Seven months since we met this girl for the first time...
I see very little of that girl we see above, seven months later..........
Except maybe the eye contact thing. :)
On this cold and snowy day- we headed out for a quick photo shoot. She picked a dress to wear today- like she always tries to do when she's allowed. Usually she tries for the sleeveless Ariel outfit. She's usually not successful.
We had a little bit of time where she insisted she had a 'boo boo'. Kept pulling down her pants to point to where her underwear rested on her leg. Her 'boo boo' is the result, it seems.. of a little girl who's belly is getting quite big & her underwear is getting quite snug.
After we dressed, we did her hair. Hair that is long enough to put in two pigtails. Or one pony that doesn't stick up. Hair that looks like a little girl. And not like an orphanage baby. No, no more orphanage baby. Never again an orphanage baby. Now, OUR baby.
We headed out & she was in a good mood. Despite the cold. And despite the remenants of her breakfast that mommy forgot to wipe off her face for the photo shoot. Oh well. Character.
And we had some great fast pictures. Muffins on the face and all. And then we went in and had a great day. Together.
I think back 7 months ago..and I am amazed how far she has come. In the trenches, in the day to day- it seems like sometimes we have made no progress...and we are so easily frustrated. But when you take the time to really think back.... well, the progress is huge. And is still coming.
After last months post we had a backslide a bit. While frustrating to live through- it's not uncommon as older adopted children forge through new emotions and attachments to have steps backwards. And we did. Today, at the end of this month- we seem to be moving back forward. We had some fits return, big ones! We had sleep regress. We suddenly started wetting the bed at night every once in a while after not doing it at all for 6 months. And we saw some rocking/self-soothing come back into play.
But, BUT... we had two AMAZING milestones we reached this month. AMAZING. The first is we moved her to a different room and got her a new bedspread. (well, big sister's old bedspread) which had princesses on it. That very night in her new bedroom, she agreed to sleep UNDER the blankets. If you all recall the GIGANTIC fear of blankets she had the previous 6 months. Panic. And now, she is sleeping under a blanket for most of the night.
The bigger one. The best one ever... so far... is this girl gave me her first unprompted "Mama, I wub you" this month. Out of the blue & not in response to me. So incredibly awesome! And she does it FREQUENTLY now. Nothing brings a smile faster to my face than hearing "Mama, I wub you".
With a child you raise from an infant/womb- these words come naturally. Easily. Ingrained in their being. With an older child, these words are words that earned. Worked for, HARD, every hour of every day. And so to hear them is such a sweet, sweet reward. These children never knew love. And to be able to feel it & express it.... it's just... WOW. No other words.
It may be this very act that set off the regression as well. But like they say- two steps forward, one step back. Doing the math- we are still moving forward!!!
Cheesy grin face!
Let's see.. oh, she had her first 'shower' at home (vs a bath) and liked it. She has eaten more new things- like zuchinni and ice-cream. I got her to watch a wee bit of Sophia the first on TV. She showed a bit of memory also when she saw a neighborhood child and said "Hi Kate". Kate is her cousin she met a whole month before. (same age & height as little girl in neighborhood). I was impressed.
She still asks for me to carry her a lot and will now run to wrap herself around my legs...
I asked her how old she was. I got this..........
Try again.
Ok. We'll work on that.
Speaking of- she randomly counts now. Not always in order. For instance, today in the car she counted 1, 2, 6, 7, 10, 15, 16, 19. Colors- we still can't seem to get red. Maybe she can't see that color? She gets pink though.
We are working on small motor skills like cutting and drawing.
Everytime one of her pictures or project makes it up in the classroom at school she shows me right away which one is hers from all of them. She always has it right too! She knows her work & she's proud of it.
She is getting more confident in her surroundings, exploring more. Taking more risks & enjoying herself more.
We still have lots of paper hoarding & sensory seeking things (like paper crinkle & bag crinkle). It's ok. They are her comfort. Things like that is probably all she had for 4 years. She is quickly reactive to critism.. it's really hard for her to hear 'no' and not be scared or react by just dropping things. An example she walked in the room I was painting today (her new room) and she got close to the wet paint. I yelled 'stop' She panic'd and jumped....right into the paint I was trying to keep her away from. :) Then she got quiet & had silent tears. Mama yelled at her. (didn't mean to, it was implulse of being near the paint). Stuff like that....
She has moved back to her "Pig Kahuna" as favorite book. I miss Munch. It was shorter. And I'm sick of surfing pigs. We are getting ready to go to Arizona for Spring Break and I told her we were going on vacation. Every morning she says "Mama and Charlie go on bacation" Even though she has no idea what a 'bacation' is. All she knows is she has new sandals ready to wear for it & she wants to go!!!!
Eye contact is still an issue although she's getting better (so, so slowly).
Her newest thing is declaring EVERYTHING an owie. Also a big deal since before she wouldn't awknowledge anything as a hurt. Now everything is.. she really likes those princess bandages.
Language. It's still coming along. She chatters a lot. She's trying out more and more sentances. She's getting more concepts. We still work on conversation (Who, Why, What). We'll get there. She gets her point across well enough.
I have been writing down snippets of what she has been saying just in the last 10 minutes as I finish this up. To get an idea of her 'chatter'.
"All done" (her juice). "Time for night night" (it is actually). "Tissue". "Don't touch it, I will put it up here. OK?" (her pet shops toys). "Be careful". "Night Night". Humming randomly. Laughing randomly. "I want to sit on your lap" (as she crawls on my legs in front of my computer). "Hi". "Oh no, don't fall, don't fall" (as she falls through my legs). "Be careful, oh no don't fall.. I got you". "Swimming Pool, yhea right" (yhea, I have no idea?). "Mama, boo boo" (Pointing to a pimple). "Mama working" (since I'm on the computer). "Fishes" (eating goldfish) "What color is it? (asking herself as she looks at the fish".. "Orange" (answering herself). "This is green" (pointing to her doll house roof). "This is my book". (holding Sarah's book). "No Sarah" (as Sarah got too close to her pet shop pile). "Look at it" (holding up a bag). "Shh, Daddy sleeping" (he's not). "What?" "Ok". "Charlie's baggie".
This girl has come FAR in 7 months. I'm so amazed by her. And I'm so proud to call her my baby.
Happy 7 months sweet pea!
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