Two weeks in Bulgaria

 So, how does a parent spend two weeks in Bulgaria with their newly adopted child, especially when the child is a teenager who is VERY active and really needs to keep moving all day. We have averaged 6-8 miles of walking every day, that’s how! On rainy days we’re stuck in the apartment doing creative activities. 

First, we work together on understanding one another’s language. I brushed up on some of my survival words, plus learned many others. Adell learned some of the names of items along with the ASL sign for them. We. Have found sign to be a very good bridge between being able to say the English words, and Bulgarian. Some of the spoken sounds do not cross from one language to the other, and her Bulgarian speech is difficult for Bulgarian speakers to understand. 

I use several different speech therapy apps, along with writing apps to help the kids learn the English words, as well as written letters. Adell is used to Cyrillic, but in that she was only able to write her name, and copy a few words. Someone taught her how to write her new name in English capital letters, so we’re relearning a little bit, but she is doing great! She loves to write her new name, and often takes pen and paper and writes it hundreds of times. 

We have gone to the Sofia zoo.

We’ve done lots of cutting with scissors!

We have been to famous places.

We’ve shared many meals together learning, learning a few basic manners that have never been demonstrated before.

 

We have done Barbie’s hair 16,026 times. 

We went to a trampoline park. She did not care for the trampolines but loved the climbing walls!

We have tried some of Mom’s cooking! French Toast for the win! 

Peanut butter and Banana sandwiches. When I first put it on the table she was very unsure. Once she tried a couple of bites she gobbled it up. Another day she had apple sauce for the first time. Again, very unsure about trying it but once she did she asked for more. 

 Messed around with some silly apps.

Went to beautiful parks where all the trees are in full bloom! 

 Took walks that were only supposed to be a mile or so, but ended up being MUCH longer! Thankfully Adell is used to walking everywhere. She is a very busy young lady so I tried to keep us moving every day.

 

Watched Signing Time videos. 

This girl loves to clean!! We have 2 1/2 sleeps left here (I say half because we’re getting picked up at 4:30 am for our 7:00 am flight.) 

While it may look like this was like a vacation, I can assure it it was not! Adell is a child who has suffered multiple traumas in her lifetime, and has well-developed survival skills in her tool belt because of that. These are displayed by very controlling behavior, some sneakiness, and a few other things, all mixed up with LOTS of stress and additional trauma, teenage hormones and attitude, with some cognitive and developmental impairments mixed in. 

I made the mistake one day of putting some things we don’t need into a suitcase. Adell got very excited and started packing everything, repeating “airplane, airplane!”. She was so confused. She was SURE it was finally airplane day!!! I downloaded a kids calendar app that allowed me to put pictures on it, and we can check off the days. She seems to understand now that airplane day is coming, but not soon enough for her!