Doctors, Citizenship and Bows

We were pretty busy this past week. On Tuesday we had an appointment at the International Adoption Clinic at Floating Hospital. We first met with Linda Tirella who is a developmental specialist. She basically played with Grace for an hour to assess where she is developmentally. Grace is slightly delayed in a few areas but is ahead or on target in other areas. Linda thought she may not even qualify for Early Intervention. After meeting with Linda we met with Dr. Laurie Miller. She played with Grace some more and gave her a thorough checkup which agreed with our pediatrician's assessment that Grace is a healthy girl.

On Thursday Early Intervention came by for their assessment. Three different therapists visited to play with Grace (she is a very popular girl). Their assessments pretty much agreed with our earlier assessments and it looks like Grace will qualify for services in a couple areas. Grace has come so far in the short time she has been with us and we want to make sure we are doing everything we can to make sure she is given all opportunities.

Grace also received her US Citizenship certificate in the mail this week. She actually became a citizen upon entry into the country but now we can apply for a Social Security number and take care of some other administrative things.

On Saturday Grace had a really big day, she attended her first rock concert. Well, I guess it wasn't technically a rock concert. More like a family friendly music show in a park on the harbor in Newburyport. This is an annual show that Jen and I have attended for the past few years. Prior to traveling to China we thought we would miss the show this year but Grace is doing so well we thought we would give it a shot. One reason we were excited to go was to see NEEDTOBREATHE again. That show was the last show we saw before leaving for China. Blind Melon was also performing who was popular while we were in High School / College. Although we left before they went on. We met a couple of other families with children from China at the show as well so that always makes our day. We also paid a little visit the the Beer Garden tent to get out of the sun while Grace napped in her Ergo. We were really there for the shade so please don't judge us and accuse us of being bad parents ;)

You will notice in the pictures below that Grace has discovered bows this week. She seems to be tolerating wearing them but there is a problem. She seems to cause a ruckus wherever she goes with one on. People fall all over themselves trying to get a closer look at her or to tell us how cute she us. We have found that we need to remove the bow before we go somewhere if we need to get in and out.