Six Months with Our Sweet Pea

January 23rd marked six months with Anjali.  In many ways I can't believe it's already been six months, but in many ways it feels like she has been with us her whole life.  It feels so right to have her in our lives.  I am so used to her sweet smile and loving touch. Anjali has grown so much as a person in the past six months.  She has experienced so much and her world has been opened up in so many ways.  Her English has improved leaps and bounds and she is starting to use full sentences.  Her confidence at living in her adopted country is growing day by day.  I hope she maintains the excitement and sheer joy for living that she possesses.   Anjali's Certificate of Citizenship came in this week.  Next, we will readopt her in North Carolina and then apply for her social security number and U.S. passport.  Although we had planned to go out for Indian food to celebrate six months properly, we ended up being snowed in for 3 days.  It was our first snow of the year here in Raleigh and Anjali's first time getting to see snow.  Unfortunately, it was more ice than snow, so we didn't get to enjoy it as much as we would have liked, but what we did get was some wonderful downtime as a family to just relax around the house. Of course, we did get outside for a little bit and I showed Anjali how to make and throw a snowball at her Papa.  I also made her a mini snowman which she also threw at her Papa, once I handed it to her.

This month, I started her in a 1 hour a week parent child pre-school class at Marbles Museum, a children's museum here which she enjoys.  She loves the idea of school and this class called Preschool Discover is a great introduction to school.  Each class starts with a couple of songs and we sing and dance, then we switch to a room that is set up in a variety of stations that focus on different developmental areas.  The children are free to explore the stations as they wish.  They end the class with clean up time and a couple more songs as a group.  We then spend an additional 45 minutes to an hour in the museum after class.

We had our first car road trip as a family this month traveling 5 hours to Baltimore to go to Johns Hopkins hospital to visit with specialists there.  We were so impressed with everyone at Johns Hopkins and know she will have the best of care there.  The week prior to that we had to get the okay from our pediatrician.  Anjali also got six vaccinations.  One nurse with a needle on each side 3 times.  Ouch!  This month was tough with regards to medical procedures and testing. She got her eyes tested and dialated (she is getting glasses soon!)  as well as had to have blood drawn and be put under anesthesia.   Anjali became a bit ill and the stress of it all triggered some regression in her.  She's been a bit needy and temperamental this month.  She started the month off liking doctors and hospitals and ended up by saying, "No more hospitals, please."  I don't blame her, but I hope to bring back those positive feelings about hospitals, because it is going to be part of her reality.

Anjali's passion for music and dance is shining through.  She enjoys playing her ukelele and xylophone and her repertoire of songs that she knows is growing.  There is nothing cuter than watching her belt out a song as she strums her ukelele.  She has also learned how to use her Papa's record player and loves to dance to music played on the stereo.  She and I made up a song together based on the tune of "Are You Sleeping?" that we both love to sing together:

Are you my beti(daughter)? Are you my beti?
Yes, I am.  Yes I am.
Mama, Papa here.  Love and good cheer.
Anjali's home.  Anjali's home.

Another budding passion of Anjali's seems to be photography.  I printed up about 300 photos for her from our time together so far and put them in a shoe box and continue to add new photos to the collection.  It's neat to watch her go through them and talk with her about her memories from all the different places we have been in the last month.  She also has figured out how to take photos with an old iPhone that we let her use to listen to music.  She has taken some suprisingly good photos.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

I read the book Parenting your Internationally Adopted Child by Patty Cogen before we brought Anjali home and in it she encourages parents to make a 3 photo story for the child to help them tell their story and answer the question, "What happened to me?"  I finally got around to creating this 3 photo story for Anjali.  In the first frame is a picture of her and her best friend Naveen at the orphanage.  The second picture is of the handing over ceremony where two of the sisters hand over Anjali to us and the final picture is of us in front of our house when we first got back to Raleigh.  I printed multiple copies of it for her to have and we talk about it.  Anjali is such a resilient, happy girl and my hope is that she will be proud of where she came from and continue on a journey of building her confidence, passions and abilities as she explores the world around her.  Most of all, I hope she knows that we love her more than anything and that we are here for her through it all.  She has brought so much joy and love into our lives and we are grateful and humbled to be her parents.

Wrapping up 2015

The weekend after Christmas, Adam and I got to go on our second date to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary.  On December 28, 2009, we had a beautiful celebration in Pune, India.   6 years and 5 continents with my wonderful husband, Adam, it sure was nice to be home out on a date!

We decided to celebrate by going to see Star Wars and then out for dinner to a new restaurant downtown called Death and Taxes.  We hadn't been to a movie since the summer, so it was a real treat.  Ironically, the name we had chosen for Anjali's middle name, Rey, was the same as the new heroine in Star Wars and there was definitely some resemblance between the two.  Both are small, scrappy with big personalities.  We actually chose the name because Adam's middle name is Raymond and everyone calls my mom Rey for short because it's easier than Rekha for many, so it was a combination of the two.

Anjali did extremely well with her babysitter and went to bed easily after being read to.  Although, I'm not sure when we will get to go on another date, it's nice to know it won't be a problem.

The following week it was very fitting that my cousin Suja came down from Toronto with her husband Sam and 11 year old son to visit.  Suja really helped out a lot at our wedding.  She is Akka's daughter and was charged with delivering 5 dresses my aunt Akkamau had sewn for Anjali.  Akka hadn't been sure she would see us in India so she mailed them to Suja. They arrived in Raleigh late night on the 29th and we got to enjoy their company for 3 days.  Anjali absolutely adored Dwayne.  They had a lot of fun together.  It was like having a big brother around.

The dresses were so creative and beautiful.  Akkamau is quite the seamstress.  She also made two hanger bags for Anjali to keep various items.  Anjali, of course, wanted to wear one of the dresses immediately.  Luckily it was 80 degrees out so she was able to wear one on an outing to the science museum.  The dresses should fit Anjali perfectly in the spring and summer.

We were pretty lazy over the three days together.  We went out for a few meals , but mostly just hung out around the house enjoying being together.  Suja and I got away for an afternoon and I was treated to a mani-pedi which was wonderful.

On New Year's Eve we went downtown to a festival known as First Night that has various music and entertainment venues. We walked around and got some greasy street food for dinner before heading home.  At home we played Apples to Apples and then opened a bottle of champagne at midnight.

I think back to our New Year's last year in Patna.  We stayed the night at a 5 star hotel, La Panache, that also had a New Year's Eve party with dancing and entertainment.  We didn't last long at the party as it was a little crazy (open bar in Patna is just a bad idea) and instead found a quiet bar in the hotel.  We were so excited and thrilled at getting to spend several days with our daughter and spent the evening recounting details about our visits.  

It's been quite a year, 2015, from Patna to Raleigh and Patna and back.  Memorable, challenging with lots of love and adventure.  The year we brought our daughter home and finally became parents is one that will remain as one of the most important and meaningful years in my life.

A Cafe Latte for Santa Claus

It was very amusing to me when Anjali corrected me when I told her that I was drinking a coffee  one morning saying it's a cafe latte which it more precisely was.  I usually make myself one in the morning and she has taken to making them (with her teapot set or any other cup like item she can find) as well, instead of the chai which she made for us while in India.  Anjali is making tremendous progress with her English language skills.  She is super talkative and will try to give these long explanations of things even though she doesn't quite have the words to get her explanations across.  Keep working at it baby girl...it won't be long I say!  Every day new words come into her vocabulary and the Christmas season brought new words that only Christmas can bring:  Santa Claus, Christmas tree, sleigh, chimney, elves, reindeer...

It's hard to believe on Christmas Eve last year we were heading to India to see Anjali for the first time.  It seems like forever ago.  My parents came to Raleigh the week before so we could celebrate early, but really our Christmas present was getting to meet our daughter.

Anjali the first day we met her

Having Anjali home for Christmas this year was a dream come true and all Adam and I wanted for Christmas, really.  We had fun getting Anjali ready for Christmas which can be a bit overwhelming for a child who has been in an orphanage.  We got 4 books about Christmas from the library that we read throughout the month of December.  Her favorites were Santa Claus, the Number One Toy Expert and my favorite Christmas book from when I was a child, Morris's Disappearing Bag.  Night Before Christmas and Twelve days of Christmas rounded out the collection.  She now enjoys being read to every night and Adam and I take turns doing so.  We will usually get through 3 books and then it's lights out.  No one ever has to go to sleep when lights are out, but Anjali generally falls asleep within 10 minutes after snuggling with Adam or I in her bed.  After a couple of weeks of reading, Anjali was very excited about Santa coming to bring her presents.  Although, packages were coming in the mail almost daily for little Anjali, we decided we would wait to  put presents under the Christmas tree until after Anjali had gone to bed on Christmas Eve.  She did find some of the presents that I had wrapped for other people and brought one to me expecting to get to open it and it turned out to be a good teachable moment even though there were some tears involved where I explained to her that those presents were for her family and we would be sending them to them.  It was a moment she understood that you give presents as well as get them. 

The week leading up to Christmas was a lot of fun.  First off, Adam and I actually got to go on a date.  We decided it was time to start getting Anjali used to being without us.  We found a wonderful babysitter who is an elementary special education teacher by day and former social worker. We had left Anjali previously with Adam's mother once, so we thought this would be a good next step.  On the Sunday afternoon before Christmas, we went to the  North Carolina Art Museum to see the Da Vinci/Escher exhibit and then had time for a glass of wine at the Wine Authority before heading home.  Anjali did fine...another milestone accomplished!  It was wonderful having some alone time with Adam and we realize we need to do it more often now that we are starting to get settled here.

When we got back from our date, we made Christmas cookies with Anjali.  We ended up doing it over a few days, but Anjali had a lot of fun at each step.  She loved rolling out dough and using the cookie cutters.  We decorated batches of cookie with sprinkles and frosting the following days and of course made two special one with Santa's name on them.

On the 23rd, Adam and Anjali wrote a letter to Santa and put it in the special pocket of her stocking reserved for letters to Santa.  We also listened to Christmas songs throughout the week.

On Christmas Eve we had a lazy morning then headed downtown for a 3:00 Christmas service geared towards young children at the Church of the Good Shepherd.  That evening we had our Christmas dinner.  Anjali and I got Santa's cookies and we decided to make him a cafe latte since he seemed to drink a lot of them in the book  Santa Claus, the Number One Toy Expert.  

I thought it might be hard to get Anjali to go to sleep on Christmas Eve, but as is her usual routine, we read a few books and she was out.  Adam and I, however stayed up until after 1 am putting all of the presents out and assembling the two kitchens she received.

In hindsight, it might have been better to give her all of her Christmas presents over an extended period of time as she was indeed a bit overwhelmed by the number of presents and certainly couldn't enjoy them in one day, but she got so many nice things and we were grateful to Santa and everyone else for sending them her way.  She was in awe when she came downstairs and saw all the Christmas presents.  We relaxed all day and had a delicious late brunch.  It was 80 degrees, so we spent some time outside helping Anjali use her bike and then took her for a walk down to the creek.  She accidentally fell in while throwing leaves in the creek, but it was 80 degrees...so not too much to worry about.   Papi and Leela joined her.  We were able to facetime or talk on the phone with family as well.  Our first Christmas together with Anjali was truly a special one that I hope she won't forget and her parents certainly will always cherish and treasure.

Ringing in the Season with Papi and Pixie

Adam's father and stepmother came to visit at the beginning of December from Seattle and Anjali had a wonderful time with her Papi and Pixie.  She definitely has started to figure out that grandparents dote on your every move and shower you with love that only grandparents give.  She relished the special way Papi and Pixie spent time with her and spoiled her with their loving words and actions.  Pixie brought out a cute Zebra pillow/stuffed animal and Pop-up Advent calendar from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  They have also been getting the annual Metropolitan M of A christmas ornament since Adam was born (yes, for 43 years) and will continue the tradition by sending one to Anjali every year.  So, special! 

Papi and Pixie are also responsible for getting us our hot pink Christmas tree a few years back when we first got married that we absolutely love.  So it was fitting that they were here to help us put it up this first Christmas with Anjali who seemed perfectly comfortable with the fact that her Christmas tree was pink while others were generally green.  Pixie is a Christmas lights master, so she did the honors of putting on the lights while the rest of us put on the ornaments.  Anjali really got into exploring all of our quirky ornaments and finding a place for them on the tree.  Anjali was, of course, was given the responsibility of putting the star on the Christmas tree

Papi and Pixie accompanied Anjali to some of her favorite spots around town.  They got to be her fan club at gymnastics class and her new favorite place Marbles Children's Museum where we are now members.  She loved showing off for them and engaging them in the play at Marbles.  At one point she had us all on the news helicopter and was directing what we should do.  Anjali had a good time reading books with Papi and Pixie and also singing songs with them.  We sang Happy Birthday to everybody many times over and Monkeys on the Bed was definitely stuck in all of our heads.    Pixie worked with Anjali on her colors which she is having a bit of a difficult time figuring out.  The weather remained fabulous throughout their visit, crisp and sunny and we were able to enjoy the last of the fall colors which warranted many trips to the local park.

One of the highlights of the visit was definitely building a ginger bread house together.  It was a simple house that Anjali could really enjoy putting together and we all got to help out.  She was very proud of her ginger bread house and was kind of blown away by the idea that you could build a house out of cookies and candy.

Papi and Pixie also took Anjali to the Church of the Good Shephard, which was special for her and them.  Growing up in the Missionaries of Charity orphanage, Anjali definitely has a sense of religious tradition and she enjoys role playing some of what she saw there calling it "mintee."  It was therefore appropriate and wonderful that the family Episcopalian priest would take her to her first church service here.   Adam hopes to continue to take her there on a regular basis.

I am so glad that Anjali has had the chance to spend quality time with all of her grandparents now. She asks about all of them on a regular basis and brings up many fond memories she has of time spent with each one.    She loves all of them so much and now wants to know when everybody is going to visit.