Doctor Prognosis...and NO INTERNET:(:(:(:(

Ok, I will say I'm officially irriated that we don't have Internet in our apartment.  We moved today for this reason but instead we are sitting in a hot, crowded, loud, smoke-filled mall.  Sigh...I'm thinking of the song, "This is the Stuff".  I've attached it below:






Fortunately, a man in an electronic store gave us the password for a coffee shop inside the mall so the connection is better than snail speed.  Ok, done whining:)


We got an unexpected surprise...the doctor came!!  We hired a doctor who used to work for the U.S., Canadian, and French embassy in Ukraine.  For the past 15 years he has been examining orphans on behalf of families to determine their cognitive skills and level of health.

Here are some things we learned about "Bo Peep's" mental health:

·  impressed with her attention span (more than 30 minutes of working non-stop)

·   Her reaction to us is “normal” because she is able to differentiate between strangers and caregivers
·   Good fine motor skills

·   Lacking gross motor skills (not running or climbing as well as she should be)

·   Does not know her colors

·   Completed puzzles, shape sorting, Legos, tower building, animals, and threading a bead with little to no problem

·   She had difficulty finding the missing parts of an object (ex. missing bear arm, missing wheel from a car, etc.)

·   Followed all of his instructions and complied to everything he asked her to do

·  She knows the parts of the body, pieces of clothing, furniture, and animal/animal sounds

·   Has a good vocabulary
·   She enjoys learning new things and being challenged

In short, “Bo Peep” is about a year or so delayed and it is attributed to her malformation as well as being in an orphanage since she was 15 days old.  He is confident she will be able to talk and will be able to live a “normal” life.  He feels it would be best for her to start kindergarten at the age of 6 instead of 5 years old so she can catch up.  This will be easy with her birthday...fun fact, Sasha and "Bo Peep" we born on the same day:)

Here are some things we learned about "Bo Peep's" physical health:

·  All blood tests came back negative for infectious diseases

·  Up to date on Ukrainian vaccinations

·  Endocrinologist found she has mild “hypothyrosis” (sp?). The doctor did not see any signs of this in his observation.  He explained that this means hormones/metabolism is too low.

·   She is potty trained and tells her caregivers when she has to go to the bathroom.

·   She eats soup, porridge, and hard foods on her own and is able to manipulate a spoon, fork, and a cup.

·   She is able to dress and undress on her own.
·   She sleeps well and has never had any seizures or hysterical attacks. 
·   He believes she will need another surgery on her lip (we agree because it looks “tight”)
·   Because she is still growing, he thinks it might be another year before she gets her palate repaired so she can grow more.  This will be up to her surgeon of course.  This makes us sad because it may mean she will not talk until after her surgery.  Currently, my Daddyo is taking some pictures and medical information to my surgeon in Columbia for his opinions.  Of course, this is before meeting her, examining her, etc.
·   She is able to pronounce around 6 words.  He knows of two…one is her name, the other is Mama.  I would LOVE to hear her talk to me!  She communicates verbally with caregivers and friends but not quite yet to us.  She looks at us like we're crazy!!:)

Overall it was an excellent visit and our observations and playtime have confirmed everything he told us.  We did learn more specifically about how significant her delay is, but I am encouraged by what we've seen already.  We will have to work very, very hard to get her up to speed both physically and cognitively.  This means giving her a lot of individual stimulation, which of course is what Mommys and Daddys do!:)  We are already seeing breakthroughs since we’ve been with her over the past four days.  We saw her go down the slide for the first time on her own, climb up and down a jungle gym, and we also heard her giggle over and over and over again!:)  She loves belly raspberries, flying in the air, bouncing up and down on your knee, and horse-back rides!  (Todd is the horse:)  She is also moving her lips when I sing and talk to her, especially in one or two word phrases.  (YES, I am talking much, much less than normal when I visit her...I'm sure all my English scares the poor little thing!:) 

Signing off until tomorrow...we are visiting with another doctor and she will get her blood drawn.  I'm going to pray tonight that I won't cry...oh dear...they are going to prick her little arm:( 

Love you all and thank you for your emails and facebook postings.  I have read them all and will respond later...I'm melting from the heat and we must grocery shop before it gets dark. 

Tune your ears to wisdom and concentrate on understanding.  Proverbs 2:2