Home a Month

It has already been a month since we got back to the states.  Time does make a difference.  Anna Kate is continuing to do better each day. 

Her eating has finally slowed down.  She now eats a good child's portion.  She loves mac and cheese.  Thank goodness one of my children does, so now I have a reason to fix it.  She also loves hot dogs.  I guess she has seen a lot of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse because now when I tell her I am fixing a hot dog, she does the "hot dog" dance. 

AK has made much progress in sleeping, but this is still a work in progress.  Based on the advice of our family therapist, we were able to get AK transitioned off the couch to her room.  We converted her bed to a toddler bed and put a blow up mattress in her room.  She does not like her bed, but has slept through the night on the blow up mattress.  We also had a hard time getting her to settle down at night to go to sleep.  We would follow our normal routine (milk, brush teeth, and read books), but it would take us an hour or more laying with her to get her to sleep.  I talked to the therapist and they told us to give her 1mg of melatonin 20 minutes before bedtime.  We started this Tuesday.  Tuesday night it took 40 minutes for her to fall asleep, but still an improvement.  Over the last few days, it has now gotten where I can just lay her down on the mattress and leave the room.  Amazing.  I did try putting her in her bed again on the melatonin.  She cried, but stayed there.  However, she woke up crying during the night and had moved to the mattress.  I am going to continue to try this for a few more weeks.  If no improvement, we may just convert her bed to a regular bed.  I really love the bedding and would like to enjoy it for a little while, but sleep must prevail.

Nap time has been easy since the beginning.  She is now napping in her room and not the couch.  However, all I have to do is put her on the mattress, pat the pillow, and say night-night.  She then goes to sleep with no crying.  Her naps have gotten shorter though.  I had been getting a lot accomplished during her three hour naps, but now they are almost two hours. 

AK and Bennett are truly sister and brother.  I am still amazed at how much Bennett understood about us bringing AK home.  He really seemed to bonded with her immediately.  AK now seems to show Bennett more love than Bennett does her.  She will pat him on the back if he is upset or crying.  She loves to give him hugs and kisses.  Bennett likes to give her bear hugs where he holds her and they fall down in the floor.  Bennett has truly embraced being Ge Ge (Ga Ga/Big Brother).  He refers to himself as Ge Ge.  He helps sissy understand things I am saying, such as put this in the garbage.  I have finally got them to learn to pick up their toys/books. 

AK is also so very smart.  She continues to pick up sign language so quickly.  She knows close to twenty signs basically because that is all I know.  She really now understands what I say to her.  She is still only saying a few words - Ba Ba (Daddy), night-night, bye, Ge Ge, and banana.  The girl loves music and dancing.  Her favorite toys or books are those that play music.  She will swing her hips and head.  When I am walking, I will have the ipod playing music.  She will swing back-and-forth in the stroller to the music.  She knows all the motions to "Wheels on the Bus".   She is doing okay in the car seat.  She is fine for a short ride somewhere, but does not like to be in the car seat for a long ride.  So in the morning, we drop off Bennett at daycare, walk around the mall in Trussville, and then drive back home.  She does great.  But when we go pick up Bennett, we go straight there and turn around and drive back.  Those trips sometimes feel longer than they are. 

Hopefully the next month will be even better than the first.  I know we will have a lot going on.