Snapshots of the every-day

 We have been home with Olivia for 6 weeks now and feel that we're settling into the routines having a new little person in our family. Olivia is showing many signs of bonding, and we feel so lucky to have been given such a cheerful little girl who loves to receive and to give plenty of kisses and cuddles. Our first impression of her as a rather shy girl is no longer valid. She loves some action and when asked if she wants to get out of the house, she immediately nods, grabs the handbag, and she's ready to go... Here I went to the beach to make the most of a sunny morning

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We also feel that Olivia is relaxing into life with us. Every week brings a new change in how she interacts with us. As you know, she was just paralised in the very beginning. Then she started to want our attention, and was constantly clowning around to get it, eventhough that was hardly necessary :-) At the same time, she was very unsure of whether we would leave her, so she was constantly on my arm or my lap and could not sit still for two seconds. If I'd leave the room, she went into panic and was genuinely scared, even if Aaron was with her. However, in the last week or so, she has become more calm and can sit calmly and play with us, and she potters around me while I get the boring daily chores done (now using both arms - yey!!). She still has a great sense of humor and plays a lot of cheeky tricks on us, but we rarely see the manic clowing around for attention anymore. I'm hoping that this means she is relaxing and just being herself, rather than constantly having to put on a show to keep our attention. Here, we're having some quiet cuddling and playing in the hammock in the garden, and below, Aaron is entertaining her after breakfast with some YouTube videos of cats and dogs :-)

Pointing out dogs, cats and birds are still the favorite passtime. We bought a book with ONLY cats, and she is as excited as ever, every single time she turns a page :-)  Here she just realised that your phone has a picture of a dog....

We had a cask of wine on the kitchen bench, and one day Olivia started to push the tap while going "aaah" with an open mouth under it. She has never seen us pour wine from it (that happens after she has gone to bed), so I have no idea where she got this habit from :-)

Olivia has changed the tune with regards to sleeping. During the first 3 weeks, we hardly noticed her in the bed, but after she started showing signs of bonding, she has also been seeking cuddles from me during the night. Sometimes the cuddles are more like rubgy-tackling than cuddles (we have therefore named it the "rugby-cuddles"), so I lie awake for hours with Olivia more or less throwing herself across my face or neck every couple of minutes. Maybe the rugby-cuddles started because we played this game with her in the bed one afternoon...

 The highligt of this week was the visit from Dorthe and little Janus - Olivia's friend from Pattaya Orphanage. The two both recognized each other immediately and said each other's Thai names. Below, they get caught in the kitchen looking for more cashew nuts. After they left, Olivia kept pointing to the window and saying Janus' Thai name. We're looking forward to seeing them again next week!