Friday 10 May 2013

Early days



Well we're four months in and it still is early days although in many ways it feels like she's been here forever. But as I write we are in Scotland for my Brother's wedding so we've had our first taste of breaking away from her routine. We've had lots of eating out in restaurants, bed time at least half an hour later each night and sleeping in a travel cot. We approached all of the above with all of the apprehension you would expect from new (adoptive) parents but Squiblet has taken it all in her stride from telling anyone who will listen that she has been "up in the sky" on an "airmlane" to stuffing her face with meatballs and ice cream. She has embraced every new experience with smiles and excitement which is exactly what I would have hoped for her. I guess I don't feel so much like a new mum anymore. I know how to distract her and can consequently have a bag filled with appropriate tricks. Our aeroplane kit consisted of a spot the dog sticker book, water painting book with special pen, a frube in my liquid allowance and some chocolate biscotti (it sounds posh but I bought it in the pound shop). As a last resort I had some of her favourite programmes downloaded onto the iPad but we didn't really need them. It makes me really proud when people comment on her fantastic behaviour.

No one accused us of abducting her at the airport, no one asked to see her birth certificate or wanted to see the letter from the LA, which was quite a relief to us.

Reflecting on the 4 month mark - that means we've been her parents for one sixth of her life and when I think about that in terms of cake it seems like a fairly generous slice! And I can console myself with the fact that it's the one with the most icing and sprinkles! But it will be great when our "slice" is bigger than the ones before.

We've always felt that she's been quite settled but in the last month or so we've realised what settled really is. Settled is embracing newcomers with ease, but still wanting reassurance from Mummy and Mama. Settled is having the confidence to climb high on the climbing frame. Settled is Mummy going out for the evening and Mama doing bedtime without issue or incident. But most of all settled is a ridiculous amount of cuddling, smiling, giggling and playing and everyone enjoying the comfortable normality of our family life.
In some ways I think the end of the early days is the fact that I've stopped waiting for the bubble to burst and am now just enjoying every moment.

2 comments:

  1. This made me smile. Bonzo spent the whole of his 1st flight (about 3hrs) repeating 'I'm in the sky, we're in the sky, look the sky' - the lady next to me turned and said, 'hasn't he been in an aeroplane before'!!!! He was only 2!!

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  2. Love the way you've described her time with you like a big bit of cake...great!
    Keep on enjoying family life, sounds like you're having a fantastic time.

    Thanks for linking up with The Weekly Adoption Shout Out x

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