Adventures in the P-Pod: October 2014

October 4, 2014

Smiles are overrated in the toddler and preschool world...

Mom, you are so lame. You expect us to smile at that?

Apparently no one was really feeling the joy, but I thought these were cute anyway.

Ahem. Mom, you should know that weird noises are only funny when Benji does them.

Bella's One Year Portraits

Oh, sweet girl. You have come a long way.

Here are the photos I took to commemorate our sweet Bella's one year status.

Smiles still have to be earned, but they come so much more easily than in the early days. And her mouth can be serious but no longer turns down so drastically.

She particularly likes when Buckley trots past her.

Our tiniest girl crawls snappy fast. She doesn't really pull up yet, but if you hold her hands, she tries to walk. She babbles constantly and often sounds like she's saying real words. Truthfully, the only words she clearly says are "Mama" and "Dada." But she's trying.

Anyway. One day I shot the vintage looking series, and the next I took the black and white shots. Enjoy our happy girl!

Adjustment for our Littlest Girl

February 13, 2014

She looks afraid of me, doesn't she? These two photos are from the second time I met our Isabella. And these were the only expressions I ever saw on her face for a while. Some of this is her personality - even now she is very observant and reserves engaging for when she's really comfortable with her surroundings - but now that we are almost 8 months into this life together, I think I might have been walking with her through her own transition, a time during which she might have grieved or been fearful or depressed.

February 13

This got me thinking - how it might perhaps be useful to talk about transition for a baby adopted not as a newborn.

I can't speak to her disposition before she came to us, but when she arrived her expression was often flat. She was observant, that was clear, but she was not about to engage with us. She slept an incredible amount of time for a five-month-old, too. Like, most of the time. She was asleep hours more than she was awake. It made it easy to parent her, but harder to bond.

The day she moved in - February 16

At the time I just thought we had a late bloomer. Or maybe she was just incredibly mellow. Or maybe I misjudged the typical 5-6 month old. Maybe I remembered things differently from the first two, or perhaps the other two were ahead of the curve.

February 17

I've included photos to show how she looked all the time. Any smiling photo you see represents about 5-10 shots, or about 5 minutes of time. All the staring off in the distance photos represent 25-50 photos I would take while trying to play with her.

February 18

Looking back, I think she was depressed; because today she is not a dud. She is still observant, sure, but she talks to us, grins wildly, goes after things, and eats with gusto. She enjoys life.

February 18

It looks like she started smiling a bit in March - a month after being with us, but still all these pink jammy shots were the majority full of tears. She didn't like being propped up on her tummy for long. (She didn't like anything that required effort on her part, but she has definitely improved in this area.)

March 4

She also seemed mellow, but could get really irritated by seemingly small things. A simple diaper change. Putting her clothes on. Holding her at a certain angle. It felt incongruent with the rest of her interactions.

March 4

So what can be said for folks trying to understand a baby's transition?

March 4

Babies who are adopted at several months old can get depressed. They can also grow through it. (So no need to panic.)

March 17

Bonding may take longer due to the flatness of their interactions, but that's normal. It's also not a sign of trouble to come.

March 17

With love and rest and appropriate stimulation baby will catch up and blossom.

March 26

We just celebrated Bella's first birthday and I can't wait to post those photos! Just had to catch y'all up on her transformation over the past 8 months.