Catching Up

I have been a terrible slacker about keeping up with this blog. We have had company all week and Friday we took the kids out of school so they could go to Disney World with thier cousins. S continued to check out all of the new sights, and tolerated the new surroundings very well. She LOVES being with her cousins, and they adore her like she is the most special person in the world. They only get to see her a few times a year, so these visits are extra special. All of this activity means little time for our NR therapy. We still do it, but haven't gotten in the full amount of time. Like I said before, the sensory work is on overtime with the other kids handling her non-stop. She encountered another little girl this morning at church and she was really well behaved. She invaded her personal space a little bit, but she acted very much in control. Her vocabulary continues to expand, it is so much fun to see and hear. She now sings Twinkle Twinkle all on her own without prompting. She will do This Little Piggy to other people too. When I sing Twinkle Twinkle to her, she'll fill in the last word of each verse. She finally got both feet off the ground when she jumps. This is a big accomplishment for her. She's been trying to get both feet off the ground for months now. Tomorrow is Monday, we'll be back into our routine. I am looking forward to it because I'm so excited about her progress. I feel like she's finally becoming who she wants to be. When we first came home from China, I'd always felt like she was trapped inside her body. Her chronological age was nowhere near her developmental age and that had to be frustrating. She was so creative with her communication skills, I knew her brain was working overtime, but her body wasn't in sync with it. I have since learned of another child who was adopted at a bit older age than her and was so traumatized by the adoption that it took more than a year for her to get to any level of comfort and start advancing. I think trauma had a lot to do with S's development, along with her prematurity. Although I'm in no hurry for her to get to any certain place, I do hope that her ability to express her feelings will come before her memory fades. I want to know how she felt at her OT appointments, I want to know how she felt about a lot of things. I don't expect her to have memories of her life without us, or even soon after, but I hope she remembers the recent past. I guess I know how she is feeling by her body language and comfort level. She is very comfortable with us and is one of the happiest kids I know. She has a great sense of humor and does really funny things. One of her sisters was having her repeat the letters of the alphabet for them. When they got to "Q", she repeated, "Cute". When they finished singing in church this morning, she clapped and said, "Yay, good girl!" She really keeps us entertained.