We've had our Maggie for two whole months now. It seems like forever and yet, it seems like yesterday. We've had good days and bad days, but overall, things are going well.
Maggie seems to be adjusting to our busy life filled with soccer practice, games, school drop offs and pick ups.
Attachment: This is the hardest part for me. I just am not sure how it is going. I think she is attaching to us. She really loves Ryan and gets very excited when he comes home from work. She likes the kids and gets excited when the boys get off the bus. She has started to get annoyed when Macy or Colin try to walk with her and she is busy playing...just like siblings do. But, she doesn't seem to be scared of strangers. I think she trusts us as her caretakers, I am not sure if she understands that it is deeper and that we are her parents, not just a nanny that never goes away! Time will tell, and so far, we are making steps. Big steps or little steps, I can't tell. But, we are moving forward.
Growth: When we first got Maggie she weighed 17 lbs 14 oz at 15 months old. Our first doctors' appointment at 3 weeks led to no weight gain, which I was very disappointed with. I had hoped with the additional solid food we had fed her, she would have gained. However, we had a weight check yesterday and home girl put on TWO FULL POUNDS! She now breaks the 20 lbs mark! That is a lot of weight to gain for a little lady and her face, arms and legs are definitely plumping up.
Food: She was only being fed 3 formula bottles a day and was introduce to rice cereal in her bottle the week before we got her. We gave her food from a spoon the first time. She also did not know how to feed herself. If I had puffs in my hand, she could pick them up, but did not know how to bring them to her mouth. She would pick them up, show me, put them back in my hand and let me know she wanted some. She figured out how to feed herself within the first 2 weeks of being home.
She vetoed the spoon for a few weeks but now will eat cereal (which is important, since she needs the fortified iron badly) baby food and finger foods. She also cut two new teeth, totally 6. Our goals now are to get her to drink water from a cup, at least to learn how to operate one. She is still on 3 formula bottles a day.
Physical Development: She went from barely moving in China to army crawling lightning fast to going up on all fours crawling. She is cruising all around our furniture and loves to walk holding our hands. I would say her biggest change development wise is her movement. She moves non stop. I expect her to be walking by Thanksgiving. She has really taken off with her movement.
Verbal: While she "talks" all the time and will babble and even try to mimic, she is not clearly saying any words. She will say "mama" but I am not convinced that she means me. She does know how to wave hello, give high fives, point to my nose and so forth, so I think her language understanding is improving, just no words. I have to remind myself that she has only heard English for 2 months and spent 15 months only hearing Chinese. It will come in time.
Goals: Words! We are hoping to get some words out of her soon. Drinking from a sippy cup and continuing with her weight gain and mobility.
We love our sweet and sassy Maggie Li Ya!
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