleep sitting up. She misses her sisters when they are at school, and gives a huge smile when we pick them up at the end of the day. She is understanding and saying a huge amount of language. She will already say (spontaneously) "more" "help" "open" "done". She also continues to use some of her Mandarin phrases with us such as "bu yao" and "xi shou". Her little voice is so cute, whether she uses Mandarin or English.
My house is pretty much a disaster, and chasing a toddler again is exhausting at times. But, the joy of having Hannah in our life is worth more than any clean house or even full rest. Despite it being only 3 weeks, we cannot imagine what our lives were like before her. And I don't think we could love her more than we already do.
Monday, June 24, 2013
3 weeks
Three weeks ago today little Hannah walked into our lives and stole our hearts. She is one amazing, brave, sweet little toddler. Our trek home was 29 hours long, and involved airsickness...for 2 of the kids including Hannah. We brought sea bands hoping they would do the trick. What are sea bands you ask? Sea bands are a small, stretchy bracelet with a little "nub" of plastic which is centered on the wrist to provide accupressure. Ordinarily, these work very well for one said child with airsickness, however, the turbulence of our United flight from Shanghai proved to overpower even the sea bands. Other than the airsickeness and turbulence, the 29 hours were relatively uneventful. We made it home, so glad to see our beds, and unable to sleep due to the profound jetlag. Now, everytime I travel to China there is jet lag, always worse upon coming home, and somehow I seem to forget. It.Is.Brutal. One parent and 4 children all jet lagged. Children falling asleep in their dinner, or on random spots on the floor. Who am I kidding. Parent falling asleep in dinner or on random spots on the floor. But, jet lag does not last, and for the past two days we no longer wake up for lunch in the middle of the night.
Despite jet lag, Hannah is really doing beautifully. She is a happy toddler much of the time. She continues to love eggs, ketchup, and chocolate. I think during my jet lagged state I gave her chocolate pudding for breakfast. I think I won her over with that move. She now loves her bath, and has been in a swimming pool showing her dare devil side by thinking she could swim and jumping right in. She is exerting some independence and digging her heals in at times, such as by refusing to come out of her car seat...typical toddler things. Her play skills are immature, and she has not found much interest in age appropriate things such as puzzles or her kitchen set. This is to be expected, and I am enjoying parenting a younger child. I know that these skills will come. Her favorite activity is water play, and pouring it from container to container. She loves helping, and will put food into the shopping cart at the supermarket, or help put laundry in the dryer. Hannah sleeps well all night, and no longer falls asleep sitting up. She misses her sisters when they are at school, and gives a huge smile when we pick them up at the end of the day. She is understanding and saying a huge amount of language. She will already say (spontaneously) "more" "help" "open" "done". She also continues to use some of her Mandarin phrases with us such as "bu yao" and "xi shou". Her little voice is so cute, whether she uses Mandarin or English.
My house is pretty much a disaster, and chasing a toddler again is exhausting at times. But, the joy of having Hannah in our life is worth more than any clean house or even full rest. Despite it being only 3 weeks, we cannot imagine what our lives were like before her. And I don't think we could love her more than we already do.
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