Hi all! I'm trying something new, thanks to Terri Wagner. See what you think of Emily's slideshow.
Sorry we've been too busy to post lately. This month is going to be crazy while we get Emily's costume ready, get the house ready for Halloween, and get ready for visitors! CJ, Linda, and Lia Vocu, our friends from the travel group to China, will be staying with us in a few weeks as we attend a major reunion! Our adoption agency is throwing a big reunion party at Disney in Orlando for all its adoptive families Half of the families in our travel group will be there!
Other News on the Homefront
Let's see, Emily's still in gymnastics and enjoying it. Actually, she enjoys jumping up and down and saying "boing, boing!" more than anything. She loves to do somersaults. We're taking a break from storytime since she doesn't seem interested right now. But Mommy misses the other mommies! She still loves Cousin Mick's ukelele, and carries it everywhere, strumming the strings and singing "eeee, bah bah". Here she does her Sound of Music imitation.
Our local Families with Asian Children (FAC) group held its Chinese Moon Festival, which celebrates the importance of family and the Autumn harvest in China. The kids made paper lanters with glow sticks inside. We activated the glow sticks, turned the lights off, and had a light parade. It was great fun! Every Thursday Emily goes to a local church for Mom's Day Out, where local volunteer moms watch the kids so Mommies like me can run errands and actually do yard work! It's great for Emily since she knows many of the kids from the library and our local play group. Emily has a hard time when I leave her, but then she has a great time. Last week was the hardest, though. I pulled into the parking lot and turned to look at her. She was sitting silently in her carseat, sniffing, looking at the church with huge tears running down her face. THUNK! went my heart, and I almost drove home. But, we persevered, and once the wailing started, I knew she'd be ok. Why does motherhood hurt so much sometimes? Emily was fine within a few minutes of me leaving, although the volunteer mom had to peel her off of me. When I returned a few hours later, she didn't even notice me!
Emily's Speech Therapy
Emily began speech therapy a few months ago. We had her evaluated by specialists and she was 6 months behind kids her age. Basically, she rarely said anything. Well, since speech therapy started, she's now only 3 months behind and a chatter box!She's now starting to say 2-word sentences ("bye bye, dada", "emmy happy"), and picks up new words quickly ("squash", "pumpkin"). Daddy is teaching her the alphabet (she repeats it after him), and she can count to 13 by herself. She knows her letters and numbers by sight. We're working on sentences, and "I love you".
This is a big relief, since we wanted to make sure Emily has a good transition into school in a few years. It may seem like overkill, but this little girl had a rough start, and deserves every opportunity that we can give her to blossom. And she's taking it! Smiles are more frequent (although not for the camera), the house is filled with giggles and laughter (everyone's), and we're looking forward to the holiday season with great excitement. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Chinese New Year, it's all going to be even more fun this year as she understands and enjoys more. Oh, and we got tickets to see THE WIGGLES in November!!! Stay tuned...parenthood IS GREAT!!!! :D
Take care everyone,
Caroline
8 comments:
I'm so glad to see that the ukulele is providing some fun for you (though not as much fun as sipping soda from my glass). I just bought a new uke myself, so when I next see you, we'll jam!
LOVE the slideshow!!! I can empathize with the huge tears upon "leaving" Mommy! I can still see Maureen's tear-streaked face --- then you hear the report she would close the door and immediately start playing with the other kids inside!!!! Guess they feel they owe us something!!
What an especially great time of year to share all the holidays with a wide-eyed almost 2 1/2 year old! She is so curious and reactive - - such a darling child...what great parents!
I can just hear you both in a month or two saying, "will she EVER stop talking!!!!!"
Love from "Greatest" Uncle Jack and Aunt Kathy
Emily: Tell Mommy that Uncle Jack likes her slide show; she done good.
Hey there! I don't comment much, but I check your blog regularly to get updates on how you all are doing.
You'll have a great time at the Wiggles. But prepare yourself--friends of mine took their toddlers to see them and said their kids acted just like those screaming teen girls in old Beatles footage. They weren't merely excited, they were hysterical. Wigglemania!
I'm so glad you liked the slide show. Emily is just so darn cute! You should try the photo bucket site for adding little movies to the blog.
Jake just loves looking at Emilys blog. He will say "There's my friend Emily!
Jake responded so quickly to his speech therapy. Then they suggested preschool at 3! Waaaa! I'm so glad we did it because he has just improved by leaps and bounds! Now some days my ears ring from his talking to me ALL DAY!! : )
You are doing all the right things and you can see Emily is just soaking it up. Enjoy it goes so fast!
Can't wait to see Halloween pictures!
It's so great to see Emily laughing and smiling for the camera. This is a big change from the serious little girl brought to America 15 months ago.
Love the slideshow, she just gets more beautiful every time I see her.
Can't wait for another update. "Hint Hint" Now I sound more like "THE GREAT UNCLE JACK"
Forgive me but you do have us spoiled with this blog.
I just got to look at your October update and was comforted to know that Jaidyn is not the only kid who screams when she has to leave Mom.
Jaidyn is okay with my daughter-in-law who takes care of her every day while Teresa goes to work, or with me (if Teresa drops her off). If I pick her up from my daughter-in-law, she bellows, that is, until we reach the corner and then she is fine. Anyone else has to listen to her cry and they are so pitiful when they do.
I loved the slide shows and I am going to continue to check out the rest of your blog.
Love to all.
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