Sunday January 24, 2010
Monday January 24, 2011
I am truely amazed at how easy Taylor made the transition into her new life. She has adjusted so well and so quickly into everything. When I look at Taylor today, it is hard to believe she is the same little girl I met for the first time last year. She has grown so much and in so many ways this year. She is truely a remarkable little girl whom I love with all my heart.
In a year Taylor has grown 4 inches (now 41 inches tall) and gained 4.5 pounds (now weighs in at 40.5 pounds.) Her hair has grown so much and is so pretty. So much better than what it was that first day.
Her smile is a big as ever which goes right along with her big personality. She loves to laugh and is very tickelish. She wakes up with a smile on her face raring to go pretty much every day.
She is still a great eater and will try just about anything you put in front of her. Still eats all her fruits and vegatables and enjoys a cookie now and then. Fortunately isn't always looking for sweets.
She is still very much a girlie girl. Likes wearing dresses and will keep hair clips in her hair all day now. Loves dressing up in her princess and fairy dresses. She is still obsessed with Dora and Diego is a very close 2nd.
Loves to sing, dance and listen to music. She is trying to learn Doe Rae Me from the Sound of Music. I play the soundtrack in the car whenever she is in it. She takes a gymnastics class every Saturday morning and has a great time there. Maybe dance lesssons in another year or so.
Taylor continues to love school and is learning so much there. I am very pleased with the progress she has made there.
On December 29th I had her speech evaluated. She has articulation issues which they would classify as severe and phonological disorder. They recommend speech therapy 2-3 times a week. I am going on Wednesday to get her registered for the 1/2 day pre-school program and the elementary school in town where she will get speech therapy 3 times a week. She will go to the program 5 days a week in the afternoons. In the mornings she will continue to go to her current school and return there after the other school program is over around 3:15pm. I am sure she will do very well and be speaking better in no time.
She still experiences the occasional seizure. Since May when she had the first one she has had 2 additional seizures. The latest this past Saturday morning. It was over within a minute. We have an appointment at one of the children's hospitals nearby on February 4th with a pediatric neurologists to find out if they are frebile seizures or something else. We go back to the ENT on Wednesday the 26th for her 4 month follow up to getting a tube in her right ear. She will also get a hearing test to determine if her hearing has gone back to normal. Never a dull moment in the James household.
Sleep continues to be an inconsistent challenge. Mostly getting her to go to sleep at night in a timely manner. Once she is asleep, 9 times out of 10 she sleeps through the night. She is only an 8 - 8 1/2 hour a night sleeper. I think part of the problem is at school they have quiet/nap time between 1-3 which is way to late for Taylor to be taking a nap. If the time was over between 1:30 and 2 at the latest it might not be such an issue. Maybe with doing both programs starting next week and not getting a nap will help her go down better at night.
She now loves dogs. Wants to go up to any dog she sees. Such a change from last year when she paniced if she saw one a block away. No we will not be getting a dog!!!!!!
To celebrate our one year anniversary we went out to dinner with Kathy and her family for Chinese food. Kathy is my friend who travelled to China with me last year to bring home Taylor. We all had a great time tonight. It was a very special evening.
Taylor is a very happy, well adjusted child and I am so proud that I have the honor and priviledge to call her my daughter. I love her so much and can't imagine my life without her.
On Sunday moring Uncle Rick was showing Taylor how to get Tamu to speak. It was very hard not to laugh while taking the below video. Tamu weighs 50 lbs more than Taylor and can knock her over without even trying as you will notice at the end. This was so cute.