One Month Post Gotcha Update
Yesterday was the one month anniversary of Gotcha Day. Since Gotcha Madelyn...
* is sitting up. She could not do this at all in China and now she's mastered it.
* knows who her parents are. No doubt. She recognizes us as her caretakers and knows we are the ones that will meet her needs.
* reaches for us to pick her up.
* still laughs a lot and smiles.
* loves the swing on the playground outside.
* watches her brothers play all around her.
* doesn't like for her hair to be pulled by Nate.
* starting to put weight on her legs when assisted or in the exersaucer.
* turned 11 months old on the 23rd of March.
* can pick up toys. She's starting to want to play with more than just lightly tap on them like she did at first.
* today started picking up cheerios but not to eat, only to play with.
* sleeps through the night and is on the same sleep schedule as her brothers.
* has severe separation anxiety. If she is watching us and we turn away, she will cry VERY loud.
* hates a carseat.
* still can't grasp a bottle. If the bottle is sat in front of her, she waves her arms around but has no idea how to pick it up. This will be discussed at the next dr's visit.
* in the bathtub she takes turns with each hand splashing water. She's more curious about the water splashing than the bathtoys around her. Fortunately she doesn't cry when I pour water over her head to wash her hair.
Even though I'm seeing small improvements, I'm still frustrated at the fact that I can tell the orphanage did not work with her at all. How did they feed her? Why can't she hold her own bottle at 11 months old? Did she always lay in a crib? Was she ignored b/c she is quieter than most kids? She's not necesarily quiet but her cries are not as loud as many can be at this age. Was she ever hugged or loved while there?
CDSA is coming for an evaluation 4/10. The first caseworker comes 4/20 to start working with her on her developmental delays.
I'm homebound. How many adults go solo outside of home with three babies? You just don't see this in public and I know exactly why now. It's too stressful. Maybe I'll get brave one day and venture out.
posted by Melissa @ 10:40 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
sounds like things are on the up and up! see? those extra prayers mighta done teh trick! ;) hope to see you again soon - it's been too long! :)
Hi melissa,
All the uncertainty of what happens with the children before the come to us is hard to take sometimes. Kennedy doesn't hold her own bottle yet either, and she'll be a year on Sunday. she didn't sit up either in China...is now, but doesn't crawl yet. I've heard many, many stories like this...most of which turn out with the children catching up eventually. Hope everything goes well with the evaluation visit. Thanks for sharing...and good luck.
About your worries with the orphanage, our little Patrick came from Ecuador, he was around 3 when we got him (papers say: exact age unknown, was found at an age between 8 and 18 months... how can this be?? Do ecuatorian babies look the same at 8 and 18 months??). He was unable to talk (we speak spanish and english with him, so language was not the barrier). He would never cry even when he had blatantly hurt himself, this was explained to us as "too many kids and no time to tend to one when he cried". He also had marks on his body. His teeth had rotten away. I often ask myself what kind of place that orphanage was, one where he would not speak at 3 years old, where he had no hygiene, where he had no right to cry!!!
He is now 7, speaks 2 languages fluently, goes to school, is great at sports and is the happiest little boy in the world!
I think Madelyn will also be one of the happiest children in the world, she was very blessed with you as a family!
Love, Gabby with Patrick
I'm hoping to come over sometime this week. Miss you all too much for any words. Give the kids my love, hugs, and kisses.
Maybe they held it for her and wouldn't let her grasp at it for time constraints. I don't know but Glenys was taught not to put things in her mouth. At 15 months she was beginning to walk and had pretty good small motor skills but would pick something up to hand it to someone else to put in her mouth. Madelyn will catch up. I know it is frustrating and you are brave to have 3 the same age. One day you will look back and only see the fun times.
Beverly & Glenys
Post a Comment
<< Home