Re-Adoption Day, 11/4/11

On November 4, I re-adopted Katie in this country. It is not a requirement, but it is highly suggested to do so because it allows Katie to get an American birth certificate.  It seemed like a lot of paperwork, but the process on the day of the adoption was easy.

My mom, dad, sister, cousin, and I took Katie to the courthouse. Once we made it through the metal detector, we had about ten minutes to spare. I went to the information desk to ask where to go, only to get the response, "You're in the wrong building." After a long set of directions, we made it to the right building and made it through another metal detector just in time for our appointment. We were in a full room of people waiting to get adoptions finalized, and we were called last, so it wouldn't have mattered had we been a few minutes late.

Once we entered the courtroom, we were only there about ten minutes. The judge could not have been nicer, and Katie even allowed him to hold her. She liked his judge's robe a lot.

Afterwards, Garyldine took us out for a Chinese meal to celebrate Katie's American adoption day!

The Beginning of the Wait 

Grandma will entertain me as I wait! 

Still waiting to see the judge. 

Waiting some more... 

If I walk awhile, the time will go faster. 

The picture the judge took of all of us. 

Katie got to hold the gavel. 

Signing the Adoption Decree 

Katie's New Friend

Just a couple of pictures at home... 

I make a pretty good shelf decoration! 

Having Fun with the Sunday Paper!

Happy Halloween!

Katie had her first experience at a pumpkin patch last weekend. Most of it was quite overwhelming to her, but she did enjoy the petting farm and the blue grass music there.  She had in-depth conversations with the animals…mostly meowing and mooing. The turkeys and pigs didn't speak her language, but I'm sure they were impressed!

Katie was a ladybug for Halloween. She got dressed up and visited my school for a short time.  She looked awfully cute, but she was awfully tired that night!  The kids loved seeing her.

 Trick or treat!

Shedding some layers 

I'm tired of being a ladybug! 

Having fun with Garyldine 

I'm ready! Let's go! 

My first jack-o-lantern. Thanks, Garyldine! 

I'm getting tall! 

Hanging out at the pumpkin patch with Mom and Grandma.

Another Month Has Passed

Katie continues to do well. She loves to crawl and has gotten really fast at it.  She especially loves to crawl fast towards Chloe's food. She doesn't want to eat the dog food. She just wants to play with it.  One night, I had to save Chloe from getting her food getting stolen several times. It ended up being easier to tie a ribbon to Katie's belt loop to keep her away from the dog food!  She still wanted to food, but she was happy just to sit close to Chloe!

I'll include some random, recent pictures of her.

 What should I play with next?

 Hanging Out with the Camera

 Garyldine chose a good book for me!

 Listening to Aunt Debby's Book

 Playing with Grammy Noreen and Grandpa Joe's Presents

 Why can't I reach the dog food?

Pulling harder, but no success!

Happy First Birthday!

Katie turned one last Friday, September 2nd!  I had to work on her birthday, but my mom and my cousin, Garyldine, brought Katie to visit the classroom. She was very entertained by watching the students, and the students quickly began copying Katie when she started sticking her tongue out and pulling it back into her mouth. It was funny to watch!

Later that night, Garyldine and Jim came over to celebrate Katie's birthday with my parents, sister, and me. Katie enjoyed her gifts and attention. I wasn't quite sure what she would do with the cake since she had hardly had any sugar in her life. She really did not like the taste of the frosting when she tried it, but she did seem to have fun playing in the frosting.  She was in desperate need of a bath after the cake!

A New Book!

Chloe Joined the Celebrating 

Not Sure About the Frosting 

Sure About the Frosting - Yuck! 

It's fun to play with though! 

"Look! I can be messier than you!" 

Looking Even Prettier 

It was a good first birthday!

Back to Work

Last week, I officially returned to work.  I thought about Katie a lot, but I knew she was in good hands with my mom.  As far as Katie goes, she has now straightened out her crawl and has increased the speed of her crawl. She still uses her wacky crawl on the wood floors.  Her foot that she swings to the side usually provides more traction on that floor than her knee. I love to watch that crawl though. 

Katie has also re-discovered her "scary face." For a while it was happening less frequently, and I sort of missed laughing at it. Now she is back to doing it a lot. Sometimes, I think she realizes it makes people laugh because she'll smile after the scary face, but other times, she'll just make her scary face and then go on with life like she has done nothing weird.

Katie still has a lot of things she loves, and  one of those things is books. She loves listening to books, looking at books, playing with books, unstacking books, and pulling books off the shelves. One of her favorite books is "Pat the Bunny." My principal gave Katie that book along with the Pat the Bunny stuffed animal at one of my showers, and Katie can't get enough of that. The other day, she went over to choose her toys. She stopped first at the newspaper to take an ad with her. Then she stopped at her toy basket and got the Pat the Bunny stuffed animal. Then she went to her books and chose "Pat the Bunny" and "Goodnight Moon." I hope she continues to love books throughout her life!

Katie's Dress from Hawaii. Thanks Uncle Jeff and Aunt Grace!

  

Scary Face Returns

Still enjoying the dress!

Katie's Choice of Toys

 Katie's First Postcard from Grandma Noreen and Grandpa Joe

Katie "Reading" Her Postcard

A Busy Week

Jennifer had the week off to celebrate her birthday, and while she was home, we kept Katie pretty busy. She had her first visit to the zoo. Just like when she's in any new situation, she was pretty quiet and serious at the zoo as she took everything in. She did like waving to the animals when she saw them which was pretty funny!

At the zoo



Later in the week, Katie had her first picnic at a lake. We chose a picnic table right next to the lake, so she could keep her eye on any action. She loved watching the people swimming and fishing in the lake and also enjoyed waving to the people passing by. She really, really likes being outdoors, so it was easy for my parents to sit with her at the picnic table while Jennifer and I walked around.

In other news, Katie has started crawling. She has a really wacky crawl. She crawls normally except for her right leg. Instead of keeping her right leg bent, she swings that leg straight out to her side, and stands on her toes to move forward. Her left leg stays bent. I'm not sure what is going on with the right leg, but she gets where she needs to go!  She has also learned to pull herself up on her feet when she is next to a piece of furniture. The learning continues.



Smiley



Looking at Katie's Progress

This week, Katie had an appointment with a child development specialist. It wasn't a surprise to me when I met Katie that her physical skills were not where they needed to be. A lot of babies that are in orphanages don't have the same opportunities to develop those skills compared to typical, American babies.  The specialist tracked Katie's skills over the last month. She said that Katie is still a little behind in some areas, but based on all of the progress she has made in the last month, she has every belief that Katie will catch up soon.  She'll keep tracking progress but has no concerns. It's amazing to think that I just met Katie a little over two months ago, and she couldn't even sit up on her own. Now she's sitting, rolling over, dancing, waving, imitating facial expressions, imitating some language, singing, standing, and playing a lot with her toys. It's fun to watch her progress.