Things Aren't Always As They Appear

Today we took Mollie to the dentist. If you're looking for an awesome pediatric dentist, go see Dr. Thomas! He was incredible with Mollie - he actually SANG to her while he was looking at her teeth! She stayed calm and cooperative, and even made eye contact with him. We were all amazed at how well she did; he was even able to get x-rays! That's the good news. The bad news? Well, we thought she had fillings, but it turns out those black-filled molars are actually huge cavities. Bummer. She has two big and two small cavities on each side. The good news is that they don't seem to be causing her pain, and they don't need to be pulled. We'll go back in a couple of weeks for fillings with sedatives, and hope that she'll be able to stay calm enough for him to get it all done in one visit. Sweet girl - bless her heart.


Sleep is still lacking around here, but I have seen improvements. We've stopped giving her melatonin; we tried it for about a week, and it helped her fall asleep, but didn't do anything to help her sleep through the night. I decided to try putting her to bed without it, and it took her longer to fall asleep, but her nights seem to be less violent and angry without it. She's still having bad dreams, and waking up constantly, but it seems like I'm able to calm her more quickly without the melatonin. I know it works miracles for some adopted children, but I think we're doing better without it.



Mollie is doing better every day in terms of socialization. She went to our neighbor's birthday party yesterday, played with the other kids, and allowed me to talk to friends without her clinging to me.


I see her looking people in the eyes, saying hello and bye-bye, smiling, etc. Today the dentist and his assistant asked for hugs, and there was NO WAY she was going to hug them, but she did smile and give high-fives. That is huge progress.
Her language is improving, also. We're working on combining words - she says "banana please, night-night baby, pillows off," and several other combos.
She's started showing an interest in puzzles, and today we did a sticker book that required her to match pictures and colors, and she did great! She still doesn't like to color or read a book with me.
She continues to be a constant eater. The IAC social worker suggested that we make a bin of food for her and keep it in the refrigerator. It's her bin, it's full of healthy food, and she can have anything in it whenever she wants. I started this today, and she loved it. I thought it would be empty by the end of the day, but I actually think she ate less than usual today (that's the whole idea, but I was a skeptic.)
Three of my friends are coming home from China with their daughters this week, and two more are headed over soon. I'm really looking forward to playmates with all the Red Thread coffee group girls!