GETTING SETTLED

We are a week into life with three little girls. Just wanted to update everyone on how it is going. Tarik is still just as fun-loving and sweet as she has always been. She still sleeps really poorly, or not at all, from about 4 am on -- this is not so sweet. She has had a myriad of "firsts" that we tend to take for granted. She was captivated the other day, watching kids playing catch with a football. Her interest made us think she has probably never seen such a thing. She has enjoyed some Baby Einstein videos (actually, we all have - I forgot how soothing they are in weird way). Two weeks ago she had never tasted solid food, now that is all she wants to eat.

She and her sisters could not be doing better. Jennalee and Adeline adore her and there has not been the least bit of rivalry or competition for Momma's affections. Just as we had hoped, Tarik gets a kick out of just watching her sisters. Often, when we are walking somewhere, Adeline will start goofing off and Tarik will laugh and laugh. We have also reached out to the older girls in some special ways as well -- this week I took Jennalee on a Daddy date and Adeline got to go on a Momma date.


One thing we are learning is that we are having to earn Tarik's trust. She definitely loves us and looks to us for things, but it seems apparent that she doesn't always trust that we'll provide for her. She will sometimes throw an immediate fit to get what she wants/needs -- not like a two-year old tantrum, more like between bites of food. Every now and then she'll wake up in a kind of panic and the fear in her cry is palpable. By watching her you can just tell she has been in a place where she had to fight for what she got. No matter how good the orphanage, the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and it is actually a good thing that she engages enough to "squeak". But, all that to say, we do feel like it will take time for her to realize we will always be here for her, that we aren't going anywhere, and that she can trust us to provide for her needs.

On an annoying/angering note, we did get our first questionable comment the other day when a man referred to her as an "Obama baby." Maybe it was racial, or maybe he thought Tarik would raise taxes -- either way, it was the first in what will be a life time of dealing with peoples' poor judgment.

Sorry to not post more pictures but we really haven't taken many. We are really tired. We did not get a newborn that lays around like a pet turtle... we got a full blown one-year old that is into everything, loud, curious, busy, etc. These are really fun times, but they are also pretty tiring.