And Singing

One morning this week, Hanna was sitting at the table eating breakfast, and I was in the kitchen when I heard: "You go, I go.  You stay, I stay.  You move, I move.  I follow YOUUUUUUU!"  Took a second, but I recognized the Chris Tomlin song.  This is the first time she has sung a song on her own.  I didn't even know she KNEW this song!  She learned it from the radio.

And this morning she was singing the ABC's .  Very cute.  She doesn't get them all right, but she gets pretty darn close.

Medical Week

This was medical week, and thankfully it ended about 95% positive.

We started Tuesday with eye appointments for the older girls.  They are healthy and their prescriptions have not changed.  They still need their glasses for reading.

Same day, Cliff had his eyes checked and found out he needs glasses for the first time in his life.  He was bummed - didn't want to admit that he needed them.

Thursday, the new kids had a follow up appointment at the International Adoption Clinic.  It took all morning, but we FINALLY got the results of all those blood tests.

All three kids are healthy, no diseases or vitamin deficiencies.  A few of their immunizations in Ukraine did not "take," so we have to re-do them.  Oleg got 3 shots, Lena got 2, and Hanna got 5 (poor thing!).  HIV tests for Oleg and Hanna came back "indeterminate," but the doctor said not to worry about that.  We are having them redone.  One of Hanna's blood tests was incorrectly ordered, so we are having that one redone as well.  Oleg's stool sample was positive for giardia, so we treated that.  The little girls were negative for parasites, but their stool smells awful, so we're retesting just in case we missed something.

All three kids gained weight and height, but the little girls are still off the growth charts small.  Lena is developmentally behind her peers.  We have no medical reason for that, so it is likely due to lack of attention to her early development.  We will know more when she has some school experience.

Hanna is making great strides.  She didn't gain much weight, but developmentally, she is closer to her chronological age than Lena is.

We left with lab slips for the follow up blood tests and stool tests and orders for speech therapy for all three kids and physical and occupational therapy for Hanna.

Friday the new kids had their eyes checked.  I had been a bit concerned about Lena, as she seemed to be having trouble seeing things.  Turns out she's fine.  Her prescription is borderline for her age for needing glasses, and one eye is "worse" than the other.  If she is still in the same place this time next year, she will need correction.  She has a slight delay in converging when looking at something up close,  and she also has a slight tracking problem that might resolve over time.  Now that we are aware of the tracking issue, we can work with her to strengthen her eyes.

Hanna was also a bit of a concern given that she was so premature at birth.  She is also doing fine.  She is slightly more near-sighted than she should be for her age.  That could change over time and get either better or worse, but for now she does not need correction.  Given her prematurity, she will need a dilated eye exam on a yearly basis.  

Oleg, on the other hand, needs glasses for reading and will need vision therapy to correct some issues with the working of his eyes.  They don't work together effectively, and he has trouble focusing his eyes which makes him very tired when he reads.  The exam itself really strained his eyes, as the doctor made him work in ways he had not before.  He also has very little pigment inside his eyes, so he is especially sensitive to bright light (explains all the squinting).  Recommendation there is to wear good quality polarized sunglasses when outside.

Whew!  We still have a few items outstanding, but as you can see, about 95% positive.