The Little Baker

Today Emilia helped me make a strawberry rhubarb cobbler.  This was the first time that she really showed intense and prolonged interest in such an activity and stuck with it from beginning to end.

Her senses were intrigued by all of it, to say the least:

When I turned my back for a minute, Emilia snuck her first bite of sugary-buttery goodness.  After that I just let her have it, assuming that diarrhea was already inevitable:

I will, however, not let her have any of our final product because one dairy infraction per week is enough:

Strawberry Season

If you follow this blog, you know that I am big time into picking and preserving my own fruit while it's in season, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that on Friday morning, Ms. Rie, Emilia and I ventured to the country to pick strawberries. The berries were so gorgeous and plentiful that it took us only an hour to pick 41 pounds at the cost of about $2.00 per pound.  Of our loot, I took home 25 pounds and turned about two thirds of it into strawberry freezer jam (about 200 ounces) as well as strawberry sauce in the form of about 100 frozen cubes.  The rest of the berries are in the fridge right now for eating and baking.

Here's my lovely Emilia with the strawberry fields behind her. Maybe next year she will be ready to help us pick rather than supervise from her stroller:

And this is just a snapshot that Ms. Rie captured (my camera lense was fogged over from being near the cold drinks in my bag):

If you have the chance, go out and pick some strawberries this season.  They are luscious.

IAC 253 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 253 which was held on April 22, 2013:

1) Cyprus dossier from April 2009 referred a male child aged 1 year and 8 months

2) Dutch dossier from January 2010 referred two children, male and female, aged 2 years and 10 months & 5 years and 4 months

3) Spanish dossier from March 2010 referred a female child aged 3 years and 4 months

4) Italian dossier from March 2010 referred a female child aged 3 years and 9 months

5) Spanish dossier from March 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 6 months

6) French dossier from November 2010 referred a male child aged 1 year and 7 months with features in health status and a family history

7) German dossier from September 2011 referred a female child aged 3 years and 10 months with features in health status

8) US dossier from January 2013 referred a waiting child (#1977) with a profile on the MOJ site

9) Italian dossier from March 2013 referred a male child aged 9 years and 10 months

10) US dossier from April 2013 referred a waiting child (#1053) with a profile on the MOJ site

11) Italian dossier from April 2013 referred a waiting child (#1954) with a profile on the MOJ site

12) US dossier from April 2013 referred a waiting child (#545) with a profile on the MOJ site

13) US dossier from April 2013 referred three waiting children (#1886 & #1874 & #1888) with profiles on the MOJ site

Emilia In Numbers

Over the last week or so, we have had a lot of appointments giving us some current information on Emilia.

First, she had a check-up with our family doctor where she was weighed and measured.  She came in at 34 inches tall and 27 pounds heavy.  I don't have 100% confidence in the weight measurement as their scales seemed ill-calibrated, but I am certain that she is at her highest weight ever right now, at least ten pounds above what she was at homecoming.

I asked the doctor to run some blood tests and from those results we learned that Emilia's thyroid is now doing fine.  She is still minimally anemic which is associated with one of her known medical conditions, so we are not worried.  However, the testing also showed that her ferritin levels (the iron stored in her body) are rather low. The normal range is 10-180 and hers is at 20.  The doctor prescribed an iron supplement, but was also supportive of my idea of finding a more natural source of iron.  I scoured the shelves at Whole Foods and bought Gaia Plant Force Liquid Iron which tastes great (like honey and orange) and can easily be given with some orange juice to aid absorption.  So, I am going to try this first before forcing the yucky stuff from the pharmacy.

I also had the childhood food allergy blood panel run again and it revealed that Emilia is still allergic to dairy and possibly egg whites (though I have never seen her have a negative reaction to eggs), but the test showed her as not allergic to peanuts and fish.  I question those results because it seems that every time she has peanut butter, she gets diarrhea and a rash.  I will simply continue to keep peanut products out of her diet and have her retested later with a better test.  I am hoping very much that my suspicions are wrong about a possible fish allergy because Emilia enjoys fish.  I am going to find a good time to experiment at home by feeding her fish again and seeing what happens.

Emilia also had her first mini dental check-up and everything looks good.  All of her teeth have come in, including the molars and there are no visible cavities.  She only had a few teeth at two years old when we brought her home and the doctors wondered.  I guess her body just needed some good nutrition to push those pearly whites out.

Emilia loves watching videos on her Kindle,
anytime, anywhere

Lastly, I signed Emilia's IEP this week.  She qualified for preschool services in our district which I declined, but I accepted an hour of therapy a week which will either be OT, PT, or ST or a co-treat as needed.  Our new K-12 school opens in September and is only a 5 minute drive from our home, so it will be very convenient to take her to and from therapy.

The school's OT, PT, and ST as well as the psychologist went  through the results of their evaluations with me and I was not at all surprised that Emilia scored approximately at the level of an 18 months old child.  This is how long she has been with us and she has been developing on pace since then, but her two orphanage years were a total loss to her which means she was basically starting from scratch in our family.  Her secure skills in fine motor and gross motor are at about 16 months, speech at 18 months, adaptive behavior at 25 months, cognitive at 20 months and social-emotional at 18 months.  She has further scattered skills in all areas of development, some of which reach up to about 30 months.  I think everyone feels confident that she will continue to make good progress.

Of course, I know that none of these numbers define our sweet girl.  They do not reflect her joyful spirit, her affectionate nature, her irresistible laughter, her foot-stomping disagreement, or her tight hugs.  I don't dwell on the numbers, but focus simply on what should come next on Emilia's developmental path.  I relish in the milestones that Emilia has met and enjoy the rewards of parenting her, like hearing her try to sing the e-i-e-i-o part of Old McDonald.  Three months ago, she couldn't speak at all:

(And yes, this is what my house looks like 
at the end of a three day weekend)

Rex's First Field Trip

Around this time two years ago, we received our last update on Rex from Yerevan.  It had been six long months since we'd held him and a court date still was not in sight for us.  Looking at these pictures then made me so sad, but seeing them today breaks my heart even more because I know Rex's personality and expressions now and recognize the tremendous pain, loneliness and frustration he must have been feeling when these photos were taken.

Today, just two short years later, Rex ventured on his first field trip with his classmates, teachers, and a pack of parents at his side.  Watching him enjoy the day, I couldn't help but think of those photos of him in the pink turtleneck and struggled to hold back the tears.  What a difference it has made for this wonderful boy that we found him, were entrusted with his care, and granted the privilege to call him our son.

Rex loved the hayride,
especially when the trees made a roof over our wagon

Rex at Pioneer Village,
building a fire and cooking

Enjoying the giant ball pit

Braving the super fast, long slide

This is the face of adoption, the face of a boy who is loved by his family, the face of a child receiving the best possible care for his medical and developmental needs, the face of happiness.  This is the face that makes my heart sing every single day.

Photo Of The Day

Cousins...

Kitchen News

You know how they say that the kitchen is the best loved room in a house, the place everyone gathers, a great spot for talking and enjoying each others' company?  That's certainly true in our home.  For a long while though, something in my kitchen has been driving me a little nuts... namely the way my kids have been pushing our table around all the time.  So, I came up with a solution and it involved this ledge:

A few hundred dollars, one nice handyman, and a couple of hours of labor later, I now have an immovable kitchen table.  It gives me more surface space than what I had before and it matches our other kitchen counters. I am really happy with how it turned out.  I just have to make a trip to IKEA now to get some chairs, hopefully this weekend.

Have you ever craved a food to the point of salivating just thinking about it?  I wanted tabbouleh for weeks in that way and finally made it for myself.  I used quinoa instead of bulgur because it has more protein and is more nutritious.  Ah, so delicious when this long desired dish finally hit my mouth.

Tomorrow at Rex's school, parents are holding an end of school year lunch for the therapists.  I volunteered to bring a meatless main dish because at least one of the therapists is a vegetarian.  I thought a long time about what to make and finally settled on a quiche.  Kind of cliche, I know, but I thought it would not be too heavy in warmer weather and could be enjoyed cold or reheated in the microwave.  Then I set out to find a better quiche recipe than what I had on hand and discovered a real winner.  I made two test quiches last week, one with onions and spinach, the other with ham and mushrooms.  They were really good with a nice texture that held up over a few days in the fridge and great flavor.  Craig told me it was the best quiche he'd ever had.  Trust me, he would let me know me if it were otherwise, too.  Here's the recipe.  The key is to pre-bake your crust for 7-10 minutes and to pre-fry ingredients like onions, mushrooms and ham.

And that's a wrap for news from the Martini kitchen.