Visiting little sister

We visited little sister a total of 8 times in 5 days.  The visits were usually between an hour and 90 minutes long.  During our morning visits the social worker from the nearby town would attend the meetings.  It was quite obvious that little sister wanted nothing to do with her.  During the afternoon visits Maria actually hung out in the hotel room due to the stairs and the amount of energy it took her to go up and down them.  So those visits were more for little sister to get to know me better.  First thing to know is little sister is in a very small orphanage, from what we were told it will most likely close before the end of the year.  There are only 10 or 11 children there including little sister.  The children also range in ages from an infant to 10 years old.  With the number of children and age range, little sister actually gets a lot of one on one attention.  She has a preferred staff member who dotes on her.  It is extremely good that she has these connections and bonds at the age she is.  With preferred people she is very happy, giggly and charming child.  For the most part they are quick to stop her tears, allowing her to get her way a little too often.  Because of these things she was very hesitant to come to us.  She preferred the people who she knew, which developmentally is to be expected.  She did love the little Gerber puffs we brought and willing came to us to be fed a puff or if she could grab a handful to get several at one time.  She loves bubbles and popping them.  She also enjoyed stacking cups and a shape sorter,  she liked the butterfly picture album we brought, but I suspect a lot of that had to do with the noise it makes while turning the pages.  

She is quite clever and figures things out quickly.  The staff are quite charmed by her and the things she does.  The staff was also extremely interested in Maria.  They asked about her every day at each visit.  They seemed amazed to see a child adopted with such a severe special need doing so well.  They were also very pleased that little sister would have Maria as a big sister and be a cultural link for her as she grows up.  Little sister's doctor was able to answer some questions I had about little sister's condition.  I know the specialist we will be following up with once she is home.  At this point she has 6 month check ups with a specialist in country, but no therapies.  She will be needing PT and OT.  I'm also suspecting she will need to be checked out by an opthomologist to ensure everything is fine with her eyes.  Overall she is making great improvements without theapy right now and I'm sure will continue to catch up once she is home.