Catch Up Post # 1

Oh my I can't believe how the time flies by now. The weeks disappear & nothing ever seems to get done. I am going to back track a wee bit just to catch you up on the last couple of weeks.

On May 12 I took the kids into the Infectious Disease Clinic set up in our local Childrens Hospital for newly adopted children. They were fantastic & gave the kids the once over & will follow up with them over the next year. C has ring worm & is on meds for six weeks to clear that up. Since that appointment D has started showing signs as well so I started him on C's meds as well until I can get in to see the doctor this coming week. Now my head is itchy & crawling too as I have used the same brush on all three of us & it is highly contagious. One thing I have learned about ring worm is - no it's not a worm, but actually the same fungus as athletes foot. That makes me feel a little better knowing there aren't actually worms on our heads. I haven't had any symptoms yet except itchiness but that may be all in my mind too.

Both kids are on the 15th percential for both height & weight.

C was 31 lbs & not quite 40" when she came home
now she is 35.25 lbs & 41.3"

D was 26 lbs & 33 1/2" at home coming
now he is 28.6 lbs & 36.22"

They are both growing like crazy & they been home almost three months now. D has an appointment to see a surgeon mid June as he has a herniated belly button that the doctor feels will need repair.

We also did TB, Hep, HIV & various blood, urine & stool tests so hopefully we can figure out if the kids have any other parasites. We have not heard back on anything except for the TB & both kids were clear for that.

I spent two separate days registering C for Kindergarten in September & then took D to register him for play school. While we were watching the class of 4 year olds I came to a startling realization that C is NOT ready for Kindergarten. All the little ones in the class were the same age as her & would be her peers next year. They were all babbling to me & telling me their life stories & they all listened to the teacher so well. So I think I am going to register C for one year of playschool, even though she turns 5 in July; & she can attend Kindergarten the following year. That puts her a year older than her classmates but I don't want to set her up for failure either. She is starting to know some of her colors now but even that can be hit & miss. I really thought she was doing amazing but I was comparing her to the little girl that came home almost three months ago without any English language skills. Don't get me wrong I do think she has progressed amazingly and can communicate with us but it is in very broken English & way behind kids her age here. She can not write her name yet or doesn't recognize any of the letters of the alphabet so play school will be a much better fit for her.

D - well he is turning into a real two year old & the sad part is, that he will be three in a couple of weeks. Please don't tell me I have to put up with this for a whole year ;) "NO" is now his favorite word next to "Don't do that" or "Me do it myself". He is toilet trained about 85% of the time & always poo's on the potty so that is a major break through. He's getting it, but he gets playing & forgets sometimes. He knows some of his colors now too & just loves anything that has wheels.

I had them both in & had their eyes tested last week & D is a little young for some of the tests but nothing looked wrong so we will try again with him in a year. I think he has excellent eye sight as he can spot a bus, garbage truck or motorcycle way off in the distance. C has to go back in 4 months as she has a bit of a stigmatism that they want to watch. She may have to wear glasses to correct it but that will be determined at a later date.

I also took the immunization records from the orphanage into the Health Clinic & they will get back to me with an appointment once they go through them & figure out which shots the kids need to catch them up.

Dentist appointments are in a couple of weeks & other than hearing tests I think they will all be checked out. They do seem to have selective hearing but only because they have't found my mute button yet. If we are talking about something we don't want them to hear; they seem to be able to hear every word so that isn't a concern for me at this time.

My camera is giving me grief so there have been no new photos over the last week but I will post some of our trip to visit Grandma & Grandpa for the first time.

Hugs, Laur