Jaden is now officially two years old and still wears 12 month clothing. I actually kind of like it that way because she's easy to carry and not growing out of her clothing. She also makes Mikey look big which is good for his ego.
We had a small birthday dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory with Grandma, Grandpa and a friend's teenage kids. The service was horrible and I was almost an hour late because I got stuck on the phone with a client emergency. Thank goodness J could have cared less but we're hoping to do a much better job next year. Here she is with her first ever birthday cake.
Notice the photo fuzziness. It's not my bad picture taking skills - it's a ruined lense compliment of my kiddie-monsters.
Saturday we attended a Saint Lucy's Center reunion of sorts in the Bay Area. Sister Tong who overseas the SLC program in Taiwan was visiting. I got a few pictures but due to the "lens problem" everything is super fuzzy. I'm counting on Tiff, one of my adoption lifeline sisters, to provide good pics on her blog soon. Until then here's the one that came out half way decent.
Had our first occupational therapy visit last Friday and it looks like we've added another weekly appointment to our schedule. Our little T-Wonst does, indeed, have a sensory disorder or two. We're not alarmed since we've BTDT with Mikey. The main one they'll be working on is her method of self-soothing (meltdown).
Having been with us for only 6 short months, Jaden's ability to understand our words is nothing short of phenomenal. Even things we rarely say such as 'pick that up and throw it away' is followed to a 'T'. The sad part is that she has a very difficult time getting us to understand her which often leads to frustration on everyone's part. We've been working on signing but she either ignores us or becomes angry. I discussed this with the social worker who gave me a laundry list of suggestions, all of which we've tried. Then she made a very simple one, "Teach Mikey signing". Resigned to trying yet another fruitless method, I got a treat I knew they'd both love and the 3 of us sat triangular on the kitchen floor. When Mikey wanted some he'd sign 'more' accompanied by the word. After 5 or 6 times, Jaden signed it and said it! She did this until the treat was gone and has consistently used the more sign since then. I can't believe I didn't think of this on my own considering Jaden always copies Mikey.
Speaking of copying her older brother, here's a fun little video to show you just that. Enjoy!
6 comments:
When I read the title of your post I knew it was teacher Mikey you were referring to. Haven't watched the clip yet - will do so later - Jaden is such an adorable peanut! I hope my pictures will be posted in the next or so! Feel free to take 'em from my blog. There's a SUPER cute one that you'll love!
My son from Russia also had sensory integration disorder. We had a really hard time with him for a while and trying to find professionals who could actually give us helpful advice. Now, finally at 5, you wouldn't know he ever had it! HUGE improvement. A video that helped greatly with our son with language and sign language is called Baby Babble. It was made by speech therapists. It was recommended to us by other adoptive families and worked well for him. The company that puts it out is called Talking Child. Google it and see if you can get a copy. Email me any time about the sensory integration stuff. We went through a lot and learned a lot with our son! I'll help if I can or just support you. It does get better!
Older sibs are such a wonderful resource. Most of Red's words have been copied directly from Missy Hoohaw.
She will get the hang of it because she is a smart little cookie! Can't believe that she is still in size 12 months clothing. She is a little peanut! Allie is just transitioning into 18 months in some things and is now a whopping 21 lbs. She has these really long legs though, it's so funny. Can't wait to see a clip of the kiddos signing.
Ramona,
That is the cutest video!! Happy Birthday Jaden!! Thanks for your comments while we were in Taiwan. So glad to be home!!
Holli
Sarah is 2 too, and she still has some trousers that are 5 month old...they fit around the waist just fine..just short now..
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