Praise Report: Flor

Thank you all for the positive comments and emails on the last post. I had a lot of people email me and share their thoughts, similar experiences, etc. Most were people who haven't adopted, but have just had similar feelings or hard times with biological kids. It is nice to know that you are not alone in things. It was also good to broaden my viewpoint to hear others relate similar feelings they have had with their children, albeit in very different situations. The universal truth is that we all struggle at some times and in some things and it is okay. Anyway, thanks for the support.

And, now I think it is time to mention some really positive things that Flor is up to in the last little while.

Flor has really improved in the areas of personal space and boundaries. It is something they are working with her on regularly at school and I first noticed it when I took her to the doctor a few weeks ago. Just to compare and contrast, at one of the first doctor visits we went to (just a few weeks after coming home), she was all over the place. We had never met this doctor before, and she continually tried to touch him, climb on his lap, etc. When I would remove her and sit her in the chair, she would freak out, arching her back and crying. It was bad. And exhausting. This last visit was also to a doctor that she hadn't met, and yet she sat quietly in the chair the whole time. She never got up to go over to him to have him hold her or to touch him (which was typical of her for any new man she would meet). I didn't even realize until we left, but then I thought about it the whole way home-- super huge improvement!

Flor is doing really great at school, it seems. Her teacher's reports are always very positive. They say that she loves to work, that she is doing good at staying in her own space, and that she can sit still in her chair for up to 20 minutes now without being prompted. That is big for church purposes as sitting still during Sacrament Meeting is important- and she has been able to do this. Her teachers have her working on her IEP goals- working on object permanence, stabbing play-doh with a fork (to learn to stab her food- she only knows how to scoop), and hand over hand tracing, putting pegs in board, etc. for fine motor skills. She also goes to the school library once per week and comes home with a book that she has chosen to check out. She has music time and PE once per week as well. She meets with the speech therapist and the physical therapist once per week at school.  We want to get her more speech therapy, but we are not sure how to fit it into the schedule right now. So, we will see. She is working on developing more signs. Right now she has 7 recognizable signs- eat, drink, more, watch, please, thank you, and bathroom.

Yes- speaking of bathroom, she finally mastered the sign! After all these months of trying to get her to use it, she is finally using it! Wahoo! Now, that doesn't mean that she tells us when she needs to go to the bathroom, but when asked to say "bathroom", she will. We use it every time we talk about the bathroom and every time we take her to the bathroom to help her solidify its meaning. While she was home all week last week for spring break, we got a little more serious about helping her understand the bathroom and using it. Baby steps, baby steps. By the end of the week, we had Flor naked whenever we were home. While she didn't tell us when she needed to go (I still don't think she gets that much), we would put her on the potty every 1-2 hours and she would go promptly. She also never had any accidents while unclothed. It was so exciting to see her make this much progress and to see her start to understand what we are wanting her to do. That's a big girl. Since being back in school, she has regressed a little bit...but it will take time and we understand that. We wrote a note to the school asking them to be as consistent as possible in taking her every few hours. They are, but the teacher wrote back and said that Flor seems to be scared of their potty because it flushes automatically while she is sitting on that (whoever thought of that for a special needs classroom? Not the most brilliant idea...). So anyway, her report today did say that she started to pull down her pants at one point, so they took her to the bathroom and she peed. Yay!! I don't know that Flor will ever be night potty trained and I think day time potty training is still a ways off, but these are really good steps in the right direction and we are really happy about it.

We have been swimming a few times lately, twice the weekend of Easter, and once this weekend while my mom was in town, and Flor LOVES it. This is great news. The first time she was a little timid and didn't enjoy it as much, but times 2 and 3 were a hit. She was hilarious. She putters around in an orange floaty and thinks it is great. She loves to "jump" in from the side of the pool--we would sit her on the side and then she would just launch herself in. She thought this was hilarious. She also tried to stick her face into the water as often as possible. She is a little fish! My mom mentioned that she has never seen Flor so happy nor laughing so much as when we were at the pool. I think that's true. The pool brings out a pretty funny side of her. She is in heaven. I am sure we will be doing a lot of pool time this summer as we have our 7 Peaks passes again and it is only a few blocks from our house. Convenient. We are definitely looking forward to it! Bring on the warm weather! Please...please....

So, in reality, there are quite a few really positive things happening with Flor and her progress. We are pleased. I am excited to see how things progress from here, too!