8 Months

Can it really be 8 months together? At times it seems like it was just yesterday she was placed in our arms.....other times it seems we've been together forever!

This angel continues to capture my heart. She's been through so much in her short life...and yet she has attached & bonded to us so well. She still has her moments, but every day I see a little less of the scared little girl she used to be and more of the happy, much-loved girl she has become. It's amazing!

Just a few things I want to remember:

• She's beginning to feel much more secure in our relationship. Until recently she would never play in her room by herself, only if someone was in there with her. Now she occasionally will wander in by herself, and play for awhile. (Not too long, but 5-10 minutes or so)
• Still continuing with physical & speech therapy. I've noticed a HUGE improvement in the physical part. We still have a ways to go, but we're at least making progress. The biggest thing is she is off-balance. As long as there's nothing in her way for her to trip over, she's probably okay. But the slightest change in surface will throw her off. We're doing a few exercises to work with that such as balancing while standing on large pillows, stepping up & down off stepstool (we use the Wii Fit board...perfect height), walking up & down steps, carrying large, but light, items while walking, etc... Most of them she thinks is fun so she cooperates well, but there are a few that usually result in a bit of a tantrum. Speech is a whole 'nother issue. She understand EVERYTHING we say...very smart in comprehension. And she learns new signs all the time (we now know, and use consistently, "more", "yes", "no", "all done", "please", "thank you", "milk", "drink"). But there is no spoken language, other than the occasional "mum", "da", "min min" (for Amanda), "pu ba" (for puppy), "puh" (for up), "mi" (for milk) and "bi" (for bite). I guess the fact that we're at least getting that much out of her is progress, since we didn't even have that a couple months ago. In time.....
• She does NOT like her teeth brushed, or having her hair fixed
• She's still pretty reserved when we go places...wants to cling to us for the first bit, but eventually becomes comfortable enough to venture away.
• She has become more choosy in what she wants to eat, and how much she needs/wants. Gone are the days where she will eat anything & everything you place in front of her. I think she knows that the food will always be available, so she doesn't have to eat things she doesn't really care for. She sometimes will only eat a couple bites (literally) of something before wanting down. And she's getting very annoying with throwing her food into the floor for the dog. Grrrrrrr......
• She's growing like a weed. Still tiny, but....She's up to 26.5 lbs. now...not sure of the height. That's a gain of about 7 lbs. since we brought her home.

I'm sure there's much more I should probably be documenting, but it's late and that's all that's coming to mind.