Six Month Check-Up

Yesterday marked SIX MONTHS that Ellie has been home! It is amazing how much quicker time goes on this side of the adoption. It was six months to the day from when we left her in Guatemala on our visit trip until she was handed to us on our pick up trip.

So, how is she really doing?

SLEEPING

Ellie has always been a great sleeper. If she woke in the night at all, she just needed a cuddle and she was back to sleep in no time. I discovered if I left on a light, she will generally never wake up crying. Maybe she can see where she is and simply falls back asleep. We had quite a few challenges getting her to stay in her toddler bed. It got to the point we were staking it out on the other side of the door to catch her in the act of the crime (getting up). We realized that she was seeking some attention and positive would be more enjoyable for all parties. Now, I will mostly let her fall asleep on my chest at nap time (and I never take a nap with her...hahaha), then night time seems to go smoothly having spent that quality snuggle time with her earlier on.

EATING

I was very concerned about eating issues, but there basically has been none. She transitioned to regular milk from powered with no problems. She eats table food better than most of our other children. :) Ellie moved off the bottle smoothly. We enjoyed that time with her, but she was ready to give 'em up. We have found that if she gets frustrated about not getting what she wants, she will throw whatever food she already has...uh, not so good.

TALKING

Ellie has always been very vocal and chatty, just little that we can understand. She is understanding all that we are saying to her, but her vocabulary is limited to about 5 or 6 words (Mama, Daddy, bye, hi, Austin, and diaper are what I think of on the top of my head). She will say amen when we prompt her with "in Jesus name..." or bed when given "stay in...". Last month, we did a developmental evaluation at Easter Seals. All areas aside from speech needed no further testing. We have a more extensive speech evaluation later on in August to determine if she qualifies for Early Intervention. (I am amazed with all the bureaucracy in this process, and I have even completed an international adoption!) I think her babbles are a good sign and I hope we will have her back on track after some time of more intensive focus on her talking.

BEHAVIOR

We definitely see issues that we need to work through with Ellie. Most of them revolve around her lack of being able to communicate with us. We are working with training her to not grunt or whine to get what she wants, which can be very frustrating on both sides. It makes sense that the baby at the children's home that was crying got handed a bottle, but it cannot work that way in a family. Teaching her some sign language has been very beneficial, even just the two words we use, "please" and "thank you".

She has the tendency to go from 0 to 60, especially where Noah is involved. (Side note: I was actually asked if they were twins recently, ironically on one of the 10 days in which they were both two. This person was even looking at them! Anyway...) So we work on gentleness and calmness often. She received a baby for her birthday, which has been a good tool for this. Overall, we would describe her as having "rough edges".

We seem to notice a few days where we have to be on top of behavior with Ellie, then she will return to an even sweeter and calmer Ellie than before. She laughs easily, loves to receive praise, and shows signs of being a helper. We are praying that the Holy Spirit is getting to her heart though our training of her now.

LIKES

Ellie loves to sing and dance. Her favorite songs would be "Yes Lord", "Ittsy Bittsy Spider", "This Little light of Mine" and "The Wise Man". She got a couple of cards that played music for her birthday and she loved them. Carried them around until they broke or wore out.

Sweets are okay for Ellie, such as M n' M's or marshmallows, but her favorite food appears to be pasta and grapes. I think she would eat an entire casserole dish or bunch if I let her. All other things she has a definitive stopping place, but not with those two.

Swimming, climbing, swinging, sliding , running, baths, dogs from afar, balloons, and babies all rank up there.

DISLIKES

(((LOUD NOISE)))!!!! Ellie hates all forms of it: hairdryers, flushing toilets, mowers, saws, loud cars going down the street. She gets very fussy and clingy when faced with noises she does not like.

Breakfast (doesn't eat much early on), sitting still in church, getting accidentally shut in a room by siblings (do you blame her) are on the down and out list for Ellie.


So, that's basically where we are six months into it. We completed 3 out of 4 post placement visits with our case worker and will turn in paperwork to an attorney to begin the readoption process next week. Daniel and I are relearning the meaning of diligence in our parenting and are relying on His grace daily as we raise our herd (as somebody thought I called our kids recently ) :) .