In my last post I started sharing a few of the challenges we had in our early days with Belane. Here are a few more. I hope that in sharing them, they can help prepare you for common behaviors in newly adopted children.

- Going along with the mom anxiety, she had to be physically touching me to fall asleep. Actually, in the beginning she had to be on top of me to let herself fall asleep. It made the long flight home tough, because any time she had to be buckled into her seat and wanted to sleep, she got very sad. I slowly "weaned" her into falling asleep next to me (but cuddling), and then falling asleep with me in the room but not in the bed. It took a few months, but she has slept in her own bed for quite awhile now. She doesn't cry, and she sleeps all night without a peep.

- She never had the knock-down, drag-out, kicking and screaming tantrums, however during the first two weeks, whenever I told her "no" about something, she would either shut down completely, do her pathetic silent cry or go look for a new mom. The first time it happened we were at a restaurant, and she was eating a bag of Chex mix I had brought while we waited for the food. She tried to dump it out and I turned the bag around and told her no, and she tried again to dump it. When I took the bag away, she got mad, got sad and then got down for her chair and stomped over to the first table with a woman at it and asked to be picked up, glaring at me the entire time. I went and got her back and held her until she settled down. Once we got home to the U.S., she never did that again, although she will dump me for Dad still if she thinks he will give her a better deal (although that is pretty normal kid stuff!) :)

Those were the biggest challenges we had with her. She had some bumps, scrapes and sniffles that cleared up easily and she was very healthy. She was happy most of the time. She loved her bath, ate well, slept well and started to bond quickly. Now it has almost been a year since she has come home, and she is happy, cuddly, loving, healthy, well-attached and sassy as all get out. :) Overall I would say she had a very easy transition and adjustment, and this toddler preschool age is definitely one of my favorite.

More posts on Belane and her adoption here.