If you have ever watched the movie, “Little Mermaid”, then you know a dinglehopper is a fork.
Well Lyla has been learning to use utensils for the first time. She improves every meal!
Speaking of food, the girl can eat! She is always wanting to snack on goodies in the hotel room, and she eats about two plates of food when we sit down for meals. She eats mostly fruit, nan, roti, and rice. But we have ventured out and given her some chicken for the first time…she has never had meat. And, survey says…. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! She likes meat, a very important trait in our house. 🙂
She also has this very methodical way of eating. She is very careful, sits up straight, eats very slowly, and with her mouth closed. Well, there was one meal today where she was so excited to be using the fork by herself that she kept stuffing her mouth and laughing….but normally it’s very slow.
She does not spill one drop of water when she drinks, and if a small crumb falls into her lap she picks it up and eats it. We also notice that she crams as much food as she can into her hands while snacking, and some while eating.
We think from being in the orphanage, that she learned if you put food down it will get taken. Obviously, she grabs as much as she can, because she has never had much. And, she hardly makes a mess, because she doesn’t want anything to waste. Maybe she will rub off on my other kiddos when it comes to not making a mess!
We worry about letting her eat so much, because we think it might cause tummy troubles. But, we decided we were going to let this little one eat as much as her heart desires. After all, she has never been to a breakfast buffet, where you can go back and eat all you want over and over. She is enjoying it for sure! We have noticed she is not into anything but water. I have tried some juices, and she doesn’t seem interested. I don’t think I would enjoy sweet lime juice as a drink either, but it was the only juice choice of the day.
She wanted to try it by herself. Proud of my girl making steps!
The pictures below are from one of the restaurants in the hotel. It is a rooftop terrace hotel. We went up after breakfast to check it out. It has some beautiful views of Ahmedabad.
Ahmedabad, or what we have seen of it so far, seems to very nice. It is very Indian for sure, but the streets seem a little cleaner, and it has a really pretty river that runs through town.
We found out that Lyla was not born in Ahmedabad, but in a small town and was brought to Ahmedabad. I asked what small town, and Mr. Pandit said you won’t know it. But I persisted, and he looked confused and then said “Barat”… I don’t know if I heard him correctly, or if he wasn’t really sure and just said something??? Who knows….but Ahmedabad, has been home to my girl for the last few years. Glad I was able to see it from this view.
Thanks SO much for sharing your journey!! We are waiting for immigration approval right now for a 2 year old little girl in Pune. Our paperwork got to India in Jan 2012. It's a long wait but at least we know who our daughter is now! Reading all your posts have been so encouraging! There is light at the end of the tunnel! Praise God!!!!
You could check a map and see if there's a town spelled "Bharat" — I know Bharati is a girls' name. I'm glad you have this bit of information. It may be very important to your daughter in the future.
Nancy
Thanks for keeping us posted Kelly, we feel as if we are there with ye.Looking forward to reading more.
Wim , Annemarie and Anna