Vivien had only been with us for five weeks when her birthday came. It had been a very stressful month for her trying to adjust to the language, a large family, the school, and trying to do homework in another language. She was still very quiet, kept to herself, and didn't eat much. Knowing her birthday was coming up, I made an even bigger effort to get to know what she DID like. I found in that month that she loves purple, fuzzy blankets, socks, Superman, strawberry ice cream and Peanut MnM's, and cheese pizza. I figured we could work up a party around that and really hoped that it would help her feel more a part of the family and for her to know that we were glad she was with us.
During the day, Hyrum and I went to the school to decorate her locker. Erika and Derek skipped out of class for a few minutes to help and leave her notes.
When she walked in after school I could see that something was different. She thanked me for doing the locker and was happy to toss around a couple of the balloons that were decorating the kitchen for her. We all enjoyed the cheese pizza. I enjoyed seeing her finally eat something.
I didn't know if she even liked cake but we stuck to American tradition and I tried to make one with things that I knew she liked. Rather than just to cake I layered cake with strawberry ice cream and topped it all with Peanut MnM's. The combination was a little odd to me but she was very pleased with it.
The boys went in together to get her a superman shirt and some fuzzy socks to match. Erika got her a purple fuzzy blanket and LeRoy and I got her a BIG pillow pet from Costco.
It was the first time in five weeks that we saw Vivien really relax, laugh and smile. It really helped that Erika, Derek and Justin were sucking helium from the balloons, filling the night with high pitched entertainment.
A few days later she got a package from her Mom and sister. She kindly shared Slovak, Hungarian and European treats with us. The giving on all our parts seemed to draw us closer together.
"I'm gonna live forever. So far, so good"
~Vivien
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