Summary Of Day #3

Well you already know the day started out very slowly and sickly. We started out the day with the meds the doctor gave us. I kinda think the medicine loosening up the yuck in her chest made her feel worse then better.

I have several reasons for linking this sickness to the grieving process.

#1 when I'm stressed I get sick. I think this happens to a lot of us. The mind is so powerful.

#2 after Mirna threw up a little she started crying which is normal. However then she laid on her pillow and continued this mournful quiet crying for about thirty minutes. She was in a zone just staring and body curled up and a little rigid. I sat behind her as tears rolled down her cheeks one after the other. I told her I was so sorry, that I love her, that daddy loves her, that it will be better soon over and over.

After a while I just sat and rubbed her back and played with her hair while we sat and she cried. About 30 minutes into this it was time to take her Tylenol. I really felt we needed her to take it to keep her fever down. She was beginning to feel hot and clammy. I told her that we needed her to take this medicine. She would not look at either of us but just kept crying.

I felt we needed to kindly win obedience and trust so I prayed in the back of my mind. Then I got on eye level with her and told her that it was very important that she take this medicine. That it would help her feel better. I told her that she must remember last night when she had pain in her mouth. That mommy and daddy gave her medicine and it helped her not have pain. I told her that daddy and mommy love her very much and she must listen to us. At that point she reached out to take the water and took her Tylenol. Praise the Lord! Our first small battle won. With each one we win we gain more of her heart.

At this point it was like a light switch turned on and our Mirna came back. She smiled a little smile and asked if she could take a bath. I said yes YES!! She played and played and played in the water. The tub plug leaks a bit so I had to refill it 3 times but WHO CARES. If this little girl wants to take a 45 minute hot bath far be it from me to stop her. She washed and conditioned her hair twice and had a ball!! The way she enjoys things brings me joy and pain. It's wonderful to see her eyes light up at a hot bath but it makes me aware that this isn't something normal for her. That hot baths and puzzles and pink pajamas and pretty shoes are all very foriegn.

OH BY THE WAY ON THIS TOPIC!!! Anyone who thinks girls are girly because of society's influence I DARE you to meet Mirna!!!! Raised with no running water, no electricity, no TV, no magazines AND AS GIRLY AS YOU CAN GET!!! She loves loves loves to dress in pink and wear nail polish and jewelry. It is so cute.

Anyway the rest of the day was pure joy. Daddy and Mirna did the puzzle AGAIN! He had the concierge see if they had more at the pharmacy but no such luck. That's okay because I know he secretely loves doing it. Yesterday she got destracted and quit doing the puzzle and Russ finished it and TIMED himself. I love that goofball. So I think this is 8 times that the puzzle has been done. Then later they both timed themselves. 16 minutes is the record folks!!

Russ is beyond good with Mirna. He is SPECTACULAR. He is so sweet and kind and loves to play. She is completely enamored of him. OH AND.... genious that he is Russ discovered why she won't talk to Alex the translator. SHE HAS A CRUSH ON HIM!!! Oh no. Not already. He darted up from bed the other night while I was blogging and said, "Angel, maybe she likes him." I thought huh maybe. So yesterday I asked if she thinks Alex is handsome. She smiled and said yes. I asked her if that is why she won't talk to him and she nodded. OH MY GOODNESS.

Well we'll keep watching this not trusting men thing but maybe we were thinking to deeply! Crushes already. Uggggg..

She has started giving both of us little spontanious shows of affection and asking for photos of us hugging and being together. She has also started asking us to sit by her and yesterday she crawled into Russ' lap to look at pictures. The joy of these moments is wonderful.

She is SO curious very smart. I think she has a fear of learning. Our translator Alex said that it is very common in a village like the one she comes from for no one to have any education. If a child wants to learn something they are scolded for trying to be better than everyone. Especially girls are often told to stick to learning their work. So her foster mother has had trouble getting her to remember her letters and things. Perhaps part of this may be a small delay or disability which is fine. My gut tells me that most of it is grief. Her mind is so filled with survival and pain and being raised where learning wasn't as valued. They were concentrating on what was important to them. Surviving. Her foster mother, Alex and Russ and I after observing her all feel that with time she will do great.

Already in the last few days we have seen such a change in her. At first if you asked her to say something in English she wouldn't look at you or say it. So Russ and I decided not to ask her to say anything but just say it in English and Spanish sometimes. She started sometimes repeating our words and then asked us how to say a couple of things in English!! She is curious about everything. What is this, what is that, who is it for. Yesterday she pulled out a new tampon that was in my purse and asked what it was. OH NO! I told her it's mommy's and was glad I didn't know enough Spanish to explain that one!!

Yesterday I brought out a bunch of pictures and asked her if she wanted to scrapbook them. OK well I don't know how to SAY scrapbook but I mimed and got the point across. She was VERY excited. She is a natural and did a very good job with her book. I figured she would do a few pages and she would get bored but we finished the whole book yesterday! She kept looking at it over and over.

I also asked her if she would like to give some pictures to her Guatemala Mommy Aracely. ( her birth mommy) She smiled and said yes. So she put pictures in an album by herself. Picked them out very logically without much guidance. She has so many skills. First she put all the pictures of herself (that's what her mommy would want.) Then she put pictures of our house. (again great choice) Then she put pictures of our immediate family. After that the album was full. We decorated it with stickers and I asked her if she would like to write her Guatemala Mommy a letter inside the album. She said yes. She said a couple of things and then got stuck. We would ask her do you want to tell her about this or that. She would say yes or no. Then she would help us with how and what to write. I wrote it for her in Spanish so it's probably bad but her mother will like it I think. Besides I knew she would never open up to the translator about this the way she was with me. I had to jump on it.

She wrote...

I love you very much. I am doing good. I like the chicken and french fries. This is a book of photos of my family in The United States of America. They are visiting me in the hotel. It is very happy. I have a lot of new clothes. I like all of them. Glenda is good also. (that's her foster mom)

I love you,

Mirna

I helped her write her own name and we put her handprint in paint on the back inside cover. I think this was a very theraputic excercise for her. As we did it I told her that I think her Guatemala mommy loves her very much.

Oh, and we showed her pictures of about 7 different rooms decorated different ways. We told her she could pick what she wanted her room to look like. She literally looked through them 1 time and said, "This is the one I like best." Just like that. I'll try to copy the picture onto the blog. Get ready Susarah. We're going to be sewing a lot of PINK!

Oh and today I will try to take pictures of the scrapbook so you can see her fine work! :0) My love to you all.

Angel