Emilia - Thirty-Five Weeks Home

Today marks thirty-five weeks home for Emilia.

It’s been a great two weeks with a little girl who is always happy, unless she does not get her way or her food.  My tiny tot is looking good and growing, her hair is getting long, she’s got chubby cheeks and arms and legs and a belly.  When we were out at the grocery store, someone even said to us about the kids, “Oh, they’re close in age” as opposed to assuming that Rex is a toddler and Emilia is an infant.  “Yes,” I answered.  “How close?”  “Seven months apart.”  Confused look… “How close?”  “Seven months apart.”  I love those moments where people want to ask more, but decide to just walk away.

We have experienced a noticeable uptick in Emilia’s babbling.  There are more and longer random sound combinations now, like heeyaga, owelee, ewelyn, etc.  She has also started making sounds back and forth with us, but she always chooses the sound and does not change it if we change ours.  Emilia has also begun chewing her fingers and some objects around the house which OT tells us is a great sign for being ready for more textures and a willingness to finger-feed.  At the same time, I am trying to reduce her thumb-sucking which is still a means of quick soothing for Emilia when distressed.  I am not stopping it altogether, but just pulling her thumb out of her mouth when I am comforting her which she is accepting quite well.

Emilia is working very hard to use her hands more appropriately.  She is trying to pick up with pincer grasps or at least by using her middle finger and thumb. She isolates her index finger (or sometimes middle finger – yes, some awkward moments in public) to point and last night she waved bye-bye for the first time to the cashier at the store.  She knows the sign for more, but will sign it by putting together our hands rather than her own.  Emilia is quite agile up and down the stairs now and can get a couple of unassisted jumps in on the trampoline.  She’s still reluctant to participate in structured activities, but she is always keeping busy and learning on her own.

She still loves to look out the windows.

We used to be very worried about Emilia’s nutritional intake, but those days are over.  Our girl likes to eat.  And she is upset when someone eats and she does not.  She hovers in the kitchen when food is being prepared to make sure she doesn’t miss a meal.  I have cut back on her fat calories and increased her fruit and liquid intake. She loves drinking smoothies, so we have a great way to get her vitamins and fiber.

We are so blessed to have this little Bulgarian angel in our family.  Emilia is so loving and showers us with hugs and kisses, smiles and giggles every day.  She adores Rex and continues to approach and engage him to the best of her ability.  She’s a wonderful sister and a cherished daughter.