3 weeks home -- a progress report

With family in town this weekend, we got a chance to get some family photos around home. It was a bit tricky, but here are some of our favorites above!

Many of you have been asking about Ellie's progress and the follow-up on her appointment with the pediatrician. While we're still waiting on the last of the lab work to come in, Dr. Taylor reports that everything looks pretty good so far! On Wednesday someone will be coming to our home to perform a formal developmental assessment on Ellie. From there we will learn what forms of therapy she will require to catch up to her peers.

Els continues to enjoy laying on her back to play with her toys and gets frustrated when toys are out of reach. She is also still refusing to eat food off a spoon. We've been testing the strength of her legs by standing her up against furniture. This afternoon she stood for several minutes on more than a couple of different occasions to look at a book (see photo below). She is sleeping well (~11 hours at night and a 1.5 to 2 hour nap in the afternoon) and she also seems to becoming more and more amused by our dog, Reagan. I think when she can move around on her own, he may want to watch out! Though at the moment, the feelings seem to be mutual. She continues to explore her world and her vocal ranges! This afternoon my heart stopped when I heard what I thought was a scream coming from her crib during naptime. It turns out she was squealing from excitement as she had activated the "talking" feature of her praying stuffed bear.

Another favorite activity of hers is to enjoy the coolness of the out of doors! So, this morning we bundled up and leashed Reagan for a quick jaunt with the stroller around the neighborhood. In the process we got to introduce Ellie to a couple of neighborhood friends. Speaking of wanting to go outside, she quickly oriented herself to the layout of our home and lets us know quite intensely if we are carrying her the wrong direction, or fail to go through the appropriate door! (Her favorite door is the front door, of course.)

That's all I have for now. In counting the days, we've now been home as many days as we visited her in the orphanage. Amazing! Thanks for continuing to demonstrate your interest and concern for Ellie! It means so much.

Grandpa Van almost went home without getting a photo with Ellie! Here they are right after Ellie woke up Monday morning and as the family was headed out the door to drive back to Illinois.