Lia Update...Home 5 Weeks:)

On April 1, 1999 Lia was left outside a hospital gate. She was left…to be found, to have a better life, to make her way eventually to us. There is a “Red Thread” that connects us to her and her to us. This was His plan for her life and for ours.  She has a lot to learn about life here in American, in a family, but she is learning every day.  And most of all…she is HAPPY!:)  In fact...I have never seen her sad or upset. CRAZY huh!?!  She came to us... and never looked back.  Here are some things we have learned...

Likes:

*Music…glued to her iPod…typical teenager:)

*Loves to sing and dance

*Noodes…would eat them for every meal if I let her;)

*LOVES ice cream!!!

*Other foods she likes…sausage, salami, popcorn, carrots, green beans, French fries, hot dogs and believe it or not…Cheese!!

*Chip (our dog)…she was horrified of him at first but now LOVES him.

*Balloons and balls

*Jumping rope

Dislikes:

*Rice…she is disgusted by anything with rice. We were told her diet mostly consisted of  “congee (rice porridge)” before we got herL After 13+ years…I would be sick of it TOO!!!

*Bedtime…especially without her iPod. She doesn’t argue with me when I say “no” but did try hiding it in her room once. She quickly realized that was not going to work;) She is not fond of the dark either...sleeps with the closet light on.

*Not thrilled about sit down school work but will do it when I insist. She is not begging to go to school with her brothers and sister (like Levi was after 2 weeks home). I do not think she was treated very nicely at her school in China (sadly this is typical for a child with an “orphan” status…by other children and teachers:( She said she had “no friends” in China. She does enjoy doing Math and ABC work on the computer and iPad…so that has been helpful.

Other facts:

*Loves her bathes!

*I think she may have nut allergy…but not 100% sure but feel pretty positive. She got hives on 3 different occasions:( 

* She can add, subtract, divide and knows her multiplication facts.

* She is a bit of a hoarder…all of my adopted kids have dealt with this on some level. It comes from not owning a thing, not knowing where and when their next meal is coming from…it is sad. 

*She likes to learn...and tries hard to please us.

*She speaks loudly and is a little rough…typical orphanage behavior.

*She has a deep voice

*She is a little clumsy/uncordinated…even with her glasses. Can't go down stairs very easily without railing.

*She is VERY lovable…likes to be hugged, kissed, snuggled and yes, even held. She tells us all…”I love you!” several times a day;)  A little TOO lovable with strangers sometimes…we work on personal space on a daily basis.

*She is fidgety, likes to be holding something or moving a body part…maybe ADHD?? Or just some hyper vigilance?? Hard to tell at this point...

*She is a VELCRO child…almost always by my side if not touching me. I love this but at same time…it gets exhausting.

English Words/Phrases:

She has learned…

*Thank you

*Please

*Excuse me

*Your Welcome

*Just a minute

*Hot and *Cold

*It’s OK?

*No…but she pronounces it with at L (“Lo”) Just can’t get the N sound…(speech??)  Also has lots of trouble with anything with a “Th” sound.

*Yes

*All of her siblings names, her name…and of course *Chippy:)

*Left, *Right and *Straight

*Brush your teeth

*Wash your hair

*Popcorn

*Noodles

*Ice cream

*I don’t know

*Ready…Go!

*Be nice

*Baby

*Bye bye

*Hello and *Hi

*Goodnight

*Heavenly Father <3

*Coffee

*Work

*Gangnam Sytle…LOL!!

*Knows 8 letters and to count to ten…in English;)

She has made up her own sign language for many other words, I have learned some Cantonese words and PTL for the Google Translate App… so we do pretty well with communication. She doesn’t get as frustrated with us as Levi did…which is good.  I know that she also understands/recognizes more than the above even…just not saying them herself yet.

LOTS of “Firsts” already:

*Roller skating...was glued to the wall most of the time but had a GREAT time;)

*Sledding…LOVED it!

*Dentist…was SUPER nervous but did GREAT! Very proud of her…and NO cavities!

*Swimming in a pool...LOVED!!!

*Sitting in a hot tub
*High School Basketball game
*Shopping at the mall
*Birthday Parties...she is ready for hers now:) One month from today!!!

I will try really hard to get some recent pictures posted this week and to get some other things caught up on here. I want to start doing a better job updating;) We are all doing very well and are SUPER blessed!!!