We recently celebrated the one year anniversary of the day we met our sweet Shaili in Kolkata. I thought it would be fun to compare pictures of that day, with how she looks now. I think you'll agree...the difference is AMAZING!!!
Shaili is such a strong, fiesty, sweet, smart, beautiful little girl. She has had to deal with a lot of changes since we brought her into our family. In the past year we've moved twice, Shaili has had two eye surgeries, one adenoid-ectomy, tubes put in her ears, and most recently she has been fitted for ankle foot orthotics (AFO's), and has begun physical therapy.
A couple of months ago we decided to have Shaili evaluated by the infant learning program in our town and as we suspected, she qualifies for physical therapy. She was evaluated in all other areas as well and came up normal (yay!). Basically, she still has some tightness in her ankles and heel cords and is having a hard time maintaining a walk. She has been able to take up to 6 or 7 steps since she was about 16 months old, but could never move past that. She has been in her AFO's for only 2 weeks and the difference is amazing! She is almost exclusively walking now, and can turn around on her own without falling, and can bend down and pick things up without falling. Hopefully within a year, she'll be all caught up.
When I think of where she started, what she was able to do when we brought her home, I am so thankful for the progress she has made. At 9 months, she could barely sit up. She wasn't able to reach and pick up a toy on her own. She wasn't babbling, only making strange shrieking noises. She licked everything because she could barely see anything. She missed so much of what was going on around her because of her lack of vision. Now, a year later, she is walking, talking up a storm, can see everything, and has the most fun little personality. We are so blessed to have our sweet Shaili in our family!!!
