God's Butterfly Kisses

1/28/11
Isla had another doctors appointment today to check her Anemia. At least they were able to get a decent blood draw today. Last time it was a nightmare, after poking both arms more than once and then having to get the remaining blood from her finger to complete the test. Her doctor just phoned and her levels are getting better, but are still not where it needs to be. So I have to double down on the iron supplements and we will go back in another month. A bit of not so good news today was she lost weight. She weighed in at only 20 pounds 12 ounces today. So off to see a Nutritionist next. I was very surprised by this news. There really is nothing to her. In fact, I have to remind Jager all the time of how fragile she is. I have been please with her eating habits, she really has a wide range of things that she will eat. More so than Jager and Kalista. I feel like her and Jager are constantly eating, but I guess she needs a higher calorie diet.

Riverside Early Intervention has started with Isla's speech. Meghan comes to the house once a week for one hour and works with Isla. Unfortunately, we can only have this service until the day before Isla's 3rd birthday, which is in 2 months. So they are working fast and making sure that the public school system will be able to take her over immediately. Ironically enough, this program is at the preschool that Jager was attending. I just recently pulled him out because it was not a good fit for him. I think Isla will do very well with it though.

I still need to contact the International Adoption Clinic in Boston. I should have done that before we even traveled to China. There was just so much going on with the move and the adoption that I didn't have time to check into it. I am very please so far with Isla's pediatrician and feel that she is on top of everything. I just want to have peace of mind that we are doing everything possible for Isla, plus it never hurts to have a second opinion.

Isla continues to flourish at preschool! Her teacher told me that after that initial 30 second cry, she is all smiles the entire morning! She really is an amazing little girl who brings joy to our entire family!

I can't believe that February is almost here! We have to make some decisions soon on where Isla will be attending preschool in the fall and where Jager will be attending Kindergarten. We applied for Isla to attend a local college's child research study program. It is not easy to get into and really is an amazing program. We should be hearing within the next 2 weeks on that. As for Jager, he is now attending a private catholic preschool and really has adjusted well! It reminds me alot of the program that he was at in Montgomery. This school goes through 6th grade and I would really like to see him attend at least Kindergarten there. Thomas and I have different views on this so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. We did move to this area because of the phenomenal public schools. However, in the short time that we have been here, I think the public schools really shine more in the middle and high schools. I could be wrong, Kalista has done well in 5th grade. I don't like the public schools kindergarten schedule. They do some weird thing where the kids start off doing all half days. Then after a few weeks, they do 2 full days and 3 half days. Then later in the year, like spring, they do 4 full days and 1 half day. Our school district has 1/2 days every Wednesday until they reach middle school. Then in middle and high school they have a half day every first Wednesday of the month. That is just strange to me. I would rather see the kids go all day everyday and get out of school earlier at the end of the year, but whom am I :)