A November Update

Below is the November update on Natalie, that we sent to the caregivers that brought her to the United States.

Natalie is doing extremely well. She is very healthy. She sleeps and eats well and has even become a pickier eater. She loves to eat fruit, certain vegetables, sliced meats, cheeses, and breads. First thing in the morning she wants her vitamins and breakfast.

Natalie is very active and loves the outdoors. She frequently asks for her shoes so she can go outside to play and walk around the neighborhood. She loves dogs and fears them, always wants to visit them and throw balls, but has only petted a few dogs. She enjoys bouncing on the trampoline and is quite the gymnast.

Indoors Natalie loves tumbling, play-doh, puzzles, legos, arts and crafts, and reading books. She wants to try everything on her own and do what her siblings are doing too.

Natalie is potty training right now. She is very close to being potty trained and has no issue using the potty. She loves her bath time. She is not afraid of the water and loves to splash around. One of her favorite things to do is put lotion on after she is finished with her bath.

Natalie is playing well with other children. She is not afraid to make friends wherever she goes. She knows she is part of our family and has bonded very well. She looks to us as her parents for comfort and reassurance and loves her siblings. She has expressed concern about strangers. All in all her behaviors are age appropriate.

Natalie had another ABR and confirmed she has moderate to severe hearing loss. She has had a few other tests; Hearing Booth, CT Scan (all good), and Play Based Assessments etc. All doctors state that she is in great health and is meeting her developmental milestones with hearing and speaking excluded.

Natalie loves to communicate, she knows about 100 signs, and we have noted about 60 that she signs spontaneously. Her communication skills improve daily. An Early Childhood Development Therapist visits once a week. She will begin attending school in January and has visited her school a few times.

Natalie has had her hearing aids for about 4 weeks. For about the first week she would only wear them for about 5 - 15 minutes (she liked to rip them out). Now she will wear them for about an hour or two at best. She is much quieter with her hearing aids. She knows her name in sign language, but not spoken. A few days ago she started saying Mama, and is getting close to saying Da da.

Natalie continues to thrive.