Are We There Yet Len?

Heart Letter, Month 26

2012-02-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Lucy,

You are 26 months old today. I have seen so much change in you again this month!For starters, you’ve grown markedly. You are taller and heavier but moreimportantly, you are happier. You laugh every day and smile most of the time.You are quite the cuddle bunny, not only with me, but with Daddy, Kate and your dollies. You can be found with one or two dolls tucked in your arms every day, tending to them gently, feeding them, covering them with blankets, nuzzling them. It is just too sweet.

On January 1^st, we moved you into the room withKate. It has taken most of this month but I am happy to report that you are nowsleeping through the night again! You still wake up an hour or more before Katebut at least we’ve moved beyond the multiple middle-of-the-night cryingepisodes.

I am most excited by the fact that you like to read now! So much so that you even want to readbefore you go down for a nap. This is huge as before you didn’t even want tolook at a book and would throw them as far from you as you could. I knew we hadhit a milestone when your daddy discovered you lining up your dolls in thechair and then getting out a book, setting it in front of them and then turningthe pages as you “read” to them. Amazing is not even an adequate word for thisnew feat.

Your current favorite books are Goodnight Gorilla, GoodnightMoon, and Hush Little Baby. Your father and I sing this last book to you andKate every night before we turn out the light and it amazes me still how youand Kate both nestle and relax into me, Kate singing along and you keeping timewith your foot.

Speaking of that, you have a very definite sense of rhythm.You are able to keep time with any song I sing to you or with music that youhear. You will tap your foot or bounce your leg in time with the beat. You havea great love of music which makes Wiggleworms classes such a joy every Monday.You start dancing and clapping as soon as Ms. Julie picks up her guitar and startsthe I have a Name song.

Your dance now includes this rather funny sideways hop. Youare so desperate to jump and you have managed to get both feet off the groundsimultaneously by hopping sideways while cantilevering your arms at your sidesfor balance. The look of absolute glee on your face completes the look—it makesme laugh every single time to watch you.

You made another physical accomplishment this month when youinsisted that you could climb the rope wall at the park. By golly, you prettymuch scaled that puppy by yourself with only minimal support from me. By thetime you decided you had gone high enough I was only holding onto your thighs;all the rest of your body was far above my head. You were also able to repeatthe process in reverse, moving your feet and hands in tandem to move your bodyback down without letting go until your feet touched the ground.

No fear.

At least in climbing. You have, however, developed a fear ofdogs and loud noises. You reach for me every time you hear ourneighbor’s dog bark, when a firetruck goes past or when I turn on the blender to make a smoothie. You seemto have a love/hate relationship with dogs right now though. You want to seethem until they get close or make a noise. Then you are terrified, clinging tome and vehemently shaking your head “NO!” This seems to be the only sound Icannot talk you down from as you recover quickly from machine noise with just a fewwhispered words of encouragement from me.

You are working quite hard with your speech, albeit in fitsand starts. Some days I feel like we are back where we started with gruntingand pointing and then you will surprise me by saying a relatively intelligible“all done”. Two words! Together! With that progress we are now working on 2syllable words in therapy. I decided to keep you going once a week instead ofslacking down to every other week. On those weeks that we haven’t had anappointment because of scheduling conflicts, you seem to regress.You tend to let Kate translate for you a bit too much for my comfort,preferring to let her speak for you rather than working on sounding out whatyou want to say.

This brings up another thing I have noticed. You copyeverything your sister does. EVERYTHING. Sometimes to your detriment and herannoyance. For example, she will usually finish eating before you do and willannounce that she is ready to get out of her chair. You will then say that you,too, are all done even when you are clearly still shoveling in spoonfuls ofsupper.

If she picks up a toy that you have ignored all day, suddenly that isthe toy that you covet the most.

My most fervent desire for you right now is that you willcut your own path. The only time when you take the lead anywhere is at the park. That is where you shine. You are a very physical child, preferring to climb or swing or throw yourself down the slide backwards and Kate follows your lead there...and only there.

I know that right now you are sticking close to the knownpath, letting Kate lead, trusting that she knows the way since she has been inour family longer. I know that you are still afraid to deviate too far fromwhat you see Kate doing, afraid that we might not love and accept you anymore.That could not be farther from the truth. I think we will be able to say youfeel fully at home when we see you venture forth and try something withoutlooking to see if Kate has already deemed it safe. I am so looking forward tothat day, even if it means you do something I may not like. At least I willknow that I have made you feel safe enough to test my love for you.

And I will be waiting there with open arms when you do.

Love,

Mama

Fun with videos and ENT checkup

2012-01-31T06:00:00.000-06:00

More and more, the girls are really enjoying Wiggleworms. Lucy, especially, as you can tell from this video:

As I pointed out before, Kate is into lining things up. If she can achieve that and combine it with keeping it all away from Lucy, so much the better. (You can tell she relaxed enough by the end of the video by what she was able to do...)

Yesterday we went back for a hearing test and a visit with her ENT doc, Dr. Rastatter. She passed with higher ratings than the last time we were there. Only one of the areas was a tad below normal and they weren't sure if it was because she was much more engaged in play this time (gone was the terror and crying from before) and less interested in listening or if she truly didn't hear the sounds. She would not look consistently in the direction of the sounds during some of the test. But, she did have marked increase in the level of sound she could hear. Last time, the lowest decibel range she could hear was 25db. Yesterday it was 10db. A look in her ears revealed healthy ears with ear tubes still in place, no wax build-up. A clean bill of health and a request to bring her back in 4-6 months for another checkup. I'll take that!

Hoo Hoos and Balls

2012-01-30T21:09:00.002-06:00

Tonight, as every night, Len wrapped Kate up in her penguin towel (thanks Yia Yia and Pappou!) fresh from the bath. Kate calls the towel "hoo hoo" (her aviary terminology is a bit off...). There are nice folded areas in the towel where you can put your hands and your head. As Len was wrapping her up she said:

I want to put my hands in my hoo hoo.
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We have two small balls that we throw for them to help with eye/hand coordination, large and small motor skills and eye tracking...................no? not buying that?

ok, yes, we play fetch with our kids

Hey, it kills A LOT of time in the afternoon!

Yesterday, Kate, indicating she wanted to play this particular game, yelled out:

I want to play with my balls in the hallway! Lucy wants to play with my balls too!
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Who knew that a 2 year old could make me flash back to my teenage years...

Get your ducks in a row

2012-01-29T06:00:00.000-06:00

Kate's new phase is all about lining things up. Considering what an organizational freak of nature I am, I'm not the least bit surprised.

Feeding the Pigeons

2012-01-28T09:38:00.001-06:00

Here is Leander with his harem of cuties, Lucy, Lina and Kate, all lined up with forks in hand, waiting for lunch yesterday.

I think he's partial to Kate based on this picture from the last time we played at his house....

Shifting Blame

2012-01-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

Lucy: Aiggghhhhh!

Me: LADIES! WHAT'S GOING ON??!

Kate: Baby pulled Lucy's hair. (as she holds up the errant baby-doll in question as evidence)

Me: Are you sure it was Baby and not Kate?

Kate: Mama put Baby in time-out. (As she carries the baby-doll to the corner).

Reading

2012-01-23T06:00:00.001-06:00

Love this book that we got from Greta for Christmas (thank you again Greta!). The irony is lost on them but they love it anyway--especially since they know what the iPad is.

You may notice Kate scratching away at her thigh. She has a bit of contact dermatitis that we've been battling for a couple of days. All these layers she's wearing just to go play is not helping. Dr. E said talcum powder, not the cornstarch talc powder I was using. Hope that clears it up.

Update to blog sidebar

2012-01-22T22:05:00.002-06:00

As requested by a couple of blog readers, I am making some additions to the blog. The first is a book list for books that I've referred to regularly when raising Kate and Lucy. It's on the sidebar now. Some are more fun to read than others but I have found them all invaluable at one time or another.

The second thing, which will take much longer, is to make a list with links to websites, services or products that I've found helpful. That, too, will be in the sidebar and I'll let you know when that is up. I'll also add to both lists as I find new things I like.

The third thing is a post about attachment, specifically, what we have done in our family. Honestly, I've been working on this post for a while trying to figure out how much to share and, if I chose not to share some things, will it be as effective or helpful for others. Bear with me as I try to parse out how much of my inner emotional life I'm willing to put out there.

In the meantime, enjoy the book list!

My three favorite people

2012-01-22T06:00:00.000-06:00

We had a bit of afternoon fun in the snow yesterday and boy, did it do a world of good at bedtime. Both girls conked out within seconds of hitting their beds.

It'S-now fun! from Lisa on Vimeo.

Contrary

2012-01-21T19:08:00.000-06:00

A conversation after bathtime tonight as we are getting the girls lotioned and jammied and ready for bed:

Kate: I don't want lotion. I don't want lotion. I don't want lotion.

Me: I know. I know. I know.

Kate: I don't want to have on a diaper.

Me: I know.

Kate: I don't want to go to sleep.

Me: I know.

Kate: I don't want that on. I don't want that on. I don't want that on.

Me: I know. I know. I know.

Kate: I don't want those socks.

Me: Kate, is there anything you DO want?

Kate: I want Lucy's socks.

I guessed I asked for that.

Meet Jessica

2012-01-21T06:00:00.000-06:00

Or Jess as the girls call her since Lucy cannot manage Jessica. After what has felt like an exhaustive search for the right person to help us with the girls, we have found her. She's great with them, has a Communications degree and is super out-going. The only drawback is that she's moving to Atlanta in August to pursue her MDiv at Emory. So, yeah...I'll be interviewing all over again this summer. But at least I've got a lot of notice this time around and won't be scrambling trying to round up various temporary sitters while juggling a trip to China, a new daughter and lots of doctor appointments.

Of course her first day is the day it snows like crazy which worked out well for me as it is MUCH easier to get the girls outside when I have help! Warm under-clothes, socks, snow pants, snow jacket, mittens, hats, scarves, boots. Putting boots and mittens and sometimes hats BACK ON as one removes hers as I work on the other. Then getting myself in all the same gear hoping they don't start disrobing while I'm midway through pack-muling myself.

Finally, made it downstairs and they were in heaven!

Kate kept wanting us to make a snowball but the snow was so dry and fluffy that it wouldn't stick together.

So Jessica threw it so it would spray around which they loved just as much.

Back inside we had hot chocolate and read books. What's not to like about that kind of afternoon?

Lucy is completely obsessed with Jessica's hair and keeps running her hands through it. Of course she does this to both Kate and me as well so it doesn't surprise me. The best, though, is her fixation on Len's hairy legs, chest and back. She also loves to brush and comb hair and asks for a bow nearly every day (although it doesn't stay in for very long). Perhaps a career in hair is in her future...

Sad little snowman

2012-01-20T06:00:00.000-06:00

When we got home from the dentist on Wednesday, Kate asked if we could walk to the front yard to see the snowman. Alas...

Kate: Mama, snowman is sad.

Me: He is, isn't he.

Kate: Snowman lost his mouf. He only has one eye. What happened??

Not to mention that he was stunted to begin with kid.

Looks like we'll get the chance for a do-over this weekend. Forecasters are saying we could get up to 1" of snow falling every hour by this afternoon.

Dental visit, Part 2

2012-01-19T20:11:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we took both girls back in for their first of many dental devices. You may remember our first visit back in November which was completely unpleasant for Lucy. This time I asked the hygienist if she could take off her mask and with that, Lucy was calm. Len sat in the chair this time and we let Kate go first so Lucy could watch and see what was going to happen. It made a world of difference because, as has been demonstrated in nearly every video I've taken of them, Lucy insists on doing whatever Kate is doing even if it's unpleasant. Fortunately, the visit was not unpleasant at all. They were both fitted for infant trainers to help align their jaws correctly. True to form, they remain opposite in every way, even in jaw structure. Lucy needs her upper jaw to move forward and Kate needs her lower jaw to move forward.

Here's a video of the appliances in action. Kate had it down pat last night but I could only get Lucy to keep it in her mouth if I distracted her with Yo Gabba Gabba. Pick your battles, right?

As for what else is going on in their mouths, here's what I can recall from trying to listen to the dentist while keeping 2 toddlers from destroying his office:

In order to explain, here's a visual to help in case you aren't familiar with tooth development:

Kate has 16 teeth and is working on cutting the last 4--the 2nd molars. That's pretty much it. Normal.

Lucy has 13 teeth. She is missing both lateral incisors on her lower jaw and one lateral incisor on her right upper jaw where her cleft was located. She still needs to cut her 2nd molars as well. Since her bottom lateral incisors never came in that means she will not get them as an adult either. As for the top lateral incisor, it could be there in a stunted form or it may not be there at all. It could still come out through her gums or her palate (really hope that doesn't happen as that will cause nasty problems) or it might not ever come out. This all means that she may or may not have this tooth as an adult either.

For now, we wait are taking a wait-and-see approach. We'll work on jaw alignment with the infant trainer and continue that process with different appliances as they get older, shaping the jaw and keeping the canines where they are supposed to be so her face will keep the proper shape. In the past, dentists would just move all the teeth over to fill the gap where teeth are missing. Now, as they have realized that the canines are kind of like the cornerstones or framing of your face, it is best to keep those in their proper location.

The goal with the infant trainers now is for them to wear them 5-10 minutes a few times a day and then to work up to sleeping with them at night. This will also help them continue to breathe through their noses at night which is optimal for good health.

Velcro

2012-01-17T19:22:00.000-06:00

Sometime overnight, the girls grew suction cups on their bodies which they promptly put to use attaching themselves to me for the majority of the day. I know I will miss this in their teen years when they will deny my very existence but, holy fuck, I need some SPACE.

Birthday wrap-up

2012-01-15T21:52:00.002-06:00

We finally got the last of Kate's presents opened this afternoon. It was the birthday of books--Kate's favorite (and I'm proud to say Lucy is now requesting to read before naptime!!!). Lucy received her belated birthday gifts from Uncle Terry and Aunt Wheez which was great as it gave her things to open along with Kate's cornucopia of presents. Of course she helped open the many books from Yia yia and Pappou too!

She got her first Foodie book from Mama and Daddy!

And here they are working on a puzzle together.

Her actual birthday fell on play/mama group day so we celebrated there. I already published a few pics from that day in her love letter but here are some additional shots.

Luke enjoying being pushed around by Lucy.

Aleks, Sara, Margaret (Jacob) and Christy.

Going "night-night". Notice Lucy patting Kate on the back.

Time to blow out the candle!

The chaos of toy explosion turns into teachable moments when we sing the clean-up song before leaving.

The other Lucy in our group (she's 2 1/2) looking at the first snow falling.

Sloane and her mama Hema, and Aleks.

Sara covering up Kate for "night-night".

Lucy, Kate and Lina all trying to share one blanket.

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Earlier today Kate was nagging to go to the playlot (which is completely covered in snow) so we decided to build a snowman instead. It took 20 minutes to get them suited up. As an aside, why must all girl clothes be pink?? I found these green shirts on the clearance rack at REI and they are labeled, LABELED ON THE TAG for heaven's sake, for toddler boys. Seriously? Girls can't wear green?

Ok, moving on.
Sadly, the snow is still quite powdery and will not stick together.

Alas, our snowman was more like a snow-gnome. With sweet potato sunglasses, a carrot nose, almond smile and stick arms.

We then headed out for a short walk up the street.

They loved throwing snow up into the air...until some of it came down and landed in their faces.

Kate was very concerned that the snowman would still be there so she came running up to be check on him.

She was still talking about him tonight. I had to assure her that he would be there in the morning but she kept saying she wanted to go see him. I finally told her it was dark outside so snowman was asleep. I just hope his face has not been half eaten off by nocturnal rodents...that could be a nasty surprise in the morning!

Speaking of sleep, here's the update. We're 2 weeks into the shared room situation. There are good and bad points with this arrangement. The good is that Lucy is now out of our room! Also, (and, ahem, more importantly of course) is that they seem to enjoy the change. I asked Kate if she liked having Lucy with her at night and she said "YES!" So that's good.

Also good is the fact that, although Kate cries for a very short time once we leave the room, Lucy doesn't always join in anymore and when she does, 99% of the time they soothe themselves down within a couple of minutes. They are also sleeping pretty much through the night.

I say pretty much because Lucy still wakes at 4:30am on the dot, standing up and crying loudly. This requires one of us to go in, lay her back down and tell her it's still night-night. She always lays back down and goes back to sleep until 5:30-6am. I cannot figure out what happens at 4:30am to cause this but it's incredibly annoying b/c if we let her work it out she could potentially get Kate going and Kate does not go back down easily. So for now, we are taking shifts rushing down the hall to get to Lucy before she can wake Kate.

Totally. Sucks.

The other drawback to the shared situation is that they are naptime opposites. Kate rarely napped but she would at least sit and play quietly in her crib for an hour so I could get a short break. With Lucy in the room, she wants to engage her which means Lucy doesn't nap but she also won't sit and play either. Lucy wants to nap and if she can't, she will stand and scream about it.

This has led to a new normal at noon. Lucy goes down from noon-1pm and Kate now has her downtime sitting on a pillow watching Caillou on PBS for 30 minutes. This gives me time to eat or answer emails but not much else. The next 30 minutes we spend together doing whatever Kate wants to do with just me. She is much happier with this situation and Lucy wakes up happy.

Not ideal as I don't get much of a break but it is what it is for now. We have a busy week coming up. I've been interviewing nannies like mad for a while now. Our latest nanny let us know a couple of months ago that she had decided to go back to school full time. Fortunately, that has given me time to interview and call references. I have found one woman that I love, Jessica. She's a perfect fit, the girls love her, she knows sign language, etc. etc. so she is going to start this week. A caveat though--she's going to grad school in the fall in Atlanta so I will still need to find someone else for the long haul. With that in mind, I have a few more interviews this week so we have a backup (and for those times that Jessica may not be able to come).

And more snow is in the forecast. Bummer. The playlot will be a distant memory by spring I suspect.

Odd bits and pieces

2012-01-14T21:00:00.000-06:00

Thursday I had to drive to play/mama group because of the impending snowstorm. I took Lucy out of the carseat first since she was on the driver's side of the car and Kate was on the curb side. I got her out and came around to Kate's side, opened her door and then set Lucy down on the sidewalk. This is the conversation that ensued:

Me (to Lucy): I need you to stay right here.
Kate (to Lucy): And don't move.
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A few examples of sisterly affection:

A few days ago, I was trying in vain to get Lucy to make the "E" sound as in eat, pea, me, etc. She just couldn't get it and was getting frustrated. Kate finally walked over to where we were and said:

Lucy trying Mama. Lucy can't say it yet.

Tonight, Lucy was holding something that Kate wanted. Kate was pitching an all-out fit about it...

Want to hold it! Want to trade! (frantically waving the doll she was holding towards Lucy's line of vision). She ramped up her pleas as Len and I both told her that Lucy had the toy first and Kate had the doll.

Suddenly, Lucy looked at Kate's despondent face and then handed her toy to Kate saying Tay (trade) and then accepted the proffered doll.
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Every Wednesday Lucy and I head to Children's Hospital for speech therapy. I try to get there 10-15 minutes early so she can play in the waiting area. Her favorite thing is the shopping cart which she loads up with every possible toy she can. She resembles a bag lady at times...

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Today we needed to run a few errands out in the 'burbs so we waited until naptime to leave the house so the girls would have the chance to nap. Lucy took full advantage and was out pretty quickly but Kate hung in there and didn't even close her eyes for the entire trip.

First stop was Ikea.They LOVED the car!

We headed to the children's section to pick up a few things. While I scouted out what we needed Len managed the girls in the small play area. The both loved the "hamster" tunnels.

We had to peel Kate out of the toddler bed. She was in heaven. Maybe this could entice her to nap?

Next stop was REI for some waterproof gloves and smartwool socks for the girls. Got each one a warm layering top as well from the clearance rack. And finally we headed back to the city, to Chinatown, for supper at our favorite place, Lao Sze Chuan. We were lucky to get one of the last 2 tables left (at 4:15pm on a Saturday...). Lucy was practically jumping out of her chair when she saw the noodles and dumplings arrive. Both girls ate well and then some...we also ordered fish with black bean sauce, spicy pork with cilantro, szechuan green beans, spicy cabbage, and rice. We had some very happy girls on our hands. And the waiter caught Lucy's eye every time...she was smiling and waving every time he came over to check on us.

Tomorrow we plan to finally finish opening birthday gifts for Kate. With Len gone at work all day and the girls pretty tired by the time he comes home, there was just never a good time to get them all revved up with presents. Pictures of that event as well as some of Thursday "birthday" playgroup to follow!

2 year checkup

2012-01-13T12:46:00.000-06:00

We had Kate's and Lucy's 2 year checkup today. All went well. Lucy's ear tubes are still in place and, with the exception of some wax, looked good. Kate got a Hep B shot and Lucy was due for the PCV but he didn't have any in stock so we'll get it next time.

Lucy has some eczema on her face and back and her nails seem to be brittle as they split quite often. I've already been putting eczema cream on her at night but we need to do it twice a day now, especially with winter here. Her nails are probably nutrition related so we'll just continue with all the good food she's been getting and check it again in 2 months.

Here are their updated stats (with their November stats in parenthesis).

Kate:
Height: 34" (33") recumbent length on both measurements
Weight: 24lb 12oz (24lb 4oz)
Head: 45 1/2cm (44 1/2cm)

This puts her in the following percentiles:
Length = in percentile 50
Weight = between percentile 10 and 25
Head Circumference = between percentile 5 and 10

Lucy:
Height: 35 1/4" (34 1/4") recumbent length on both measurements
Weight: 26lb (25lb)
Head: 47cm (46cm)

This puts her in the following percentiles:
Length = between percentile 75 and 90
Weight = between percentile 25 and 50
Head Circumference = between percentile 25 and 50

And now, just for fun, here are a few photos from our frolic in the snow yesterday.

Love Letter, Month 24

2012-01-12T12:31:00.003-06:00

Dear Kate,

You are twenty-four months old today. Happy Birthday to you! We celebrated at playgroup today with Ann Sather cinnamon rolls. Yum!

This has been a month of glorious highs and abject lows. Speaking of glorious highs, I must mention the absurdly delicious weather we've been having this winter. I mean, really, who would think that you could do this, dressed like this, in January, in Chicago??

Alas, that came to an end today. It started snowing right after we got to playgroup and the forecast is for 4-8". You both loved walking in it and then looking out the window at it once we got home.

Anyhow, let's start with the low points so we can end on a high note, shall we?

Not only are you still working on cutting all four of your incisors but your 2 year molars are starting to make themselves known. Your mouth hurts so much that you appear to be living solely on milk and saliva.

On January 1st we moved Lucy into her crib in what has heretofore been solely your room. And although you have never said anything contrary about this move, I believe you are working through this change in your subconscious which means your sleep has been, in a word, Abysmal. To add to your misery, you and Lucy developed a viral infection and although Lucy's infection limited itself to her nose, yours produced fever, chills, malaise, lack of appetite and raging discontent in the form of a monumental tantrum...your first!

The vastness of your rage had me taken aback. I had started out so angry with you for fighting sleep for the 11th day in a row but when faced with how out-of-control you must feel I crumpled. It was heartbreaking to realize I couldn't protect you from being human and feeling awful things. All I could do was go back in, lay you back down, rub your back and sing once again, for more times than I can count, your favorite night-night song, Baa Baa Black Sheep.

Speaking of singing, you can now sing songs all the way through after hearing them for only afew times. Your other current favs are I’m a little teapot, You are my sunshine, and Head Shoulders Knees andToes. You are still improvising with words when you sing. For example, one of our Wiggleworms songs goes like this:

Hello Kate, yes indeed, yes indeed, yes indeed
Hello Kate, yes indeed, yes indeed my darling.

Yesterday you sang this instead:

Hello Mama, yes in-Mama, yes in-Mama, yes in-Mama,
Hello Mama, yes in-Mama Yes in-Mama my darling.

We are getting in more reading time, especially since you got a few new books for both Christmas and your birthday. Your absolute favorite books of the moment are Everyone Poops, On the Night you wereBorn and The Giving Tree.

Poop is absolutely riveting to you this month. For the first time you peed and pooped in your potty. You positively levitated with joy as Daddy and I marveled over your accomplishment and now, every night before bath and after you have raced up and down the hall naked, you run to the potty and make a contribution.

Your ability to empathize at this age astounds me. As we were reading The Giving Tree you got very upset when the tree gave up her branches andthen her trunk. You kept saying over and over, "tree cut down, tree hurt".

Your Nana came to visit for Christmas and I'm not sure what you were more excited about: seeing your Nana again or finally getting to open all the presents under the tree.

Seems you may have a little fondness for Hanukkah too as you spun around and around when Ms. Julie sang, "Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel!" at Wiggleworms.

And as the last one standing when she brought out a book to read, you made my English-major heart swell with pride.

You make me laugh every day, even on those days when you aren't feeling all that great. Your smile and laugh make up for a lot of angst...something to keep in mind as you grow up as it will serve you well.

Two whole years have passed since I firstlooked into your clear blue eyes and fell head over heels in love with a completestranger. In case I haven't made myself clear in the past 2 years, you are amazing and wonderful and kind and compassionate and funny and beautiful; in short, everything I ever hoped for (and then some). I love you more than words can ever express.

Love,

Mama
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And now, because I want this to appear in your hard-copy book of Love Letters for this year, I am including the love letter from Yiayia and Pappou.

January 12,2012

Dear Kate,

HappyBirthday. You are officially two yearsold today and you continue to delight everyone near and far. And now, you also delight yourself. Your second year among us has been one oflearning, and learning, and learning. And some of the things you’ve learned make you laugh. You giggle about Lucy’s butt, and you look studiousas you master the shape box, and then when you’re done and everything is in itsplace, you smile. You seem to like tohave everything in its place. You closethe pantry door whenever you find it open and you put all your toys away whenit’s time to stop playing. That causesyour mother and father to smile delightfully. In fact, except for learning NOT to nap, just about everything you’velearned has caused general delight to you and your parents.

Your secondyear has also been one full of adventures. You went to China to get your sister. Wow, China! That’s on the otherside of the world. You had to take along airplane ride, which you did notfind delightful, and you ate all kinds of strange food, most of which you foundat least acceptable if not all the way too delightful. It was delightful to spend a lot of time withyour Nana, but a little scary that your mother and father were away a lot andyou weren’t in the home you’d learned to know as your own. And then along came Lucy, and that wasexciting, if not clearly delightful. Lucy was very unhappy at first, and you hadn’t yet learned how to makeher laugh—now you know about funny hats and mittens and squeaky shoes andsharing toys and food, and having races down the hallway. That was a big learning experience. Oh yes, and sharing Mama and Daddy. Hmmmm, still not sure about whether that’sdelightful or not? Let me tell you asecret. When you are more grown up, youwill be delighted to have someone with whom to plan and plot, and sometimes,you’ll be glad to have someone to divert Mama and Daddy’s attention from youwhen you create a little mischief. Thatwill be delightful.

And whileyou’ve been learning, you’ve also learned how delightful it is to teach. You are teaching your sister all kinds ofthings, words, and games, and how to drink from a sippy cup. You can teach her to feel safe and loved, asyou are and always will be. So enjoyyour third year among us that you begin today. You have so much more to learn, and so much more delight to share.

Lovefrom

Pappou andYiayia

I hit "Publish" too soon

2012-01-11T12:27:00.001-06:00

As soon as I hit "Publish" on last night's post Kate sat up in her crib and announced into the darkness, "All done." Len went in. Got her down. Then she's back up. I went in. Got her down. Then she's back up. This went on until 9:30pm. Then she just got mad. VERY. VERY. MAD.

She threw a temper tantrum that rivaled any that Lucy threw in September/October. She arched her back and kicked her arms and legs as I tried to put her in her crib for the upmteenth time. Oh it was a glorious tantrum as tantrums go. Plenty of gutteral screaming, flailing about and general mayhem. Amazingly, Lucy just tossed about but didn't join in the chorus until...

9:55pm. Both of them are up and screaming. I'm positive that people in the next building could hear them. It was quite a spectacle. But I was DONE. As in DONE DONE. I had wanted to go to bed early and here it was, nearly 10pm, and I was still up and now I was just pissed off, pretty much equal to the amount that both the girls were.

(Heaven help Len living in a house with three angry females...I can only speculate on what their teen years will hold at this rate.)

By this time I had taken a bath and was in my jammies, the prospect of bed and sleep, oh blessed sleep, seeming farther and farther away. Taking a deep breathe, I walked into the fray, laid Lucy and Kate back down, covered them back up, told them "we love you but it's time for night night, Mama is going to bed right now, Daddy will come back to check on you later so you won't be alone. You cannot get out of bed anymore, it is time to lay down and cuddle your night night friends." I then asked which song Kate wanted me to sing, she opted for Baa Baa Black Sheep so I told her I would sing it 3 times and then I would kiss them both before going to bed.

And it worked. 10pm. All is quiet. I went to bed. Len stayed up a bit longer and when Lucy woke up at 11pm he got to her before she could wake up Kate. And then they both slept until Lucy woke at 5:40am. Kate got up at 7:30am.

Kate seems to have retrieved her lost appetite and her good humor. I'm hoping this portends good things to come for tonight.

We took a nice walk this morning in the gorgeous weather we're having. Love how they both have their hands in their pockets.

Measurable snow is forecast for tomorrow so I'm glad we got out there today. It's in the 50s here, sunny and gorgeous. LIKE.

The resiliance of children

2012-01-10T19:13:00.004-06:00

Last night was worse than any that preceded it. Kate woke up every 2 hours after we put her down for the evening. I went to bed at 9:30pm and Kate woke at 11pm and stayed up. Lucy woke at midnight and was up off and on until 2am. Len took over working with Lucy and I took Kate into the guest bedroom again (which Kate is now calling Mama's Room). She tossed and turned and sat up and got back down and laid on me and generally made my life miserable until I just sat up myself, cradled her like she was an infant again and rocked her to sleep at 3am. I was in and out of consciousness at this point but I woke up abruptly at 4am when I could no longer feel my left arm and my head was sliding off the pillow. I eased Kate down onto the bed and collapsed next to her. Len and Lucy came in to wake me up at 6am. Kate slept on the bed until about 7:45 or so.

Her fever again went away over night--I could actually feel her getting cooler at 3am as I was rocking her. I called Dr. E anyway and he said to bring her in for a look-see. Her temp. was 97.7, her ears, eyes, lungs, heart and throat were clear and the green snot had turned clear. She did have some swollen lymph nodes but that was about it. He said it was a viral infection (flu) and that it's making the rounds. Takes 7 days to clear up and since this started on Jan. 2 we should be at the end.

Both girls fell asleep in the car afterwards so I drove for 1 1/2 hours so they could get in a good nap. I was fervently wishing I was being driven around as well so I could nap!

As of now, it's 7:10pm and after 10 minutes of crying, all is quiet in the girls' room. I'm planning to scarf down some supper and hit the hay early as I have no idea what the night will hold.

So what does an exhausted mama, who is working on 3 1/2 hours of sleep, do with two energetic children after supper and before bath? I sit in the floor and throw balls for the girls to retrieve and return. It's called Fetch. I knew there was some reason I got a dog prior to having children!

And yes, this was taken tonight. You can't even tell that they were up all night and that Kate had a fever for the past 2 days!

Defending Territory

2012-01-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

I love this video because it shows the most common interaction between the two girls when there is only one of something. Lucy is on the sit-n-spin and Kate wants a turn so she waits in the Bumbo seat (another coveted item) until Lucy gets off. Kate's inability to get out of the chair quickly allows Lucy to scramble back onto the toy before Kate can get a hand on it.

The other thing I want to point out is how Lucy keeps falling off of the sit-n-spin. Her core strength is still pretty weak and she falls over quite a bit, both on this ride and when playing in general. The other thing our speech therapist noticed is that Lucy tends to run with her head turned to one side and her chin to the other and/or with her chest leading the way, arms back. She thinks Lucy may have a mild form of torticollis. I'm getting a referral this week for a PT exam to have her checked out.

Update on Kate

2012-01-09T19:08:00.000-06:00

Kate went back to sleep at 9pm last night after about 1/2 hour of wide-awakefullness (not sure that's a word but it fits accurately). She had a very full wet diaper so Len changed that and then she drank another 6 oz. of water before laying back down to Len's lullaby singing her back to sleep. Lucy slept through it all thankfully.

I slept in the guest room so Len could get a full night's sleep before work and at 2am I was awakened by Kate saying, "All done with sleeping." I looked at the monitor and she was sitting up. I went in and she felt quite warm and had another full diaper. Got her changed, sat with her in the rocking chair while she drank another batch of water and nestled in saying she was done with sleeping and did not want back in her crib. I told her I would sit with her for a bit but that after singing she needed to go back to sleep.

Of course when the last song was done (and I gave LOTS of warning that the last lullaby was coming up) I got up to put her into bed. She laid down but then proceeded to wail. WAIL! And then, naturally, Lucy woke up wailing as well. Super fun to face that at 2:30am. Kate stood up and announced she was "ALL DONE WITH SLEEPING!" so I got her up and set her in the rocking chair. Then went over to Lucy who was also standing up. Cuddled her, told her Kate was sick and I was rocking her and that Lucy needed to go back to sleep. Laid her back down, covered up with blankets, kisses, and she quieted down and cuddled her bunny.

Back to Kate, back in the chair, covered us both with a light blanket and rocked for another 1/2 hour. Lucy's breathing deepened and she was back out. Kate was having trouble breathing unless she was upright so I brought her back to the guest room and she slept in there with me until Lucy woke up at 5:30am. Eased out of bed without waking Kate, got to Lucy and told her she had another 1/2 hour before Daddy was awake so she needed to lay back down. Surprisingly, she made it 25 minutes before popping back up and whining.

Back out of bed without waking Kate, diaper change for Lucy, took her in to Len, woke him up and then went back to fall into bed with Kate. Next thing I know it's 7:30am and Len is just getting up with Lucy. They both fell back asleep! Kate woke up as soon as she heard Lucy and then we were off and running. Nothing like moving at full speed rather quickly in order for Len to get ready for work on time.

Kate's temperature was back down to normal but her appetite was still nonexistent at breakfast. Thankfully, she is tossing back the fluids so no dehydration to worry about. We laid low, snacked on papaya (first time for both of them and they liked it!) mid-morning and then had lunch at 11:30. Both girls indicated they wanted a nap so I put them both down and they both slept...for 45 minutes. Lucy woke first, wailing as usual, which woke up Kate who looked very sleepy. I tried to get her to go back down but Lucy will not stay alone out in the living room, even with the tv on, so that was a massive fail. Kate felt hot again so I took her temp. 102.9. Crap.

Later in the afternoon Kate said she wanted a nap so this time I strapped Lucy into her highchair and turned on Caillou which she loves. I told her I was going to put Kate down for a nap and please, watch the show and I'll be back before it's over. That worked for all of 2 minutes. Then she started loudly shouting for me which I could ignore with the sound machine on. What I couldn't ignore was her full-on body slamming trying to get out. So, afternoon nap was a fail as well. Kate heard all the ruckus and refused to go down. The afternoon was filled with Kate either crying pitifully or saying, "Mama, Mama, Mama" over and over and over and over.........all while insisting I remain in full body contact with her for the next 4 hours until Len came home. Lucy, not wanting to be left out, also started climbing over me, hanging onto my legs, trying to hug Kate and me at the same time...it was brutal.

If I'm never touched again it will be too soon.

Kate's temp stayed up all afternoon so I fed her egg noodles cooked in chicken broth, put her in a lukewarm bath and then into bed early again. She cried from the moment I got her undressed for her bath until 20 minutes after she was put into her crib.

Len is now getting Lucy ready for bed. Kate's been asleep for about 40 minutes so hopefully he can get Lucy into the room without waking Kate. I fear it's going to be another long night though.
______________
Addendum: I heard Kate as Len was getting Lucy dressed in her jammies. A look at the monitor revealed Kate sitting up, wide awake and saying she's all done with sleeping. It's 6:50pm. This doesn't bode well.

We have Kate's 2 year checkup on Friday but it looks like I'll be calling Dr. E in the morning if there is no change before then.

And here's where we are: (in case you can't make out what she's saying: Mama eating supper? Wanna read. Wanna sit on couch. Want some water. Wanna go play. All done. No more sleeping. Want mama.

Sleeping...or not

2012-01-08T21:41:00.000-06:00

We started out the new year by moving Lucy into her crib in what is now the girls' shared room. The first two nights were hell and then it was Len's turn to do night duty and of course, things improved. They are both continuing to go down quite well and stay down until...4:30am. Then one of them will wake up and cry which then wakes the other one and nothing Len or I have done can get them to go back to sleep.

This problem is compounded by the fact that naptimes are just simply not happening. The fact is that we have two completely temperamentally incompatible children. Lucy is a by-the-clock napper. She goes down without fanfare at noon and awakens 1 hour later. Period. She does not deviate from this by more than 15 minutes in either direction. Kate, as I have documented too many times to count, is an abominable napper. It takes about 20 minutes of reading, singing and general winding down towards the crib and then she *might* deign to close her eyes and sleep. This occurs once every 2-3 weeks. But, when Lucy was not in the room napping, I could at least get Kate to "rest" in her crib for that hour that Lucy was asleep. Now, Kate ends up waking Lucy up before the 1 hour is up so then both of them are crabby for the rest of the day from lack of sleep/rest.

To throw two more wrenches into this abysmal story, both of them appear to be cutting their 2 year molars and, AND!, they have been fighting a cold. Both are having trouble breathing through the green snot and stuffy noses, both are coughing off and on throughout the night and now, tonight, Kate's got a fever of 103. We gave her a tepid bath and loaded her up with turkey congee and water, some baby acetaminophen and some honey for her cough and put her to bed at 5:30pm. Lucy's temp. was normal so we followed her normal routine and got her into bed an hour later without waking Kate.

This day has been rather topsy-turvy. Lucy woke at 4:30am and I got in there before she could wake up Kate. I got her back down but that lasted for as long as it took me to get back into my own bed. She popped back up and cried, waking Kate. Grrr. So I watched them on the monitor and basically they both just sat there for the next 45 minutes, moaning a bit but not crying, so I didn't go in. At 5:30am Lucy decided she was done and ratcheted up the decibel level which spurred Kate to match her in volume. I went in, got both girls into dry diapers and then took them with me into the guest bedroom to lay down and let Len sleep late in our bedroom. I managed to get them both back to sleep for another 30 minutes but I didn't get to partake of that as I had two 25 lb kids on my body.

We had a lot of errands to run today so we decided to head out for a Julius Meinl brunch at 10:30am. Kate didn't have much of an appetite but Lucy hoovered through an entire banana, strawberry & nutella crepe, some of my smoked chicken spaetzle and most of the frothed milk from my cappuccino.

One of my favorite stores, Anthropologie, was nearby so we did a quick walk-though to see what was new and exciting in the land of retail. The girls loved all the textures and smells.

Oh yes, they were wearing their squeaky shoes!

We hit the grocery store on the way home and were just turning into our alley when I looked back to see both girls asleep in their carseats. They were so tired that we managed to get them upstairs, out of their shoes/dresses, clean diapers and into their cribs where they...napped. Lucy only stayed down for 30 minutes but Kate was out for 2 hours.
________
Uh oh. Got to go. It's 9:30pm and Kate is standing up in her crib, wide awake. I have a feeling it's going to be a long, painfully awake, night....

Improvising

2012-01-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

Me: Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes. We have eyes and ears and a mouth and a nose. Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes.

Kate: And a butt.

Me: Seriously?

Kate: And Lucy's butt. Giggle.

Our Sunday mornings...

2012-01-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

consist of a lot of this:

Kate has mastered the shape sorter and Lucy is getting much better (when she can get it away from Kate). Unfortunately, when Kate was ready to give it up and headed for what Lucy had been playing with, Lucy quickly retreated to defend her territory. Sigh.

On another note: I finally got Kate on tape saying her version of Hippopotamus...Hippo-pama-sus. Too cute.

Our Ladies of Perpetual Snot

2012-01-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

WARNING! Major grossness follows. You have been warned.

So yeah, another cold made the rounds in our house this week. This coincided nicely with another major event: moving Lucy into what is now going to be known as Kate's and Lucy's room. These two events led to no sleep at all for me.

We made the move on January 1--nothing like starting out the new year with a bang huh? Lucy was not amused. She made her unhappiness known as soon as we put her in the crib which then set off Kate. We spent 30 minutes singing over and over again until we sang them to sleep. I took the night shift and slept in the guest room with the video monitor while Len slept in our room with a sound machine on. After slipping into sleep at 10:30pm I was awakened by Kate mournfully crying at 11:30pm. I went in, soothed her back to sleep after 40 minutes, crawled back into bed at 12:15am and was summarily wakened by Lucy's keening wail at 12:30am. Which awakened Kate. Two crying babies. Got them both settled down only to have Lucy pop back up crying after 20 minutes down. This continued until 3:30am. You read that correctly. Total suckage. I waited until 4am to be sure they were both down before falling heavily back to bed. And then...Lucy woke up at 5:30am and stayed up for good. Kate woke at 6:20am.

Two guesses as to how naptime fared. No naps. For either one of them.

Night #2: both girls go down a bit easier although Kate requires a bit more soothing as her cold is in high gear and cannot breath with all the snot clogging her nose. All is quiet by 7:30pm. I go to bed extra early at 8:15pm as I am on duty once again. This time Lucy sleeps straight through to 5:30am which is a major accomplishment considering Kate was awake from 12:30am-4:30am, much of it sitting upright in my lap in the rocking chair so she could breathe.

Napping was still a total loss. Lucy managed 30 minutes and Kate never did settle down.

By 4pm Tuesday they are both a complete wreck and I am struggling to stay awake myself. Kate looks like she's been on an all-night bender smoking weed and Lucy has the disposition of an angry bee. I feed them supper at 4pm (they ate a quart of turkey congee between them--restorative liquids!) and into the bath by 4:45pm. Len and I got them into bed by 5:15pm. They both completely passed out within 5 minutes and I followed closely behind at 8pm.

Len offered to do night duty since I was nearly comatose and guess what happened? NEITHER child awakened...at all, the entire night. Lucy woke at her usual 5:30am and Kate got up at 6:20am.

I tried a different tactic for naps on Wednesday. I put Lucy down first and she went right out. Meanwhile, Kate and I read some books for about 30 minutes and then I took her in and put her in the crib, asking her to be quiet since Lucy was asleep (she was very, very good about this!). Sadly, Lucy woke up not 10 minutes later, done with her nap. When I went in to get Lucy up and out of the room, Kate sat up and was outraged when I left her in there to "rest". Sigh. So, no nap for Kate once again.

Overall though, Lucy knows that the pack and play in our room is no longer available (she was getting too long for it anyway). She actually seems to like her new spacious sleeping quarters and both girls kiss each other before going to bed. Once we get them sleeping consistently through the night, Len and I can finally be in our room again...alone. Nice.

Advancing...and regressing

2012-01-04T18:55:00.000-06:00

Kate seems to be blending her own giant vocabulary with Lucy's budding vocabulary:

Kate: Baby is parched.

Lisa: (wondering if she knows what parched means...) What should we do about that Kate?

Kate: Give baby baba. Baby needs wawa.

Okay then.

2011 in Pictures

2012-01-02T14:54:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year! Who could have imagined last year at this time that we would finally have our two daughters home, safe and sound? I certainly didn't based on last year's post. Here are a few highlights of our year:

1. January saw a lot of our friends helping us celebrate Kate turning 1. She learned to walk on her own at 14 1/2 months and has been unstoppable ever since. In one year she has gone from babbling to speaking in full paragraphs, from napping once/day to maybe once/week if I'm lucky. In spite of the no napping, she is a quite a joy to be around.

2. We took a few trips this year; one to DC to visit with as many people as we could squeeze into 3 days, a two week trip to FL to visit friends and family at the beach and the final trip was to China.

3. In March we received our referral for Xu Xiang Ling, born December 1, 2009 in Henan Province. She started out life at the Xuchang City SWI but spent the majority of her life at LuoHe Lily Orphan Care which is where we went while in China to learn as much about her as we could. We traveled in September to China with my mom and Kate in tow to bring home Lucy Xiangling. While in China, our friends, Ryan and Paul, flew up from Singapore to spend a long weekend with us. Our friends both here and away continue to amaze us with their generosity--we had an entire month of meals provided for us upon our return from China.

4. We had a few visitors this year including Katherine and Don (Kate and Lucy's Yia Yia and Pappou), my DC friend Michelle, my dad and Gloria (Papa and Meme) and my mom (Nana).

5. My nephew, Ryan, married his sweetheart Jen, in September. We were really bummed that their wedding fell the weekend before we left for China causing us to miss the happy event. Nick, Ryan's brother, was able to serve as best man before leaving to start Marine boot camp in December. Their sister, Martine, was just accepted to Sacred Heart University in CT.

6. My mama group continues to meet every Thursday morning. We lost a couple of mamas--Allison and her son Elliot moved to Denver and Ava's mom, Allison, started work in December. They are very much missed as I have known them since our babies were 6 weeks old. In addition to Sara and her daughter Lina, Krisha and her son Arnav, Margaret and her son Jacob, we added Christy and her daughter Lucy (two Lucy's in the group now!), Aleks and her son Luke, and Josephine and her son Ben. When we're lucky, Jackie and her son Leander join us as well.

7. We managed to do a bit of fun Chicago things this year. Len and I took a one hour private flight over the city. We visited the Aquarium, the Brookfield and Chicago zoos, a pumpkin farm, the kite festival, and the Chicago Air and Boat Show.

It's been one amazing year...one we will never forget.

The music in the video is Such Great Heights by Iron & Wine.

Heart Letter, Month 25

2012-01-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Lucy,

You are 25 months old today. This time last month you were sailing through yet another surgery...this time for ear tubes. This was the first surgery that we could be there for you and I think that alone helped you come through it unscathed. You went to sleep with Daddy there before they wheeled you into surgery and you awakened in your room to Daddy standing by your bed.

Although the ear tubes don't seem to have solved your balance issues (you still fall down quite a bit), your hearing and speaking have dramatically improved. Your first new word after surgery was iPad and you ask for your favorite song on it by saying iPad, pointing to it and dancing around with a huge, endearing smile on your face.

Your first truly correct-sounding word was UP which you uttered last week. Prior to this your UP sounded like UH. We kept working on the P sound and finally, without any warning that it was coming, you said it one morning as Daddy was putting you into your highchair for breakfast.

You are mimicking everything from gestures to words. You try to repeat words and phrases like Thank you and parts of songs that we sing. Your current favorite song is Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and you will dance around trying to match your movements to the song. Annie, your speech therapist, is thrilled with your progress and said that we could decrease your therapy sessions to 2x/month in February.

The other major milestone you accomplished was to not only suck out of a straw but to suck out of a sippy cup straw with a valve on it. Truly an amazing feat for a child born with a cleft and it has made both of our lives much more manageable.

You are enjoying reading a bit more now, albeit in short chunks. You now know several books quite well and will anticipate what is on the next page. For example, in Goodnight Baby you will start to mimic brushing your hair as we turn the page to the baby brushing her hair and you will blow a kiss at the sleeping baby as we turn to the last page.

I have discovered that you and I are very much alike temperamentally. We are both quick to anger, impatient, and easily frustrated. But we also share a huge capacity for love, are very affectionate and, if I may say,quite smart.

You love to laugh. In fact, this is the first month that you have laughed deeply and from the gut. Oh yes, you have giggled since we first met you but this month has brought the kind of laughs that make others laugh just listening to your glee.

We had a lot of firsts for you this month. We went to the Garfield Park Conservatory on a chilly morning. You enjoyed looking at all the plants and running around in the warm rooms.

We also went to the Chicago zoo for New Year's Eve yesterday. You were entranced by the lions and the meerkats most of all.

By far the biggest thing to happen this month was Christmas. You loved looking at the Christmas tree, and especially Santa, every morning when you woke up. Christmas Eve was a special day as you and Kate received squeaky shoes from China. There is a tradition amongst adoptive parents that their children get these shoes and we were no exception. The joy on your face negated the fact that we had four separate squeaks sounding simultaneously as you and Kate raced around the house.

Christmas Day was amazing. You handled the cornucopia of presents quite well, probably because we parsed them out in clumps throughout the day.

Your Nana came for a long visit this month as well. You seemed to remember her from the first day and bonded quite easily with her. She, too, noticed the dramatic changes you have made and how much happier you are.

I am having many dreams lately...the same kind I used to have the first few months after Kate was born. In them you and Kate are always somewhere where I cannot get to you and I awaken feeling bereft and frantic. I know this means that I am bonding with you as a mama and her child should but boy, it rips my heart out every morning when I awaken from them.

I love you my darling daughter and I am so happy you came into our lives. You made 2011 a very special year for our family. I know 2012 will only be better...Happy New Year!

Love,

Mama

Finally...our first Christmas with our family complete

2011-12-26T17:17:00.002-06:00

Nana arrived a couple of days before Christmas and although we missed her birthday by a few days, we tried to make up for it with one of her favorite things, a carrot cake.

Christmas Eve saw the girls enjoying their squeaky shoes. After they went to bed we put all of their old toys in a closet and brought out their new gifts.

We decided to assemble some of the stuff so the frustration level would be lowered (how hard is it to open a plastic-wrapped tea set? It took a box cutter...).

Christmas Morning! Release the hounds!

I predicted quite correctly that Kate would head straight for the tea set and Lucy would head for the strollers.

Kate finally got up to grab a stroller too.

Then she found the airplane...Lucy's still going round and round with the stroller.

Short break to try out the sit-n-spin and Kate is back to the tea set.

Then it's back to the strollers...and trying to figure out how to push both at the same time.

After a couple of hours of this, we had a snack and took naps. We finally got to actually opening the presents wrapped under the tree.

Words cannot express my surprise and gratitude to Yia Yia and Pappou for a half-day of treatments at my favorite spa! It will be a much-needed time of relaxation for this tired mama.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of shredding and ripping of paper, they settled in to play with their loot.

We feasted on ham, mashed potatoes, roasted parsnips, carrots and brussels sprouts with bacon, green beans, sweet potato casserole, homemade cranberry/orange relish and wine. Orange Stollen was dessert! I thought that bedtime would be easy and it was...with Lucy. Kate, however, seems to be getting her 2 year molars in. That, combined with the excitement of presents, Santa and Nana had her awake for over 2 hours beyond her normal bedtime and up by 4am. THAT sucked.

Lucy gave me a post-Christmas present by NOT screaming upon waking this morning at 6am. It was the first time since we've had her that she whimpered her normal "I'm waking up" cry but then she stood up and said, "Mama!". So I got up, and when I picked her up she wrapped her arms and legs around my body and gave me a big hug. It was so sweet. Since Nana was still asleep and Len was sleeping in the rocking chair with Kate, Lucy and I got back into our bed until 6:40am for some snuggle time.

We are enjoying some unbelievable mild and sunny weather so we took full advantage of it this morning by walking to a park near the lake at 9:30am. After 2 hours of playtime we got them back in the stroller where they...fell asleep. Of course. So I stopped in for a Vietnamese coffee on the walk home, dropped Len and Nana off at the house so they could nap and I took them on a walk in the stroller where they slept until 1:30pm. I got my workout for the day with that 2 hour walk for sure!

Len and Nana are giving the girls dinner of eggs, zucchini and quinoa right now so I can have some time to relax (and blog!). After we get the girls to sleep, Nana will stay home to watch the girls so Len and I can go to the movies! Can you tell I'm excited?! It's one of the things I miss the most about this time in our lives...going to the movie theatre.

Time to sign off...supper is over and bathtime is looming.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T20:49:00.001-06:00

This pretty much sums things up in our house!

Christmas was wonderful, exhausting, joyous, funny, aggravating and now, over. I'm off to an early bed. Be assured I will post more about our day in a future post. Hope everyone had a fabulous day and that Santa was good to you.

Let the festivities begin!

2011-12-24T18:48:00.001-06:00

The girls had a great Christmas Eve! Len took them to the park all morning while Nana and I prepped a bunch of food for tomorrow's feast. Lucy napped in the stroller on the way home so did not nap after lunch. Kate, unbelievably, did! So Lucy, Nana and I made a last minute run to Whole Foods. It was Lucy's first time in a grocery store and I think it totally blew her mind. She could not look at everything fast enough! She was pointing and yelling "Mama! Mama!" over and over. We munched and snacked our way through the store since there were samples around every corner. Lucy hoovered in a water cracker, some tortilla chips, brie with cherry preserves, a peanut butter cookie with a fudge dip smeared on top and some grapes. She was just so happy...I know she must be wondering what in the world has happened to her world.

The second thing that blew her mind were the squeaky shoes. We have a tradition in our house that we open one gift on Christmas Eve because Len's family always opened their gifts and celebrated after Christmas Eve Mass. My family traditionally opens gifts on Christmas Day so we have tried to maintain both traditions all these years and now I look forward to both. I mean, who doesn't want a sneak peek with one gift the day before?!

We gave the girls squeaky shoes to open today. The squeaky shoes are a tradition with adopting families in China. Nearly everyone I've ever talked to that has adopted from China bought squeaky shoes in Guangzhou before heading home. Not wanting to break with tradition we bought both girls shoes and decided Christmas would be a good time to gift them. Nobody was disappointed.

What OCD?

2011-12-24T06:00:00.000-06:00

Remember when I mentioned Kate's penchant for closing the pantry door whenever it was left ajar? Yeah. So Nana decided to have a little fun with her OCD.

______________________
Santa's "helper" turned out to be Len's brother Butch and his children Tim and Christy! Thanks guys!

Santa is alive and well!

2011-12-23T20:05:00.000-06:00

This came in the mail for Kate and Lucy today:

Thank you to Santa's "helper" for sending this! It's wonderful!
___________________________________
Ok, so really, who sent this? What a thoughtful thing to do!

Snacktime

2011-12-21T22:04:00.002-06:00

So yes, I realize that we've covered snacktime before with the cheddar bunny pusher but this time was a bit more subdued on Kate's part because we were having fruit...still an acquired taste for my little veggie girl.

Sadly, Kate is wearing the same Elmo shirt she had on in the last snack video...she is now requesting outfits with that damn Elmo being a favorite. Grrr.

How to know when you need a date night

2011-12-18T14:43:00.001-06:00

All four of us were preparing to leave the house on a last Target run before Christmas. We were all gathered at the back door putting on shoes when I looked up and noticed a...ahhh...ahem...(sorry Len)...booger in Len's nose. Without giving it a second thought I reached up, snatched it out and wiped it on a tissue I keep in my pocket for the girls' boogers!

Yes. Yes I did.

We really need some adults-only time.

Lots of pictures!

2011-12-16T06:00:00.000-06:00

Every Thursday since Kate was 6 weeks old I have met with my Mama group. The various Mamas that attend have fluctuated over the past 2 years but for the most part, a core group of us meet every week without fail. The day Len took Lucy to get her ear tubes, I took Kate to Aleks and Luke's house for our weekly playdate. Kate, as usual, had a great time.

Monday was our last Wiggleworms class in the under-2 section. Next year they will still have Ms. Julie as their teacher but we will be in the 2-3 year old class. They had a great time as reindeer on our last day...

Next it was time for reading. Everyone gathered around Ms. Julie at first (although, notice that Lucy is heading away from the book while Kate sits directly in front):

Sitting lasts for a page or two, then everyone stands up so Lucy circles back around to see what's going on:

Alas, much to Lucy's dismay, it's still time for reading so she (and every other kid) wander off leaving Kate and Luke (who is also in our Thursday Mama group) still listening to the story.

And finally, Luke too, loses interest, leaving Kate alone to the very last page.

To recapture everyone's attention, it was time for dancing and bubbles!

The girls are still very much enamored of their new potty, just not for the reasons I had hoped:

Life is never dull with two 2 year olds that for sure!

Leaping forward

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we had our first speech therapy session after a two week break. Annie, our therapist, had to cancel the last two sessions for prior commitments. This means that we had not had a therapy session since Lucy had gotten ear tubes. Let me tell you, what a difference!! Lucy was more focused and receptive to trying to make the sounds asked of her. She didn't try to evade or refuse to make eye contact nor did she get overwhelmed and start throwing toys around as she has at pretty much every other session. Annie was amazed at the change in her. She is now saying the following words more clearly:

Bye Bye
Down
Hi
Up
More
Top (for stop)
Da Da
Wa Wa (for water)
Ba Ba (for bottle)
Nana
Papa

She is attempting to say Santa but the S sound is a tough one at the moment. She also has trouble with the E sound as in eat or Meme.

She can also point to the following body parts:

feet
toes
hand
arm
eyes
nose
mouth
bellybutton
head
hair

And the final accomplishment is that not only can she suck from a straw, she can suck from a straw that has a valve in it (like in a sippy cup which means she has to really suck hard to get it out). We are working on using a hard spout sippy cup like this one. She can get a little bit out but it frustrates her and she gets too tired to stick with it for long.

All in all though, she is making great leaps forward in most all areas. One of the not-so-great moves forward is her testing of me. One of the best signs of attachment is when a child feels secure enough in a relationship to test the boundaries. Prior to the last few days, Lucy would either acquiesce to what I wanted without much of a fight or would just cry if she didn't get her way. Now, she will do the exact opposite of what I want (like standing/jumping on the sofa when I have asked her to sit), all the while watching me with a big smile on her face to see what I will do. This has resulted in a lot of time-ins (wherein she is removed from the action and made to sit near me but not allowed to join in the fun that Kate and I are having). After a short time away, I will tell her why she was there, ask her to apologize, kiss, hug and back to play. Rinse and repeat multiple times/day for various other infractions. I must keep reminding myself that it just means she is feeling more secure, that I will still love her even if she misbehaves. It's super fun and I know how jealous you all must be.

Om ManiPadme Hum

And now, for fun, here's a snapshot of yesterday's rainy day play-date with Lina. They were giving Bernard the dog a run for his money...

Courtesy

2011-12-14T20:05:00.000-06:00

Kate was having a particularly difficult time going to sleep tonight. Maybe she sensed that Len would be going out for sushi tonight with a friend, leaving only Mama to hold down the fort. Whatever it was, it was looking grim for Mama...and then this:

Kate: Did Mama eat supper?

Me: Not yet. I can't eat my supper until you go to sleep.

Kate: Mama needs to eat supper.

Me: Yes, I would love to eat supper. Maybe you could lay your head down and close your eyes. Then you could dream about all the wonderful things you did today.

Kate: Kate go to bed now. Lay down in crib with Bedtime Kitty.

Me: Ok, kiss and a hug.

I get a big kiss and a tight hug from Kate. Then I lay her down in her crib.

Me: I love you. Night night.

Kate: I love you Mama. Night night.

Love Letter, Month 23

2011-12-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Kate,

You are twenty-three months old today. What a funny, happy, VERBAL, girl you are!

Your language has exploded this month. You speak not only in full sentences but full paragraphs. And the words you come up with still astound me. On the morning after our first snow you looked out the front window and said, "Is it wintertime Mama?"

You know all the words to your favorite songs and pick up new songs amazingly quickly. Your new favorite is "Jingle Bells" but you have added a twist. Oh yes, you will sing the words correctly but occasionally you will just make up a song with your own words but with the tune from another song. For example, one night as Daddy was dressing you in your jammies, you spontaneously burst out with:

Jammies, Jammies, Jammies, Jammies

Jammies all the way!

or this version upon returning home from a playdate with your friend Lina:

Lina, Lina, Lina, Lina

Lina all the way!

Lina, Lina, Lina, Lina,

Lina, Lina, LeeeennnAAA!

(both to the tune of "Jingle Bells)

You have also retrofitted the ABC song with different words...I guess the ABCs have become boring and mundane after several months of singing them.

Your memory surprises me. When we pass our downstairs neighbor's house you will usually start singing, "Happy Birthday dear Zadie" even though it has been a few weeks since we celebrated her 2nd birthday. You asked me the other day if we were going to go on a plane again to China "for Lucy." You recognize not only the street we live on when we turn the corner in the stroller but also the alley to our garage. You will announce that we are "almost home!" and start to sing the song I taught you so you would remember our street name.

You have taken to speaking for your sister. I know it must look to you like I am absurdly stupid when I ask Lucy to use her words to get what she wants but believe it or not, I usually know what her grunts and points are referring to. My goal, however, is to have her speak at some point. Although I know you are trying to be helpful, your translating for Lucy when she wants something is only prolonging the "uh uh uh" that I am so desperately trying to banish from her repertoire. Stop. It.

I am pleased though that you and Lucy have bonded over a mutual love of dressing up. You raid the bottom drawer of the dresser every day and come up with some very creative combinations. And you always make sure that Lucy has something to wear as well (whether she wants it or not...you can be a bit, shall we say, insistent).

We were lucky enough to have Meme and Papa come spend Thanksgiving with us. You picked up with them as if it had not been months since we had last seen them.

You thoroughly enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner

which is more than I can say for your reaction to meeting Santa for the 2nd time in your life.

You weren't nearly as upset as Lucy but you looked dubious at best. I'm not sure if you were more disturbed by sitting in a strange, bearded man's lap or by Lucy's apparent terror. No tears were shed though and you bounced back enough to accept a small toy from him before we bundled you back up to leave Santa's house.

You have some funny quirks (some might call it OCD but I want it on record that I have not labeled it such...). I have a bad habit of leaving the pantry door ajar. Mostly it's because I put a child-proof knob on the door to keep you and Lucy out of the liquor stash. It is such a giant PITA that I fail to close it most of the time because I don't want to futz with it later. This bothers you to no end and EVERY SINGLE TIME you pass the slightly open door you will close it.

So really, why do I even have the child-proof knob on there if you are going to police yourself?

You are obsessed with cleaning. You love to wipe down your tray after eating, you insist on having your hands wiped after every bite when you aren't using utensils, and I thought you were going to have a rapturous fit of joy when I let you sweep up the needles from the Christmas tree. I hope you never outgrow your need to clean but I suspect that as soon as you are tall enough to wash dishes you will learn that cleaning is highly over-rated.

We got your attention this month when a potty made it's appearance in our kitchen. You are quite fond of sitting on it and doing...nothing.

I am sad to report that you seem to have given up napping unless it is inconvenient for me as when we're in the car for a short trip or in the stroller on the way home from the park. You will sleep for those few short minutes and then wake up ready to start another adventure. It's so very exhausting.

But these things are over-shadowed by...YOU. You are such a sunny, happy girl and I look forward to seeing your smiling face every morning...

and reading to you every night.

Love,

Mama

Fun with friends (and some strange coincidences)

2011-12-11T20:40:00.001-06:00

We spent this cold Sunday at the Garfield Park Conservatory. We met up at 10am with Candice, her daughter Antara, Kelly, Keith and their daughter M. It was such a nice warm place to be when the outside temps were hovering in the 30s! There was some serious hail damage to most of the conservatory earlier this year and some of the areas were still not repaired but we had plenty to see and do anyway.

We wrapped up the morning by having a great lunch at nearby Feed Restaurant. The girls napped on the way home. We managed to have a nice Skype session with Meme and Papa before having some supper and calling it a night.

Two funny things happened today however. The first was running into a couple that we haven't seen since Kate was born. They were in our Bradley Birth class and had the same due date of mid-February that we originally did. We got to see their cute daughter and visit with them for a bit. Turns out they have been keeping up with us all along on our blog so, "Hey there--write when you can and let's get together again!"

The other coincidence happened at lunch. A couple saw us and asked if we had been in O'Hare Airport at the end of September. Turns out they recognized both girls and had been on an in-coming international flight at the same time as us.

Such a small world...

Kate's first trip to the "library"

2011-12-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

Think she'll need therapy for this post? (don't answer that)

They both needed to inspect the potty afterwards...

Nope. Empty.

Have some Cheddar Bunnies?

2011-12-06T06:00:00.000-06:00

Want some more? Want some more? Want some more! WANT SOME MORE WANT SOME MOOOOOORRRRRREEEE!!! EAT IT!

Major advancement!

2011-12-05T06:00:00.000-06:00

Lucy drank from a straw which is a HUGE DEAL in a cleft affected child. Huge.

Think we can get a free iPad?

2011-12-04T07:27:00.000-06:00

Lucy has made no new strides in words until yesterday. Her first new word since receiving the ear tubes was...
She is babbling a lot more now and is actually trying to repeat some of the words we say instead of just grunting for things. She also seems happier...much more cheerful all day long. I guess with the chronic pain of ear infections and fluid gone she is feeling like life just got a whole lot better!

Later in the day we had more iPad fun...rainy days make this an invaluable piece of equipment.

Meds and panties

2011-12-03T15:11:00.001-06:00

First, let's have Fun with Meds!

She loves to shake them like maracas.

I guess the old prescriptions for my pregnancy nausea came in handy after all.

Next, it's Fun with Panties. I bought some panties in preparation for the day when we will need them. Seems they can find other uses for them...

And you thought this post would be about....what, exactly?

Lucy's ear tubes

2011-12-01T20:58:00.000-06:00

Lucy's ear surgery went well. Len took her in at 6:30am for surgery at 8am and I stayed with Kate. As soon as the nurses found out that it was her birthday they gave her a doll complete with a blanket, bottle, a little bear and a bib (very alliterative huh...baby, blanket, bottle, bear, bib). They also put a small wrist band on it that matched Lucy's!

Len asked them if they could sedate her before taking her from him since she's been with us such a short time. They had no problem doing that and she didn't cry at all when she was taken to surgery. It went well and Len was with her in recovery while she was still out.

The staff in the operating room gave her a bear for her birthday and it was with her in recovery as well (what you see in the picture above though is her favorite bunny that we gave her the day we got home to Chicago...she sleeps with it every night).

The nurse warned Len that most children wake up, sit up abruptly and then get discombobulated which then leads to lots of crying. Lucy did not! She started to stir, then turned to the nurse who was speaking and gave him a smile. Then she saw Len and really smiled! No crying at all for the entire visit, before or after!

She was given some water and once she passed the no-vomit test she was given honey grahams. By this time it's about 9am, well past her normal breakfast and approaching snacktime so she was very hungry.

And that was that! They were home by 10:30am. Lucy was a bit wobbly and fell down more than usual all day but the doc said to expect that from the anesthesia.After naptime (for Lucy...Kate, as per usual, just had some quiet time in her crib) we went on a long walk around town before playing with some chalk in the front yard.

Right after supper we let Lucy open the gifts we got for her. The first was a sleep sheep. She loves the one that Yia Yia and Pappou got for Kate and will ask to be in Kate's crib in order to hug it. So our hope is that she will want to get in her crib as well. You see, she's still in a pack and play in our room. We are planning to move her out in January after the holiday excitement is over. So, in order to make her crib in the nursery more inviting we've added the sleep sheep. She was quite happy tonight after bathtime to be in her crib hugging her very own sheep--the first time I've put her in there without tears on her part.

The other thing she got was a Mrs. Potato Head. We use this quite a bit in speech therapy (helps to learn body parts and with fine motor skills). She loved it and ended up playing with it for a full 15 minutes--completely absorbed which was great to see.

We are to give her ear drops 2x/day for the next 2 days to prevent infection and dry up any water that may get in there. We have to be a bit more careful during bathtime not to get water in her ears but otherwise there are no restrictions (since it's not swimming weather yet!). She had a bit of bloody discharge tonight after her ear drops and she was rubbing them a bit so we gave her some baby Tylenol before bed just to be sure she was not going to have any pain. So far so good...both girls are asleep and I'm heading that way now!

Goodnight all and thank you so much for the birthday wishes and concern about her surgery--she is most certainly a well-loved little girl and for that we are grateful to you all!

Heart Letter, Month 24

2011-12-01T06:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Lucy,

You are 24 months old today. TWO YEARS OLD! And you are growing like a weed. I swear you shot up 2” overnight. I cantell because we now have an early morning ritual. While Daddy gets up to take ashower (and since you are already awake by this time), I pick you up and youlay on my chest in bed. When we first started this snuggle time, your feetwould only go to my thighs. Now they are touching my knees.

This snuggle time is really helping us to bond to eachother. A couple of weeks ago you reached up to touch my face and the next thingI knew your lips were on my cheek and you were giving me a kiss! And then yousmiled at me and laid your head back down on my chest. It was such a sweetmoment that I wanted to freeze it in time and replay it over and over.

The moments like these are fleeting though because you are a ball of energy! Every morning after breakfast you head for the drawer-full of hats, scarves, and mittens. The combinations you and Kate come up with are endless and cause me to go racing for the camera on a regular basis.

You made an amazing cognitive leap this month, relating twothings from different contexts. Unbeknownst to me, the Halloween spider ringwas on the floor slightly out of my view but clearly in your line of visionfrom up in your high chair. You kept pointing to the floor and grunting. I hadno idea what you wanted so asked if you were through and wanted down. You shookyour head no but kept pointing to the floor and grunting. Finally, you starteddoing the itsy-bitsy spider with your fingers and then you pointed to the flooragain. I leaned over to look and sure enough, there was the spider. I wastotally blown away that you made the connection between the song and the spiderring since we had never made that relationship connection before.

You manage to impress me with how much you have learned injust a couple of short months. Just the other day Kate inhaled water in the tuband started coughing. You turned to her and started patting her back which youmust have seen me do in the past. It was such a sweet gesture. You have learnedto blow your nose, drink from a cup with some help, suck from a fruit pouch andclimb up and down stairs. Your cheeks are rosier and you wake up, if not happy,at least not crying hysterically anymore. You lay right down with your bunnyand your dolly for both nap and nighttime, sometimes pulling the blanket upover your face so you can rub it on your lips before rolling over and droppingoff to sleep. You are sleeping through the night consistently now from 6:30pm-5:30amwith a one hour nap right after lunch. You thrive on routine and have quicklyadapted to our daily rhythm with your favorite part of the day spent at thepark. When we turn the corner to the park you start squealing and waving yourarms and legs in anticipation for all the fun to be had!

The one thing you still really hate, though, is to be askedto do any type of structured activity like reading or even games on the iPad.You are probably the only child on the planet who would prefer to scoot on Tupperwarecontainers than futz around on an iPad. This is especially difficult on speechtherapy day. It is pure hell to do therapy with you and not just after we’vebeen doing it for a bit. You are ready to be done before we even start. Youpull out every trick you know in an effort to avoid working….first you look foranother toy to play with, then you smile sweetly to charm your way out of it,then you get mad and finally you just keep repeating Mah Mah Mah hoping you canmonosyllabically flog us into relenting. By the end of the session we are allexhausted and Annie is revamping her approach yet again for next time.

You are getting ear tubes this morning. I hate that this is happening on your birthday but if it can help you hear sooner then it is a better birthday present than anything else I could buy. The doctorsaid it should not only improve your hearing but should also help with yourbalance and coordination. I really hope it helps because I know you are sofrustrated and have no words to express it.

You have experienced so many "firsts" this month. The most recent was yesterday when you sat on the new potty and actually pooped! We made a huge deal about it but you didn't seem overly impressed and would not get on it for the rest of the day.

You went to your first birthday party when our neighbor Zadie turned two. You loved the balloons and the chance to play with new toys.

You met your Meme and Papa for the first time when they came to visit for Thanksgiving.

You loved them both and sought out their attention every day. You also met Santa for the first time. That meeting did not go quite as well....

Fortunately, that experience did not scar you for Christmas in general. You are in love with the Christmas tree and with the small Santa under it.

You also had your first Thanksgiving meal complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole and green beans. With so much food I am not surprised that you were a big fan of the holiday!

Happy birthday my darling. I am so sorry that we missed your first two birthdays but I can promise you that we will never miss another one as long as we are alive. You are loved more and more each day and I am so happy that you are here so we can celebrate the first of many birthdays to come.

Love,

Mama

Fall Photo Session

2011-11-29T05:00:00.000-06:00

We called Jessie back to take pictures of our new family. We did it last year and were very happy with how they came out. Here are the pictures taken at the end of October!

Thanksgiving weekend in pictures

2011-11-28T06:00:00.000-06:00

Meme and Papa are leaving this morning and we are very sad. The girls became quickly attached to having two more people shower love and attention on them. We had a wonderful visit as you will soon see!

Here are a few more shots from Thanksgiving day. I made individual pumpkin ramekins for the girls to have.

The day after Thanksgiving was beautiful and sunny so we headed to the Christkindle Market at Daley Plaza to see Santa. Kate saw him there last year and was singularly unimpressed. This year was not much better...here we are waiting in line for Santa.

Mrs. Santa Claus let us in and the girls were quite happy with the tree and the decorations.

And then....Santa. Kate looked dubious the whole time but Lucy...well, to say she was unhappy would be an understatement.

It looks like she should be screaming bloody murder right? Except it was a completely soundless scream. Her face froze in this arrangement for the few seconds it took to take the picture and then Len scooped her up. She recovered amazingly quickly and accepted a small blinky clip from Santa before we left.

The market was so ridiculously crowded that we decided to have lunch elsewhere so we headed across the street to Petterinos. The food was delish and the girls lapped up spinach and fish before setting to work with tarter sauce and fries.

Next it was a walk to Millennium Park where we spent a great deal of time playing.

Dad and Len took a cab home while Gloria, the girls and I drove. We took a detour down the Mag Mile to see the lights and got stuck in major traffic.

That evening after the girls went to bed, Meme and Papa kept watch over the house while Len and I went to get our Christmas tree. The weather took a terrible turn both Saturday and Sunday so we spent both days inside. We spent some of that time decorating the tree (with some reading breaks).

Of course we had a few projects we needed to get done. The first was assembling some bar stools.

The next was assembling a large play kitchen that Meme and Papa sent the girls for Christmas. We decided to give it to the girls early so Papa and Meme could enjoy seeing them play with it.

It was a huge hit!

Sunday we celebrated Lucy's 2nd birthday since she will be having ear tube surgery on her actual birthday this Thursday. I made a pound cake with lemon glaze for everyone to share and Lucy had a special cupcake all for herself. She loved being the center of attention with her tiara!

Since it was our last night together we exchanged a few Christmas gifts. A Skype camera and Cloisonné Christmas ornaments from China for Meme and Papa.

A handbag from Nepal for me, a new Hawaiian shirt for Len and hats/mittens for the girls.

And that's our weekend! It was a really great 4 days and we will miss having Papa and Meme here to share our days.

Dancing Girls

2011-11-27T13:14:00.001-06:00

This started out being about dancing but ended up as a fine example of how, if one child is doing something, the other MUST do it as well. Note when Lucy bumped her head and how Kate goes to the speaker to bump her head as well. Then Lucy does it again. Then Kate. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Giving Thanks

2011-11-24T19:23:00.001-06:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We certainly did here. Papa and Meme arrived late afternoon yesterday, in time to play with the girls a bit before their bath/bedtime. Even though the weather remained cloudy, cold and windy, we bundled up the girls so Papa and Len could take them to the park while Meme and I set to work on our afternoon feast.

Our menu:
Turkey
Sausage, apple, chestnut stuffing
Sweet potato casserole
Mashed potatoes
Green Beans
Roasted Brussels sprouts with bacon
Cranberry compote
Gravy
Riesling wine
Pumpkin/maple pie
Apple pie
Ice cream

Kate "rested" for a short bit but was ready to sit down with us to eat at 2pm. Lucy napped for 1 1/2 hours so joined us when we were on seconds. So delicious!

We opened a few gifts from Papa and Meme--Leapfrog My Tag and some books.

Then some snuggle time with Meme on the sofa...

So what am I thankful for this year? That our family is finally complete. Our children are both home, safe and happy. It's been a good year.

China gifts

2011-11-20T15:12:00.001-06:00

I mentioned in this post about my day of shopping in Guangzhou. I stole the idea of buying one gift for each of Lucy's first 18 birthdays from my friend Julie who adopted her daughter several years ago. I keep going back and forth as to whether these should be for her birthday or if we should, in some small way, mark the day she joined our family. The more I think about it, the more I like that idea better.

Either way, since a few people have asked about what we got, here's a list of the items organized by the age in which she will receive them. Some of the items we also got for Kate so she can share in the celebration of gaining a sister.

*Note: Lucy was born in the Year of the Ox and Kate was born in the Year of the Tiger, thus the references to these animals in some of the gifts.

Age 2--teddy bear from the China Hotel
First Christmas--squeaky shoes (both girls)
Age 3--Music box with dancing dolls
Age 4--Traditional Chinese dress
Age 5--Child's ox jade pendant necklace (Kate's has a tiger pendant)
Age 6--Ox mobile and an embroidered picture of pandas
Age 7--Dragon puppet
Age 8--Henan Province traditional doll
Age 9--small Jade Buddha and a glass bottle with her name written inside
Age 10--Sandalwood fan and a traditional cloth fan
Age 11--Traditional Chinese flute and a cd of music featuring the flute
Age 12--Set of chops with red ink. Chops are seals/stamps. Lucy's has her name in both Chinese characters and in English. It is made of stone and has an ox on the top.
Age 13--Mahjong set
Age 14--Carved wood jewelry box
Age 15--Buddha bracelet
Age 16--Jade bracelet (both girls)
Age 17--tea set made of fine china
Age 18--Cloissoné Christmas balls
High School graduation--pearl necklace and earrings (both girls)

Now to keep them hidden but also remember to retrieve them on the appointed day for the next 16 years...

And, because this is just too cute not to share, a picture from last week.

The scarf game

2011-11-19T05:00:00.000-06:00

It's not the best video in the world as I'm still trying to figure out the settings on this camera but the laughing of the girls will hopefully make up for it. And it's a bit long--like 5 1/2 minutes long which I know is way too long to look at toddlers chasing each other with a scarf but again, haven't figured out how to edit the film either so...yeah. It's long.

Hearing Test and a visit with the ENT

2011-11-18T13:39:00.001-06:00

Lucy's appointment for her hearing test and checkup with Dr. Rastatter, the ENT doc at Children's, was this morning. Prior to being called into the room for the hearing test Lucy and Kate had a good time in the waiting room.

The hearing test consisted of Lucy sitting on my lap, facing a lab tech who was holding various things designed to keep Lucy focused on her. Another tech was in a sound booth behind dark glass and she operated the sounds. First she started off by speaking to Lucy through one of 2 speakers situated on either side and slightly behind Lucy. The idea was for Lucy to turn her head towards the sound. When she did, a box with a stuffed animal would light up near the speaker and then go off. After a few times with the tech's voice, there were various sounds in tones/volume from high to low. After this she had a "headband" placed on the bones around her ears for a conductive hearing test.

The results: she had normal hearing in most ranges but failed in two areas, both of which were lower tones. The last test in this room was a picture taken inside her ear to measure the level of fluid. The graph should look like an inverted V but with Lucy it was pretty much flat, indicating fluid.

We then waited in a room for the doc to come in. The girls took turns driving the toy on the wall and climbing in and out of the exam chair.

Dr. Rastatter came in to do a visual check of her eardrum. This was not a popular test with Lucy AT ALL.

In spite of all Lucy's screaming, when they were done Kate said, "Kate's turn!" and wanted to climb into the chair.

He confirmed that Lucy has a lot of fluid build-up in her ears and will need ear tubes. She is scheduled to get those in on December 1...the day she turns two. Not exactly a great birthday present huh?

Why do weekends go by so quickly?!

2011-11-13T20:43:00.001-06:00

It seems to me that it's only fair that we should have more than 2 days off a week. I mean, don't you think that 4 days of work and 3 days of play seems more equitable? Yes, I'm lamenting that it's another Sunday night and I feel like this weekend went by in a flash and Monday is looming large. And honestly, I'm not sure where the time went...so let's review.

Technically Friday is not the weekend but since I didn't update on Lucy's occupational therapy I'm putting it in anyway. My friend Sara came over at 10am to pick up Kate. She took Kate and her daughter Lina to the Swedish Children's Museum where they were having a program and serving Swedish pancakes. The therapist from Early Intervention came to our house at 10:30 and worked with Lucy and me until noon. Because this therapy is focused on eating and drinking skills I scheduled it for snacktime. Lucy was successful in drinking from a modified therapy cup and demonstrating more rotary chewing (as opposed to just smacking her lips and mouth up and down) than she did during her evaluation. We were completely unsuccessful in even trying the straw but I think part of that was just pushing her too much. She was happy with her cup and was simply not ready to move on to the next thing so just gave up altogether. We also tried out a few different feeding utensils to see what was easiest for her to use. She was not nearly as tired or overwhelmed by this therapy as she was with speech but then she was eating through most of it! We did move on to the floor for a bit of play therapy (shape sorter, etc). We will be doing this kind of therapy every other week for several months.

Kate returned happy and full from pancakes and lingonberries right after I got Lucy down for her nap. Kate "rested" and then we spent the afternoon playing and going for our usual walk.

Saturday morning Len took the girls to Wiggleworms (we need to make up 2 classes that we missed while in China) and then to the park before coming home for lunch and naps. Lucy napped her usual 1 hour and was waking just as Kate was finally petering out. Kate ended up sleeping 2 1/2 hours so Len and Lucy got a lot of one-on-one time while I ran errands. We regrouped around 4:30pm and then went out for Chinese at Sun Wah BBQ with our neighbors David, Jen and their daughter Zadie.

Sunday found us eating Chinese again, this time a dim sum brunch at Furama with the Asian Parents group from NPN. The girls had a good time eating noodles, dumplings and red bean buns before playing on the stage with all the other kids.

*all pictures on here were taken on my phone or the iPad so they're not the best...

Home, naps (1 1/2 hours for Lucy, Kate opted out of actually napping, preferring to sing and talk for her rest time). Then we headed over to Sara, Gustav and Lina's house for snacks and more playtime. Mulled wine and beer made playtime much more fun....at least for the adults!

And that's it. Huh. Not a very eventful weekend but a good one nonetheless.

Lucy is really starting to blossom. I noticed today that she seems much livelier with a rosy glow to her cheeks that she didn't have before. She's happier and reaches to hold my hand a lot. She is waking from night sleep and naps much easier. Gone is the screaming and crying and in its place is just a small bit of crying when transitioning from sleep to wake followed by "Mama!" which means either Len or I need to come get her. She is still calling me, Len, food and any toy she wants "Mama".

Otherwise, here are some pictures from this past week...

Riding Bernard the dog

Modeling the flower headbands that I originally got for Kate when she was an infant

Hard to take their pictures when they keep trying to see the back of the camera

This is what it looked like on Kate at 9 months...

Is that not the yummiest child?? It makes my heart ache every time I think about the fact that we missed this most beautiful time in Lucy's life. She would have been adorable with a cabbage on her head too.

Love Letter, Month 22

2011-11-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Kate,

You are twenty-two months old today and in this month wehave gone from wearing this outside to play

to wearing this

You love the new addition of accessories though and pretty much every day you will root through the bottom drawer where we keep mittens, hats, and scarves with which to bedeck yourself.

You may notice that not only do you have on a faux fur hat but you also have a bow in your hair peeking out from under the hat. Just recently you discovered the headbands.

Notice that you and Lucy are climbing on the box together. Your entire day consists of you both trading who is making up whatever game you both will do. In this instance, Lucy wanted to sit on the box so, naturally, you did too. Sometimes you will both just run around me in a circle before landing on my back for a hug only to take off running again.

You usually instigate the "hiding" game where you tell me to hide, then you both hide by leaning up against the hall wall. Next, you both run down the hall to find me in the kitchen where I jump out to find you. Lots of shrieking happens too. You both find it endlessly entertaining.

Endlessly.

You both are playing much better together. Although you are still the aggressive one, often taking her toys or pushing her around, your aggression has become more subtle in an attempt to avoid another time-out. I will look up to find you leaning into Lucy until she falls down or kissing her very forcefully. Love as Assault does not count as fondness, my dear. Most of the time though, you two play well together.

You watched tv for the first time this month. Yes, you have watched small portions of tv while I've trimmed your nails but this was a set, sit down for 15 minutes of Sesame Street, not catch the 3 minutes of whatever's on Nick Jr. You liked watching but thankfully were not upset when it was time to turn it off and do something else.

You are becoming quite the helper, even singing the clean-up songs when it starts to get messy and you want to clean up the room. I will hear...

Clean up, it's time to clean up!

Clean up, it's time to clean up, it's time to clean up!

Or this version:

Clean up, clean up

Everybody, Everywhere

Clean up, clean up

Everybody do their share.

You learned this in Wiggleworms class where you are very helpful handing Ms. Julie the leaves from the Fall song.

It's especially helpful when it's time for us to leave the house. I announce that we're leaving and you run to the shoe tray and retrieve everyone's shoes. On this particular day we were taking Daddy to the train on our way to playtime. I came out to the living room to find you had gathered everyone's sneakers, kept them together and put them all on the rug so we could sit down to put them on.

When we got home later that day I needed to take Lucy in for a diaper change pronto and I just left all of our shoes and socks in the doorway. I came back to find they had all been placed in the shoe tray and you were happily inspecting your handiwork.

Just as we did last year, we went to a farm to celebrate the coming of Fall. This year you had a lot more fun riding the tractor train and eating apple cider donuts but your favorite part by far was the petting area.

Halloween was this month and you dressed up in the Chinese dress we got in Guangzhou. You loved wearing it to Wiggleworms class.

Your Yia Yia and Pappou visited for Halloween and brought you, among other things, the blue "monser sippers" that you have been seeing in several of the photos for this month. You wear them every chance you get.

I have realized this month that you are a pretty easy baby. The napping situation could be better (a LOT better in fact) but by and large, you are a sunny, happy, smart, easy-going little girl.

I look forward to seeing your happy face every morning and to singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with you every night as you lay in your crib with night-night kitty. I love watching your face when you are playing.

Your biggest gift to me is realizing what a special time childhood is. Everything is new and wonderful and exciting...learning to jump, tasting kiwi, feeling the wind, seeing an airplane, watching a road crew fix a pothole, tracing your foot with chalk, and discovering that you like your new sister after all.

Love,

Mama

Speech therapy is exhausting

2011-11-10T06:00:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was our second speech therapy session and about 45 minutes into it, Lucy just gave up and laid down in my lap. And this is a child who is not a lap child. She was so tired of being made to focus on making sounds in order to get to the toy we were using for the therapy. And I must confess that I was equally exhausted. Because Lucy has not attached to me yet I've asked the therapist, Annie, to let me participate more than is usually expected. Lucy was excited at first to have the new person pay attention to her and was more than a little frustrated to find out that she had to not only make the sounds we were asking but she had to make them for me in order to get the toy.

What I've noticed in the few weeks we've had her home is that she much prefers to play by being active: riding the scooter, running up and down the hall, throwing or kicking a ball. Quieter activities like the shape sorter box or looking at pictures drive her batty. She will literally grab the book out of my hand and shake her head NO and try to make me stop. It's beyond frustrating. She prefers to knock over the tower of blocks Kate has just built than to help her put it back together.

I'm not sure if it's her nature or if the almost 2 years she spent without focused attention and with large amounts of sugar coursing through her body are the cause. Possibly both. And, it's probably the access to so many different types of toys and people and food and just EVERYTHING that keeps her from focusing. She still goes to sleep much like an infant will...I lay her in the crib and she's out within 1-2 minutes which, to me, that is an indication that she is only allowing herself to take downtime when sleeping.

So, sitting in a therapy room with toys that require you to focus is unbearably taxing for her. For example, the first thing we had her do was to feed the "pet bird" (a puppet) with fake food. In order to get the food from Annie she had to say "more" which she will do as we ask her to say it at home for every meal. Then she had to say "eat" in order for me to open the bird's mouth to take the food. She's used to just making the sign for that word, never attempting to even say it. She steadfastly kept her mouth clamped shut for quite some time before saying "ahh" which we promptly rewarded. At this point, any sound that she makes that is a vowel when a vowel is called for (even if it's the wrong one) was greeted with much enthusiasm.

And that's why I'm exhausted. I'm not the MUCH ENTHUSIASM sort to begin with. It's why I taught jaded high school students instead of kindergarten. And Lucy's not used to me being the over-excited sort anyway so it was all just a bit over-the-top. Fortunately Annie and I talked for the last 5 minutes of our session about what we can do to make it work a bit better and some homework to focus on while Lucy had some free playtime.

Our homework for this week is:
1. Make lip sounds for M, P, B and W
2. Saying the following words instead of just signing them: in, out, more, eat
3. Starting to identify body parts with both gestures and words.

Friday we start occupational therapy for feeding here at our house. And. AND! As if our lives weren't hectic enough, none of the three sitters I have interviewed and liked are available to watch Kate on Friday so I've had to call in a favor with Sara, one of my mama friends. She's going to take her daughter, Lina, and Kate to the Children's museum at the Swedish Museum--seems they are serving Swedish pancakes all day! Thanks Sara--I owe you a drink (or three) at our next mama night out.

Bathtime for Babies!

2011-11-09T07:40:00.003-06:00

I love the way the girls just start giggling with each other and how they copy each other. They are starting to play much better together although Kate did try to push/hit Lucy in the face. Fortunately, these instances are becoming fewer and fewer.

And yes, there was a lot of water on the floor when they were finished...

Doctor Checkup for both girls

2011-11-08T17:41:00.003-06:00

Today was Lucy's first visit with our regular pediatrician, Dr. Ettner. Len came with me to make it easier since we had both girls to wrangle. Lucy did quite well and didn't cry at all until she got a shot. Kate escaped getting one this month. She's either sick or teething or both but in general wasn't feeling well so we skipped it this month. She appears to be getting all four incisors at the same time...

Here are the updated stats for the girls with some caveats.

1. For the first time they were weighed on a regular scale that you stand on.
2. They were also measured for height on this scale so I will show their recumbent length as well since there is a measurable (hah!) difference and that's how they've been measured in the past..
3. Lucy's past measurements were at a different office with clothes on...here they had on dry diapers only.
4. As always, their last measurements will be in parenthesis.

So here goes:

Kate (last measurements were 2 months ago)
Height: 31" standing
Length: 33 1/4" (33 1/4")
Weight: 24 1/4 lb (23 lb 10 oz)
Head: 45 cm (45 cm)

Lucy (last measurements were 3 weeks ago)
Height: 32 1/2" standing
Length: 34 1/4" (33")
Weight: 25 lb (24 lb 14 oz)
Head: 46 cm (46 cm)

Not a lot of change as you can see. I imagine it's mostly attributable to the giardia. They are both still pooping like fiends and Lucy is still eating a lot. Kate is not eating as much but I think that could be because her teeth/gums are hurting. I counted 8 poopy diaper changes today alone with Lucy leading the count by 5. NOT normal. Dr. Ettner prescribed an OTC probiotic to see if that has any effect this week. If not, we'll probably have to retreat for giardia.

Kate's ear was a bit red inside and had a little fluid but didn't need antibiotics. Lucy's ears are still clear.

Otherwise, all was well with both of them. They each got a clementine on the way out which Lucy proceeded to polish off as soon as we got home. Kate said, "too tart, give it to Lucy". She ate a big bowl of steamed broccoli stems instead. Polar opposites...

Princess Castle/Cottage

2011-11-07T06:00:00.000-06:00

Michelle visited us this weekend from DC. She is a former co-worker of mine--we both worked at a kitchen/bath design firm for a couple of years before she had her first daughter, Kira, and decided to stay home with her. She has since had another daughter, Jenna.

She came bearing a Princess Castle that can turn into a cottage. As you can see from the video, the girls were in heaven!

Michelle figured out that we had it on the poles sideways which alleviated some of the tripping by making it lay flatter.

She also made a cute board that matches the nursery colors so we can post pictures and cards for them to look at.

Saturday night after we got the girls into bed, Michelle and I headed out to Calo for Italian food and Len settled in with a grilled steak to watch the LSU game. After Calo, we headed to the Hancock Observatory for some spectacular viewing of nighttime Chicago.

Sunday morning was breakfast at Ann Sather...Lucy liked lingonberries on Swedish waffles and Kate was all about the bacon.

As soon as we got home it was time to play in the cottage and on the relocated "nest"

The time change today totally screwed us up this morning. Lucy awakened at what should have been 6am but instead was 5am. Kate stayed asleep for much longer and didn't get up until 7:30 in the new time change. Not sure what's going on with Kate lately as she has napped for the past 4 days in a row and slept through the night for the most part (she awakened at 5am on Saturday morning but catnapped in the rocking chair with me until 7am). I hope I didn't jinx myself for this week!

Negotiating Sisterhood

2011-11-06T11:48:00.001-06:00

The rule in our house is that if someone drops a toy and it is no longer in your physical possession, it is fair game for the next person to pick it up and play with it. Witness the fine act of trying to keep what you have when you have a sister lying in wait to pick it up.

Lucy has 4 of her favorite things on her body and is desperately trying to figure out how to keep them away from Kate: a rattle on each wrist, a scooter and the train. Notice Kate, devilish smile, just waiting for Lucy to drop something.

Lucy's guard goes down as Kate moves away and around the bar...Lucy loosens her grip on the train.

It falls to the floor. She looks up to be sure Kate is not still there...

A not-so-stealth sneak attack from the rear! Kate swoops in with a shriek of glee and reaches for the train. Lucy whips her scooter around and hops off

With Kate's hand still on one side, Lucy grabs the train away and simultaneously whips her head around to see if I am watching...

Oh yes, my love, Mama is ALWAYS WATCHING.

Another game they made up

2011-11-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

Kate initiated this hide-and-seek game long before Lucy came on the scene but she wasted no time at all joining in the fun! This is usually good for at least 3-5 minutes a few times a day. As you can see, Lucy's attention span is just a tad shorter than Kate's.

The hats were their choices from the drawer-full of hats we have. Lucy loves the striped Christmas hat mostly so she can hold the ball on top. Kate likes how big her hat is so she can pull it down over her face and walk into walls (which I unfortunately did not get on tape).

First Speech Therapy Session

2011-11-03T06:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Lucy's first session with the speech therapist at Children's Hospital. It turns out that we managed to get approved for weekly one hour sessions at Children's so we've got appointments scheduled through the end of the year already and a nanny lined up for Kate as well.

The first session consisted of goal-setting as well as the therapist (Annie) getting to know Lucy's sounds and how to work me into the therapy so that attachment remains with me and not with Annie. Lucy did quite well today considering she has the attention span of a 2 year old...

She made the "P" and "H" sounds for the first time as well as just starting to vocalize more than she usually does at home. Not sure if she's staying quieter at home because Kate is such a chatterbox or because I don't get to sit with just her for a solid hour and work on sounds. Either way, this weekly time will be good for both of us. In addition, we should be getting on the schedule for the Early Intervention therapist soon which will be 2 more sessions/month for 90 minutes each time.

We're to work on sounds at home as well as having her chew on a Chewy Tube to help with her jaw strength and tongue movement. Annie was nice enough to give me an extra one for Kate so we can avoid the usual fighting. I was quite popular when I got home from therapy today and handed each girl their present--they chewed away while I got supper ready for them. It helps that Kate is cutting some new teeth--she was all over that chewie toy (sounds like I've got a puppy...). Lucy was not quite as enamored with it until she threw it on the floor and Kate picked it up to chew on it as well. Suddenly, Lucy NEEDED to have her chewie back pronto! Gotta love sibling rivalry.

First visit to the dentist

2011-11-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we took both girls to the dentist for the first time. We chose a dentist who works closely with our cleft team--Dr. Boyd. He said her lip and palate looked great--actually thought Dr. Vicari had done her lip it looked so good! She has a 2% overbite but she juts her tongue and lower jaw out which makes her appear to have a big underbite which is to basically say that it's all fixable. She screamed (but surprisingly stayed immobile on my lap, clutching my finger) through both the dental exam and the teeth cleaning which was helpful in that we could see all her teeth and her palate but it did make explanations from the dentist a bit difficult to hear. We go back in January to have her fitted for her first appliance to help her jaw form properly--an infant trainer.

Kate was up next and had the total opposite reaction to the masked hygienist and dentist. You can certainly tell which kid has been traumatized by masked doctors and which kid has not. After examining all the instruments and playing with the water wand, Kate reclined back on me and said "AAAHHHH" the whole time her teeth were being cleaned and examined. Got a clean bill of health but he also said the infant trainer could help her too as he can already see that she is going to have overcrowded teeth (sorry kid, that comes from me...) which is going to affect the way her jaw forms. So, she will go back in January as well.

He recommended that Lucy be weaned from the bottle in a month's time but in my opinion that is going to all depend on how quickly she picks up drinking from something else as the majority of her liquids still comes from the bottle. He also wanted Kate off the sippy cup and straws...bottom line, we should all be only drinking out of cups b/c the other types of cups force your jaw into growing in such a way that keep orthodontists in business. I guess that means Starbucks has been good for business with its version of the adult sippy cup!

Amazingly, no cavities for Lucy (or Kate but no surprise there as she's yet to eat candy and doesn't prefer sweet stuff). The dentist was actually really impressed with how good her teeth and mouth looked overall. He said it was obvious that someone was taking care of her nutritionally (which we could tell based on her overall health and her being able to self-limit on food when at the table). But she also received excellent surgeries which is just astounding based on the horror stories we've heard of fistulas, lips sewn too tight, etc. She got the best care she could have under the circumstances.

Lucy recovered quite quickly as soon as the masks came off the staff and the dental bib was removed. She did hug me and try to hide in my shirt as I was standing us up to leave the room but as soon as she saw Kate and Len in the waiting room she perked right up and started laughing and dancing around. It must just be the masked strangers because she loves to have her teeth brushed every night...in fact she's the one with her mouth wide open saying "AAHHH!"

Kate, meanwhile, was upset when the bib was removed and kept asking for both the bib and the toothpaste...I can assure you she's not as thrilled or compliant when I brush her teeth at night, mouth clamped shut or biting the brush. I guess I need the spinny brush and "Mr. Thirsty" (the thing that sucks the water out of your mouth).

Heart Letter, Month 23

2011-11-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Lucy,

You are 23 months old today. You have changed tremendously in the past month. Fewer areyour meltdowns and night wakings. You actually managed to sleep entirelythrough the night twice this past week. Hooray! You are very much a by-the-book child in terms of sleeping and eating.You require food every 2 hours and you nap exactly at noon on the dot for 1hour and 15 minutes. You will then wake and sometimes, if I’m very lucky, I canget you to go back to sleep for another 30 minutes. It doesn’t happen veryoften but when it does you make me quite happy. You are also a great car-napper which is awesome when we need to go somewhere far away but truly sucks when making the 15 minute commute home from the doctor's office right before lunch/naptime.

You will, in fact, fall asleep with any kind of rhythmic motion which makes morning stroller rides to the park fraught with lots of urgent calls from me to"WAKE UP! NO SLEEPING UNTIL WE GET HOME!!" to keep you awake so you will nap after lunch. As you can see, I am not always successful...

Speaking of the park, you look forward to this every morning. When I announce that it's time to go to the park you will shriek and run towards the front door to retrieve your shoes. Your favorite thing by far is the swing

but you are fond of the slide as well

Your independence and stubbornness are quite in evidenceevery day. You like to choose from two options of food at every meal. And Imust show them both to you at the same time and ask you to pick because meoffering you one and then the other separately just WILL NOT DO.

You like totry to dress and undress yourself. You can go pick out your shoes from the shoetray when asked and will sometimes even bring me Kate’s if she hasn’t beatenyou to it. When you don’t want to dosomething you will shake your head no vigorously and look me directly in theeye with a look that says, “What about my vigorous head shaking do you notunderstand?”

Even with your independent streak, you still tend to follow Kate's lead on most things. If she refuses to eat something, you will too even if you've already been eating it with gusto. This is a problem at mealtimes because Kate gets full faster than you do but because she has taken off her bib and announced ALL DONE, you do the same and then regret your decision when you see me taking the plates away. It is endearing, though, when you both play together in a game of made-up follow the leader through the high-chair, pretend eating, tupperware races or mutual people-watching out the front window.

You are quite the charmer at speech and feeding therapyevaluations. You did everything that was asked of you without complaint. You even smiled and laughed! Oh no, you saved your unwillingness to try itagain for the time when it is just you and me. Thanks for that. I have to keeptelling myself that your strong will is what made you survive your firstalmost-two years in an orphanage but boy, some days I wish you were just ateensy bit of a push-over.

You have been to many doctor's appointments this month and, with the exception of the blood draw and your very shy veins, you were unfazed.

You got a fairly clean bill of health, walking away with only giardia and an ear infection, which, considering where you've been, is an achievement.

Your physical strength is improving. Last month you couldbarely walk 3 houses away from ours and now you can walk all the way down theblock and back.

You can now climb up all the stairs to our door by yourself and you can go down the stairs with assistance. You will carry the toy train engine all around the livingroom (mostly to keep it away from Kate...) which you also could not lift lastmonth.

You are falling down less andless and your running has gotten a bit faster.

Go Lucy! You are a very physical child, much preferring to kick a ball, climb on a box or drag your sister down the block than to sit and look at books or play with blocks.

You went to your first Wiggleworms class and you LOVED IT. As soon as Ms. Julie sat down with her guitar you were all in. And it just got better and better for you as maracas and puppets and bubbles made their appearances.

We took you to a farm to celebrate the coming of Fall. You enjoyed the entire trip from riding on the tractor trailer and the cow train to petting the farm animals to eating apple cider donuts.

You met your Yia Yia and Pappou this month when they visited for Halloween. You fell in love with the monster slippers Pappou picked out for you and your sister. Once you had them on your feet you spent the remaining part of the evening marching around the living room and grinning wildly.

You were thrilled to see they were still here for you the next morning. You are also positively obsessed with the infant ankle/wrist rattles you see on your wrists in the picture below. You will race to the box every morning, grab them up and race to me so I can put them on for you.

Although we did not go trick-or-treating this year, you did get to dress up in the Chinese dress we bought for you and Kate in Guangzhou and go to Wiggleworms class. You both seemed very proud of your outfits and had a great time with the music and dancing.

Everyday just gets better and better with you in our family.

Love,

Mama

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T12:00:00.000-05:00

Kate and Lucy wore their Chinese dresses to Wiggleworms for Halloween today. Had to wear onesies and tights underneath because of the weather but it's not a bad look!

Enjoy the pics...

A visit from Yia Yia and Pappou

2011-10-31T06:00:00.000-05:00

We decided to keep this Halloween a little more lowkey and not do the trick-or-treating thing. Lucy is fighting a pretty nasty cough/nose thing but I also didn't want to have the battle over candy with her. She is very aware of what candy wrappers look like and the thought of having strangers fill her bag with candy and then Len and I letting her have only some of it was just not an appealing way to spend our holiday. We're still working on helping her to self-regulate where sweets are concerned. We gave her some pumpkin bread as a snack this week and she reacted much better to that than she did with the donuts and cake. We're also putting a bit of honey in her oatmeal and in her yogurt which makes her extremely happy but doesn't have the effect of making her crazed.

Katherine and Don flew in from DC to visit with us for Halloween again. They were here last Halloween as well. We had a photo shoot on Saturday morning with Jessie, who also photographed us last year. This time she came to our house so we got shots of all of us both inside and out on the sidewalk/yard. The girls loved the attention until lunch time hit which fortunately coincided with the end of the shoot. Both girls took long naps which gave us time to visit with Katherine and Don. After the girls woke up, Don and Len took them to the park while Katherine and I hit the Middle Eastern Grocery and Whole Foods for dinner items.

Here's Pappou helping Kate down the stairs.

Katherine set right to work making a big pot of dolmades

while Len and Pappou supervised giving the girls supper.

After supper it was time to open Halloween presents from Yia Yia and Pappou!

The monster slippers were a huge hit as were the Uglydolls. They also got matching dresses.

After the girls went to bed we had a lovely supper prepared by Katherine of roasted fish and potatoes and sauteed rapini.

Sunday morning found the girls intent on wearing their monster slippers.

Sunday started out kind of gray and cold so we did a bit of coloring in the Walter coloring book (thanks Uncle Ry Ry and Uncle Paul)

before Len took them to the park which gave me time to make a wonderful butternut squash/sweet potato soup for lunch!

And finally a quick shout-out to a few people who have made our lives easier this week. Many thanks to Kathy C. who came over Monday with homemade chicken and noodles and pumpkin bread, to Michelle H. in VA who sent a yummy Italian feast from Calo on Wednesday, to Nancy N. in VA. who sent pizza and salad on Thursday, to Alison A. who brought over homemade veggie lasagne and pumpkin cupcakes on Friday, to Katherine and Don who bought and prepared dinner for us on Saturday and to Allison in Denver for sending yummy Thai Sunday night!

We are so appreciative of friends and family who go above and beyond to send us food and make the journey to come visit us from afar. We are looking forward to a few more visitors this year: Michelle is coming from VA next weekend, my Dad and Gloria are coming for Thanksgiving and my mom will celebrate Christmas with us!

Daddy makes a great pony

2011-10-30T11:21:00.002-05:00

This is how we fill that 45 minutes between supper and bathtime...

Games!

2011-10-29T12:16:00.001-05:00

Lucy & Kate love to crawl in and out and around the high-chair...it's good for about 5 minutes. That only leaves another 715 minutes to fill...

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From 70 degrees to 50 degrees

2011-10-27T06:30:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was such a nice day...we hit 70 degrees and the girls were thrilled to be outside at a park I had not taken them to yet. It is quite small and we were the only ones there for most of the time so it was easy to keep track of them. The swings, as always, were Lucy's favorite:

The teeter-totter springy bouncy thing was Kate's favorite:

Then we hit the slide which both seemed to equally enjoy:

Then we walked on the moving walkway which Kate enjoyed and Lucy did not; she went down a nearby slide and headed back to the swings!

Wednesday dawned chilly and only got windier and colder from there. We went for a late afternoon walk to kill the time between late afternoon snack and suppertime. They each loved these little driveway markers and thankfully there were two of them, identical, so there was blessedly no fighting over who got to sit on which one...

We also got waylaid by a ghost...

Update about speech/feeding therapy

2011-10-26T20:03:00.000-05:00

Monday the Early Intervention team came here to evaluate Lucy. First up was the speech/feeding therapist. After spending quite some time on eating different textures and trying to drink from various types of cups, it was agreed that she would need some therapy.

Next up was the behavior therapist. She tested things like Lucy's fine and large motor skills, is she doing things like play-acting (feeding a doll, stirring with a spoon in a bowl--she does both so yay for Lucy!!), etc. She was able to follow a 2-part direction (take these shoes and put them in the tray). She cannot point to objects in a book when you name them nor can she hand you, say, a spoon, from a set of three different objects in a row just by naming but without pointing to it. She cannot put a large three piece baby puzzle together or recognize shapes to use the shape sorter. She can throw a ball overhand, climb onto low chairs, crawl up stairs and go up and down stairs with assistance. She did look to me for approval when asked to do something and made good eye contact with everyone who was speaking with her. They were surprised she had not been in foster care as things like feeding a babydoll are not typically something an orphanage kid will do. Overall, they ranked her between 8-15 months developmentally in various areas but said she didn't need therapy, just playtime with us to develop those skills she's lacking.

We will get a very detailed report in about 2 weeks from them. Once we get that, we can start therapy. We'll be doing 90 minutes twice a month in our home.

Today we had our first visit to Children's Hosp. with the speech/feeding therapist for her full evaluation. I asked if we could take advantage of both the in-home services of Early Intervention as well as the cleft team's therapist and they all agreed to work together towards the same goals. We'll see what insurance covers and then go from there.

So, today's visit also evaluated most of what the E.I. team covered. She provided this nice visual aid of how sounds are made. It's a profile (side view) of the face/throat.

So, you see the nose right? and the lips below? The area that has the M, N, NG is the nasal cavity. That is the area that makes those sounds. These are the sounds that Lucy makes well because they don't require anything of the palate or tongue or teeth to make. The hard and soft palate are shown right below that. The hard palate is required to make the T, D, S, Z, Sh, Ch, J sounds while the soft palate is required to make the K and G sounds. See the dotted lines from the soft palate? This is how the soft palate moves in order to make those sounds.

The area with a circle marked ALV is the alveolar ridge and does not normally affect speech. This is where her fistula is (where the cleft cuts through her gumline). They leave this small hole there in order to allow her jaw to grow before doing a bone graft when her adult teeth come in.

The lips are required to make the B and P sounds. The teeth are involved to make the F sound. H, W and Y can be made without using any of the above (I think that's right?). The area marked A with an arrow pointing down is the airway for breathing and the E is the esophagus. Cannot remember what the L or S is below that--maybe the sounds that are made in that area?

Thus far the therapist noticed that she is able to make the M, N, D, and G sounds which means that her soft and hard palate are working. She can "say" six words without prompting from us to get what she wants:

more (sounds like Maw)
up (sounds like UHhh)
down (sounds like Daa)
water (sounds like wa wa)
DaDa (for daddy)
MaMa

And she is trying to say Kate but it usually ends up sounding like "Keh".

She can use sign language for these things:
All done
More
Eat
Please
Dada
Mama
Play

Both therapists noticed that she is moving her upper lip quite well. This is sometimes an issue when surgeries are done in China...the lip is stitched too tightly to the gums and does not move properly. They said she does have quite a lot of scar tissue on the sides of her mouth and back near her throat. This is from the P-flap surgery that was done in China as well. If it had been done here the scarring may have been a lot less as they use lasers for that procedure. In China it was a cut and paste job but it seems to be working nonetheless as she does not seem to have some of the problems associated with the surgery such as snoring or apnea. What the scarring does affect though is how things feel in her mouth. It could be why she has a sensitivity to cold things or why some foods feel funny and are rejected.

Today's therapist ranked her based on other children between the ages of 18-23 months old. Compared to them she came out at a 96 (in the normal range) for Expressive Language (sounds she can make to express herself) and 81 (mild delay) for Receptive Language (her understanding of language). If she was compared to a 2 year old, her score for Expressive Language score would drop to 79 (mild delay). Considering she has only been exposed to the English language for 1 month she's not doing too badly!

We will work with the therapist at Children's for feeding and speech issues as well. We'll be going to their offices twice a month so if I schedule it well, she'll have therapy once a week between the two services starting next month.

On another note, I have noticed that the girls are starting to have their own language of sorts. Although Kate is quite verbal she has resorted to using the same sounds that Lucy does when they are playing together. They will make all kinds of sing-songy sounds and then laugh and laugh! Which is all wonderfully cute and gives me that warm fuzzy mama feeling...right up until Kate shoves Lucy down and takes her toy causing Lucy to shriek in outrage and look at me to right the grievous wrong that has been committed. Grrr.

Feeding issues

2011-10-25T19:16:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we had a couple of apple cider donuts on Sunday. We also gave the girls some cake that our friend brought over. Since then, meal and snack times have become a giant PITA.

When we received Lucy, she came with an enormous trashbag that was mostly filled with candy and sweet cakes and breads. We threw it all away and filled her sweet tooth with fruit which worked quite well. Her temperament evened out and most foods were readily accepted. Totally different story for the past couple of days.

Lucy has actually sat through a few meals and several snacks absolutely refusing to open her mouth. She looks to see what I'm serving and then clamps her mouth shut and shakes her head no. I let her sit in the high chair next to Kate as Kate finishes her meal and hand-to-god, Lucy seriously ate not one bite for the entire 25 minutes that it took for Kate to eat her meal. When I got Lucy out of the chair she headed over to the counter and pointed up to the leftover cake, making the sign for "eat", "more" and "please". I said "no, you need to have fill in whatever I was serving at that time". That was met with a temper tantrum. She hasn't had a tantrum since the first week home.

So. All sweets have once again been removed from our house. Not sure how to get her to enjoy special treats in moderation. We have never done dessert in our house as a matter of course...we save dessert for special nights or when we have company but most of the time we just don't have that stuff in the house.

The only way I finally got her to eat was to wait her out until I knew she had to be starving. After eating a very small portion of breakfast and then not eating snack or lunch at all yesterday, she woke up signing "eat!". Kate was actually asleep so I took Lucy out to the kitchen and, instead of preparing a snack, I brought out her leftover lunch of mac and cheese and some kale sauteed with garlic (both of which she has eaten with gusto in the past). She saw it and pulled the same stunt of clamped lips and vigorous head shaking. I asked one more time and when I was met with the same response, I got her down immediately and started putting stuff away.

Well. THAT was not a popular move. She threw herself down and started her old pattern of tantruming on the floor. When I asked her what she wanted, she stopped immediately and pointed to the counter (where there wasn't actually anything anymore). I lifted her up to show her the empty counter and said, "this is what we have to eat" and pointed to her meal once more. I asked if she wanted to eat and she nodded yes so back in the high chair where she finally proceeded to finish what I offered.

Although she is back to eating again, she still holds out for the first few minutes of every meal, perusing the counter for something better. At lunch today, she spotted the fruit (I had just gotten bananas and kiwi) so she wanted that instead of what I was serving. Since she had already downed one banana and one kiwi for breakfast and morning snack and I wanted her to eat something substantial for lunch so I told her no. I avoided the full-on tantrum by telling her I would take her out of the chair if she was all done but that Kate was still eating lunch. She cried a bit but grudgingly ate some lunch.

I don't, as most adoption attachment books recommend, leave food out for her. When I have let her carry a snack trap full of cheerios around, she usually just ends of throwing them all over the house when she gets full. She doesn't hoard or try to hide them and will, in fact, drop her snack trap if a toy catches her eye. She does the same in her high chair if I give her food on her plate and she doesn't want it b/c she's full--lots of throwing. So, I limit what she has access to on her own but always give her food until she says she's done.

So, all you BTDT adoptive families: how do you deal with feeding issues? I don't want this to be a battleground but I also don't want her to be unable to have a treat every now and then without a major disruption to our normal mealtimes. Any words of wisdom out there?

Autumnal Activities

2011-10-23T20:49:00.000-05:00

Fall has descended upon Chicago. Leaves are falling and the air is crisp. Sounds lovely right? And it is...except that in order to go outside for a walk I must wrestle two writhing toddlers into socks, shoes, sweaters, coats, hats....and then pile the same onto me before strapping on a diaper bag and hauling them both down the stairs. Makes me want to stay inside but I know with snow soon to follow, I need to get us outside now as much as possible. The good thing is that the girls love their hats...

We've been eating quite well this week thanks to our many friends and family sending food. Maggie and Steve sent us a Mexican feast to start the week out, Dad and Gloria followed with some yummy fare from Urban Vegan and Kelly B. came over Saturday with not one but two Shepherd's pies (one for now, one for the freezer) and an Elmo chocolate cake...

Scary but delicious.

Today was a beautiful day so we headed out to west Illinois for a day at a farm. We had a great day so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

First up was the tractor ride to the pumpkin patch. We decided to skip apple picking but we did get a nice tour past the trees.

Yes, the girls are wearing backpacks with tails that serve as leashes...invaluable!

Then we hit the petting area. At first both girls did not want to get down out of our arms and then suddenly, they were ALL ABOUT THE ANIMALS...it took some serious coercion to get them out of the building. Kate saw the sheep and started singing, "Baa Baa Black Sheep." Too cute.

We got them out by telling them we were going to ride some cows...a cow train no less. It worked.

Last on the list was a snack of apple cider donuts. Lucy's face was rapturous as she downed almost two donuts without stopping for air.

Fortified with sugar, we headed over to the pond to say hi to the fish before heading home.

We have a busy week ahead. Tomorrow is our usual Wiggleworms class in the morning followed by a home visit by the Early Intervention Speech and Feeding specialist for an evaluation of Lucy. Ms. Pat will be coming over to entertain Kate during the afternoon.

Wednesday afternoon Lucy and I will go back to Children's Hosp. to meet with their speech/feeding therapist. We've been told we can do therapy through Children's and with Early Intervention at the same time, we'll just need to get both therapists talking to each other for continuity of care. It's better for us though so Lucy can have at least 2 sessions/week instead of only 1.

Meanwhile, Caitlin will come to our house to play with Kate on Wednesday. The multiple caregivers for Kate are not ideal but at the moment I just haven't had the time or energy to find someone who can give us the time and hours we need. It's been rough as each time I leave Kate it is not a pretty sight and generally I leave to her screaming "MAMA! MAMA!" Fortunately, I get a text about 5-10 minutes later telling me all is well and when I do get home she's happy and even hours later will mention "Caitlin" or "Ms. Pat" to me.

Thursday morning is my mama group. Lucy met everyone for the first time last week and it went quite well. She stuck close to me until she was comfortable and then she ended up staying close to Kate for the rest of the time.

On Friday we are delighted to be able to get a weekend visit from Yia Yia and Pappou from DC. They were here last Halloween as well. Is it sad that I'm wearing the SAME FLEECE TOP for last year's photos that I had on today?? Not so sad is the fact that I've lost about 15 pounds since that time, 10 of them since we got back from China. Having two toddlers has turned out to be a great weight loss plan.

Funk Ass

2011-10-21T05:30:00.000-05:00

Me: OMG, Len, can you check Lucy b/c something smells just funk ass.

Kate: Lucy smells funk ass.

Len: raises an eyebrow and gives me THE LOOK. Then walks over to Lucy and...gags.

Lisa: See? Funk Ass.

One month post adoption

2011-10-20T05:44:00.000-05:00

Yikes…I just realized that we’ve had Lucy now for one monthas of yesterday.

Some observations one month in:

Sleep:

SO MUCH BETTER. Up until last week, although she’s in thepack n play in our room, she would still cry and slam her feet and legs down onthe mattress if we tried to leave before she was completely asleep. Just thisweek we’ve managed to be able to stay with her for a couple of minutes and thenwalk out before she’s asleep. She will give out a little cry but then shenestles in with her blanket and dolly and out she goes. It really is amazing tome how fast that child can fall asleep. She does still have her self-soothing technique of licking her sleeve or any other piece of cloth that is near her lips. She sounds like a cat bathing...

She is still not sleeping through the night but her wakingsare limited to 1 and sometimes 2 per night and it’s usually because her diaperis wet. Granted, she’s in an overnight diaper and it’s by no means soaked, butshe cannot seem to abide a heavy diaper.

As for naps, she is by the clock. She goes down punctuallyat noon and sleeps for 1 hour, sometimes 1 hour, 15 minutes. I have discoveredthough, that if I get to her pretty quickly when she wakes, I can lay her backdown and get another 30-45 minutes out of her. It’s a very delicate dance: Imust get to her before she’s totally wound up and, since Kate is only napping1-2 times/week if I’m lucky, I have to be sure she’s still in her crib andcontained when Lucy wakes up.

I’m not really sure when or how we will make the transitionto Lucy sleeping in the nursery with Kate. I’m just now getting Kate back tosleeping through the night most nights but introducing Lucy and her diaperchange wakings to the mix doesn’t sound like a good plan and naptime iscompletely out of the question. As I’m typing this, Lucy is napping and Kate issinging at the top of her lungs after 45 minutes of mama-enforced “resting”.

Food:

This area, too, has improved. Or at least her attitude hasimproved. No longer is she having tantrums when food is being prepared andshe’s not quite as pushy when Kate has a turn at eating. She still will shovelin as much food as I will let her so for now, I’m still feeding her instead of settingfood down in front of her. The last time I tried that she shoved so much cheesein her mouth that she choked, then coughed and blew cheese chunks all over me.She does the same thing when I give her a snack-trap full of cheerios—she willstudiously put them in her mouth as fast as her little fingers can work themout of the lid and will finish the entire container in about 15-25minutes. The good thing is that when sheis sitting in the high chair, she will tell me when she’s full by pulling offher bib and making the sign for “all done.” Now if we can get her toself-regulate when she’s eating on her own without me controlling the spoon…

Sharing:

Or not. I know a lot of this is the age as Kate is justhorrific at this right now as well. I just wanted to put on record that 99% ofmy day is refereeing toy battles. I have actually, on more than one occasion,just told them to “work it out”. Right.

Activity:

This is a child that cannot be still. She absolutely cannotabide sitting in my lap to read and will actually look for things to throw orotherwise get into if I sit on the floor with Kate to read. I can see herwatching us (and yes, I do offer my lap or even just to sit near me to read)and then looking for something just out of my reach but within my line ofvision to throw (since she knows we don’t throw stuff in the house). Althoughshe loves to carry books around, she will shake her head NO vigorously and slamit shut when I open it to either read or just look at the pictures. Not surewhat that is about but it makes me so sad to see it. I cannot imagine having achild who hates books!

She requires enormous amounts of active time to climb, run,throw, etc. I’m not looking forward to a Chicago winter with her…I’m actuallylooking at some local gymnastics or dance classes to fill the time when we wouldnormally be in the park.

She loves music and has a great sense of rhythm. She willclap in time to the beat, even if I’m not clapping with her. She will dance andjump around whenever she hears a dance song (for that I’m grateful as we havedaily dance parties in the living room).

Language:

I am astounded that you can remove a child from her languageand culture and within a month have a child who will answer to a completelydifferent name and understand most of what I say. She is not, however, sayingmuch at all. She relies on grunting and pointing. When I try to get her to makeeye contact for her to see how my mouth is moving to make a sound, she willdeliberately look away and go silent.

Which leads to the next area:

Attachment:

We are not there…not by a long shot. And unfortunately, it’smutual. This is the part that no one, on any adoption blog I’ve ever read,discusses. I haven't even heard it mentioned by anyone privately who has adopted. Oh, sure, they discuss child attachment issues but not parentalattachment. Nobody seems willing to admit that it’s not always love at first sight. Oreven one month in. I am practicing loving my new child but that is all it is atthe moment…practice. Oh yes, I have empathy for all that has happened to her inher short life but love? Love takes time. I don’t have the benefit of the rushof post-birth hormones or the bonding time of breast-feeding that I did withKate. I don’t even have a baby that I can snuggle and carry around. The truthis that I have a pretty independent toddler who does not like me to hold her, will only come to mewhen I have food or something else that she wants, who “flirts” if all othertactics don’t work to get what she wants…not behaviors that I would havecultivated in a child and frankly, they are hard to love. So I practice lovingthe child in spite of the behaviors.

That said, she is a completely different child than the one we received a month ago.

Gone are the temper tantrums, the raging, the crying over Every. Little. Thing. Gone are the nighttime sleep battles. Instead we have a child whose eyes are brighter, who smiles much more freely, and who has a really great laugh. I have taken over bathing her while Len does Kate. Lucy really loves to have me massage lotion on her and will grin and rub her hands together when I get out the lotion. So we start there; with touch and eye contact and it makes me feel better knowing that at least, right before shegoes to sleep, we had that connection.

"I should have listened to you"

2011-10-19T20:46:00.000-05:00

When your pediatrician calls you late in the day and opens with these words, and the only thing you kept harping on when you were with him was worms...yeah. Worms. Giardia to be specific. Dr. Ochs went back over the missing stool sample report and sure enough, she has giardia. And because Lucy has it, it's a sure bet that Kate does too since they use the same changing table and take a bath together every night.

A mother knows. I kept saying all through the appointment, "What about the stool sample report? I know she has worms...and I think Kate does too since her appetite has tripled and her poops are loose."

This is the part where I know I have lost both Uncle Ry Ry and Papou...loose poops. Sorry guys.

Anyway, so, yeah. And the treatment is metronidazole which apparently tastes completely vile so it is compounded with benzoate to make it palatable. And to get a compounded drug you can't just waltz into the CVS pharmacy with a scrip...you need a Compounding Pharmacy. Fortunately, Children's Hospital has one on-site so CVS called us at 8pm tonight to see if we wanted to switch to that pharmacy or wait for CVS to process it which would be 5 working days. Ummm...yeah. Let's go with something a little faster. Hopefully we'll be able to get it and start treatment tomorrow.

Followup with International Pediatrician

2011-10-19T12:55:00.000-05:00

We took Lucy back to Dr. Ochs this morning to get the results of all her tests. She's pretty damn healthy. She showed antibodies for every vaccination she had so no need to re-do any. She does need the PCV, HIB, and DPT shots though as well as the flu vaccine. He was all set to do them all but I held firm that I only want one shot at a time please so let's do the flu shot first. He is most definitely in the YOUR CHILD WILL DIE TOMORROW WITHOUT THESE VACCINES camp. I agreed but insisted, one at a time please.

Len has taught me a very valuable trick. When you want someone to do what you want, just shut up after you've stated your desires. They will press on (A child's sneeze can travel 10 feet or more! It only takes one sick kid to infect yours! You'll have to come in every month!) but if you just sit silently with a blank look, 9 times out of 10 they will run out of argument (as no one is arguing back...) and give you what you asked for. Just. Wait. Them. Out.

So I did. And when he finished his litany of viral terror, he wrote down, "come back in 1 month for the HIB/DPT combo and in 2 months for the PCV."

Lucy came back negative for anything squirrelly in her urine or stool which is astonishing to me as I really was convinced she had worms based on the quantity of food she inhales. We'll have her re-tested in another month or so as they can gestate apparently.

Here are her new updated stats (with her stats from 2 weeks ago in parenthesis):

Weight: 24lb, 14oz (23lb10oz)--both of these were in a diaper and onesie
Ht: 33" (33")
Head: 46cm (45cm)

Her ear infection is all gone and although there isn't any fluid in there now, he still was cautious and said she will probably need ear tubes as most kids with cleft do.

Last thing was a TB test--we'll know the results of that on Saturday.