Wednesday, January 02, 2008
I am back to where I left off...
I'm back to my old diggs! (With a little sprucing up from Elle- Thank you again!)

I am really glad to be back to my old blog at blogspot. I really didn't like Typepad (because the pics are too small!), although I enjoyed my time working for Clubmom.

I realize that it looks like a giant chunk of my life is missing. The whole story of my adoption has vanished from my blog. But it is not gone. I have 3 published books from my Clubmom blog that tell the whole story and I will present them to Pineapple when she gets old enough. I am sure that the history of her story will be a priceless treasure. The first book is our journey to get Pineapple, the second is her first 6 months home and the third is our adventures moving to Seoul ending with Christmas and the New Year. Quite an adventurous two years!

However, I look forward to the new year back in my old diggs. It is nice to have our family all here- to have a lot of the rough edges smoothed out and to be calming down into a regular life. It is still a growing process with Piney; however. We are still working on her feeling secure and trusting of others. As well as working on her articulation and vocabulary. I think the emotional aspects are a life long process with adopted children and I am prepared for that.

Pineapple received an American girl doll for Christmas. It is one of the baby dolls (not the older ones with hair). We have named the doll her original Russian name. Pineapple LOVES that. What is interesting is that she loves and cuddles and feeds her doll, pushes her in the stroller, makes sure she always has a hat and is never cold, etc. all the while saying her doll's name over and over. She tells me that her doll is crying and she holds her so tight and gives her a bottle, comforting her.

I wonder if she is healing her inner child.

Is she holding herself as a baby? Is she giving the love to herself that she didn't receive?

I am wondering if this is therapeutic for her or if I am just reading into it something that isn't there.

Either way, it is great to see how compassionate and affectionate she is with her doll. It shows me that despite her rocky beginnings her little heart hasn't been hardened or broken. She has felt loved and consequently knows how to show it (even if it is a doll!).

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16 Comments:
Blogger Maggie said...
Welcome back, in a way!

What a nice idea giving the doll Piney's original Russian name. Maybe it is healing for her. I'm sure you'll be able to tell. Most girls her age cuddle and treat their dolls sweetly and then dump them on their plastic heads. If she does that, then it's probably just typical play -- which is a good thing in and of itself.

Blogger C said...
Even if it isn't therapeutic for her, she's clearly modeling the loving behavior she's experienced in her new family since the adoption.

Congrats on moving back to your old blog!

Blogger Jess said...
Ooh, pretty new place!

If you find the doll naked face down on the floor under the bed with her head twisted backwards?

Normal play.

But it sounds so sweet, and healing.

Blogger heiresschild said...
i just said, "oh no, i didn't get your new blog address, so i went back to clubmom to get it. kids mimic what they see and hear, whether from real life, or what they see and hear on t.v. i think it's sweet how Piney treats her doll, showing her the same love she is shown. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Anonymous Anonymous said...
I think that's so cool you made books out of your blog posts. Was that a Clubmom thing or can anyone do that?

It's great how Piney gives her baby so much love and mothering - R~ has never been that into baby dolls which bummed me out because I love that kind of play. And I do think it's a very good sign of Piney's bonding and that she has learned about loving and being a good mommy from you.

Blogger Queen of the House said...
That's so neat!!! I think it was a great idea to give the baby her Russian name. Do you ever call Pineapple by her Russian name since the Adoption? Just curious. I'd never really thought about it before now...

Anyway, love the new (old) place. It's nice. :-)

Blogger Angel said...
Hey there. Glad you are back with blogger. :0)Love the look. Very cool. Hey maybe you should do what I did when I switched blogs. I copied and pasted all the old entries into one big blogger entry. Then I have it as a link on the side so people can read about our Guatemalan adoption journey. Just a thought. I love going back sometimes to read through it. Hugs Angel

Blogger Melissa said...
glad you are back. club mom always took too long to load on my computer. I wish my dd played with her dolls that way. she barely acknowledges them.

Blogger Le Petit Chic said...
Welcome back to your old digs!

Blogger Pamela said...
Jennefer. Will follow your blog on this new site.
BTW, what pineapple display is a role play. Girls like to use dolls for role play. She is comforting a crying doll means that she associate her experiences and memory of how you have held her and comfort her when she is crying and acted it out through her doll. It is normal and assuring to see this. My daughter did the same recently, she used her doll (telling me it is her and giving it a different name)and she told me how she fell down from her bed when she sleep(the bed guard was missing). So it is very common for children to role play through their experiences and memory through toys.

So glad to see you here. I wondered where you were going. It's funny how you get so attached to people and their families just by reading about them.

Is it possible to transfer your clubmom posts over to your blogspot?

Blogger The family of six said...
We got our referral!!! Wahoo! Thanks for all your support!

Blogger Jane and Jim said...
I like the new/old look!

It's great that Piney's showing love and affection to the doll no matter what the reason.
She's such a sweetheart!

glad you aren't done with blogging! i will definitely follow you here.

Blogger Yeah So said...
Hooray! I like you much better back here - that clubmom thing was hard to read....

Happy New YEar!

Blogger Jessica G. said...
Thanks for making me get all teary-eyed! I can just see Piney loving the baby so fiercely...
And by the way? I love the colors and header for this blog!