Me and My Friends

Hi all!

We're just having fun, as usual, and continuing to come out of our shell. Last week at the library, kids librarian Miss Diane and many of the moms exclaimed as Emily laughed, jumped, and clapped her way through story time. Afterwards she interacted more with the children. It was very exciting. Of course, it's still next to impossible to get a picture of her laughing. I think we need a faster camera!

The Wilson Family

Here are some photos of get togethers with friends. High school buddy and excellent Brevard County Realtor Barbara Wilson (plug, plug) and her 7-year old son Michael visited Emily for the first time. Michael was just great with Emily, as you can see. Barb brought food, bless her, and toys and videos for Emily, including her favorite The Wiggles (the colorful Australian kids show). We watched the Wiggles together, and Emily laughed and danced...actually, we all laughed and danced--it was great fun!

Michael was very concerned for Emily's safety, gasped frequently at her at her near misses with hard objects, and urged Barb and I to "be very careful" with her. We promised him we would! :)

Taylor's First Birthday Party

Buddy Tayor turned one just two months after returning from China, so we celebrated with cake! As you can see, Taylor liked the cake!


Natalie's mom Cindy holds Emily. Remember, Natalie is travelling to China with her husband Ernest (keep your fingers crossed) to adopt her daughter Ashley in a matter of weeks. Grandma's getting some practice!

Abigail and Emily have fun in their jumpers!

This is an interesting photo, at least a month old. Emily hadn't been showing much interested in other children, but when Taylor started crying, she really became concerned. Natalie said Emily later touched Taylor's hair to comfort her.

Other News

Emily was diagnosed with Giardia this past week as well, and was placed on antibiotics. So that's where Mommy got it from! It wasn't pretty! Since Emily never showed signs, we didn't worry. Poor thing, she must have gotten it from the water at her orphanage--2 other babies in our travel group were diagnosed with it, as well. Daddy has to be tested on Monday, to make sure he's not carrying the parasite.

Back to Emily. Several surprising developments:

1. She began clapping her hands after watching other children do the same for weeks at the library.
2. She made the sign of the Itsy Bitsy Spider! I wasn't sure at first what she was doing, so I sang the song to her, and she laughed and moved her fingers again. She knew! Now we're constantly clapping or singing "Itsy Bitsy"...oh, and walking her around the house holding her fingertips.
3. We also learned to stomp our feet this week, which makes us giggle like crazy.
4. We absolutely LOVE The Wiggles.
5. And, best of all, we're standing and letting go!







What a couple of weeks. Who knows what's in store next?!!

Take care, Caroline