Six Weeks!

Hello from Loveland and Happy Snow Days! Week six has been a crazy week, not one that has helped to strengthen routine and the regular school schedule. Monday was Martin Luther King Day, so none of us had school. Tuesday Mike took Marie Ling to the ophthmalogist, so she did not get to school until late. Then none of us had school Thursday because of snow, snow and more snow. We thought we would have delays on Friday, but because it was in the single digits outside and there was black ice on the roads, again all of us had the day off. At bedtime on Thursday, Marie Ling told Mike, "Good day, Daddy. No school, play Trouble, play in the snow" and then she rattled off a litany of Daddy loves Mommy, Matthias, Magdalena, Marie Ling and the same for Mommy loves... Who cares about routine when you get comments like those.

The eye doctor gave some good news and some not so good news. She said the glasses ML got before Christmas are exactly the presciption she would have given! Sadly, even with the glasses her vision in her left eye is 20/100! The doctor is not sure if surgery will give her the ability to use her two eyes together since the muscles around the eye are so weak. She recommended using a patch for the next three months and coming back to see if ML has any more control over the eye. Her recommendation was to start with one minute a day and increase one minute each day. That is really slow,yet she says with all the transition ML is already going through we do not want to get her overwhelmed or frustrated by the process. We need to get a mandarin speaker to explain to her why we are using the patch and how her cooperation will help. Right now ML does not even want to wear her glasses because they do not stay up on her nose. The presecription is correct, but the bridge of her nose is so flat we have ordered new frames that have movable nose pieces instead of fixed ones. One step at a time...

Since we have all been home a lot the last few days I started a list of words that ML has spoken and/or uses regularly. I was curious as to how her English is progressing. I was delighted that we easily came up with over 200 words! Most of her words surround every day activities, colors, numbers, food, names, bodily functions and school. We are making progress!

Each week gets a little easier. For me, Marie Ling is feeling more like a member of the family and less like a needy visitor. She is now sleeping through the night most nights and she entertains herself at times playing with Barbies or cutting and pasting as she makes pictures or cards. She must be feeling more and more that she belongs with us - Thank God for that.  Keep those prayers coming and I will write again soon.
Michelle