Gracefromchina: Grace at Two and Three

I saw another adoption blog where the mom had put up pictures of her daughter from one year ago and thought, with Grace's birthday here, this would be a good time for us to do the same. Not only did we have a birthday one year ago, but Dec. 5th is also the one-year anniversary of Grace's cleft palate surgery. Although it's not necessarily an event that we remember fondly, it is remarkable to recognize how much progress she (we all!) have made since then. Prior to surgery Grace couldn't drink through a straw. When she ate, food came out of her nose. She couldn't blow bubbles. And, of course, she did not speak at all. Today she can do all of those things. At speech this week we started a list of all the words that Grace uses spontaneously (with no prompting) and although we haven't gotten them all, we're already up to 63. Although she hasn't grown a whole lot physically, I think she looks much older in her face and is definitely acting like a much bigger girl. So here are a few reminders of how far we've come in the last 12 months.