Mireille Quickies

I have a couple of “novels” in the works. Sometimes I let those clog up the works when I should be doing smaller, more frequent updates. So this is one of those smaller, more frequent updates. I’m finding my available time much harder to come by with the addition of the third child. I’m sure that will normalize out at some point, right? Those with three or more kids, back me up here!!!

Mireille has been with us for 6 weeks now (I think). It’s been quite the trip, to be sure. Beyond the novels, which will detail much of the first couple of days with her as well as our vacation to Phoenix, this will attempt to focus on some of the smaller aspects of life.

Mireille has been doing well adjusting to the western lifestyle. She LOVES sausage, hard-boiled eggs, Cheerios, candy, well, just about anything to eat. It’s definitely not difficult getting her to eat. It is much more difficult to make her full!

She’s also been trying to learn some English words, though I think she’s resisting to some degree. She speaks Lingala very well, as far as I can tell, and seems to have no intention of quitting that! We’ll wear her down - she’ll be a dumb American in no time! So far her words include:

• Ma - proof that she is already becoming a lazy American, as she has shortened the traditional Congolese “mama” to just “ma.”
• Pa - see above. I’m not thrilled about this one and would much prefer dad…
• Leetah - This means Ethan.
• Quonz - This means Quinton.
• No - Of course.
• Ow
• Go - mainly when directing the dog to do something.
• Thank You
• I love you - She typically says this along with Na Lingeo, which means the same thing in Lingala.
• M’Heinjie - Heinz
• I jump
• I flush it - She likes flushing the toilet
• Shoosie - shoes
• Ballie - Ball

We were delighted to find out that she is actually potty trained! It took us a few days to understand what she was telling us, but she is fully capable of going to the bathroom on the toilet (during the daytime). The main issue here seems to be due to the fact that she’s a girl and all her clothes just get in the way of being able to go to the bathroom, so she pretty much has to strip naked anytime she wants to go to the bathroom. Luckily she is a girl and Jenny will have to deal with that in public places!

She’s also wonderful at singing and has excellent tone and rhythm, which sort of surprises me. Most toddlers I’ve seen are not quite as accurate as she is, but she does all sorts of rhythmic claps and likes to drum on her prodigious belly when she’s tired.

All in all things are adjusting. The main complaint, and it is one we’ve heard repeated from MANY recent adoptive families of Congolese children, is the nighttime habits. Many nights she will go to bed well, but last night was a disaster! She didn’t go to sleep until almost 10:30. That’s valuable adult time completely gone! She also still frequently wakes up throughout the night and Jenny will have to go and comfort her (a habit I have allowed to continue from the early weeks when she was freaked out by me!).

Look for my two novellas coming out in the next week or two. The first details the trip to go pick Mireille up, and the second our trip to Phoenix to visit Mireille’s new white, Grady grandparents, as well as other warm-weather vacation activities.