January 5, 2007

Dear Family, Friends, and anyone who has asked about or is considering Adoption:

Happy New Year!

Alexia is doing incredibly well. Developmentally she is very much caught up with the exception of verbal language. Her receptive language (understanding) is very much within normal limits. She is still behind with expressive language (actual speaking) but is making progress daily. She is trying so hard to say words. What we have determined is that she is actually speaking a lot but is hard to understand because she will cut off the last syllable or consonant of the words, so we really have to pay very close attention. We have been trying to keep a log of her vocabulary development and it appears that she has a verbal vocabulary of about 45 words (most single syllable) and she has a signing vocabulary of over 120 words. So even though she is a bit behind with her speech there are very few issues with communication.

Alexia is a very happy, active, good natured child. She has few temper tantrums and she loves to cuddle. Alexia has really blossomed socially, she enjoys getting together with her friends and run around and squeal. The only real problems we have (if you can call them problems) is church. She just won’t sit still, be quiet, look at a book, color, do any quiet activity at church. She wants to run around and squirm and crawl and climb and talk to everyone. I guess it doesn’t help that most of her friends are at church also, so yeah she wants to play. Yes we know she is 2. So yes everything is happy and normal around here.

Alexia had a wellness visit on Dec 28, 2006. She is 35 inches tall, 29lbs, and head circumference is 49cm. She is now well proportioned weight to height. Even though she is nearing the top of all the charts she is still a slim little girl. She is wearing 2T and 3T tops and dresses (because she needs the length, they are very loose) but bottoms are still 18-24 months because she is so slight of frame. If you look at the recent photos you will see a photo of her standing next to Kiana who is only 2 weeks younger, but you can really see how tall Alexia is.

She is all finished with blood work, it has all come back normal. We are grateful that is all over. And she is all caught up with her immunizations. So unless something comes up we won’t see the doctor again for six months.

Alexia is very healthy. With the one exception of a soft tissue toe injury last summer (probably cut it on something at the beach) Alexia has only seen the doctor for wellness visits, we have not had any sick visits. We all shared her third winter cold over Christmas, but as with the previous two colds, she was pretty much over it in five days and it didn’t slow her down one little bit (unlike Mom who took two weeks and needed antibiotics). The doctor says the average child will have 6-12 respiratory colds in one season, she is a quarter of the way there. Under Dr. K’s (that’s Kouwabunpat for anyone local looking for a referral) advice we just let her work through it so her body will develop immunity to each bug as she gets it. Of course we’ll do little things so she is comfortable like vapor baths, running a humidifier in her room, using saline spray or Vaseline for her nose (the important thing is to keep it all moist and moving so it can’t settle and fester anywhere, that’s how you get infections), Delsym at bedtime if she is having a cough just so she can sleep. She has continued to show us what a healthy little girl she is with a very strong immune system.

From August to now Alexia and Mommy have been doing PCIT (Parent Child Interaction Therapy), one morning a week for 45 minutes at Orange County Child Guidance Center. This was basically play therapy. This was a voluntary step we took to help increase the trust between us. We sought it out when Alexia was having bouts with Night Terrors. This is a program that is used mostly with older foster children who have experienced multiple placements and may have some behavior issues because of that. Even though they had never worked with a child as young as Alexia is before and from her kind of circumstances, they were very eager to have us in the program. I think we all benefited and I think they would like to try to develop a subprogram geared towards attachment and bonding with the younger child. During these last four months Ken, Erin, and the Therapists have truly seen Alexia’s trust in us and attachment to us blossom and grow exponentially. She knows we are Mommy and Daddy and what that really is and she knows she is our daughter and what that really is. We have not seen the tapes of the sessions personally but we have been told that it is night and day from the early sessions to now. Alexia will graduate from this program on Jan 8, but we will have the option to come in for tune up sessions whenever we feel the need arises. Best news of all is that she has not any Night Terrors in three months.

Alexia has us absolutely awe struck. We are truly blessed to witness Gods little miracles on a daily basis. Watching Alexia grow and discover is like watching human evolution unfold before our very eyes. It seems just like yesterday that she was hanging on to our fingers very tightly just to walk across the room. Now she runs, jumps, climbs everywhere. She is so tall she can reach anything on the counter tops, nothing is safe. We can’t let her in the kitchen at all anymore if we are cooking, she can reach the stove top. She knows what she wants and where it is. If she wants crackers she goes to the cupboard, takes out the box, opens the box, climbs into a chair and goes to town. Thankfully she only eats a few and then she closes the box and puts it right back in the cupboard. When we’re done eating a meal she will take her plate or bowl and toss it into the sink. She loves to throw things away. Now when she wakes up from sleep she calls out Mama or Dada rather than just whining or crying. She loves to crawl up on the couch and give Mama a back scratch. Everyday we’re saying “where did this come from” “when did she start doing this” “did you show her how to do that or where that was”? All we can say is that she is just so amazing.

Alexia’s eating continues to improve. She still has a dairy allergy, but she can tolerate some amount of cows’ milk proteins, we just have to watch how much. So that being said we are keeping her on Soy Milk and Soy Yogurt. She does get to have cheese. She loves pizza and she enjoys a good grilled cheese sandwich. She also really likes Bananas, Oranges, and Cantaloupe. Apples and Pears are hot and cold, some days yes some days no. She does really like Applesauce though. She also likes carrots, yams, and most squash, for the most part, they have to be really soft, no raw vegetables yet. She will eat broccoli and green beans, but they have to be julienne and in a rice bowl. She is not a big meat fan but does like tofu and rice and noodles.

Between the last report in September and now Alexia has experienced her first Halloween, attended three birthday parties (one at Chuck E Cheese), had her first haircut, turned 2 and had her own birthday party, had her first Thanksgiving and her first Christmas. Photos of all of this and just everyday life have been added to the website. We hope you all enjoy. There is also a link to a Video site where there is literally hundreds of short video clips for your viewing pleasure.

We hope you all are happy and healthy in 2007.

Love,

The Pietrasiks

Ken, Erin, and Alexia