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Wednesday, December 31, 2008
HOME ONE AND A HALF MONTHS

It's hard to believe it’s been almost two months since we first met Maili in China, yet in some ways it seems like she’s always been part of our family. She’s come so far in such a short period of time and her progress continues to amaze us each day. She has close to fifty English words that she uses consistently and she adds new words to her vocabulary on a daily basis. She understands almost everything we say and can follow two step directions when she chooses. Thankfully, she chooses to listen the majority of the time and has stopped testing limits for the most part. She still has her 4 year old moments, but at this point she seems to have given up the battle for total control and is content to let us make the decisions for her instead of having to have things her way, right away. She has learned that we will meet her needs and do what is best for her and she trusts us to do so, which is a huge improvement over the controlling behaviors she exhibited in the beginning.

On the medical front she has received good reports in all areas of concern. After she was cleared by the cardiologist we revisited the ENT, where we were told her ears were mostly clear and she passed her hearing test this time. So no ear tubes in the immediate future as long as we can keep them that way. The orthopedist cleared her as well, finding no structural abnormalities with her hip as we had been concerned might be found. All of her blood tests came back fine as well, and none of her immunizations have to be repeated, thank goodness. So basically we have one perfectly healthy, happy little girl.

And happy she is- this girl never stops smiling from the time she wakes up until the time she goes to bed! She’s had plenty to smile about this past month as she celebrated Christmas no less than FIVE times with family and extended family. She’s had so much fun opening presents and spending time with family and friends. We’ve all wondered what she’s been thinking when she smiles to herself while opening yet another gift under yet another Christmas tree. I’m sure she’d never seen anything like it in her little life and it had to be a bit overwhelming for her. On Christmas morning at home she played with each gift for a period of time after opening it and only then returned to open the next one. Holt ripped into his and was finished in no time but she was still playing with the first few she had opened long after he moved on. I think she finally finished opening presents somewhere near lunchtime, as she spent time enjoying each and every one she opened before moving on to the next. We should all stop and take time to appreciate each and every gift the way she did instead of rushing through the experience; I imagine we would all enjoy Christmas more if we did it that way.

In one short week Maili will begin full time private preschool when I return to work. She has stayed all day a few times so it won’t be a completely new experience for her, but I think it will be hard on both of us not getting to spend the days together as we have been doing since she came home. Hopefully it will be a good experience for her in terms of learning language and academics, since she will be immersed in language all day every day with her peers. She can already sing most of the ABC song and count to 10 so it will be exciting to watch her grow and expand her language and skills. She loves to learn and it's so neat to share new experiences with her and watch her blossom. I can't wait to see what the future holds for her since she has already come so far in such a short period of time. I think the "before" and "after" photos say it all. She went from being a shut-down, frightened little girl to a joyful, smiling bundle of energy who loves to laugh and give hugs. She has a smile that can light up a room and it is followed by a "LUB YEW" (her version of I love you) many times a day but we never tire of hearing it. I astounds us to think of what we would have missed out on had we not opened our hearts to adopt an older waiting child rather than a so-called healthy infant. She is perfect for our family in every way and our home would be so much less joyful without her in it.

Ready for Santa

Inspecting the Christmas village

Hugs from GeGe

Checking out the stocking
to see what Santa brought

Stuffed Lola- much better behaved
than the original

This is the life!

Two Christmas angels

Before

After-
Mom and Dad's favorite gift this year

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