Well, life is starting to get back to ‘normal’ around here. Taking Haven out of school was the best thing we could have done for her—such a God thing. She is FINALLY using the toilet (willingly) again. Praise God. We have had no ‘accidents’ for the last two days. Yay!
School was obviously just a little too much for our sweetie. With no way to communicate; soiling her pants was obviously her way of saying “this is too much for me”. Being back at home has been the best thing for her. It took a few days, but she is finally going back to the way she was. We are so grateful. Phew—what a journey.
One of the greatest challenges we have had with Haven is knowing exactly what is going on with her in times when she is distressed. I remember when my bio kids were babies, I learned what their cries meant, I became so in tune to their needs. Now here we are with an eight year old who is very much like a baby—we are still learning what her cries mean, what her facial expressions mean, why she panics in unfamiliar situations. We are learning daily how to meet her needs, just like when our newborns were placed in our arms. We mess it up often, we get it all wrong—but we’re learning. Praise God for grace!
This morning I was doing Hannah-Claire’s hair in pig-tails. Haven watched with a longing look on her face, a look that said “I wish I could have those in my hair too”. So, I got out some hairbands and we tried. IT WORKED! Her hair is just long enough to fit in. I gave her a mirror and she posed for two hours—giggling and playing with her pig-tails. It honestly brought tears to my eyes—her hair has NEVER been this long. She just loves it. I was convinced she would pull them out after a little while. NOT! She left them in the whole day, and every now and then I would find her in the bathroom looking at herself in the mirror. Tonight when Anthony put her to bed she cried when he took her hairbands out—-guess what I’ll be doing FIRST thing in the morning 🙂
Absolute sweetness!