This past week, I moved some safety gates around and finally gave Leah access to the kitchen. She was excited about having another new area to explore. We played hide-and-seek around the kitchen island, and she enjoyed standing under the kitchen table, examining the window vertical blinds, and looking (and standing) inside the fridge.
I removed some of the cabinet drawer knobs to make them less tempting for her to try to open (or put in her mouth), and so far she hasn't even bothered with the cabinets and drawers. She walked around in her little shoes in the kitchen and seemed to think that was really cool feeling....she was pointing at her shoes and trying to jump up and down. Anyway, it's nice not to have her whining at the gate when I have to be in the kitchen, but it's also one more area for her to mess up.
Her first word was duck, and these days she's also saying night-night, ba-ba, mama. She points at pictures of dogs and cats and says dog and cat very well. In fact, she's been very excited about dogs and cats this whole week, and every morning when she wakes up, she sees some photos of my furbabies on the dresser and gets really excited. And as far as receptive language goes, she's starting to understand a lot, too. We're doing the "How big is Leah? So big!" thing, and she raises her arms up and smiles. She still bows when we say "annyonghaseyo" and even does it when we say hello in English. She can clap and dance on command as well.
I've mentioned before about her kicking her soccer ball around, and this past week, she's gotten even better. When I bring her downstairs every morning, the first thing she goes for is the soccer ball. She kicks it and follows it all around the room for a long time. And if it gets stuck somewhere, she picks it up and drops and kicks it again.
I have an even better video of her dribbling the ball with John but unfortunately it's too big to upload.
In gym class this week, Leah was so excited and outgoing. We start out every class sitting in a circle doing activities. This week, Leah decided she'd rather go play during that time. She was so smiley and happy and was even trying to jump. You know me, I would have taken some pictures, but that would have probably been inappropriate since the teacher was talking. Later on, she went right up to some apparatus and figured out what to do on it all by herself. She was all over the place. My job is basically to keep her from falling and getting hurt, but she definitely needs no prodding to try things out.
The next day, we had our playgroup with two other kids from gym class. The other girls are about 5-6 months older than Leah, but she's very interactive with them and loves playing with new and different toys. So far, she has no manners. She likes to steal the things that the other girls are holding...so I'll have to work on that one.
Last Friday, we had our monthly post-placement visit with our social worker. Leah was very engaging as usual. She was walking around and showing off, running around playing with her toys, and digging in Diana's bag and examining her toenail polish and shoes. John's flight home from his business trip to Europe was delayed so he wasn't able to be there this time. But at least he is finally back home now. He's had a very busy travel schedule lately and had only seen Leah for 24 hours in 2 weeks.
Three months ago yesterday, we arrived home with Leah. Can't believe how well she is doing and how much she has grown after just three months.
