Update on Niklas

Erik and I are so excited that Niklas will be starting school on Wednesday. He really enjoys playing with Ellie Grace and having play dates with our neighbors. He is able to and will eat any food at the moment but we have more surgery at the end of January (dental work and to repair a torn stitch or two). We use the Dixie cups for a sip of water at night or he uses a Nuby cup for most drinks. Niklas is still in diapers but he is going potty for us. He has only vocalized once (signed potty and said potty to speech therapist) that he needed to go but he wouldn't go near the potty since we were at speech instead of home.

Niklas receives speech therapy at a local school and through Children's Hospital. He can say around 30 words now, but he isn't very talkative and it still feels like I have to pull the words out of him. He signs fish, more, thank you, please, sorry, I want ___ please (he can do this but not all at once or without us prompting him), book, bike, car, my turn, draw, ball, eat, cheese, cook, cookie, bear, banana, shoes, socks, play, drink, cereal, brush teeth, and chap stick. He rarely signs or says two words at once except my turn and night night. We still have to prompt him to say "Good morning ___" when he sees us in the morning.

Niklas also receives physical therapy once a week. He has hypotonia/ low muscle tone and his lower extremities are weak. We were shocked to find him barely toddling instead of walking and running around when we came home. He will alternate feet now walking upstairs and will ride his big wheel more. His running skills are emerging. We try to crawl, dance, jump, and whatever else we can do around our house to get him motivated to move. Many things that are fun to Ellie Grace do not make Niklas happy so he doesn't always approve of theese activities.

We had Niklas evaluated through our local school and he scored low in many areas but they seem to think it is mainly due to switching from Chinese to English language and all of the changes he has been through. We did find out that his ears had fluid in them and he wasn't hearing in China (we do not know the length of time it was there) but his hearing improved once the ear tubes were put in during his surgery here. They said that they would re-test him in March and see where he is at that point.

The research shows that children who spend time in orphanages are about a month delayed for every three months that they have been in the orphanage. Niklas was there for three years and he seems to be about year to a year and a half delayed in most areas. The professionals that we have seen all say that he just needs time to catch up. He has made some progress but we are still concerned that there is more to it than just catching up.

Erik and I talked with an attachment therapist last week and we may do some therapy in the near future. She did say that there weren't any major issues such as RAD (reactive attachment disorder) or PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). She did concur that there was trauma and that he would be more open to affection, etc after that is worked out.

A tantrum at Ellie Grace's school sent me to tears because there were other younger siblings in the room who were doing fine. The staff at our preschool helped me out and allowed me to partake in the last few minutes of her party while entertaining him in another room. The transition home with Niklas has been a very bumpy ride for me. I have felt a bit helpless and stressed even though Erik and I had thought we were prepared to adopt an older child. It seems that most of the children we know that came home from China as toddlers have caught up quicker than he has.

We have been home for six months! It is time for us to have our update with our social worker and then work on re-adoption once the next surgery and the transition into preschool is over.