Needles, and Grampa, and English, oh my!

What a week!  We had our first major flashback or horror (at least, I think it was!).  We went to the doctor on Monday to get our referrals for the pediatrician; ear, nose, and throat specialist; and ophthalmologist.  She also was given her 18-month needles.  She did not like that.  She was as could be expected in the office and then off for the rest of the day.  That night she would not sleep.  She woke up screaming and would not stop.  I picked her up and she couldn't even look at me and just kept screaming and thrashing her head and hands around.  I had to hold her close to me and I rocked in the chair and sang for a loooong time.  Nothing seemed to be working.  I really think the needles brought back memories from her medical exams in Russia.  It was so not her normal crying.  Eventually, I had to put her back in the crib because she was getting so hot and sweaty.  I rubbed her hair and kept singing and she kept screaming.  Then, she turned her head and looked at me, actually looked at me, and poked her fist up at me for a fist bump.  There was my girl!  She was still upset but calmed down after that!  Phew!

My dad came to visit on a whim too!  That was great for me to watch him watch her.  He looks at her like she is a scientist.  She is very inquisitive and observational and takes it all in and then does it!  I felt bad he had to see her out-of-sorts because of the needles, but she was her giggly self once her legs didn't hurt her anymore!  Dad now knows the train songs and her circuit of the main floor here.  He saw her in the tub, pretty much swimming, and we pushed her up and down the driveway in her car (a purple Flintstone-style car that her legs are too short to work).  Dad got to see her learning her new game.  3-2-1-Kaboom!  All I do is count down from 3, say kaboom and she squeels and falls on her butt.  Over and over again.  It made me realize she is recognizing my words better.

We started to teach her some body part words.  Hair, nose, eye, teeth, neck, ear.  She knows these ones.  She also "says" (more like hummmms) them with the same inflection that I do.  She is so freaking smart!  Everything we were told by our Russian training said she shouldn't have lost her Russian yet but she is already recognizing and trying to speak the English!  She listens (sometimes) when we say 'no,' like, when she unrolled the toilet paper; she hasn't tried again.

Speaking of being told by the Russians, guidelines and rules have changed yet again!  We now have to submit a 3 month post-placement report before the formerly initial 6 month one.  I shake my head but we will do it because we have to.  It just means paying for an extra set of document translation and certifications, postage, and the social worker visit.  If this money actually went to Russia I would say it was a cash-grab, but it does not.  

Lighter notes:  Other things I've noticed this week are, she still likes her moon.  She says 'ha-ka' for anything she wants.  She is faster coming down the stairs.  Her hair has gotten darker and curlier.  She is getting bolder with the dog and approaches both pets a lot more.  She enjoys laying in the tub water now; relaxing with her ears under the surface.  She is bigger but she looks a lot bigger because we were handed-down a bunch of clothes that don't fall off her shoulders or need to be pinned.  She is getting quicker at talking to new people.  She can work her talking Russian dog by herself - and has totally worn out the mechanism inside as it now plays 1 and a half phrases out of the 6 or 7 it initially spoke!  She can walk 3/4 of the way around the block.  She motions to be picked up in the kitchen so she can 'ha-ka' the arrowroots we keep on the counter... clever girl.

                                              Jeans that fit and a sticker from the doctor.