Here are a few updates on how things are going since the last post! TREMENDOUSLY!! That's how things are going! They eye Dr. visit went badly, AGAIN, so I have just put that off for a while! We will try again later! But, all GLORY and HONOR be to God, we went to see a CP specialist b/c there was a report of a possible CP and her walk and run were really unstable..... he said NO WAY!!! And, then, just to confirm his diagnosis, she went (unprompted, mind you) to the wall and put both hands flat against it, stood on one foot, and put the other foot half way up the wall! At this point the Dr. is thinking I am crazy! I did tell him, just in case he thought I didn't have anything better to do with my time, that she had NEVER done that before! It was incredible! Then two weeks later we had a follow up appointment with the International Adoption Clinic. It was a visit to evaluate speech/langague development, and our bonding, etc. Well, here I mentioned that she was fighting me on EVERYTHING and how to deal with it. The speech pathologist was in the room during this time, and she asked if I gave her a choice about what to wear in the morning. Well, I said "Honestly, I haven't even thought about it b/c she won't make a choice between juice or milk to drink." but I promised I would give it a try. So, the next day, I gave her a choice of 2 shirts to wear.... she looked at me for a second, then grabbed the one that was not closest to her and put it to her chest. She then proceeded to let me dress her with no fights or anything! And, we haven't had any fighting Mama since then! If I had known I had a "fashionista" we could have handled this a LOT sooner! :-) But, the great thing is that since then, she has been making more choices! She will not choose between 2 things most of the time! Yay!!!
So, she started "cool" (as she calls school-- I hope she always thinks school is "cool") on August 1st. She LOVES it there! She has really blossomed and come out of her shell there! She has become more outgoing with the kids there, she loves the teachers and she even takes a nap EVERY DAY! In the last month, she has come such a long way! She is understanding more and more English..... but the amazing thing is that she can pair things in the two languages. Last week, I asked her in ENGLISH if she wanted a Lollipop and she promptly told me in Spanish "Quieres Lollipop", which means exactly the same thing! INCREDIBLE! We still struggle with telling Mommy & teachers that she has to go to the potty and/or if she hurts somewhere. Today, at dinner, she said for the first time EVER, in English "I want juice!" I asked her three times just to be sure that was what she really said! Yay!! She talks to the other children and her teachers, not all of it is comprehendable and a lot of it is in Spanish, but she is initiating conversation with them! She has even begun to call me "Mama"! At first, she always called me "aquí está Mamá" not just "Mamá, but now she is calling me Mama all the time! We are continuing on through the attachment cycle very well, I think! We have moved beyond the fighting Mama on everything, now that she knows she can make choices and has a choice, she doesn't fight everything so much! She has started learning some new things, like whining.... which unfortunately Mama doesn't like.... but this too will pass! She really doesn't do it that much, she is just trying it still and finding it doesn't work so well for her! :-) She can count from 1-10 in English and in Spanish, and loves to count all the time! I don't know if she has a number concept yet or not, but she can recite them in order. Additionally, she can recite the entire Mickey Mouse Clubhouse CD and is starting to get some of the more difficult words! We have fun singing it together, it is funny! When she wants me to sing with her she'll say "Help Please"!
And, Mama started back to school too! The first week was tough! I am starting to get used to our new routine, new bedtime, new wake-up time, etc. Sometimes it is tough, but it seems things are starting to fall into place and we are getting adjusted very well! I am more tired now, but so glad when I get to pick her up in the afternoon!! She is always sooo happy to see me! But, the great thing is she is also happy when I take her to school everyday! That is just good for a Mama's heart! God has answered sooo many prayers this month! I am just thankful that He found me faithful enough for raising this sweet Precious Little One who is just becoming so much her own person! I am so incredibly blessed by His goodness and grace! Thank you for your many thoughts and prayers! It will be 5 months (on Monday) from the first time that I saw her! I still sometimes can not believe that she is here with me! I often times just stand in awe of what God has done in our lives! She is such a blessing from Him! And, I can not believe how much she has grown and blossomed in these 5 months. She is so far from the child she was 5 months ago, it is AMAZING! And by grown.... I mean literally too! She has grown at least and inch and gained about 3-4 pounds! (This is really good considering I can't get her to eat meat, and we have determined that she can't really have a lot of dairy either!) So, thanks be to God for the great things He has done!! I celebrated my 38th birthday this last week (yeah, I am not ashamed of the years) and the only gift that I could have even asked for was already with me! What a joy it was to celebrate my birthday with my Precious Peruvian! I had waited so many years to be able to say that! And, this time last year, was beyond despair that she may never come --- but again, I marvel at God's timing and His goodness!
Again, I am sure that there are many things I am leaving out! I don't have very many pictures of her from this month, it has just been too crazy, but I do have a few! So, I will post those below! Blessings to all of you, and thank you for your continued prayers as we travel on this journey, and what a beautiful one it is!
Some additional praises! This month one of her brothers went to live with his forever family in Italy, and some friends of mine here, found out that they are getting their LONG AWAITED for children from Peru! And, one of my sweet college friends and her husband brought home their 6th child this month, he is from Bulgaria! Oh, praises be to God for the goodness that HE has shown!
Striving to make His Glory known!
Becca
