Miller Plus One

Update We have a wonderful pediatrician who is pleased with Amber Joy's progress. In the time she's been home, we have switched from formula in bottles to cow's milk in sippy cups. We transitioned from bottles fairly easily and the nighttime bottle that had me worried, was really no problem. She is sleeping through the night most nights, she puts herself to sleep in her crib, and she's transitioned to one nap instead of two. She is communicating by mimicking sounds (uh-oh, dog sounds, smacking her lips when I say, "are you ready to eat?"), and does have three signs: please, all done, and more. She loves bath time and all kinds of foods: avacado, pasta, peas and carrots, and grilled cheese sandwiches are among her favorites. She did have two positive tuberculosis skin tests because she had the vaccine in Taiwan, so we are on the medication to prevent TB for a total of nine months. It's a daily pill that we crush and put in applesauce. She'

AMAZED! There is no other word to describe the past few months of our lives.  Tonight, as I write, I am watching my daughter crawl around the floor on her hands and knees, shake her head "no" when she doesn't want milk, sign for "more" when she doesn't want me to stop reading, and laugh when she lets out a little gas.  Four months ago when we met her, she couldn't even sit up on the hotel room bed without support.  Now, she's almost ready to walk.  She's eating table food (except for puree prunes, which I still feed her occasionally), clapping when she hears "patty cake" or "If you're happy and you know it...," waving bye-bye when daddy leaves for work, and getting the shapes into the shape sorter, at times, independently.  She's smiling more, opening up to others, and we've been able to leave her in the church nursery several times with no problems.  If someone had told me how hard this transition was going to