Things are looking up.

I think I am finally getting over the shock.   It could be because we are really seeing an improvement in her behavior and balance.   She still has the institutional rock, but we have seen a decrease in this.   She can sit and concentrate for 10 to 15 minutes at a time now before jumping up and running through the house.    She is still doing the repetitious things like saying the same thing over and over and over and over.  

Yes...I am really tired of that.

She still grinds her teeth   really L~O~U~D!!

She has gotten over being scared of the dog and cats...now she chases them and pulls their tails.   For the first time we have seen our laid back dog actually look like he would snap at her.   The one cat has bit her and the other has scratched her...she is still learning.

The pediatrician ran all kinds of lab tests on her...we are still waiting for the results and I am curious.

She still talks L~O~U~D!!    She will tone it down when I tell her Shhhhh!!

She will eat anything and everything we put in front of her.   As quickly as possible.  She doesn't complain about the vegetables!   And she has stopped going to the cabinet and whining for more food.

She still falls a few times a day.   We had her evaluated by the school district yesterday.   They think she has good potential.   She will start Kindergarten next week going 1/2 days and ride the bus home with her sisters.    If she is doing good by the end of the year, she will start all day Kindergarten after the first of the year.    We are all prepared but praying that she will not have to repeat Kindergarten.

She is ornery!   She knows the things she is not supposed to get into...but if you leave the room for a few minutes...she is on the laptop...until you come back into the room and she will slam the lid down.  She gets into the markers and writes all over her arms and legs!   She runs around and shuts all the doors!

She loves KC Wolf.   She found him in a toy box and carries him all over the house.   She hugs him and lays him on pillows.   Tonight she was covering him with a blanket.

She really likes her Daddy.   She runs over to him and lays her chin on his chest.   The other night he kissed her forehead....she turned around, grabbed his face between both her hands and turned it to hers and gave him a kiss on the lips!   Tonight she watched Kendalan and then Tessa give me hugs and kisses goodnight...then she threw her arms up in the air and ran over to me, gave me a big hug and a kiss on the lips and said  "Bye Bye!"    First kisses!



I think we will make it.  

Home

We walked out of the security area to a wonderful Welcome Home sign!   We have been trying to get into a groove at home.  The night after we arrived home, four of the girls had their awards ceremony to receive their camo belts!   They had the ceremony at Sk8away and then the kids could skate afterwards.   I used to love to skate, but now that I am old and my bones are probably more brittle, I don't think I will be doing that!   Tessa, Kendalan and Jordis decided to give it a try and they all did pretty good.   They did spend some time on their bottoms on the floor!!

Linzi had an appointment at our pediatrician's office on the 20th.   Dr. Conroy does not think that the way she walks and her balance issues are related to cerebral palsy.   She recommends that we enroll her in martial arts to help her with her balance.   Our Taekwondo instructor really got a kick out of that recommendation!

Linzi definitely has more going on than we thought.   Exactly what will take sometime to figure out.   We are not sure if she is a product of her environment or if it has anything to do with the initial diagonsis she was given in China.   She does have delays and we will be having our school district try and evaluate her and see what their recommendations are.   We are hoping that we can get her enrolled in Kindergarten or Pre-school and start helping her learn.   The more she is able to learn will be encouraging to us.   At this point we are concerned that she may have learning deficits.   However, we are praying that she does not.    It is going to be a work in progress for sometime.   She is cute as can be and has gotten over her fear of the cats and dog.   She seems to love following her sisters around, but her attention span is very short.   She has enough energy to wear us all out and fortunately she is ready to go to sleep very soon after she gets in bed.  

Almost home!

It has been an adventure...sometimes not one for the faint of heart.   Linzi shocked me when we first met her.   Her reports were off..so much so that I would say they were completely wrong!   She was/is much more delayed than what we had even expected.   They said that she was basically independant.   That was a stretch of the truth.   They said she could go up and down the stairs by herself, that is true IF you have a long time to wait for her to do so.   She has very poor balance.   I can now see why she had bruises in her updated referral photos...she falls a LOT!   I have developed much stronger arms from holding her hand and keeping her from falling most of the time.   When she runs around in our room..she falls many times a day.   She can almost fall over her own shadow!  No joke!   She is very head strong and wants to do things herself.   She did not know how to use silverware or chopsticks.   She has learned to use a spoon to shovel food in her mouth, she is working on the fork.   She can not eat without making a total mess...kind of like a toddler.   When she plays, she does things over and over again...in a repetition pattern.   She says the same things over and over again.   She does remember doing things and will repeat those to our guides.   She has no where to go but up from here.   She is very loving and quite the tease.   She is super cute and was super spoiled by her nannies.

 

First day with us....

 

Yesterday...the difference a few days makes!

We are in Hong Kong at the airport Marriott.  Tomorrow morning very early we will board the first of several planes which will finally bring us home to Kansas.  

Looking forward to the rest of her sisters meeting her and ready to get unpacked and things put away!!