A great day!

So today was the first time Raina had woken up in her new bed and in her new home with her forever family.  She slept quite well last night, although she woke up at about 2am screaming and we both leapt up. Mummy Ruth went in to comfort her and moments later she was asleep again. She woke up in the morning at 7am and was fine.  This morning we took a walk to the doctors surgery to register Raina.

We have had a great day - lots more cuddles and kisses (and some quality tantrums). Raina is really into some of the 'theraplay' activities suggested for encouraging attachment. and it seems to have been initiated by her which is nice.  Raina and Mummy Hannah have been playing with a blanket today; she sits underneath it and cries "I'm scared!" and Mummy Hannah says; "It's okay, I can find you - I have got you" and then they hug.  This happens a few more times.  Raina likes to be wrapped up in the blanket and Mummy Hannah or Mummy Ruth coo's over her; "Oh, look at my baby!, she's the most beautiful baby I've ever seen." Raina is obviously comfortable with us as she looks into our eyes as we craddle her in our arms and looks to be lapping up the attention.

She is almost constantly asking for food, so we are having to try and distract her from it when she gets her heart set on wanting something.  We are keeping an eye on her; making a list of the foods she likes and those she doesn't seem to like. At the moment the latter list is very sparse.  The only way you know she doesn't like something is by her funny facial expressions; she still eats it.   There was discussions at the matching panel about Raina's weight and some suggestions were made by some panel members that she was comforting herself with food to help her manage her traumas. All we can do is continue to keep a routine and a balanced diet and the promotion of attachment to us as her new carers.

We also called the FC today, just to let her know that Raina was okay.  She was really pleased to hear that she was settling in okay but said she was really missing her.  Raina has been dropping the foster family names into conversations quite a bit so we are thinking about what is best for her.  We do encouarge her to talk about them and we have photos of them for her to look at.  We think she may need to speak to her on the phone soon to let her know that the FC is okay and we definitely know we shall be meeting up in the future to help Raina make some sense of the move.


So, all in all it's going well. She went down to sleep tonight and was not distraught....remains to be seen how she sleeps tonight.