Saturday, July 13, 2013

Two Weeks Home - Part One




Emma continues to do really well. I am so grateful that she is adjusting and bonding so well. So far she has been able to meet her grandparents and an aunt and uncle. She has also met her cousins who live here. She has done well with family.




Chips will win this girl over. I didn't manage to get a picture with Granddad.




When Emma saw Nate hug Mimi, then she decided that Mimi must be okay.















Lee introducing her to tomatoes, which she tried to peel. She did taste them. That's some progress.

Speech- we actually met with a speech therapist the week after we got home. This was in conjunction with meeting with the cleft doctor. We were very impressed with the speech therapist. I was especially happy to see that she was educated and experienced with working with children who are adopted internationally. With a child with cleft issues, speech issues are very common. Mark and I both went into this prepared for the need for speech therapy. Right now we are in a wait and see phase. Emma already has between 10-25 words, although some of those are signs. She is picking up new words and signs every day. Until yesterday, I hadn't heard her make the "b" or "d" sounds, even when babbling. Yesterday she was trying to say Cade, but it sounded more like "Ade". I think I heard a "d" in there! We are supposed to keep in touch with the speech therapist and will see what we do from there. My favorite sign that she does is "love you". The other day she did this sign spontaneously to me. Melt my heart. We are anticipating some sort of speech therapy. Emma understands a lot of what we are saying. I love that I can ask her for kisses, and she will pucker up and give me a kiss. She is very big into hugging right now and loves to give her brothers and her daddy a hug while I am holding her and says, "Awwww." She is pure sweetness. Mark and I have always played a game with the boys where we count to three and then each give tons of kisses to a cheek. Emma has been introduced to this game and loves it. Sometimes Chase will join in and she gets kisses from three directions. This makes her laugh.





Look




Look - she loves looking at birds and airplanes.

Cleft doctor - we saw the cleft doctor the Tuesday after we arrived home. The office was nervous that her palate had been repaired in China because often the repairs done there are not done well. Fortunately, Emma's repair is a very good repair, and the doctor was very pleased. We won't go back to see him for an entire year. He also stated that she doesn't sound nasal which is a common problem with cleft kids. She is also able to drink from a straw. Another sign of a successful repair. All good news.








Mark- she continues to do better and better with Mark. She will now get upset if he leaves but will be okay if she can go outside and see him get in his car. She is happy when he comes home. She definitely goes to him for playtime and loves it when he tickles her and plays with her. She is clearly learning that he will take care of her.




"Hiding" from kisses from Daddy. She can't say "daddy" yet but has learned the sign.




Brothers - she LOVES her brothers, and they love her too. They are all doing well with her, although Nate is having the hardest time. It is really hard to lose that baby-of-the-family spot when you have held it for almost 8 years. He loves Emma and is glad she is here, but he also misses time with me. Emma has already learned the art of tattling. She has no problem telling me all about how a brother has wronged her and makes certain that she points out he offender to me.



Right after the boys came home from camp. She was soooo happy to have them home. We were able to FaceTime them while they were driving home. She clearly recognized them and was happy to see them.




She loves "jumping" on the trampoline with her brothers.




Watching her first drive-in movie. Movies and television don't really hold her attention, so I thought a drive-in would work the best. I don't think a movie theater will be happening for a while. We were able to go with my sister-in-law and nephews. Overall it went well. Even though the cops showed up because of an incident in front of us.









Cade has been giving her piggy back rides. Here she is trying to give one to her doll.





Cade's turn.





She rarely wants to sit in her booster seat. She wants to sit by a brother or in my lap.








Watermelon buddies




Helping Chase make pancakes

- Jenna

1 comment:

  1. Katie has the same orange hula girl shirt from Gymboree. :)

    Are you still exhausted, or is it just because I've been sick? Paul went back to work today, and I'm flying solo for the first time. Dropped a teen off for camp at 7:30, and already counting down to nap time.

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