Emilia- Forty-Three Weeks Home

As of Saturday, Emilia has been home with us for forty-three weeks.

This month has brought many changes for our little girl as her weekly schedule now looks quite different from before.  On Mondays and Tuesdays she is in preschool full-day, on Wednesdays she has speech therapy, and on Thursdays she goes to toddler story time at the library with Ms. Rie.  She’s joined for this adventure by Ms. Rie’s sister and her daughter who happen to live next door to us.  Fridays is the only weekday that Emilia has no outings on her schedule.  Overall, the transition is going well. 

Emilia is starting to interact with the children at school and beginning to play with the toys that are offered there.  At home we are hearing a lot of good babbling. She is willing and able to imitate any sounds that she perceives as fun and nonsense, but stays away from the stuff she recognizes as words.  She is following several receptive commands now, such as sit down, come here, and give me a kiss.  She also knows how to give high fives.  Emilia is getting much better at holding her own open cup to drink and really into motor and object imitation now.  The key to this seems to be that we must pretend that we don’t care if she participates or follows our lead.  For example, if I sit on the floor and build a tower and talk to myself, counting the blocks or naming their colors, Emilia will voluntarily join me.  If I topple the tower, she may even start stacking it again.  But I kind of have to look away as she does it and basically not praise her for her accomplishment.  She’s a strange little person, but maybe we are finally starting to figure her out.

Emilia continues to be a cuddly little girl.  I think she has even amped up the hugs and kisses for me a little more still since we have had some days with just the two of us at home.  She is a good eater as long as we keep her food mostly soft though she tries with the solids.  I really only remember one or two dishes that she has ever rejected.  She loves all flavors from baked beans to pears to beef to (non-dairy) chocolate.  Emilia can feed herself with a fork if we load it for her.  She sleeps well through the night 95% of the time.  Very occasionally she has a bad night where I am wondering if she has bad dreams because she seems shaky and scared when we go to comfort her.  If a night like that escalates to the point where Emilia just cannot be alone without being terrified, one of us sleeps with her on the big bed in her room.  That always does the trick and she goes right back to sleeping on her own for 9 or 10 hours the next night.  Oh and Emilia has learned how to climb up on the TV stand and back down.  She really climbs just about anything in sight.  And she loves bath time and playing with water whenever possible.

It’s hard to believe that our little sweet pea is turning three years old soon.  We are so thankful that we will be able to spend this special birthday with her, the first she will be celebrating in a family.  What a gift this child is for all of us.