CJs Daddy

I started back to work today, half a day at work, and half at home.

That’s all I really need to post in order to get my mood across, but the morning went quickly as I was busy catching up and I knew I’d see that chubby cheeked smiling face when I arrived home.

The teething situation acted up a bit again yesterday, so she had a few little grumpalumpagous moments, but nothing too crazy. CJ now owns 8 pearly whites.

Ok, I can’t take it any more, I gotta do this in FAQ form, particularly after having been to work and received a number of phone calls, the questions tend to be pretty similar, and I hate having to think that more people wonder the same thing and don’t get a chance to ask us.

• Getting any sleep? Yah, that’s by far the most frequently asked question. I have to tell you, this is the most surprising part so far - we’re easily sleeping just as much if not more than before she came home. The Red Head has CJ on a pretty good bedtime routine, as she takes a bottle and falls asleep to lovely flute and piano duets. We’ve heard “Harry’s Game” about 3,542 times these past few nights. But it works, and she’s usually asleep in about 15-20 minutes and doesn’t really cry much along the way any more. She’s a pretty sound sleeper - but sometimes weird noises will startle her. In the coming days we’ll make a few more tweaks and work toward making sure she will go to sleep for me as well as she does for M.

• How’s it going with the pooch? Here’s probably one area where we’re looking to improve the situation a bit. Penny’s a somewhat neuratic dog, so we had some concerns. Not so much her biting CJ, but just not adapting well. Turns out Penny’s doing just fine herself, loves to just hang around Carmen, and even flops over for a belly rub. Unfortunately, Carmen prefers to grab rather than pet, a normal hand reflex for her age. So, we just have to watch her like a hawk. A message board pal suggested we give Penny a treat each time CJ grabs her fur or tail or whatever, which will ensure her tolerance, so we started that technique tonight.  We’re still working toward teaching her to pet nicely and all that - we believe that a child should know how to properly treat and care for animals, and not just be allowed to torture them just because the animal is lower on the totem pole so to speak.  As for the cats? Ellie is just Ellie - pretty much tolerant and accepting of everything and totally sweet. Pebbles actually has become more outgoing, and always let’s out a squeaking meow that Carmen mimics when she’s around. I gotta get that on video some time.

• Does she speak Spanish? Well, actually she doesn’t talk yet - but I actually don’t pick on people who ask this question. We don’t know Spanish, but it’s what she was used to hearing before we showed up on the scene, so I’m sure she’d respond at least as well, if not better than she does to our English. Of course, some words and babbles are universal. She responds to “Ick” after reaching for the dog dish. She said ‘ba-ba’ tonight right before bottle time, and even called for ‘Mama’ earlier today!

• Walking yet? OOOO Boy - almost. She can just about stand on her own, she walks along the using a shelf or furniture to hold herself up, and will kindof take a step away from something into our arms. I’m considering starting a betting pool to when she takes her first true steps. Any takers?

• So, what’s she like - how would we describe her personality? Our social worker asked this question, and it was actually kindof hard to answer - considering she’s only been with us for 2 weeks. Now that I’ve had some time to think about it, I would not change our answer, but I’d expand on it. She’s independent, funny, sweet, and curious. She loves to touch everything and feel it’s texture on her fingers. In child development language - she’s “tactile”. I’d totally expand on the funny description - she’s a total riot. Remember the buzzing video below? Yesterday, while M was running back and forth between the kitchen and dining room, CJ would buzz her each time she entered the room. It was totally hilarious.

People often try to look for ways that adopted kids “fit in” to their families. I did this myself when I noticed that she snores when she sleeps. She also loves turkey and noodles, the perfect combination of Daddy and Mommy respectively. But let me tell you - I already see that she is her own person. Aside from the obvious physical differences, she already shows how much of an individual person she’s becoming.

She absolutely hates being cold and thus will likely be apprehensive at snow - which her mommy loves.

She doesn’t much care for stuffing - her daddy’s fav.

She loves to be barefoot, while her mom and dad tend to hang around in socks most of the time.

She already seems to favor guitar and string music when it plays, while her daddy likes horns and mommy likes flute and piano. Of course, we all love music in general.

I can’t wait to learn more about my little CJ.

And since what I know you really want are pictures - here you go!

She’s become pretty attached to her hairbrush. We got some pictures from her foster family, and there are several with her holding a hair brush - pretty funny.

Don’t even think about taking my peanut butter egg!

Hmmm, maybe I prefer the marshmallow!

And just fun - here’s a picture of a home-made pizza from shortly before our trip to Guatemala. You can tell this one is a red head creation as it’s perfectly round. Still have yet to make one for our little CJ, but we will soon. I’m hoping throw in a few foodie posts in the coming weeks. I’ve even got a few surprise ideas up my sleeve!

Posted on March 26th, 2008 by CJs Daddy
Filed under: Uncategorized