Week 4 - A week of advancements!

Hui-Hui and her parents finished off this week with a number of advancements and accomplishments (but exhausted).

Advancement#1: Sickness over! Hui-Hui got through her severe case of chicken pox in as good of spirits as any one could be expected to. Most of the scabs are gone but we're told it could be months before the marks go away from her beautiful face and body. Here is a picture of the chicken pox girl having some fun playing with her toys and mommy's hat.

Advancement#2: I can crawl! Hui-Hui's hard work on building her upper body strength and coordination paid off this week with honest-to-goodness serious crawling. We really need to be careful now because she not only crawls...she crawls fast!

Advancement#3: Communication! Hui-Hui is able to communicate with sign language and a few words. She is able to sign mum-mum/eat, yum-yum, brush teeth, bath, more, and all done. The most important spoken word she learned this week was "por-por" (grandmother). She said "por-por" repeatedly into the talcum powder bottle (as if it were a phone) but when we got on the real phone with por-por she clammed up. We need to follow Auntie Sharon's advice: "put her on speaker phone and hand her the talcum powder!"

Advancement#4: I'm an all American girl! Hui-Hui attended her first small town 4th of July parade. While still getting over the chicken pox and being outside in the sun, she did well and stayed engaged for most of the parade. Here is a picture of her at the parade and a few shots at home in her all American dress (that we bought in China).

Advancement#5: I'm 20 months old now (as of Thursday, 7/5) - I should be able to sleep by myself! This was a tough week because Hui-Hui had gotten quite used to being cuddled and slept with during her sickness. So, though she has been feeling better the past few nights, she has not wanted to go to her own crib. After a discussion with our social worker and studying a book on child sleep problems, we moved her to her own room last night and followed a technique of putting her down and leaving the room for progressively longer periods of time. Starting out at 4 minutes, then 8, she fell asleep on her own before we hit the 12 minute mark. I (Cindy) almost didn't make it through because it was difficult to hear her cry. But Hui-Hui and mommy got through it and, she (HH) slept through the entire night. Tonight we put her in her crib and she cried just for a short time before falling asleep. This girl learns fast!

Advancement#6: Hui-Hui is fitting right in with mommy and daddy's summer weekend rituals of antiquing, farmstanding, and dining out! Hui-Hui takes it in stride with repeatedly being put in and out of her car seat in order to see one more thing! Today, we had a few hours in southern NH visiting a great organic farmstand, antiquing and eating delicious Thai food. Here are some favorite shots from today....

Well, that's it for now. This coming week we are having an evaluation for early intervention services. We'll report on that next time.

Thanks for watching.

Love,

p&c&h