PROGRESS!

Recently Alice has started to kiss the objects that she's fond of!

Saturday - Alice picked up L's beaker with a straw and took a gulp - that had me running for the kitchen where I had the same cup (even with the same pattern!) in the cupboard, I filled up her cup and she drank the best part of 6 fl oz in the next 30 minutes! We've tried every sippy cup on the market and (until Saturday) Alice has refused to drink from anything other than a bottle or an open cup - but she drinks more from a bottle so that's where we've stuck, til now!

Sunday - new words, 'kisses', 'bear', still a way to go to match L's vocab but every new words makes my smile wider. Alice now claps when Mummy does the 'happy dance' and tells her that she's a 'clever girl!'

Today - we went to the soft play in A. Unsurprisingly Alice was much more confident at this session. She really enjoyed the soft play see-saw - it got several kisses! I think she would have stayed on it all morning if I'd let her. She also loved playing on the bouncy castle and in the ball pool. After that she astounded me by climbing the soft play stairs, unaided for no apparent reason and with great confidence. (At home I ALWAYS carry her up and down the stairs as they're very steep and have a flagstone floor at the bottom.)

Other people are noticing her progress too. At the weekend C said that Alice was even happier than before (hadn't seen her since mid November). I agree. Then today I read on a blog (can't remember which one) that adopted children seem to relax at about 6 months home and then again at about 12 months home - Alice's recent behaviour and progress would seem to support this.