Bill read Mary's comment

Hi Mary
You'll be in our thoughts, it's quite a road to travel, but one that you and your daughters can manage. Good luck, know in the end that the result is love, it's worth all the paper work, travel, money, heart-ache, longing, it's all worth it. Tonight, when I tucked Aidai in, and told her Papa loves you, she returned with "luffs papa".......stress ereased!!!!! Kyrgy kids rule!!!

Update

I know, I know you want pictures and I swear we will add some at some point.

Aidai is loving day care and preschool. Everyday she tells us about all the things she has learned. We can figure out alot of what she is trying to say but some things we don't know what on Earth she is talking about!

We went to a PT consultation and the doctor said she needs PT in school and private as well so we are now going to tell the school they need to change her IEP. Notice I said tell, not ask. I called on Friday and I'm still waiting on a call back. From what I've heard about the school, this is no suprise. Her biggest issues are that she is just sooo off balance and she can't stop herself so once she gets momentum she crashes into people and things because she can't stop before she gets to them! The PT doctor believes Aidai has CP which was seconded by the Pediatric Neurologist we went to see. The PT and Neurologist were soooooooo wonderful with us and with Aidai. They have partially restored my faith in doctors!

We have an appointment in April to go to a new orthopedic at Children's Hospital Boston. They have a whole CP Program there so I am confident we will get awesome care there.

On a devleopmental note, Aidai counts to 6 consistently and often all the way up to 9. She is getting better at pronouncing words although sometimes it is hard to figure out what she is saying. The more she says and hears the words over and over, the better she gets. She's doing really good at the Barney song cause we sign it as part of the bedtime ritual. She also is learning Twinkle Twinkle, I think they sang it in school.

Elizabeth

Daycare

Just a quick note to say that Aidai loves daycare. She had no issues upon being dropped off, she just said "Papa will be back" and Bill said yes and that was that. She didn't want to leave, she only left with promises to come back. She's gone twice now. Tomorrow she is going to go for a few hours and then longer on Friday. She is so happy to be around the other kids and the provider is awesome.

Update on latest appointments

Hi All,

Just wanted to give a run down on the appointments we've had recently.

On Wednesday we met the child care person and we are going to transition Aidai into her care this week. She watches a few kids in her home and has 2 school age boys of her own. Aidai seemed to really like her and wants to go back and play in the playroom and see the little sabaka (Lilly the dog) and the cats.

We are going to try to find Aidai some decent snow boots that she can wear with her brace. We need to find ones that open really far down so that we can get her brace into them. She does really well with her brace so we want her to wear it with all her shoes.

On Friday we met with the school and they have agreed to accept Aidai. I don't know exactly what services she will get but it looks like OT and Speech and she will be there 2 days a week. Most likely Wednesdays and Fridays. On the 20th we have yet another meeting where we will get the IEP and finalize everything.

We went to the eye doctor after the school and they said her eye seems to be improving. It is still crossing but not as significantly as it was before so it seems like the patch is working.

After the eye doctor we went to the orthopist and he checked her brace and said everything was looking good with it. Bill and I still aren't sure what to do about her leg. We have the appt. with the neurologist on the 26th in Manchester (Denise, if you are available that day, maybe we can come see you!). I think we might see if the primary care will refer us to a PT for a consultation. I am not convinced that she doesn't need PT. In fact, the orthopaedic said she needed it but not medically, just educationally, so he won't order it. I don't think the school will give it to her without someone saying she needs it. I want the opinion of a PT person. We are also thinking about going to Boston for another Orthopaedic doctor since neither one of us like the one that we saw previously.

It is hard to tell how well Aidai is progressing but people who don't see her every day seem to think that she is making amazing progress. The eye doctors see her every month and they see a big difference. The school hadn't seen her in a month and they said she was totally different. My coworkers also think she makes improvement when they see her every couple of weeks.

I'm really excited to see how she blossoms with the daycare and preschool. We think she is really ready to be around other kids and learn. We just have to get past the whole "Mama and Papa will be back later" issue...

Elizabeth

Hi Everyone-From Bill

Well, we're into a new year....Thank God!! =)
I haven't posted in a while, but will put in a little effort soon.
Hi Casey! It's always great to hear from you!!
Troy, if you're still reading, I'd love to get in touch...get a facebook account and find me!
I got in from shoveling yet more snow....we've gotten soooo much! went up to get Aidai from her nap, usually when she's asleep, we take the baby gates off the living room doors to let the 3 stooges in, so that they can feel part of the family....usually when the princess gets back down stairs the first thing she insists on it the gate being put back...well not today....she's been running free with the bassets for over an hour now, and loving it...go figure...
More to come, we promise!!
The Photo was from Friday night when Josh was over, the three of us were raising the roof...great fun!!!
Once again, thanks for following!
Bill

Guitar Trio

Update

So I was going to do a year in review post but I figure that folks can just go through the archives if they really want the details about the adoption process. I don't remember what the heck happened when. All I know is we started with Liberia, saw Aidai's picture, changed to Kyrgyzstan, got on a plane, had alot of drama, waited 4 months complete with much drama, passed court and the waiting period, got back on the plane and picked her up, faced more drama and Almaty (quite similar to Hell), and then finally came home to happy family and friends, got glasses, eye patch, brace, special shoes and celebrated Thanksgiving and Xmas. I think that sums up the highs and lows pretty well.

We have more appointments this week. Wednesday we meet with the child care provider that I have been corresponding with since last March and hopefully will start the transition to her care soon. On Friday we meet with the school, the eye doctor and the orthotic people separately but back to back starting at 7:45am.

We had our first post placement visit even though we have only been home a few months. All the other people with the same middle man seem to start 6 months after they get home but we were told to start 6 months after court so we are starting early. I just hope Kyrgyzstan approves it even though it might be early, it could be the correct schedule, who knows. That went relatively smoothly. She was impressed with Aidai's language skills and attachment.

We have Aidai's social security number so we can file taxes which is good. We've had that for awhile now. We still don't have the registration done. We did it once, within the 30-day window, but our agency had given us the wrong paperwork so it got rejected so we had to redo it. We got it back around Thanksgiving so I hung onto it for a bit so I could go to the SS office and get her number since that is the most important thing to me and we had already missed the registration deadline. We haven't gotten it back but hopefully it will come soon so I can take her passport to the court and file for her re-adoption. It is really easy here, just a form, don't even have to see a judge in person.

Elizabeth

More Xmas Photos

Her last present, a guitar!

Playing musica with Josh

Aidai with Oma and Papi

Upside down girl

Us at a Christmas Party

Some Photos From Xmas Morning

Eating a Doughnut

Her first package, gee, wonder what it is

A headband

Me helping her open "Granny's Purse"

Opening a present from a friend of mine