Medical appts and other things

Well, Maria had her first visit to her new pediatrician.  I went in with a list of referrals that I wanted...names, addresses and phone numbers.  The doctor was great with the referrals and with Maria.  We got what we needed.  Afterward we went to one of my co-worker's home to hang out and to have lunch.  It was fun Maria did a few new things....she walked on uneven grass hill and she was able to get on a trampoline.  She loved laying on the trampoline and being bounced by my co-worker's wife and kids.  My co-worker's wife even told me that Maria can come to their home on late start days and after school until I can pick her up.  Which I am so excited about.  I couldn't ask for a more trustworthy person to watch my child.  And the best part all she is charging me is exchange of babysitting!  She also gave me the number for the U of I pediatric dentist that works with kids with special needs.  Gave them a call and we have an appointment on Friday.  We also have our first PT appointment tomorrow.  Couldn't get into Shriners until the end of August, but we will make that work out.

Maria continues to do really well.  She is saying more and more in English.  She is adding descriptor words to our animals and certain people.  Such as one of the cats is now called "Black Pippin", my parent's dog is "Shilo girl" and the newest is for my brother "Uncle James two" which means uncle James has 2 earrings, which she thinks is very funny. 

I also made her do some picking up in her room.  I was in there helping a bit and decided to unpack her backpack from the orphanage.  I thought I knew what was in there...well, unknown to me was more contact information on staff members and the famous Bulgarian tennis star Manuela Maleeva.  Manuela ended up getting an ortho surgeon to start a foundation called Swissclinical.  They went to Maria's orphanage to help consult on certain cases and help improve the care of the children.  Maria was one of the children who benefited from these people.  We have several pictures of Maria with Manuela.  Well, I sent our more Skype requests and an email to those contacts.  Not long after Manuela accepted us on Skype and we did a video chat with her.  She is very nice and has excellent English.  She was so happy and surprised to get to see and talk with Maria!  I think we will hear from her again and she said she would update the ortho surgeon Dr. Bruno.  Hopefully they will get to see the long term impact their work has had on Maria's life.

Also, Maria continues to prove that she is a little dare devil.  Not long after her success at the zoo she decided she needed to try out my elliptical machine.  She did get up on it, with me giving stability at her waist...of course the hard part was getting down....yup she did start to fall and I helped her go down easy so that we could get her in a better position to get her on her feet.  She was laughing the whole time.  The next day she decided she needed to check out the unfinished part of the basement where the washer and dryer are, while I was doing wash...yeah, she feel again and this time there was no laughing.  Lots of tears and whining.  She was fine, her knee hurt a little.  I really think it had more to do with being mad at herself that she fell and then making a bigger deal about it to get more attention (which I think she might have had to do at the orphanage at times).  The next day she also fell this time she was holding onto the oven door while I was making lunch and leaned back to look at one of the cats and didn't realize that the door would move...yup more tears and whining.  Got her up and gave her an ice pack.  She was fine, again more upset about what happened.  I have told her that I'm going to let her try new things physically and that there will be times when she does fall.  That is part of learning her boundaries.  She can't get better at those things unless she learns what her limits are and how to work around those. 

Other than that we keep working on things and continue to settle in.  We are planning a "Meet Maria" party for friends in Chicago the beginning of August and another for family and friends in Iowa in September.