Nom Nom Nom

This afternoon magic happened in my kitchen when Emilia decided it was time to eat a cookie like this:

I don't even know why I thought to offer her a vanilla shortbread cookie, but I did.  I broke off a piece and held it out in her direction. She looked, opened her mouth and allowed me to place it on her tongue.  Then she closed and chewed/mashed and then she swallowed.  Baffled, I presented another piece with the same result.  In about six bites, the cookie was gone and Emilia was so proud of herself, she couldn't stop hugging me and I gladly obliged.

I can't tell you what an incredible step forward this is for my little girl who less than six months ago let any food with the slightest lump plop right back out of her mouth.  I remember the days when she routinely craned her head away from any approaching spoon or cup and when she ran, screaming, from any solid food entering her personal space.  And today her first cookie: what a reward for me after following my instincts with her feeding for months and allowing her to discover food at her own pace in a place of trust we slowly created.  Go, Emilia!  I can't wait to learn what your favorite foods will be.

Emilia - Twenty-Three Weeks Home

Yesterday marked twenty-three weeks home for Emilia.  She is such a different little girl from the tiny, timid wallflower we brought home from Bulgaria.  Now we have a fierce and feisty toddler on our hands. 

Emilia has decided that just about anything or anyone is good for climbing and she has also figured out that she can push the chairs around, then climb them to reach higher up items and surfaces.  She likes the kitchen sink a lot, so if I have anything in there soaking, she’s bound to find it and play with the water. Gross.  Emilia is now able to sit and focus on age appropriate videos for about 15-20 minutes.  She especially likes the Baby Einstein Numbers Nursery and some of the Your Baby Can Read selections.  She also enjoys for us to turn on some music and pick her up to dance.

Emilia is very interested in watching and feeling our mouths these days as we are forming words.  She is doing some imitation of sounds, too.  For example, one night I was in the living room popping bubble wrap with Rex, saying, “Pop, pop, pop.”  After a while, from the kitchen where Emilia was perched on a big chair, I heard, “Popopo.”  The suspense is killing me as I am anxiously awaiting her fourth English word, whatever that might be.

Nutritionally, Emilia is making nice progress.  She continues to move toward more solid foods and I am finally seeing some serious jaw movement when warranted.  I used to have to pick the fruit pieces out of Emilia’s soy yogurt and now she eats them with no issues.  She also had Stage 4 chunky applesauce with the diced apple pieces in it and didn’t even blink.  And just yesterday for lunch, she allowed us to feed her several bits of a cake donut.  She took them straight from our fingers into her mouth, then mashed/chewed and swallowed.  We were so excited about this as it’s her most solid food to date and also the first time that she accepted a food from our fingers rather than a spoon.  If anyone has ideas about what solids to offer her next, I am open to suggestions.

Our little Emilia girl is doing very well, all in her own perfect time and way.  We love you, sweet pea!

IAC 215 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 215 which was held on March 21, 2012.

1) Norwegian dossier from April 2009 referred a female child aged 3 years and 2 months with features in health status

2) Italian dossier from April 2009 referred a male child aged 3 years and 1 month

3) Spanish dossier from May 2009 referred a male child aged 3 years and 8 months with features in health status

4) US dossier from June 2009 referred a male child aged 1 year and 3 months with features in health status and family history

5) US dossier from August 2009 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status

6) German dossier from October 2009 referred a female child aged 4 years and 2 months with features in health status and family history

7) Dutch dossier from March 2010 referred a female child aged 1 year and 10 months with features in health status

8) US dossier from March 2010 referred a brother and sister aged 5 years and 5 months and 6 years and 9 months with features in health status

9) Swedish dossier from July 2010 referred a male child aged 2 years and 3 months with features in health status and family history

10) French dossier from August 2011 referred a female child aged 10 years and 10 months

Rex - Thirty-Seven Weeks Home

Today marks thirty-seven weeks home and thirty-nine weeks out of the orphanage for Rex.

The last two weeks with Rex have been pretty amazing.  He is doing so very well in all of his therapy and mastering IEP and ABA objectives left and right.  He is signing eat, music, go, and swing with almost perfect accuracy and spontaneity now and he’s nearly there with the signs for drink and jump, too.  He needs very little prompting now to wave hi and bye and to give high fives.  Rex is consistently following commands like “give me,” “sit down,” “pat the drum” and many others.  We keep adding to his repertoire.  He responds to his name by looking and he makes beautiful eye contact with me and those he knows well.  His receptive language is remarkable for a child who was thought to be nearly deaf and treated as such for many months.

The little king surveying his territory.

(And yes, he was supervised, but didn't know it.)

Rex has completed the objective of scribbling two to four marks and we’re now working on drawing lines.  We’re also teaching him how to match objects and how to catch and kick a ball.  He’s coming along nicely with puzzles, learning to put the pieces more easily into the correct spots.  In a great self-taught accomplishment, Rex has learned how to open doors by turning the knobs. The moment he figured it out, Craig was watching him. He says that when it finally clicked in Rex’s head, he uttered a triumphant, “haha” and nothing has been safe since.

With all this progress in so many areas, we have also seen the re-emergence of some auto-aggression.  It’s not frequent, but, of course, we’d rather have none of it.  The moments it happens are easily understood: when we tell Rex no and when he is unable to complete a task he has set for himself, such as pulling the kitchen table onto the deck and the darn thing just won’t fit through the door.  Rex has also been a little more restless at night, waking briefly once or twice, so we have allowed him to co-sleep a bit more.  When he does, he is completely peaceful and makes sure that he touches at least one of us at all times.  He seems to really need and enjoy that nesting warmth and comfort still and we are happy to provide it considering he missed out on it for such a long time.

So handsome (not that I'm biased).

Rex is also getting to be such a funny little guy and so savvy.  When I wanted a moment of rest, I used to be able to sit down on the couch and hide my hands under the blanket, so Rex thought he couldn’t pull me anywhere. Well, no such luck anymore.  The little stinker has figured out that he can slip off the blanket and find my hands and thereby my attention.  Makes me smile every time he does it.  Very recently, I was working with Rex on one of his imitation programs where we show him an action and ask him to repeat it by saying, “Do this.”  So, I was clapping my hands loudly, proclaiming, “Rex, do this.”  Next thing I knew, he was walking over to me, grabbed both of my hands in his and smacked them together.  I instantly cracked up at his very literal and accurate response to my request.


Yesterday we learned that Rex's first day of preschool will be August 27, so we have four months left together at home.  However, Rex will start transitioning on August 6 by attending half day camp at the school for one week, then full day camp the following week and then he has a week off before the school year starts.

My happy boy with shining eyes and big smile.

I hope Rex knows how very proud we are of him and that we understand that learning these basics is hard work for him and doesn’t come easily as for most children.  He is our Armenian treasure, forever to be cherished and adored.

Sensory Kit

A few weeks ago, I compiled a sensory kit for my friend Amie's little girl who was about to come home from Bulgaria. Among the items I included were these texture cards which I made with a few supplies from the craft store and many things I already had around our home.

In total there are 18 pairs of matching cards, each pair with a different texture, anything from carpet to sandpaper to bubble wrap, mirror tiles and fleece. The cards can be used for sensory exploration/integration as well as other activities, such as sorting or learning colors.

My sensory cards may not be as fancy as the ones you can buy, starting at about $50 a box with only about 10 textures, but I think they turned out pretty well.

I told my kids that I would make them some texture cards like these, too... don't remind them because I don't know when I will get around to it.

IAC 213 & 214 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC session 213 which was held on March 7, 2012:

1) Spanish dossier from February 2009 referred a female child aged 6 years and 11 months

2) US dossier from April 2009 referred a female child aged 5 years with features in health status and family history

3) French dossier from February 2011 referred a male child aged 8 years and 8 months

4) French dossier from May 2011 referred a male child aged 7 years and 4 months with a family history

5) Canadian dossier from December 2011 referred a male child aged 1 year and 5 months with features in health status

6) Italian dossier from January 2012 referred a female child aged 9 years and 6 months

7) Italian dossier from February 2012 referred twin sisters aged 9 years and 11 months

8) Italian dossier from February 2012 referred a male child aged 9 years and 1 month

9) US dossier from February 2012 referred three waiting children (#850 & #666 & #183) with profiles on the MOJ site

10) US dossier from February 2012 referred a waiting child (#1552) with a profile on the MOJ site

11) US dossier from February 2012 referred a waiting child (#1734) with a profile on the MOJ site

12) US dossier from February 2012 referred a waiting child (#1463) with a profile on the MOJ site

13) US dossier from February 2012 referred a waiting child (#1363) with a profile on the MOJ site

14) US dossier from March 2012 referred a waiting child (#1157) with a profile on the MOJ site

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The following referrals were issued in IAC session 214 which was held on March 14, 2012:

1) Greek dossier from June 2007 referred a female child aged 5 years

2) Greek dossier from September 2007 referred a female child aged 2 years and 2 months

3) Greek dossier from October 2008 referred a male child aged 1 year and 11 months

4) Norwegian dossier from January 2009 referred a male child aged 1 year and 7 months

5) German dossier from April 2009 referred a male child aged 4 years and 8 months

6) US dossier from January 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years and 1 month

7) US dossier from March 2010 referred a brother and sister aged 3 years and 7 months and 2 years and 1 month with features in health status

8) Italian dossier from September 2010 referred a waiting child (#1700) with a profile on the MOJ site

9) Italian dossier from December 2010 referred a male child aged 2 years with features in health status

10) US dossier from March 2012 referred two waiting children (#199 & #127) with profiles on the MOJ site

11) US dossier from March 2012 referred a waiting child (#1256) with a profile on the MOJ site

50,000 Views - Blog Roll

I recently realized that my blog is quickly approaching 50,000 views, so I started wondering who is reading our story. Therefore, I'd like to call a blog roll. If you wouldn't mind, and especially if you are not signed up as an official follower/member, would you please leave a comment? You don't have to identify yourself, but I would love to know in which state or country you live and anything else you could share.

Thanks and looking forward to "meeting" you!