A Long Overdue Update!

Well, I am finally here with an update! I apologize to those you of who kept checking in, only to find nothing new. As some of you already know, the past few months have been crazy around here. Mid-April, Scott's back "went out" and he became bedridden. Thankfully, he was able to have back surgery a month later, which was followed by another 6 weeks in bed recuperating. Suddenly everything around the house and everything with Ziva fell on me...and so things like blogging took a very back burner (whole other stove!). But now Scott is up and around, supervising his employee at job sites, and should be able to return to work soon. School is out and Ziva and I are enjoying our days together.

We have seen quite a bit of growth in our little girl over the past 5 months! Physically, she has grown a lot. Back in the spring, it seemed that a pair of pants would fit her one week and the next week they'd be too short! She now weighs a whopping 32 pounds and is 92 cm tall. The doctor tells us that she is now "on the chart": at the 10th percentile for weight and 3rd percentile for height. She is such a shorty! (The doctor also said that he predicts she'll grow to be between 5' and 5' 2" tall...hey, 5' 2" is a great height!)

We have seen some good improvment in her speech as well. It is still slow going, but progress is progress! She went to 8 weeks of speech therapy at Erin Oak (funded by the region) late winter/ early spring. Then there was a 10 week "off block" during which we pursued private speech- we just couldn't bear the thought of a 10-week hiatus in therapy when she was finally starting to make some progress! We are now in the middle of our 2nd block of therapy with Erin Oak. We use lots of visuals and have sentence strips for some basic sentences like "I want___", "I need _____", or "I see ____". Following those patterns, Ziva is able to say some 3-4 word sentences. Her vocabulary is still very limited, however, so we hear the same sentences over and over again! The biggest difference has been Ziva's desire to communicate. She now talks quite spontaneously and we do not have to prompt quite as much as before. She is also more willing to try and repeat words. And because she is now able to produce more sounds, when she does repeat a word, it is often quite close. Repitition is the key with Ziva, though. She cannot simply hear a word, repeat it, and get it right...she needs to practice words hundreds of times! So, at the dinner table, in the bath, when she gets dressed, when I play with her, in the pool....you name it...she has to say something before she gets anything! It is quite exhausting to do this all the time, but it is becoming habitual for me. Her two favourite sentences lately have been: "I want fan on." (she loves having the fan blow directly on her when she sleeps) and "I want water on back." (I throw buckets of water on her in the pool). My favourites are when she sings (with good accuracy) and signs "Jesus Loves Me" and when she prays "God is great, God is good."

Ziva's play skills are improving as well. Making choices in play is more difficult for her, but if she is given an activity, she can attend to it quite well. Puzzles have become a big favourite and she is quite good at them. She can even sit and watch a 30 minute video now! (which gives me a break!). Her absolute favourite toy is her baby. Her "new thing" with the baby is to check her diaper. Ziva will undo the sleeper, look at the baby's bum, go to the washroom and get some toilet paper, wipe the baby's bum, look at the toilet paper, wipe the bum again, and then go throw the toilet paper in the garbage. It's really cute. Ziva likes to do this so much that her baby often needs a diaper change every few minutes! Now that summer is here, the pool is all Ziva talks about. She loves the water and has no inhibitions about putting her head under, "diving" in, having water poured over her head...so if I want her to do anything fast (eat, dress, clean up), I just tell her that after she's done, she can go in the pool!

With the growth in speech, more of Ziva's personality is coming through. Before, she seemed rather emotionally "flat" and we didn't get a lot of reactions from her or changes in her emotions. We have discovered that she has a great sense of humour; she knows what is funny and knows how to be funny. Speech is also allowing her to exert more assertiveness; her new "overused" word is NO! When I ask her to do something, she will usually answer with an emphatic "No!"...but then she will proceed to do what I asked anyway!

Ziva has become quite attached to me over the past few months. She always wants to be in the same room as me and will ask, "Mommy, where are you?" if I am not within eyesight. She loves to snuggle with me and often wants to just sit on my lap. If we go out, she may walk ahead of me but she always checks back to see where I am. When she gets hurt, I am her "go to" person. The best is when she gets up in the morning. She will open her bedroom door, peek out, see where I am, smile, and then run to me, yelling, "Mommy! Mommy!", wanting a big hug. If I have been gone, she is ecstatic when I return and will keep telling Scott, "Dada, Mommy home!". So attachment is coming!

I am keeping Ziva busy this summer. We have her in a program called CIP which is for children who have severe speech and communication delays. It's a group of 6 kids and 3 adults which is great. She goes 3 days a week for 2 hours. Between CIP and speech therapy, Ziva is getting lots of "summer school".

I apologize again for the delay...and that this entry got so long! Please continue to keep us in your prayers- our needs are great but God is greater!
Enjoy the photos!

Ziva on Easter morning...some of these cute clothes we got at her shower last year finally fit!

Ziva turned 4 on May 5th. She still needs a bit of help blowing out those candles, but she was able to sing "Happy Birthday" to herself!

It is amazing how well Ziva does with Simon now. She is so gentle with him and loves to pet him, hug him, tell him it's time to eat....and Simon? Well, he tolerates it. They have been known to fight over Mommy's lap!

A visit to Springridge Farm to pick strawberries gave Ziva the opportunity for her first pony ride. She was speechless!

For some reason, Ziva loves riding these old tractors. Maybe she'll get a ride a working
one someday!

Feeding the goats at Bowmanville Zoo...another thing that left her speechless!

You'll often see Ziva stopping to smell the flowers...and then picking a few for Mommy!

A short trip down "memory lane": This was Ziva last July...
...and here she is this July. She's definitely losing that "baby look" and looking more like a little girl.

It may be hard to tell in the photo, but Ziva tans very well. She gets so blond from the sun too.
It was funny, a few months back I went to the Dutch store and a man commented on how Ziva was a such a "little Dutch girl with her blond hair and blue eyes"! I just smiled...