It has been 3 full months since Ella Grace Ana has arrived home; and that time has just flown by. Ella Grace has had many accomplishments and a multitude of 1st since she has been home - so many I dare not list them here. She is growing and bonding magnificently and since she has "found her place" in the family her true personality and character has emerged. She is still the sweetest little girl full of love, hugs, kisses, warmth, smiles, and laughter however, the honeymoon is over (at least as she sees it).
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She REFUSES to take a nap anymore. She progressively went from 2 naps a day to none. Which is fine, but we all need some quiet time. So after lunch, I take her to her room so she can have some self play and learn to entertain herself. This worked great for about 10 minutes. Suddenly, there was an uneasy quiet and when I tiptoed in to find out why, I found Ella Grace 10 layers deep in my makeup! After we cleaned up, I took her back to her room and explained to her this is Ella's room, Ella's dolls, Ella's toys, Ella's place to play. Mommy wants Ella to play with her babies (LaLa's) and toys here for a little bit. After that discussion she stayed in her room and played for about 45 minutes (I checked to make sure she wasn't back into the bathroom) before she said, "Ella finished play now."
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Listening. She listens, seems to understand, repeats it to you, demonstrates to you what she should or should not be doing and then turns around when you are not looking and does it anyway! Testing boundaries in a big way here.
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Night Night. She was doing great for the first 7 weeks going to bed without any issues. Now, she refuses to have the lights off and her door closed (not all the way) - she doesn't cry, oh no, she SCREAMS. We put a night night light in her room and she still SCREAMS the moment one of us heads out of the room; and the screaming doesn't quit unless one of us goes back into her room. We have started "prepping" her before bed by saying we are going night night in 10 minutes, 5 minutes and so forth along with and we are not going to scream or cry. She repeats it with, Ella go night night, no cry, no scream....but it always ends up in tears. Which tugs at our hearts but we know we have to set the boundaries and be firm. It has gotten better (some nights) and she will just weep until she drifts off to sleep. I believe something traumatic happened and she is comfortable enough now to let her guard down yet, still unable to communicate what her fear is.
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Other than these few little hiccups, Ella Grace is happy, healthy, and growing. She is our bright little star and she knows she is daddy and mama's little girl. While it is not always a cake walk, it wasn't such with our other 3 children either; but we are blessed this little girl is a thriving, happy, healthy little angel in our lives.
Ella Grace Ana Payne 12-24-2008
