Still Here, Still Cute as Ever

I hate it when I go out to the RR Already Home page and click the blog links to check on the babies I advocated for, donated to, and generally fell head over heels for, and they are gone. The last post is from forever ago and I have no idea how those children are changing.

And don’t you know, I am guilty of it myself. It should not be hard to keep up a blog that is mainly bragging about and celebrating two of the most awesome orphans-no-more but it is, and I apologize for that.

Masha Grace

Well, Masha turned five last April and celebrated in style with a cupcake extravaganza photo shoot given as a gift to her by Amber of amberjphoto.com. Over the summer she graduated from Pre-K.

Seriously, go click that link and see the rest from her photo shoot…

Her transition into Gen Ed Kindy went more smoothly (for her, not me) than I had hoped. She has an aide and gets pulled out here and there for specials, but she is doing great in her class. Her vocabulary has blossomed, and though she is still very difficult to understand (apraxia most likely) she is speaking in three to four word sentences.

Masha is our one-girl-band. Doesn’t matter the type of music, she will wiggle her thang… jam on her air guitar, and sing at THE TOP OF HER (rather powerful) LUNGS… which is pretty hilarious when the song is something like Skillet’s I Feel Like a Monster…

She is also a clothes junkie. Doesn’t matter whose they are… if she finds them laying around she will put them on over whatever she is already wearing. And jewelry? Ha, her husband better have a fat trust fund because this baby likes her sparkles. Nail polish? Shoes? Gosh, she is the ultimate girly girl and I love it.

Masha is healthy. We had a little scare a while back but thankfully it was just that, only a scare. She gets colds and sometimes has trouble breathing when she is all junky, but aside from that she is tough. In fact (knock on wood) she has never thrown up or had a case of diarrhea in the two plus years she has been with us (which cannot be said for the little reflux puker we adopted with her.)

Masha has an iPad and it has a camera on it which she has figured out how to use. Her self-portraits are adorable and I know that one day she will be making duck faces and posting them on her own Facebook account, lol.

Autumn Rose

Autumn Autumn Autumn… where to begin… she is the most charming child on the planet, and I still cannot believe she was gifted to me when she was just a little baby. Whereas Masha’s parents can see her whenever they want to (via our continued connection with her grandparents), Autumn’s blood mother has no idea if she is alive or dead. She has no idea what an amazing little girl she gave birth to, and the more I love Autumn the more I wish her mother had the peace of knowing it.

Autumn started attending a reverse integrated preschool this past September and turned three in November. She loooooves school and I am impressed at what she is learning and how she participates in the activities. (Reverse integration means there are more typical children in the room than children with identified special needs.) As you can imagine her teachers are head-over-heels for her.

She is a talker. Her vocabulary is beyond my lazy ability to track, and now she has begun combining words… “wat dat?” “want dat” “where daddy?” “stop it” “hi mama” “bye cat.” She speaks very clearly for a toddler and so most everyone is able to understand her. Autumn also loves music and loves to dance. Any toy that makes music is a friend of hers (and any toy that looks like an animal and moves on its own is an enemy… yeah, Zuzu pets were NOT a hit.)

Autumn feeds herself using utensils and is quite adept at it. Lately she has started licking the bowl or plate if it something she really liked, so I have to be quick to take it away as soon as she is finished. She likes most foods and (perhaps due to being in failure to thrive for so long) has no off switch, so I have to be careful with her diet. As you can tell, she is a bit of a chunka munka but she fits in 3Ts so I figure she’s doing ok.

She is also a very healthy child… nothing beyond a runny nose since her reflux cleared up two years ago. But she is sensitive… she cries easily. And she cries hard, uncontrollably, and a long time over almost nothing sometimes. I am hoping she grows out of it 🙂 Anyway, because of this it is hard to tell when something is seriously wrong with her or if she is just testy.

Go away Santa, I don’t like you…

Waaaah, where’s the beach?

Autumn is still the queen of kisses. I get kisses when I wake her up, kisses while she sits on the potty, kisses when I put her shoes on, kisses goodbye, kisses hello, kisses pretty much anytime she is within two feet of me and I love it. She is generally affectionate with all of us and even those who are just acquaintances are treated to hand-blown kisses. Although, unlike Masha, Autumn does not buy into the kiss your boo boo and its all better routine.

Overall both our girls are doing fine. Thank you for still caring enough to stop by here and see them 🙂