Bella, Post Adoption: 18 Months Later

It has now been 18 months since that fateful day we met our daughter in a hotel conference room in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. 

Wow. A year and a half. 

So much has changed since we met our 26-month-old girl that day, who was a shell of a child back then. When she cried, her tears would fall but no sound would escape her lips. She would inconsistently babble mamamama and dadadadada, and that was the extent of her verbalizations. She could stand while holding on to something, but only when placed in that position. She could sit up but struggled to hold her core upright.  Her play consisted of banging toys together or bobbing to music. 

I do believe that she was cared for - that the orphanage workers tried to help the best they could - but she was one of hundreds. One who very likely got very little regular stimulation. One who was virtually alone most of the days, most of the weeks, most of the years. When we met our daughter, she was scared, solemn, and alone. 

Not anymore. 

Now, at 3.5 years old, a look at what our amazing girl can do, 18 months after coming HOME to her family, who absolutely adore her: 

Language. Since my last update six months ago, Bella has continued to make gains in all developmental areas. While language has been the slowest, it is coming along. She continues to receive one hour of speech therapy at home every week with our beloved speech therapist as well as 30 minutes of one-on-one speech therapy at school each week. More and more, Bella has been putting two and three words together (e.g., "Where's Banks?" "More crackers, please." "Dada's car." "Thank you, Momma."). Her oromotor muscles have also gotten stronger! She now drinks out of a big girl cup instead of a sippy or straw cup. 

Bella's receptive language skills are really progressing, too! We are working on following two-step commands and understanding prepositions and concepts like "My" and "Yours." Bella LOVES books and loves nothing more than having people read to her. She also still enjoys playing with puzzles, playing pretend, taking care of babies, coloring, doing flashcards, etc. She has come a LONG way from just banging toys together!

We continue to pray for continued development with her language but are also so proud of how far she's come.

Motor. Bella is just running all over the place these days! Under the care of our amazing private physical therapist, who she continues to see in our home for an hour each week (as well as her twice weekly physical therapy sessions at school!), she is working hard and meeting goals! We are still focusing on strengthening her core and hip muscles, but she is getting stronger. Bella can now squat down to pick things up and her gait is much more typical than it was six months ago - still not quite "normal" but much improved! 

Bella loves to try and "jump" (on the floor - she no longer struggles to get air on a trampoline!) and gallup, and her endurance has improved tremendously! She is also slowly getting closer to be able to walk up the stairs (she can do it no problem with assistance; it's the independent stair-climbing we're working on) and is continuing to work on throwing and kicking balls. Who knows, this girl just may be a super star athlete one day! :)

Bella's fine motor skills are also improving, thanks to her continued, weekly sessions with our much-loved occupational therapist at home as well as the individual occupational therapy she receives at school. Slowly, some of her skills are even starting to resemble those of other 3-year-old kiddos! She still exhibits some fine motor weakness in some areas but she is significantly improved compared to where she once was. She loves to cut and is able to snip, snip, snip using adaptive scissors. She LOVES to color (such an artist, our girl!) and is able to mimic vertical and horizontal strokes. We are slowly beginning to work on writing individual letters. 

We are still trying to solve the mystery of the edema (aka swelling) she experiences in her hands and feet, which seems to sporadically worsen in the winter at times and sometimes causes increased fine motor weakness, but our girl is a fighter and battles through. We are so proud of the gains she continues to make in her motor skills and pray they continue! 

Cognition. Preschool has been one of the BEST things to happen to our Bellaboo. She ADORES school - she loves putting on her book bag and will tell you several of her friends' names when asked (Jack; Isaiah; Jace). :) She is absolutely adored by her three teachers. She is the youngest in her class, with the most needs at this point, but we truly believe she is in the most loving, nurturing school environment possible and is showing such great progress there! 

As I mentioned, she gets individual PT, OT, and ST at school as part of her Individualized Education Plan (IEP), which has been so great for her! Bella LOVES to read, read, and read some more (i.e., listen as we read her books). She loves completing puzzles, she loves singing in her big sister's microphone, she loves watches DVDs about numbers and letters and colors and shapes. She can count to 10. She can identify her numbers and several letters and most colors. She loves flashcards, our little school girl! :) She loves playing pretend. She loves being around others. She truly has come so far from the days of just banging toys together! She is amazing. We have big hopes and big dreams for our girl and know that God hears our prayers. <3

Out and About/Playing. It's probably pretty clear in the weekly family updates I post, but our family is a very busy, very active one. And our Bella? Homegirl just continues to roll with it all! Whether traveling to visit family or going on fun trips/outings, Bels is just along for the ride. 

Etc. We've had multiple doctor appointments since the last update six months ago: Pediatric cardiology? Check. Pediatric dentist? Check. Holistic medicine doctor? Check. Neurosurgery follow-up? Check. ENT/allergy testing? Check.  Audiology? Check. Our girl has been keeping us busy, and we continue to be so thankful for those involved in her healthcare. <3 We still have some question marks we are trying to answer but have faith that God has got our girl in His hands and has from Day 1. 

Also, after a year of not growing, I swear Bella's feet have jumped two sizes over the last six months! It's just about time to have her fitted for new ankle-foot orthotics (AFOs). And speaking of growing, her hair!! Our sweet girl, whose head was shaved weeks before we met her, now rocks shoulder-length hair that is long enough for ponytails. :)

Bella continues to be full of love and joy, with a laugh that absolutely lights up the room. She adores her family and the feeling is beyond mutual. Bella also loves to "help" ;) me with the laundry and is the best of my four at cleaning up! That being said, she can be extremely stubborn determined and hesitates to try things that she perceives, or are, challenging for her, but with insistence and encouragement, she has knocked so many of her therapy goals out of the park - so much so that I met with her educational team earlier this week to update her IEP, as she had mastered some of her goals and needed new ones in place. Go Bels! 

Just this week, we started implementing a completely new approach to treatment. I don't want to share specifics yet, as I want to see how it affects her first, but we are extremely hopeful, encouraged, and prayerful that this new approach will work wonders for our little rockstar! She definitely has a whole team of Lu Crew support behind her, that's for sure!

Oh. Also. We are attempting potty training, but it has been pretty arduous so far. Siiiiigh. So, we will continue trying and encouraging until she masters this goal, too. Prayers appreciated. #prayingforpoop

Bella is the light of our family. She truly is. She brings such an incredible amount of happiness and joy to all who cross her path, and I am so thankful she is here, at home, with her family, and able to feel the kind of love, adoration, and care every child deserves. It makes me cry to think what things would be like for her - medically, cognitively, emotionally, socially - if she were still in that big orphanage in China. Adoption has been the biggest blessing, and we continue to thank God for ensuring we found our daughter and were able to bring her home, where she belongs - with her family, learning about our God, who loves her so very much. Thank you, Jesus, for our Bella.  

With the tremendous progress she's made over the last six months (check out the last update from 7 months ago - wow!), we can't wait to see what the next six months hold for our girl. Bella Elizabeth, you are loved, you are loved, you are loved, sweet girl. Onward we march, together...