I know it's been way too long since I have posted an update on our little Bulgarian girl and there's so much to report that I don't even know where to start.
Emilia has now been home with us for 16 months which is the same amount of time that we waited for her referral. Even though she is still tiny for her age, Emilia is growing. I pulled out some pants the other day that were too long and too wide in the waist for her back in the fall and they now fit beautifully. She is happily eating her food and keeps a close eye on everyone else's intake, too, in case there's something to be tried. She still sleeps great at night and continues to nap in the afternoons.
Emilia's play skills have been improving. She has several toys that she likes and uses to play independently or with adults. Right now she's really into our bead maze and the jack in the box. I have noticed rudimentary pretend play when she makes her jungle animals walk along the TV stand (yesterday I asked her if her giraffe could jump and she showed me it could) and when she picks up our phone, holds it to her ear and says something into it. Emilia's willingness and ability to play with other kids in groups is also advancing which, in large part, must be due to her classes in the community. She likes to dance Ring Around the Rosie with her friend next door and she can approximate the hand motions for The Itsy Bitsy Spider. Emilia has learned how to roll sideways and to somersault forward as well as walk on a balance beam holding just one hand. She can go up and down steps holding an adult's hand or reaching really high for the railing which makes me a bit nervous, but I know I have to let her try.
Emilia has been receiving Prompt speech therapy for about three weeks and her language has exploded. Aside from a ton of conversational babble with great intonation and attempts to imitate what we say, she is using several words and terms clearly and in correct context. Among them are oh-oh, wee, baby, daddy, mami (that's me), up, bye-bye, hi, eye, and ball. Words that we recognize she is saying, but that no one outside of the family would really understand include gentle, ear, neck, thank you, eat, drum, boom, shoes, let's go, and balloon. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised, but it amazes me that all of these words are coming out spontaneously in the right situations now. It's like they've been in there all along and Emilia's brain has just been waiting for the muscles and nerves of her mouth and face to be woken up to cooperate.
In terms of receptive language, Emilia is doing so well. I feel pretty certain that she understands everything that is being said to her directly. She is even getting better at following prohibitive commands. Emilia also reacts to things she hears when Craig and I talk to each other. For instance, if we use the word funny, she starts giggling because she knows that's what you're supposed to do when something is funny. Emilia can point to at least seven body parts on people as well as toy animals/dolls and she is making a connection between 3D and 2D. For example, she calls her dolls baby, but can also show me the baby on the page of a book. A few days ago, she pointed to the baby on the Pampers box and announced, "Baby."
Fine motor work is still low on Emilia's priority list and she continues to resist it to some extent when we focus on it. However, under much protesting, she can now stack towers with small wooden blocks (sometimes she even adjusts the blocks if they didn't go on right) and place some pieces of her inset puzzle independently. She can pull her own shirts off over her head, too, and easily move a loaded spoon from the bowl into her mouth. She still needs help scooping though. I don't know if I ever mentioned, but we think Emilia might be a lefty like her daddy.
We have started putting Emilia on the potty a little bit and she sits there quite happily, but thus far no business is happening. She is one of those kids with super easy BMs and by the time you might notice that she is going, it's usually way too late to get her to the toilet. She is a fast little pooper. We'll keep working on it though with a very low pressure approach and attitude.
Overall, Emilia is in a tremendous developmental spurt, not to mention her emerging sense of humor. She really is a comical little thing and tries to make us laugh all the time. It's been a very rewarding period for us as parents and we couldn't be prouder of our sweet girl.
