Four months since coming home!

I can't believe it has been four months since we arrived home with our Joy!  Wow!  It is hard to believe that Joy has only been with us for four months now!  In some ways it seems like she's been with our family longer.  We seem to be reaching a point where we are getting past "survival mode" and we are adjusting to our new normal!  In the past couple of months we have seen great signs of Joy attaching and bonding to us and us to her.  She is eating much better and seems to be all around better feeling since her surgery. At our first visit at the UAB International Adoption Clinic, which was about a month after we came home from China, Joy was at a 6 month level in her thinking and communication skills and fine motor skills.  Last week we went for a checkup and found out that she is now at a 12-18 month level!  She seems to be learning and picking up new skills faster now also.  She now knows signs for --bottle, more, please, up, wash hands, yes, and cold.  We are just beginning to teach her the signs for --thank you, eat, and I'm sorry.  She has just begun to wave good bye and she is trying blow kisses.  She puts her hand up to her mouth, but hasn't begun actually throwing the kiss yet.
 Life here has been so frustrating for Joy because she has had a hard time communicating with us and us with her.  So, she has many, many tantrums and meltdowns.  For a couple of months we have been working on teaching her different emotions and how to handle them.  We use the song, "If you're happy and you know it" to teach her how your facial expression looks different and how you act different when your sad, mad and happy.  She just began participating when we sing the song by stomping her feet when we sing, "when you're mad and you know it, stomp your feet" and she claps when we sing, "when you're happy and you know it, clap your hands".  She is now pointing with one finger and it is so exciting when we ask her to point to the banana or the cat in the book and she does!!!  Finally, she is understanding what we are saying! 
Yesterday, when Joy woke up from nap, her hair was sticking straight out on one side.  Talk about a bad hair day!

So, we decided to play with her hair to see if it is long enough to put in some pigtails.

Last weekend, some very precious friends hosted a Welcome Home Joy shower and we had a great time as you can see in Joy's expression below!  Everything was beautiful and perfect!

The beautiful and yummy cake was made by Kristie, Cyan, Kai and Mya Carroll.



Picture painted for Joy by Cyan Carroll for the shower.



Pure Joy!

We put together a Welcome Home Joy video using our favorite photos of Joy from the first three months and below is a link to the Youtube video.  It is just under four minutes.  If you have the time, enjoy!  She is so special and a joy to us!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxAIa-9Eec4