Our One Year Anniversary!

Kali has been here over a year now and is amazing! We thought helping a six year-old transition into our family and culture would be much more difficult than it has been. She quickly learned English and fit in with her new siblings. The girls have gotten along since day one.  Our youngest (4 years old) and Kali were jealous of my attention at the beginning.  They loved each other, but didn't really want to share mom.  So I often had two girls on my lap and fighting for my attention. That can still happen but not all that often.

I worked with Kali at home from last March through the summer getting her ready for Kindergarten.  I don't think she had used scissors before or had done much, if any, coloring.  So we worked on fine motor skills, learning letters, and letter sounds, I read aloud a lot of books (fair tales, classics, our family favorites, etc.). She did both Kumon and Get Ready for the Code workbooks. She attended Sunday School and Wed morning preschool (where I am the teacher) at church during the women's Bible study.  By mid-August she was very ready for Kindergarten and has done very well.

She sleeps well and the range of what she will eat continues to expand. She really likes meat, plain pasta, gogurts, and fruit. She loves pizza and ice cream! She has been very healthy. She is tiny, under 3% in height, but has gotten closer to the growth chart 3% line over the last year!

Overall, she has had very few issues, but she has had daily tantrums or meltdowns.  As an example, about a month ago, Brad and I drove separately to church and he went home first with a few of the kids.  Kali didn't notice they were leaving.  When they were gone she said she wanted to go with dad.  I told her he had already left and she sat down on the ground and refused to move. After about 10 minutes I ended up carrying her to the car while she cried and flailed. Fortunately, she is not very big so I can carry her.  In the last month the meltdowns and whining have been greatly reduced! Her maturity has taken a big leap in the last several weeks. She is usually pretty easy going now. She has always been truthful and considerate of other people's feelings. And she has been affectionate and cuddly since early in our relationship.

We are very blessed to have Kali in our family and love her dearly!