Rain

It has been raining here a lot but I am so glad for the physical rain and the rain of so many events. Today Natalie went to Day Care for 2 1/2 hours in the morning. When I arrived to pick her up, she looked at me like what are you doing here? She was so excited to go when we went this morning and she talked about it after we got home. Yesterday she went to her first birthday party for my friend Lisa's 4 year old son. Lisa has only boys and Natalie looked just like one of the boys jumping on the trampoline, sliding down the slide, shooting the laser guns and just running after them. She did not want to leave and it was so neat to see her talking up a storm and even more sweet to see how the older boys just reached out to her. Tomorrow she will get her first haircut in the morning and then off to Day Care for a couple of hours in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, I have been in a cleaning frenzy from deep cleaning the living room and kitchen, to completely rearranging my bedroom furniture and cleaning out all drawer, files and my desk. Since I began the adoption process, the "office" was moved into my bedroom so Natalie would have her own room. I am determined to get the place in as much order as possible before going back to work on Thursday.
We had a touch and go moment last Friday with my cat Selah. As you know from my side bar, she is over 18 years old. But she is my baby and has gone through so much with me. She has had some difficulty with her teeth for awhile now but she has been on a routine schedule of an antibiotic. But last Thursday I noticed she had not been eating and appeared in a great deal of pain on the right side of her mouth. I took her to the vet and she had a significantly infected back tooth. She had also lost 2 pounds since last year. That is quite a bit for her. She vet suggested putting her under for just a short time to pull the tooth. I was very nervous, since she is so old and it was possible she would not wake up. My good friend just lost her cat this past week and that made it all the harder. Yet I knew the alternative was that she would slowly starve if we didn't take the chance.
I am happy to report that she was under and back up in about 30 minutes. She is recovering fine and has begun eating again and is no longer sensitive on the right side of her mouth. It truly was an answer to prayer. Upon discussing this with my friend, she brought up some good points. If I had gone back to work, I may have never noticed that she was not eating since the other 2 cats eat quite a bit, second I would not have had the flexibility that I did to run her to the vet that morning and again the next morning for a pain shot. Also the vet was able to take her in for surgery immediately since it was morning and they only do surgery in the morning. I was able to pick her up about 90 minutes after I dropped her off. If I had been working, I would have had to take her in late afternoon, then early the next morning to drop her off for the surgery and then not pick her up again until late in the day. I would have been an emotional wreck. So God was merciful to me by allowing everything to happen and unfold while I was off. I am truly grateful to Him and to the vet who was just wonderful!!
Today I heard Natalie say "Be Careful" just as something was about to slip away from her hand. It is so neat to hear more and more sentences. She is loving cooking soup and pasta for me and tells me to be careful because it is "scott." I informed her today that the correct pronunciation ifshot" and since her mother is a speech pathologist she has to learn how to say the words correctly. Of course, she had no clue what I was talking about, but she did say "hot" 3 times correctly for me!! We just had the best day today. A friend gave me a gift of money for her so today while she was at Day Care, I went shopping and one of the things I bought for her was a purse. Her eyes just lit up when she saw it and she has had so much fun today with it. She slings it over her shoulder and tell me bye-bye and then she opens it up and whips out her cell phone (an old one that I never use any more) and then proceeds to talk on it just like a teenager. She would also walk up to me and tell me something about 4 words long and then cover up her mouth and just giggle. I have no idea what she was saying but she was just cracking herself up!!
Yesterday I picked up pictures that I had developed from a disposable camera. I had left the camera with the caregivers in October. They did such a great job of capturing her in various settings and with different people. Last night I was showing her the pictures and she could tell me some of the children's names but not all of them. She would look to me and ask what their names were. Of course I don't know and I regret waiting so long to get the pictures developed. Through she still refers to herself many times by her Russian nickname (mostly when she sees pictures of herself) she if more often calling herself by Natalie and using her legal last name as well. We have really worked on that the last 2 weeks.
I could go on, but it is late and I really wanted to get a post done. Will keep you posted as I transition back to work and Natalie to full time Day Care.