Kaycee update

When we were in China, I was traveling with a woman who was adopting her fourth child. She told me that she always that a great milestone in their lives was when they had been home longer than they had been in China.

We are now at that milestone. It is amazing the changes and growth we have seen in her.

When we first came home, she would scream any time Leonard came near her. It crushed him. Now, she cuddles, laughs, calls for, takes naps with, and LOVES her daddy. She can now read the word daddy, sign it and write it.

Kaycee had 4 words in Chinese when we got her. Mama, meme, no, and toy. Now, she is a nonstop chatter box. She talks and signs all of the time. Actually she is sitting here right now telling me about how John hit her.

She knows all of her shapes.
She knows all of her colors.
She knows all of her alphabet; writes, signs, recognizes, says
She knows all of her numbers up to 16; writes, signs, recognizes
She can group small items with small items.
She can match items.
She is even getting to the point where she will let the PE teacher and the male bus driver get close to her. Not too close, and mommy always has to be there, but she will talk to them now.

She has come so far, she is a different little girl.

She is beautiful, smart, sweet, and very clean - almost obsessive about it...

She is my daughter!
She is getting to the point where she can make her needs be met.

A new blog

I decided to have a blog just for Noah. We did it for Kaycee. I thought he needed his own too.

You can see things that are Noah only things at http://lovingnoah.blogspot.com

Unfortunately, most of these things right now are complaints from me, so really, I am sorry.

However, I know that in a few short months, they will not be complaints, they will be praises.

Just hang in with me!

Do I dare...

Do I dare hope?

Two LOA's came today at 75 and 77 days. The average had been around 95-105 days. Could it be getting faster?

Could we still travel this summer? We are at 40 days today....

I don't dare...........

Spring Break has Sprung!

Oh the hair...what is going on? Actually John woke up looking like Don King, so Jacob and Nathan decided to join in...

Can you believe I was actually able to get this picture? It is absolutely amazing! It didn't last long, so it is a good thing I got it when I did!

And the picture below. It is kind of hard to see but they are Kylie's fingernails and toenails. She wanted something "fancy." Orange, green, purple and pink. How much more fancy can a girl get?

P-E-N-G-U-I-N

I am sitting here amazed today.

Kaycee - 3 - is sitting next to me very quietly coloring while I finish up 3 assignments for my class. I look over after noticing some movement that doesn't go along with coloring...

Kaycee is signing and saying every letter that is in the coloring book. Then after she signs the letters, she signs the word. (The words that are in the book are just the titles and there are pictures of the titles, like penguin....but still.)

Two nights ago, she and I were in my room at school and she was writing on my board. She likes to write her name. Then she signs, "write John name." So I signed J-O-H-N to her. She wrote it on the board, just like it was nothing. So I signed to her to write Jacob's name. I signed it to her again, J-A-C-O-B she wrote all of them except the B - she made a "d" instead. (I have some junior high kids that still get this wrong.)

I am now actually getting a little nervous about her being in preschool for three years. She has been in part time this year, then will be in full time for two years.

But I don't think it would be a good idea for her to be in John's class. Actually, I think that would be a really BAD idea!!!

I know she will be ahead of Noah, do I keep him back so the competition is less between the two? He is a little younger than Kaycee...

Time will tell, I guess.....

2024...here we come

After having 2 boys and attending tball games, baseball games, football games, basketball games, two games of soccer, and even one practice for wrestling, I have a wonderful treat for myself.

Gymnastics...yes, my girls are doing gymnastics. And they both LOVE IT!

I was told by the O.T. that if I had concerns about Kaycee's balance, I should take her to gymnastics to work on it. So after getting done with basketball for the boys, I signed the girls up for gymnastics. Was it for me more than them?

Probably - at the beginning...but...

Kylie wants to go everyday. Each morning, "Is this the day I get to go to gymnastics?"

So what does the 2024 mean? The Olympics of course. So keep that date open...of course it would probably be in the late summer, I just am not sure of the exact date...or really where it might be. I guess I need to start paying attention to the announcements of where it is going to be held the next time. :)

Redirected

After a week and a half of a heavy heart and finally coming to the conclusion that I would travel along sometime in September or even October, I received a very surprising email.

Let's back up.

At this time, I will have six days paid for my adoption - the trip and the bonding...I have been told that I can see if our school board will change this policy. I have MORE than enough sick days to pay me through 8 weeks of maternity leave, however, as this is not a physical birth, 6 days. Moving on....

I emailed our agency to make sure that I would be traveling sometime after school started. I didn't want to have to go through the process of trying to get a policy changed if I didn't need too at this point.

Email back states, "we received an email from China today with your family's LID. It is 2-19." Ok, so this is only two weeks sooner than 3-2, however, 2 weeks is 2 weeks!!!!!!!

Still, I most likely will be traveling right as school starts. As our agency said that families are usually traveling 6 months after their LID. 8-19. School starts 8-17. And then there is Kylie's birthday on 8-30.
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Email received while I am typing this...

We are confirming with China right now to see which LID is yours. Ugh. 2 weeks is 2 weeks.