Preparing for changes...

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       There is no adoption without grief and loss…

We have been preparing to adopt our baby for the longest time, but she doesn't have any idea of how her little world is about to change. She will experience grief for the loss of her little world as she knows it- the place she considers her home, her caregivers, her playmates, even familiar foods, smells and sounds.

The life disruption and big changes she will soon experience will be very difficult for her no doubt.

We just pray that the Lord will heal her little heart, mind and spirit.

Poor baby, we are going to do our best to comfort her and shower her with all of our love and attention so that she can adjust to her new life with us.

It is so sad to know that even very young children experience grieving so we definitely have to make sure we acknowledge and support her throughout the transition. 

We plan  to keep our baby's world small during the first weeks at home by limiting interaction with other people and by spending as much time as possible home with her- making sure that we are her primary caregivers as she learns how to trust us and learns that we are her parents.

We have been somewhat concerned with the fact that our Little Cupcake is starting to communicate with her foster family in her native language which will make things more difficult once we finally meet.

We were planning on learning very basic Mandarin but the province where she lives mainly communicates with their very own dialect (different from Mandarin).

Coming from a person whose native language is not English, (I) can tell you it is very frustrating when a person is trying to say something and no matter how much they try, they are not understood.  In my mind, I still translate from Spanish to English before I attempt to open my mouth. Many times I just open my mouth and when I can't remember how to say or pronounce a word I just resort to hand motions in order to communicate.  

So, in order to help our Little Cupcake communicate her feelings, wants and needs with less frustrations, we decided to learn as much as we can about baby sign language. Many people think that sign language is just for people with hearing impairments but that's not true.  It has been proven, that even babies (without auditory impairments) can express their wants and needs using sign language before they can actually say words!

Baby sign language is a method in which specific hand-shapes and motions are used to convey words and meaning with others. These exact hand-shapes and motions are typically the same as the one used in American Sign Language but some people choose to modify it and use their own variations of it (that's OK too, as long as the words/signs are used in a consistent way as not to confuse the child).

We know our little girl will be going through so much in a short period of time, we will continue to pray for a smooth transition.

We are still planning to learn a few Chinese words to help us get by so wish us luck as we sign and butcher the Chinese (Mandarin) language one step at a time…

Anything for our Little Cupcake :o)