One Year

It has been one year since I brought Selina home from Ghana. In some respects, it seems like she has been here and has been a part of the family forever but at the same time, I can remember meeting her and bringing her home like it was yesterday.

She has come so far this year...
Medically: she spent most of the first nine months battling respiratory infections and allergies. We tried several medicines with no lasting relief. In January, she started having increased difficulty with her breathing and what they thought were asthma symptoms. Finally in March we took her to the emergency room in desperation and she ended up having her tonsils and adenoids removed. Since then we have been able to stop the five medicines she was on. She is a different child. Just recently we are starting to see more congestion but thankfully it is nothing like we dealt with before.

Developmentally: Selina qualified for speech, developmental and physical therapy when she first arrived home. At the age of 24 months she was more like a 16-19 month old in all areas tested. She immediately made gains and was dismissed from PT. She has continued her developmental and speech therapy to address her cognitive and language delays.
We are happy to report that she was just tested again to see if she would continue to need services. The gains she has made in language and her cognitive abilities now put her in the average range and she no longer qualifies in these areas. She did end up qualifying for a little assistance with her articulation but that was very borderline and we don't anticipate she will qualify for long.

Socially: Selina has been in a day care situation that we consider to be a "school" for her. I toured many centers and chose a wonderful school for her. The school has a small class size (12 kids and two teacher). The approach they take with the kids is to let them play, get dirty, use their imaginations and have fun.
Selina started off a shy and quiet child- she did not say much and just followed along. She then started learning and imitating the other children. We called her "Echo" as she would do what they did and say what they said. Thankfully she has been with the same kids and teachers all year and the kids are well behaved and served as excellent role models. Well, hold on to your hat because that shy and quiet child has blossomed. She is now a social butterfly! She is a talker and will lead and initiate play with the other students. She will be assertive and is not afraid to let anyone know that she won't be pushed around. The funny thing is that she does it in a sweet and endearing way.
TR and I credit so much of her gains to this environment. She has been loved and nurtured by her teachers. I had her speech and developmental therapist do her therapy at school so that her teachers could see what they were working on and carry it over into their interactions with her. I have degrees in speech and special ed and so it just made more sense to have therapy at school. This has worked beautifully as they were happy to learn how to help her catch up developmentally. Her peers have been wonderful role models that have taught he so much. She has had this safe place to learn and explore and she has taken full opportunity of it!
This confidence she has carries over into everyday life in that she does much better in social situations when we go out. We still have to be careful and watch her so she doesn't get overwhelmed but we find that she is doing better all the time.


Attachment: Selina loves her family. I think in the area of attachment, she is doing very well. She loves us all and prefers us over others. She gravitates to certain people but not to every one. She is more of a momma's girl when she is tired but whenever dad comes through the door she runs to him like she hasn't seen him in a year. She loves her brother and sister. It is cute because if she wakes up in the middle of the night or before everyone else, she will go and find someone to crawl into bed with. At first it used to be me only but now, everyone in the house is fair game. One night I couldn't find her at all and then finally discovered her on the floor next to Cater's bed! Don't know what happened on that one!
Another night I went to go to bed and was checking on the kids and I found Selina must have gotten up and went to Kman's bed but didn't make it quite into his bed before falling asleep again.


Sometimes we will let her lay down with a sibling to fall asleep if it is a weekend night and she is extra tired and we know she will pass out quickly.

Size: Selina has gained over 10 pounds has grown four inches and three shoe sizes since bringing her home. She used to be about the same size as her classmates but she now is taller than all of them! She stands tall and straight with great posture which makes her seem all that much taller! I have not had her measured recently and compared to her peers percentagewise but am interested to see what percentages she is in when she goes back as I expect they have jumped up tremendously!

Today I am a little emotional. I am so thankful as I celebrate the year we have had and how far Selina has come. She has added so much to our family and has blessed our lives so much, I wish more families would consider adoption and get to experience the joy and love that an adopted child can bring to your lives. I wish more orphans would have the opportunity to be a part of a family and to be loved and be able to give love. It is amazing how God can bring together a family and how it really does not matter if a child has come from you- you love them just the same and their siblings accept them just the same. I love how we celebrate Cater and the how she came from my tummy and is a part of me and how we celebrate Selina who God placed with us from thousands of miles away- she has come to be with our family- in our home. We are all so blessed.

Thank you God for our little girl! Happy one year Selina....