Home 4 Months (17 Months Old)

Since Tuesday, we have officially been home for 4 months - and Lauren turned 17 months old the same day.  Those of you that haven't adopted might wonder why we mark every month that we have been together as a family of five.  Well, its' simple: we missed so much of her life in the beginning and these moments are so precious.  Here is a short update on how our little girl is doing:

Sleep
After months of great sleep, things have slid downhill a bit.  Granted, she still sleeps great at night, so I know we should count our blessings, but naps have drastically changed.  Starting on November 8th, Lauren began fighting naps, and some days not napping at all.  On days that she does nap, it's a short 15 to 20 minutes.  She is so very tired and needs the sleep, but will not let her body rest.  With the lack of decent nap, she is much more irritable and easily frustrated.  We have tried almost everything to bring a nap back into her life, with not much luck.  Our theory is that she has developed some anxious attachment.  We have started to wear her more in the baby carrier and let her nap there, which seems to help.

Eating
Lauren is still eating pretty well and loves to feed herself.  Of course, that means she hates it when we help!  She is becoming a bit more picky in what she will eat.  She still loves her rice, fruit, noodles, and cheese.  She doesn't touch her vegetables much anymore but will eat them if we feed them to her, sneaking them in between other bites.  She also loves her sweets and just the other day said, "candy".  Wonder where she gets that from?

Speech
We still aren't hearing a lot of English words from Lauren (nor Korean, for that matter, as far as we can tell).  She does communicate what she wants and understands how to shake her head yes and no appropriately.  Every once in a while we will hear some words like:  brother, mommy, daddy, ball, book, teddy bear, cat, meow, play, and bath.  But she does babble a lot and seems to be telling us some great stories. 

Play
She loves to play with blocks, stuffed animals, musical toys, cellphones, and anything her brothers are playing with like cars.  She also loves to draw and put things in and out of containers.  She likes to listen to music and dance.  One of her favorite games is peek a boo.  Her favorite activity is climbing - she is fast!  She can make a chair out of anything, which she likes to do so she can sit and look at her books.  She would love it if we let her play on the computer.  Her favorite time of day is bath time.

Peek A Boo 

My Pouty Face 

Me and My Teddy 

Hello, Anyone There?