Christmas in March, Dentists & "Mommy Bubbles Up!"

Today marks the 2nd month anniversary of the day we picked up Bela from the BSSK orphanage in India. It's hard to believe she has only been with us for 2 months. She fits in so well and she is such a huge part of our life that it feels like we have had her for years! Everyday continues to be filled with new words, new experiences and new learning's for both Bela and us!

This month, we celebrated Christmas in March with Ryan's family. It's really hard for his extended family to coordinate getting together around the holiday's so we decided to get together this month at Philipes French Dip restaurant in LA.  Bela is still pretty shy around new people but we think that is more of a 2 year old thing than an adoption thing. She needs about a good 30 minutes to warm up to people she has seen before and total strangers are usually hit or miss in terms of her being open with them. The Christmas get together was a little hard because she was just adored with attention and that probably overwhelmed her a bit - although we all had a good time. 

Bela seems to have really started attaching to her grandparents - both my parents and Ryan's parents. She knows to call my dad "dada" and my mom "dadi" and she often asks about dada when we are at hope. She likes to pray with dad when we go over and visit with him. She also really gets happy when she sees Ryan's parents - especially Ryan's dad who likes to tickle Bela (which she loves).

Bela also had her first dentist appointment this week. While the appointment only lasted 5 minutes to do a quick checkup, she squirmed and fussed the entire time. She saw the office workers in uniform and automatically thought she was at the Dr's office because she started to whine and squirm at the sight of them. Needless to say, Bela likes to brush her teeth but the dentist now suggests we floss her teeth as well!

Bubbles seem to be a big area of fun for Bela. We played with bubbles today quite a bit - to the point of exhausting her. Ryan's parents came over with their friends and she was running all over trying to catch and pop all the bubbles. Her favorite thing to say was, "Mommy, Bubbles Up!!"  She literally could spend hours and hours chasing after bubbles. My cousin got her an automatic bubble blower shaped liked a octopus which relieves mom from having to blow the bubbles herself. While Bela is learning to blow bubbles as well, she hasn't quite gotten the hang of it consistently which means - little bubble octopus is on double duty (thank goodness I stocked up on double-A batteries)!!

Ryan and I got a book to try to train Bela into taking naps again. She absolutely will not nap so we're hoping to get some tips as she is just plain exhausted and fussy by the time 6pm rolls around. It takes a toll on me especially as I would love to have some alone time while she naps if possible. We're starting to look into nanny's as well but we'll probably make a decision in a few weeks about that. Next week I start the mommy and me class at the state regional center to help Bela with her speech and language. Those will be 2 hours classes twice a week so if she gets use to those classes without me, that will give us a good indication of whether she is ready to be with a nanny yet.

Finally, Ryan and I got to go on our first date night since we brought Bela home 2 months ago! Ryan's parents baby sat for us and while we were only gone for about 2.5 hrs, it was a much needed break! We celebrated my birthday the night before with my family and friends and then Ryan and I went out alone together. It's so easy to forget just how much alone time can mean until you don't have it anymore!

But Bela is progressing really well and she is picking up new English words every day! We were looking at the video we took of the day we picked her up and it's amazing to see just how much she has changed! Her hair is longer, her cheeks are fuller and she is certainly smiling more often!