Claire has been home for exactly one month! She is doing fabulous. The bonding is going well—almost too well. I can’t leave the room without her crying, but we’re working through that.

We’ve been updating her baby book and if any of you out there are adopting a young child, this is the best baby book ever! It is tailored specifically for adoption with pages like “Your Adoption Buddies” and “People who helped us find you” and even two family tree pages.



Since coming home:


She’s been “talking” much more. We’re working to say “mama” but she just keeps saying, “dadadadada.” “Mmmm” is hard to say when one’s tongue is just too much fun to play with in one’s mouth.

She’s gone from not knowing she could even control her hand to getting her nook in her mouth but not knowing how to let go to finally being able to let go of that grasp! This is fantastic, as she doesn’t cry every time her nook falls out of her mouth now. Seriously, that bink link that Kristy W. gave to her is the best gift she’s gotten (for my sanity, at least)



She hasn’t projectile vomited in weeks (the giardia medicine that didn’t “agree” with her doesn’t count). When we first had her in Ethiopia and switched her to soy formula, she was still vomiting the whole bottle at every other feeding or so. This is a huge improvement and has been gaining weight! She’s actually chubby in the cheeks and thighs and we’re working on those spindly little arms!


The next step in the adoption process is the first of three post-placement reports done by our local social worker (June ‘09, September ‘09, and March ’10). Once the first two are done, WACAP prepares the paperwork for our local courts to finalize the adoption. After that last post-placement report is done, Shai and I just have to provide yearly updates until she turns 18!