Much Over Due Post

Wow…have I been slack or what?  Do I even have any readers out there anymore?  Hopefully I do. 

Things are wonderful here.  Let’s see.  I last posted in May.  In June we celebrated Little T being home 2 years!  Has the time flown by or what?  She has grown so much and we are so proud of her.  Her speech is coming along, slowly, very slowly, but we do see improvement.  She started the More At 4 program which has her going to pre-k from 8:30 to 2:30.  She absolutely loves it! 

 

In July we watched baseball and enjoyed being outdoors even though it was quite hot.   L did well in Jr. Legion baseball but I was glad when it was over!  We could finally have our weekends back!

Yes – it was that hot!!  Even our feet needed the shade!!!  

 

We also went to NY to visit Big T’s mom in July.  It was a welcome break and we enjoyed just hanging around and talking with her.  I was also able to visit a good friend while up there who adopted twice from China.  The biggest thing I did though was to go to the house I grew up in.  I found out that a girl I graduated with from high school bought my parents house!  How awesome is that??  So, I contacted her and was able to go see what they’ve done to the place.  It really makes my heart feel good knowing that someone is in the house and taking care of it. 

We did some swimming during the summer.  Little T took some lessons at the Y.  She loves the pool and is a little fish!

We also got a visit from the T’s and Baby H.  Well…Baby H isn’t much of a baby anymore.  She’s 2 and as big as Little T! 

They also surprised us with the news that they were pregnant and expecting a son in September.  Well it seems that this little one couldn’t wait until September and he made his way into the world on August 27th weighing in at 8.5 oz and 20”!!!  Please welcome Baby A!!

 

I’ve found myself looking at the waiting child lists, seeing so many children.  I’ve asked Big T if we could adopt again and he said no but I’ve prayed about it and I’m at peace with it because I know that God is working on his heart and I just have to wait for His timing.  In the meantime I’ve become more involved with a wonderful organization called An Orphans Wish (<---click me!).  I’m volunteering each month and we are sponsoring a beautiful little 3 year old girl who has club feet.   I’m completely taken by this one. 

Big T is doing well and enjoy every minute he can with Little T.  It still makes me smile when I think about the first time he met her.  She kissed him and that was it – she had him wrapped around her little finger from that moment on.

Well, I think that just about catches everyone up!  I’ll try to do a much better job at keeping the blog up to date. 

MIA

Sorry guys – been real busy around here.  I do have some pictures but I haven’t even gotten them off the camera yet!  Baseball is going full force.  L’s team is in the play-offs.  Then he starts Jr. Legion.  Summer is right around the corner!

 

I wanted to put up a few quick videos.  I got myself a Flip and I really like it!  Its small, easy to use and even easier to upload to the pc.  T likes it because I can put her on the TV! 

 

The first video is T telling me about her day and a story. 

 

This second video is for my sis!  She sent Little T a cute ladybug umbrella.

What is Her True Special Need?

When we decided to adopt from China we got into the healthy as young as possible line.  We didn’t even think about going special needs.  In fact, the words “special needs” scared us.  We were logged in on May 30, 2006.  At that time we were told we would have our referral in 9 to 12 months.  As we all know this didn’t happen and we waited and waited.  I started doing some research and talked to Big T about getting in the special needs line.  I especially wanted a heart baby because of all I learned about the heart when my mom was so sick.  Big T?  Well, he wanted nothing to do with a heart baby.  When we got that call, that wonderful call, I called him and told him to get to a computer so he could see his little girl.  After he saw her picture I told him she was a heart baby.  Was he mad?  Yep, just a little but he knew she was his daughter so he got over it pretty quick. 



Once we got home with her we made an appointment with our pediatrician who referred us to Wake Med and a pediatric cardiologist.  (We were under the impression that her heart hadn’t been fixed but when I got to China I found out she had been operated on about a month before we got her.)  So, we go to the pediatric cardiologist and get some tests done.  He was very pleased with China’s work on her heart and told us that she is fine and he didn’t need to see us anymore.  Praise the Lord!!  We were so happy!!



As we went along our merry way I noticed she wasn’t talking.  Yes, she just spent 2 years of her life in an orphanage where they spoke a different language.  But she understood us, would do what we asked her.  What was going on?  She was referred to EI where they started her on speech therapy and occupational therapy.  The OT was for chewing because at 26 months old she didn’t know how to chew.   That is another story for another time.  The EI was happening 2x a week.  Then when she turned 3 she went under the county and started speech therapy with them 2x a week at her pre-school.  I wasn’t happy with her progress so I made an appointment with her old EI speech therapist for another evaluation.  That is when we learned she has verbal apraxia. 



Wait a minute!!  That isn’t her special need!  No one said anything about verbal apraxia!  But there it was, in black and white.  Little T, who will turn 4 next month, can not talk like a normal soon to be 4 year old.  She can’t carry on a conversation, she can’t tell me about her day at school, she can’t tell me if someone was being mean to her.  Since I’m with her all the time this doesn’t bother me but when I’m around another 3 year old that can talk your ears off, my heart just aches for her.   Its so hard for me sometimes when I hear a young child talking and laughing with their mom or dad.  Will she ever be able to do that?  


We didn’t put verbal apraxia as a need that we would “accept” on our little checklist we gave to our agency.  In fact, it wasn’t even ON the checklist!    But here it is, in our lives, as her true special need.

Snow!!!!

The weather man was right for a change!!  We got around 5 or 6 inches of snow and its the good packing, throwing snowball, building snowman type of snow.  Little T loves being out in it.  When she walks around it makes that crunch sound and she just giggles away.

 

 

The Dirty Snowman!!

 

KaCee catching a snowball.  Stupid dog…

 

 

Little T making a snow angel.  Every time she would fall off the boogie board she would make one!

 

 

 

The southern way to sled….boogie board!!!!!

 

 

 

Wipe out!!

 

 

 

 

 

Another wipe out!

 

 

Lets talk about talking

I had Little T evaluated by another speech therapist.  I just haven’t been very happy with her progress through the school ST.  She sat down with her and had her point out different things in pictures like where is the boy under the table or where is the girl going up the stairs.  Little T did awesome in this!  She asked her to point to her different body parts and a few other little things.  Then she got down on the floor with her and just played with her.  She listened to her interact with me, watched her while she played and continued to ask questions to Little T and then to me about her.  When it was all done and said she told me that she understands everything and can follow complex instructions.  (ok – nothing new there!)

 

 

 

 

 

Then she asked me if I continued to hear the same sounds like she was – the d’s and some other sounds when she was babbling.  I said yep.  She asked her to say momma and then milk.  Momma came out wonderful, milk came out “il” (and of course she signed it!).  The therapist then asked me what I knew about verbal apraxia.  Actually, I told her, quite a bit!  Every time I did research on the internet about her being non-verbal I came back time and time again to this same thing. 

 

The ST then went on to say that she didn’t want to put Little T in this “box” as she called it.  She didn’t want to put a label on her because once a child has a label like this it becomes hard to change it.  I told her to go ahead and do it because then the insurance would pay for private therapy which was my ultimate goal in the first place!! 

 

 

Verbal apraxia – scary stuff.  What does this mean for our sweet girl?  It means nothing in the sense that she’s still our beautiful little girl that we love and adore.  It does mean that we will have to work harder with her and for her.  She’ll be going to speech therapy 4x a week instead of just 2x a week.  After more research I learned that fish oil can help her so I’ve started giving her Nordic Naturals ProEFA (omega 3,6,9) and EPA.  (You guys should see me squeezing the oil out of the pills.  She holds the spoon, I squeeze and she takes it and waits for more.)

 

 

What will the future hold for her?  Only God knows that answer. I do know that this won’t stop her – she’s to much of a little spit fire to let anything as trivial as this stop her.  She gets her point across through sign language and attitude.  Will she ever talk normal?  Yes, I think she will but again, it will take hard work and dedication by both of us.    

 

 

 

 

Christmas and a visit from the T’s!

Little T enjoyed Christmas this year though she seemed to be a little overwhelmed again.  She opened up her Itty Bitty baby from American Girl and got so excited!  She also got a backpack with it that had a few other pieces of clothing.  Oh my, I think I changed that doll’s clothes a hundred times Christmas Day!

The above picture is Little T taking a picture of me while I was taking a picture of her!  She loves her new camera!

 

My oldest came home a few days after Christmas for a nice visit.  We can’t believe how big Baby H is getting!  She’s not quite as tall as Little T but she weighs about 3 or 4 pounds more and is as cute as a button! 

As you can see from the above picture Little T was very excited to have Baby H here!

Heh…here they are waiting for their daddy’s to come home.  They were at the window yelling “Dada!!”.  In fact, Little T is right here and when she saw this picture she yelled “DaDa!!”

 

 

I love the picture below!!  Look at those eyes on my babies…

 

 

And if you can stand any more cuteness here are some pictures of my girlfriends little girl.  Isn’t she just adorable??!!  I crack up every time I see her in pink because her momma does NOT like pink at all.  Too funny!