First of all, make sure you check out the slideshow below! (And turn your sound on - it even has music!) In this picture to the left, the girlies are wearing new dresses that Grandma made and Daniel's in his new shirt from Grandma. (Mali, of course, has accessorized with a necklace, a headband, AND a few barrettes, while Maja stays simpler with only a headband!)
We've been busy, as usual. The slideshow in the post below is from our Labor Day picnic in the park with friends of ours. (That's Tim & Shelley's son Gabe in some of the pics.) Everyone had a great time -- watch that slideshow carefully and you might even see a pic of Tony!
It's a dreary, cloudy day here at home today and was a great day for updating our blog. I changed the background (Thanks Julie!) and made that slideshow. What fun! I suppose I should really be doing something constructive, like laundry, but this is so much more fun!
Daniel and Maja went for a preschool evaluation the other day to see if they will need special services (primarily speech) before school next year. They had such a good time at the eval - Maja even played with all the strangers there, which is quite unusual for her. Maja needs to have further speech evaluation and some hearing evaluation. Their hearing test showed that she is deaf in her right ear. There has been ongoing differences of opinion about her hearing since she was born, so we'll probably continue this until she is able to explain better to us what exactly she can and can't hear. (Those of you that have been with us from the beginning of Maja's entry into our family will remember that China insisted she was deaf, despite the fact that she could sing and dance to music.) As far as being on-target educationally, they said she was doing great and will have no problems with kindergarten.
Daniel got glowing reviews. The speech therapists couldn't believe he's only been home one year. They were very impressed with his speech and said he does not need any speech therapy right now (which is interesting because his cleft issues at birth were more severe than Maja's and both of his repairs were done in China. So, those of you considering a cleft child, don't let China repairs or severe clefts scare you away!) The educational evaluator said in a nutshell she would term him "amazing". He was putting together puzzles designed for the 7-10 year age group in just minutes. Plus he demonstrated his writing and drawing skills for them... and you know he turned on the charm and told them all a million stories! They wanted to be able to keep him in the program as a model for other students! HA! I told them they should live with him for a month before they decided that! :-)
Mali didn't need an eval and of course continues to do great! She works on her "homework" everyday quite voluntarily. Let's hope this continues for the next 20 years or so. She told me today that she wants to be a doctor for babies and big kids so she can help them. "Dr. Mali to the rescue!" she said. Good deal -- someone to pay for my bill at the old folks home someday! ha ha!
We've been busy, as usual. The slideshow in the post below is from our Labor Day picnic in the park with friends of ours. (That's Tim & Shelley's son Gabe in some of the pics.) Everyone had a great time -- watch that slideshow carefully and you might even see a pic of Tony!
It's a dreary, cloudy day here at home today and was a great day for updating our blog. I changed the background (Thanks Julie!) and made that slideshow. What fun! I suppose I should really be doing something constructive, like laundry, but this is so much more fun!
Daniel and Maja went for a preschool evaluation the other day to see if they will need special services (primarily speech) before school next year. They had such a good time at the eval - Maja even played with all the strangers there, which is quite unusual for her. Maja needs to have further speech evaluation and some hearing evaluation. Their hearing test showed that she is deaf in her right ear. There has been ongoing differences of opinion about her hearing since she was born, so we'll probably continue this until she is able to explain better to us what exactly she can and can't hear. (Those of you that have been with us from the beginning of Maja's entry into our family will remember that China insisted she was deaf, despite the fact that she could sing and dance to music.) As far as being on-target educationally, they said she was doing great and will have no problems with kindergarten.
Daniel got glowing reviews. The speech therapists couldn't believe he's only been home one year. They were very impressed with his speech and said he does not need any speech therapy right now (which is interesting because his cleft issues at birth were more severe than Maja's and both of his repairs were done in China. So, those of you considering a cleft child, don't let China repairs or severe clefts scare you away!) The educational evaluator said in a nutshell she would term him "amazing". He was putting together puzzles designed for the 7-10 year age group in just minutes. Plus he demonstrated his writing and drawing skills for them... and you know he turned on the charm and told them all a million stories! They wanted to be able to keep him in the program as a model for other students! HA! I told them they should live with him for a month before they decided that! :-)
Mali didn't need an eval and of course continues to do great! She works on her "homework" everyday quite voluntarily. Let's hope this continues for the next 20 years or so. She told me today that she wants to be a doctor for babies and big kids so she can help them. "Dr. Mali to the rescue!" she said. Good deal -- someone to pay for my bill at the old folks home someday! ha ha!
