A First Time for Everything...

It's been a week of "firsts" at the Potocnik house, in more ways than one. Thought I'd share a few of them with you today!

First Baby...er...Toddler Shower:


My work threw us a great shower last Tuesday complete with delicious Chinese food and a gift certificate to Nebraska Furniture Mart. Leila didn't eat a bite of lunch as she was much too busy showing off for all of my friends and co-workers. She loved the balloons best, and was pretty excited to be able to take those balloons home. I am so thankful for my fellow Speech Pathologists who gave me this awesome shower, it was a lot of fun for all of us!

First Phrases:

That's right---we've got some great English phrases popping out these days and every time I hear them, I can't believe my ears! In addition to "How 'bout that?" and "No, No, No" (so old news), Leila is now saying "Mama (or Baba) will help you," (meaning that we will help her with something), "Down and Drop" (Jason's attempt at teaching her to wipe her bottom correctly), and my favorite, "Slow Down!" (which I say to her at least 412 times per day). It's amazing to see how fast she is picking up English. Last night Jason was wearing a ridiculous wig (more on that later). He walked in the kitchen where Leila was waiting for dinner and swears that she said "Take that hat off!" Who knows, but if so, it was great advice!

First Haircut:


Leila got her very first haircut from Uncle Gregg this week. We were going to have her watch the other kids get their haircuts first, but she was pretty insistent that this was HER chair, and therefore SHE would go first. She did great and Gregg did a wonderful job as usual!

First Trip to the Doctor:

Yesterday Leila went to the pediatrician for her first check-up. I supplied our doctor with most everything I know about Leila, and she checked out all the 'routine' issues. The 32 lb figure that we heard in China was wrong, which I had suspected, Leila actually weighs 29.5 lbs and is exactly 3 feet tall. Our doctor said that Leila looks great and was impressed with all the things she is doing is just one month. Leila, however, was not really all that impressed with the doctor's office, especially once the lab tech came in and drew blood to check titers for immunization purposes. She was brave though, and was pretty happy with the stuffed toy and sticker she received for being so big!

First Night at American Girl Book Club:




Last night, we attended our monthly American Girl Book Club that Madison, her friends, and their moms have been running for about one year. We were reading the book "Happy New Year Julie," which focused on Chinese New Year and Julie's best friend Ivy, who is Chinese. Anyway, we had brought a few souveniers back for this particular book club hosted by our friends Traci and Julia. Leila, being the best 'souvenier' of all time, was invited to book club this time and had the BEST time being "one of the girls." We made God's Eyes, ate chocolate fondue with chopsticks, shared fortune cookies, and discussed the book. Leila wasn't much for discussion, but she loved the rest of book club and was the hit of the party once she got going. We are so thankful for this group of kids and moms who love to read, and love the American Girl stories.


And in other news...

Yesterday was "Crazy Hat Day" at the kids' school. Caeden decided that a wig qualifies as a hat, and actually wore this wig on the bus, all afternoon at school, and on the bus ride home. He told me that all the kids thought he was so funny, and that his teacher wanted to introduce him to the principal as "Caeden's cousin." He wouldn't let her do that as he told me, "I was too nervous." Leila was NOT thrilled with Caeden in the wig, nor did she like Baba wearing it later that night. Too bad I don't have pictures of that!

Thank you so much for checking in each week----we love hearing from you all. If you haven't signed your names in one of the comments sections, please do. We'd love to know who is out there!

Here's to all the "firsts" to come!

Alissa

Hello everyone!

Well...looks like I'm going to be able to post about once a week at the rate I'm going, but that's better than nothing, I suppose! I wanted to post on our one month Gotcha "Anniversary"---just didn't happen. It was amazing last Thursday (4/17) to think that Leila had already been with us for one month! She is doing great and I thought today I'd answer the most "Frequently Asked Questions" or as I like to call them, TING FAQ's:

Q: How is she adjusting?
A: Very well, based on what I can tell. Leila is very attached to all of us, which is great. She hugs and kisses us constantly, and loves to be held. She completely has run of the house, and thinks she owns the place. Everyone that sees us as a family says that she just seems to 'fit right in' and I'd agree---she is a very happy girl! She still has night/nap terrors at times, and is having tantrums as well. However, it's hard to know if the tantrums are grieving vs. language barrier vs. typical two year old behavior. We feel that considering what she has been through, she is doing extremely well in her adjustment to life at the Potocnik house.

Q: How is she doing with Jason?
A: MUCH better! She'll let "Baba" do almost anything now, and is so excited when he gets home from work. I've left her with J several times, and although she sometimes has to search the house to see if I'm really gone, she does just fine. If we're both her, I'm still the 'preferred' parent, but she's doing great. Last weekend, she even let her grandpa and her uncles hold her---big steps for this little girl!

Q: How is she doing with the kids and how are they adjusting to her?
A: She LOVES her siblings, and is especially attached to Madison. The girls share a room and Leila just can't stand it at night when Maddie leaves for even a glass of water. She'll yell 'Sissy! Sissy!' until Madison returns. The first couple of days of school, Leila cried when Maddie got on the bus, but she now understands that she'll be back and does fine. Madison was Star of the Week at school last week, and brought Leila to school (picture below). The third graders loved Leila Grace...many of them have been hearing about her for almost 3 years now! The boys love Leila as well and do their best to teach her to be as naughty as they are. Rudy does seem to miss his place as the baby, but we've been teaching him a lot of 'big boy' things, and he also enjoys the new 'big brother' status. Both boys have asked in the last week if we can go get another baby from China. At first I worried that they didn't like the one we got, but they assured me that they think we just need another baby as well. I am quite satisfied with my family of 6 right now, but I do think that their request is a good indication of their love for their sister.


Q: What is her personality like?
A: Nothing like they said on her reports. Shy? NO. Timid? NO. Introverted? NO. She is a very typical 2 year old, into everything, mischevious, incredibly sweet to make up for the mischevious, then mischevious again. She'll do anything for a laugh, and is just as energetic as her siblings. Her grandparents describe her as "busy" and "deathly cute." She's got some facial expressions that say it all...including these little "Leila eyes" we see when she's most ornery.

Q: How is her English coming along?
A: Again, we prefer to call it Tinglish. Actually, she is doing so well. Her comprehension is fantastic, she can really follow almost any direction I give her and seems to understand so much of what we say. She is copying everything we say, today it was "Er Ting NO NO NO" and "Mama NO NO NO." Hmmm...I wonder who has been saying "NO NO NO" to her? I told you, she's a typical 2 year old! She knows many English words including "potty," "baby," "pretty," "more," "Night Night," and "NO NO NO." Oh yeah, I already said that. But it bears repeating. The first few nights I tried to read to her, she really didn't understand what was going on. She would try to close the books and just didn't attend to my reading even the basic board book. However, she is now very into the books, and has some favorites that she picks every day (currently "8 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," "Touchy, Feely, Smelly Colors"--not as bad as it sounds, I promise--and one of my favorites, "Goodnight Moon."). I think that her love for books mirrors her gradual understanding of English, and her need for repetition of these books is just one more building block for her language development. I am having to do some serious digging into my undergraduate speech pathology courses to remember how to work with kids, but it's slowly coming back to me!

Q: How are YOU doing? (Meaning me...Mom)
A: I am doing well. Some days are very hard as Leila and I still don't have the means to communicate everything, and that is frustrating for both of us. I still have times where I have no idea what she wants, and she tries to clearly say it in Chinese several times, as if I may possibly get it once repeated in a loud voice. We also still have times where Leila gets very upset if I leave a room, or even get up too suddenly. However, this is getting better and yesterday I checked email for almost 30 minutes without her even checking on me. (See next question for why.) In the meantime, I am adjusting to being a mom of 4, and of being home full time (I normally work 2 days/week.) This is the first time since my maternity leave with Rudy that I've been home full time, and it is quite an adjustment. Other than that, I am so happy to have Leila home, and our family does finally feel complete. I'm such a lucky Mommy.

Q: How is the Little People Phobia going? (See last post if you are confused)
A: Well, we're still not really into Little People. However, Leila is now very into her baby dolls. We visited one of Jason's aunts the other day, and she had a baby doll and a stroller. At first Leila wanted nothing to do with this, but then was curious enough to give it a try. She soon found that the baby was, in fact, not real, and gave it a push around the yard. She was very excited when we got home and Mom had a baby stroller and several dolls for her to play with---I think she and Maddie played for a couple hours with the babies---it was awesome!

Q: When do you go back to work? Who is watching the kids?
A: Too soon. I start back May 1st. Jason and one of our close friends will watch the kids in May, and then I have a great sitter for the summer (she's gotta be great if she can watch 4 kids!).

Those are probably the questions I get asked the most as well as an update on the kids. Thanks for checking in and for your sweet comments---we really love hearing from you.

Have a fantastic week!

Love,
Alissa

Overcoming "Little People-Phobia"!

Hello everyone,

Thanks so much for coming back to visit our blog. Life in the Potocnik family is never dull, and boy does time fly quickly (especially when you take the month off work!). It's hard to believe we have been home two weeks, but it's amazing how fast we've fallen back into a good routine. This is comforting to me in some ways---I prefer a little bit of a schedule and some sort of order to my days. Leila seems to thrive on routine as well and if things are outside the normal routine...watch out. At night, we've started a bedtime routine of reading a couple books on her bed and then tucking her in with hugs and kisses. Sounds easy enough, except that according to my two year old, this must be done in the exact order that I did it the very first night. For example, we must go pick out the book together off the shelf, then sit on the bed with her on my lap and the pink blanket over both of us. Then I am to read the books to her, then lay her down on her pillow. She then says "How 'bout that?" and I cover her with the purple blanket. Again, "how 'bout that?" and I cover her with the pink one. Finally, I am to sit next to her bed, hold her hand for a couple minutes, then ask for hugs and kisses. I am then allowed to leave the room only after closing the door part way, assuring her that "Maddie is comin'" and standing outside her door reminding her that "Mama's right here." Wow. Even typing that makes me tired! Really, I'm not complaining. It is very obvious that Leila is trying to make sense of her world and organize the different routines in a way she can understand. She loves predictability and I can appreciate that. In fact, I find it quite encouraging that she thrives on order and organization...I can't WAIT to buy her her first labelmaker!

Regarding the title of today's blog...as soon as we got home, we quickly learned that Leila is afraid of any toy that has a face. This may explain why the baby doll or ladybug blanket we showed her at the orphanage did not calm her immediately. She currently is not a fan of baby dolls, stuffed animals, barbies, or, (sigh), Fisher Price Little People. My other three haven't played with the Little People barn, fire station, house, etc. for a couple of years, but I have been saving them for Leila, just knowing she would love them as much as I do. In fact in China, I was convinced that they would be just the toy to appeal to her love of holding small objects in her hands, but I was wrong. Next time you're out shopping, I would challenge you to look in the toy aisle and try to find a toy without a face. It's no easy task. Anyway, we did finally have a breakthrough yesterday when Leila figure out that she could put the Little People into the ferris wheel and it would play music. I was pretty excited to get to play with one of my favorite toys, if even for just a few minutes. Madison has tried to convince Leila to play Barbies and Polly Pockets with her and while Leila was pleased to organize all the accessories to these toys, she really didn't want to have the actual dolls in hand. Oh well---in time I'm sure she'll be getting into every toy that Maddie wishes she was still afraid of!

What does she like to play with? Anything that involves small motor skills, such as Tinkertoys, Legos, blocks, stacking cups, beads, and cars. Provided none of the above have a face. Last week I decided to let her work with beads while I baked a cake (not sure if my business will hold up with my two year old assistant, but we'll see). She was so intent---stringing every single bead I own on pipe cleaners. I bet she sat there for 2 hours---she didn't want to stop! So---I'm on a mission to figure out other toys that she'll love that involve fine motor/detail skills...let me know if you have any suggestions!




When she's not beading, Leila is thrilled to be outside playing, swinging, blowing bubbles...anything that involves being outside. She also had her first "movie night" with the kids and Madison's friend Roni. The movie was Alvin and the Chipmunks but who cares when you have 5 big bowls of popcorn and 4 big kids to entertain!



Have a great week---I know we will!

Love,
Alissa

Orphanage Photos







As many of you know, I sent a small care package to Leila's orphanage a few weeks before we travelled to China to pick her up. On Gotcha Day, the orphanage director gave me back one of the disposable cameras that I sent and today I got the pictures back. There were only about 8 really good ones, but they are fantastic. I had mixed feelings while looking at the pictures. I loved seeing her happy and with her friends, but then I felt a little sad wondering if she misses her first family. I showed her the pictures and her reaction was that of any 2 year old---'That's Er Ting!' She was just excited to look at photos of herself! Hope you enjoy them as much as we did...my favorite is the one where she's pulling 3 boys along with her and they are all smiling, as if this isn't the first time she's done this.

I know many of you are waiting for an update and RECENT photos---I promise them tomorrow (the uploading is taking me forever, sorry!)

Much love from the Potocnik 6

Home, Sweet, Home!

Hello everyone, and thank you so much for checking back in. I've had a few people tell me I better hurry up and post or someone will think we never made it home! So sorry for the delay---we had a lot of jet lag to overcome and now I have a little 'helper' that would love to work on the computer with me!

So--the 32 hours of travel were just what I expected---YUCK. Our flights were fine, all on time and no lost luggage. However, my 2 year old was so not into flying, and spent many hours crying and/or not sleeping. By the time we were in the middle of our 13 hour flight from Tokyo to Chicago, I was also crying, causing the flight attendants to start to worry. Neither of us (Leila or I) felt much like eating and we were so exhausted...it was pretty miserable. We did make it through and once in Chicago, I began getting so excited to finally board the plane to Kansas City. Once we boarded that easy, one hour flight, I think Leila thought we were doing the 13 hour thing again and she was not happy. However, we kept her occupied and finally made it to Kansas City. As we were landing I told Jason I had NEVER been so excited to see Kansas City in all my life.

When we got off the plane, we had quite the entourage waiting for us. Jason's parents and the kids were there, as well as three of my close friends, Traci, Autumn, and Kelli. Autumn had given the kids "big brother" and "big sister" shirts and they all looked so cute! Cameras were clicking---but not mine---so I'll get those pictures posted ASAP. We probably looked so tired by then...I hardly even remember it. Leila was great with the kids right away. She was doing all kinds of silly things just to get them to laugh and of course, they were a very captive audience. Madison had made brownies at home, and brought one for Leila---amazing the effect chocolate can have. We had worried so much about the car seat and her reaction to it but she never even noticed as she was way too focused on that brownie! When we got home, we played for a little while but it was already 11:30pm and we were all ready to crash. I did get Leila to sleep in her bed, and she entertained Madison by singing herself to sleep.

We've now been home 6 days and I wouldn't say we're completely over jet-lag/sleep deprivation, but we're getting there (I think we counted that in 32 hours of travel, Leila slept about 4 and I slept a little less than that). The first couple nights Leila was up from 2-6am, so it truly felt like having a newborn again. When she does sleep, she tends to have pretty bad nightmares right now, so we're working though that. However---I'm posting this morning at 5:15am and she's still sleeping soundly after a good night of rest---almost nightmare free! (I know---this time I couldn't sleep!).

The kids absolutely adore her, and she is pretty happy to have such a captive audience all the time. She is especially attached to Madison and cried like crazy when Maddie got on the bus on Monday morning. She is bossing the kids around, pulling their hands and telling them where to go. She's also very attached to me, and still gets very sad if I leave the room or get up too suddenly, as if I may leave her. She'll let Jason take care of her in terms of bath or dinner, but still resists him holding her. This is hard for both of us, but we know in time it will change. Yesterday I had to clean a little bit to maintain my sanity, and I found that if I gave Leila jobs, she was very content. She put away my tupperware, the kids' silverware, and mopped the kitchen floor. OK, so maybe not---but that will come in time, too, right?

I forgot to mention that Sunday we were able to go to church after a decent's night sleep...boy did we underanticipate the homecoming! We are so blessed by our family and friends all over the US (and a few NOT in the US!). On Sunday, we were incredibly touched by the outpouring of support and love from all of those in our church family. We missed them very much and were so happy to be back "home" at LSCC---it is truly an amazing community which we will never take for granted.

ATTENTION FAITHFUL BLOG WATCHERS!
I have had so many people telling me that they watched the blog faithfully the entire time we were gone---I had NO idea! I wish I had written more for those of you who told me that you were continously "refreshing"---hate to think I was disappointing anyone!! Anyway---I had turned off my comments earlier this year due to someone getting into my blog and changing pictures into very obscene photos. However, I am going to turn back ON the comments today so that those of you who followed the blog can let me know. I think it would be cool for Leila to see (someday) all the people who were keeping track of her journey home. I do plan to print the blog at some point for her to read in the future. So please take a couple minutes, and let us know you were watching...we appreciate it! (Name/location would be great!)

Many have asked what I plan to do with the blog now that we're home. Hmmm...good question. I think I will continue to blog about Leila's transitions to life at the Potocnik home, and something tells me I'll have many stories to share about her, as well as my other 3 munchkins. I have always loved to journal and still have volumes of them from high school and college, so I guess this is just the updated version of my old "Dear Diary" years (and yes, I promise to spare you any entries re: zits or all the unfair chores my parents make me do).

Thank you again for your love and support, we are so honored that you've chosen to keep an eye on our story!

Love,
Jason, Alissa, Madison, Caeden, Rudy, and Leila Grace