1 Week 2 days home

Hi Everyone,
We've been home just over a week and it's amazing all that has happened. We have definitely had a few melt downs all normal and all expected however it doesn't make it any less heart breaking.  Our biggest challenge this week is sleeping.  Sha is still not comfortable with sleeping alone in her room.  We stayed with her one night until she fell asleep.  Then at 7:00 the next morning we woke up to her in our room crying hysterically because we left her alone.  We knew this could be a challenge and quite frankly to us where she slept was not the worst thing that could go on.  We know her sleeping in our room is a safety thing for her which is why it's a minor thing on our list right now.  We have read that this fear could be due to how she was abandoned possibly.  They say a lot of children are abandoned while sleeping so when they wake up they are alone. To any new adoptive parent, that is just heart wrenching to  hear.  That is not to say that is what happened to Sha, I don't think it was however we'll never know so instead we are just going to ask Santa for a king size bed:)
 
Ok, so the highlights for the week.

• We went to her school to play on the playground and she LOVED that.  It was a good intro to her school.  She has no fear what's so ever.  She took her first tumble off the swing and what we thought was going to be a melt down was not, she got up laughing and got right back on the swing.
• Sha drew "mccccd" on a piece of paper letting us know she wanted to go to McDonald's for lunch so we had our first family trip their.  Ironically Hello Kitty was the prize in the Happy Meal.
• Sha cooked a few more meals for us. One pizza and one which was chives, green pepper, cucumber and tomato kabobs. Good for any weight loss;)
• Sha wrote her xmas list to Santa, this was the quickest concept she grabbed....be good and Santa brings gifts-LOL
• She discovered Paul's automatic truck which is finally getting some use
• We took our first ride in Mom' Beetle, I think she likes Paul's CRV better-ha.
• JACK, ah Jack. She LOVES him to pieces, a bit too much possibly however we are grateful for this.  She wants to constantly hug him but it's more aggressive than Jack is used to.  We did have a good moment though. In one of her melt downs we were in our car going home and Jack was in the back with her. He ended up sitting right next to her the entire ride and when I went in the back to assist, he pushed his way next to her again...could he be having a change of heart:)
• She cooked Spaghetti and meatballs with Grandpa.  Oh yeah, she LOVES Grandma and Grandpa and it's clear they feel the same way. 
• We decorated the house for Xmas and Sha preferred to decorate herself:)
• She hand wrote Xmas cards for her friends back at ICC, it was very bittersweet.
• She made her first official Ginger Bread house and did a great job. She mixed the frosting and everything. She was very focused on it and then at the end she started a frosting food fight which to our delight, brought out the kid in all of us, including my folks:)
• She discovered and LOVES the movie "ELF" which is my favorite favorite Xmas movie. Ya got to love Will Farrel.
• We got our XMAS tree.  We went to PinchBack's so she can experience the tractor ride.  She of course wanted the biggest tree ever and to our surprise for the first time we got the smallest one-ha.  We are going to decorate it today so more pics will follow.

Tomorrow Paul goes back to work which is a bit nerve wrecking.  Those two have a really good relationship, they love to play together.  We are learning that she does not love routine nor having to get dressed everyday.  She will flat out tell you if she is upset and start rambling on in a mad tone in Chinese.  I have learned to reach out to friends (Kate) and our resources (Cara) to help ease my mind that we are parenting properly.  I can not say it enough, the support in the adoption world is fantastic and very needed. 

Last night she met our dear friends Maggie and Tenyo.  They were very kind and brought her a bunch of Hello Kitty toys which she loved.  We played a game of Uno with them which Sha loved.

Overall, all is good at home.  Will try to blog more often however I have quickly learned my time is no longer "my time"-ha.