Happy Gotcha Day, Lina!

Two years!!!! Cannot believe it has been that long.

This tiny little nugget placed into our arms....

...and taking a trip of a lifetime.  Looking back through these pictures it is amazing to me to see how much she has grown in these two years.

entertaining herself on the 10.5 hour flight home

When we first brought her home she weighed 33 lbs and was about 33" tall.  For those who have met our family in person, that is about the weight Evan is now, and I think he is taller than that (it's been several months since his last check up, so I am not sure of his height off hand.  Bad Mommy).

Evan wears this shirt now- size 2-4.  Fits him perfectly.

 She wore size 3T-4T, and the size 9 shoes I brought with us to Russia were a size too big.  I carried her all around while we were there, easy peasy.  There is no way I can do that now!!  She was just at the doctor last week and weighed 45 lbs and measured 48" tall!!  I didn't believe the height (they called her back to take her vitals and I waited in the waiting room) but remeasured her when we got home and dang if she wasn't 48"!!  She is wearing size 6X-7 clothes and outgrowing some of her size 12 shoes.  12 lbs and 15" in two years.  Crazy good stuff!!

Let's talk progress.  In school she just had her sight word assessment and read 55 sight words!! FIFTY FIVE!!  The number expected for Kindergarteners by the end of the year is 50.  Amazing.  Her speech is really coming along, though still quite delayed.  She has made tremendous progress though, and has also learned a ridiculous amount of sign language.  Her one-on-one assistant at school is an ASL interpreter, so Lina knows much more sign language than any of us at home now.  Crazy good stuff.  She was also given a voice output device to begin using to help communicate during school as well as at home.

If any of you in the special education community are familiar with a PODD book- this is very similar, just in touch screen format.  You press different buttons to form a sentence and then the device will read it back.  Once Lina gets the hang of it this will really help her communicate with her peers as well as participate in class since not everyone is fluent in ASL.  And amazingly enough it will help her speech develop as well.  But this will take some time for her to grasp- right now she sees it like an iPad, and for us at home an iPad is generally used for playing games.  Lina likes to press the different buttons, especially the sight words she knows, and will just push random things.  At school she is mainly using the device at recess and lunch where she can use it with her friends in a social setting.

Math is still a challenge for Lina, and this is often the case for those with Down syndrome.  She has still made good progress with her counting, and her writing is really coming along as well.

name written on back of her art work

And because I'm sure you all want to see the front ;) Her coloring has really come along too.

Attachment really was never an issue for us as she bonded to us pretty quickly, especially me.

first summer home

  One issue we are still dealing with is getting up in the morning.  Lina will not get out of bed on her own and after two years home still waits for one of us to go in her room and get her up.  We learned on day one in Russia that she suffered through some serious abuse at night while at the orphanage.  She role played with her dolls, tucking them in nicely, turning out the light, and then quickly turning the light back on, scolding baby, hitting baby on the head, and even taking her shoe off and hitting baby over the head with her shoe.  This was repeated over and over.  It took her a couple months at home before she began treating her babies lovingly, and has not hit them since.  And it took a couple months for her to get to sleep without crying- the month was so incredibly heartbreaking listening to her cry out in sheer terror.  I slept in her room for a while and rocked her each night before laying her down, but she was still frightened.  She has gotten past that thankfully, but it has been ingrained in her to not make a peep once she is tucked into bed, and not to talk or get out of bed until we go get her.  I have put little pictures up on her wall right by her bed for a social story, and we have talked through the story several times about waking up, getting up out of bed, and going potty.  She will point to the pictures and talk through the story, but still will not get out of bed.  I have no idea how long this will take.

We are also still working on her finger sucking habit.  During the day she is usually ok unless she is tired or bored.  Nighttime we put little gloves on the two fingers she sucks (first two fingers) and she has adapted to suck on her last two fingers.  She doesn't suck them all night though.

Lina, you have come soooooooo far, my precious daughter.  I look forward to watching you continue to grow and blossom.  You are such a smart and amazing little girl and I am so privileged to be your Mommy!!