Okay, I started drafting a post on August 18th, and here I am finally posting one on September 16th. Definitely Back to School busy season!
Eliana started preschool last week. She attends two mornings per week for a little less than 3 hours per day. She did great her first day! Not a tear was shed by either one of us. In fact, she ran into the classroom to go play so quickly that I didn't even get to say goodbye. I stayed for about one minute to make sure she was fine and then I slipped out to the parent coffee. It was a short day - sort of a 'warm-up' for the real thing. I probably looked at my watch every 5 minutes and I did go sneak a peek through the classroom door window a couple of times to make sure that she wasn't crying for me. She was in circle time with her class and seemed happy as could be. I got a big smile and hug when I picked her up in her classroom. A very successful first day! She has gone two more times and seems to be enjoying herself.
In addition to Preschool,
Eliana and I have started doing two "mommy and me" classes. One is gymnastics, and one is 'ballet'. She is very physically active and LOVES to dance, climb and jump. She is really enjoying her classes. I am very tired when we are done! She looks so stinking cute in her little leotards that it is ridiculous. Here are some pictures (Refresh to restart
slideshow).
Another first recently...pigtails! Granted, they are VERY small little pigtails, and there is a lot of hair that just hangs down in back and on the side, but they are pigtails nonetheless. She wasn't too thrilled with my first attempt and pulled them out, so I didn't try again for a while. The other day when I went to pull her hair back with a bow, she snatched it, threw it down, and handed me one of her little hair rubber bands. So, we tried again and this was the result. I think it makes her look so much more grown up! Ben got to try out having a pigtail, too. He is a good sport! Eliana also got into my lipstick the other day. The "Joker" look is not a good one for her!
Those of you who have met Eliana know that she is quite the character. She is very animated in her expressions. She is not yet communicating verbally as much as we would like yet; however, she is very good at getting her point across through combinations of American Sign Language, her own gestures, and with her words and sounds. She is going to have a developmental screening through our county schools this week and we hope to start speech therapy sessions soon.
This is the part I started writing in August:
My niece, Natalie, took some really cute photos with Eliana on our 4th of July trip this year that showcase Eliana's expressive face. Natalie turned the view finder around so that Eliana could see herself as they took the photos. We used to tease Natalie when she was little because when she smiles or laughs, her eyes disappear into little crescent moons. Eliana's eyes do the same thing. Don't Natalie and Eliana make a cute pair?
Happy!
[This italicized info is intended for the other adoptive parents waiting to bring home their cleft-affected children, or prospective adoptive parents considering adopting a cleft-affected child. Please do not be offended by the straight-forward nature of the comments. We think our daughter is absolutely beautiful! Some of these photos give good close-up views of Eliana's scars from her cleft lip repair. Eliana's cleft was bilateral (two clefts - one gap on each sides of the midline) and was classified as a Class III in China (the most severe - that grading system is not used in the US). You can click on the photos to see larger versions. The shot above shows Eliana's two sets of fused teeth that are directly under her cleft gum line. See the tooth with 'twin peaks'? That should be two separate teeth. Same for the matching one on the other side of the two bottom center teeth. The dentist thinks her permanent teeth will be fine. Eliana's upper lip doesn't move up when she smiles because some of the facial muscles aren't attached properly. You can sometimes see bulges out to the sides of her scars where the muscle is just sitting there. This may be addressed in a future lip/nose 'revision' surgery.]
Surprised! Where did Natalie go? I don't know!
Silly - sticking our her tongue. Cute crescent eyes.
Mean/angry/pirate face. Arrrrrgh!
[The facial muscles that Eliana is using to wrinkle her nose in this photo have pulled her upper lip up. You can sort of see where the two clefts/gaps in her upper gum line are, on either side of her two front teeth. Her teeth are there, they are just up higher and sort of behind the upper gum line. They are also fused together. When Eliana's permanent teeth start to come in (around age 7-9), she will need to have a bone graft to fill in the gaps in her gum line. Generally they take bone from the hip/pelvis for the graft, although there are some brand new techniques (still somewhat experimental) involving artificial substrates & BMP to grow new bone to fill in the cleft. This picture also clearly shows the extra triangle of tissue in her upper lip, where the Cupid's bow would normally be.]
Sad face. This is one of her favorites to do at home - especially when she thinks someone else is sad or she wants you to pretend that you are sad. Then she may pat you or give you a hug to 'cheer you up'.
Natalie will be getting married to Ryan in just a couple of weeks on the very same beach where we vacationed. (Boy does that make me feel old!) We really like Ryan and think they make a great couple. I am hoping for very beautiful autumn, hurricane-free weather for their big day.
Natalie & Ryan
That's all for now. Now that I have a couple of hours per week of "free time" I will try to do better with keeping the blog updated with photos. "Talk" to you soon!
-Laura Beth
Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year) starts tonight. As you can see, Eliana is very excited about this! The shofar will sound to wake us up and remind us to prepare ourselves for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. We will eat apples and honey to symbolize a sweet new year. 
Eliana is very proud of her first preschool art project for Rosh Hashanah (the apple) and the yarmulke she painted. She goes to our synagogue preschool and really seems to be enjoying it. Eliana also loves Shabbat. On Fridays she loves to get out her Shabbat play set (thank you Ms. Nell) and watch her Oy Baby DVD (thanks, Nancy)! She loves to dance to the songs and she especially loves the dancing puppets. On Friday night she 'lights' her play Shabbat candles as I light the real ones and she loves to drink her 'wine' (juice) from a real wine glass (okay - it is a little cordial glass, but it is just the right size for her). She doesn't know the Hebrew words for the blessings yet, but she sings/hums along with the tune and she knows when to raise her glass, usually sloshing some juice on herself, and then takes a big gulp and makes a satisfied "ahhhh" sound after she drinks. She is also crazy about Challah and it is hard to keep her away from it until it is blessed and ready to eat! She is SOOOOO cute!
It will be tough for year 5769 on the Hebrew calendar to be much sweeter than 5768 was for our family. Look at how blessed we have been! How could I possibly ask for anything sweeter?
