Graduation, Speech and other ramblings....

Saturday was Katie's Graduation open house. We had a hog roast and served somewhere between 125-150 people. All I can say is "WHEW" I am glad that is over and done. The rest of the summer should be smooth sailing. I hope.

Here Olivia is with her cousin Gust at the open house. He loves chasing her around and she just squeals with delight.

Today Olivia started her speech therapy. She is not having any major difficulties but we decided to have her evaluated by our local First Steps program since it is free and to just see what the professionals think. For the evaluation they sent out a Speech Therapist and an Occupational Therapist. They decided that her gross and fine motor skills are right on if not even a little above what they expect them to be. Her social skills are even excellent. They were really surprised she was doing so well considering she had come from an orphanage and only been in our home for about 9 weeks. She does however qualify for speech therapy. She should have a vocabulary of about 50 words right now and she has maybe 10 that she uses plus (this surprised me) the 20 signs that she knows. I was surprised that they count the signs cause to me they are a form of communication but it is not "speech". Anyway, we signed her up for the services because they are 1. Free, 2. They said it will get her over the hump and get her caught up 3. I like having a professional evaluate her and know that she is getting to where she should be.

So, anyway today was her first session. After the hour when it was time for Susan to leave Olivia all but laid on the toys that Susan had brought to try to get her to stay. She LOVED the one on one attention and all the fun stuff that Susan brought. Susan also said that Olivia is very smart and she thinks the therapy will be very short term. YEAH! She said in a few months her brain will transition over to the English sounds and words and she will catch up quickly.

Livi also went swimming for the second time today. She loves it. I am relieved. After the initial bath fear, I was afraid she would be terrified of the pool. Today Katie and her friend Steph took Livi out and she cried when they had to come in.

Livi and Steph.