Isabella.....Whats New With Her?

Isabella will be turning 4 in May. Where has the time gone? Isabella is my most amazing child. I have always thought that she suffered some kind of abuse at the orphanage. When we got Isabella she was totally shut down. That must be how she dealt with her situation before coming into our family. In addition to being shut down, she did not attach to us either. It was so so sad. She came to us at 14 months old and she did not eat solid food, she did not utter a sound, never cried, made very little eye contact and did not show emotion. To look at her today you would never know it. She is securely attached to me and John and so full of love that she blows me away. Everything was a struggle for her too...talking, learning, accepting love,playing, laughing. As Bella came out of her shell all things started to fall into place. She still struggles with so many different areas but she does things on her own schedule. She was just discharged from Occupational therapy and i believe she will be discharged from speech in June. Talking was very hard for her. At almost 2 1/2 she couldn't even say moo when she saw a cow. Now.......John and I just laugh as she tells us these big stories! She is full of words, sentences and ATTITUDE! She still has that protective side to her and I can actually see it when it is about to emerge. Its like she disconnects .She also gets special ed services because she is cognitively behind. She has made some big gains there too but she is still behind. Her special ed teacher does have concerns about her ability to learn to read and write. BUT....Bella has always done things when she was ready and not before. Bella recently was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Since your thyroid function and brain development go hand in hand they are wondering if there is a correlation between her delay and her hypothyroid. I HATE the idea of Bella taking medicine everyday for the rest of her life! She also needs to lab work done every 3 months to make sure she is getting the right dose of medicine. She hates the lab work and I hate subjecting her to that. I was kind of in denial in the beginning thinking maybe the lab was wrong and maybe it would just turn itself around even though I know that doesn't happen. All that aside.....Bella is funny, loving and she can just melt my heart. Her strong will is something I envy in her and I hope she carries it around for life. Hopefully she will be starting preschool in the fall. She went for a few months this year but she wasn't quite ready yet. On the days she went she would be up crying all night up 6 or 7 times totally inconsolable. Otherwise she would be in bed with us. We did it for 4 months and nothing changed so we decided to for go preschool this year. Plus she had developed the hypothyroidism. Every child is different and I'm pretty certain that was what was best for her! She is VERY excited about our upcoming trip to Disney in May. She is a huge princess fan. I think Cinderella in her favorite! She still loves Dora though and is always pretty loyal to her! I am going to post some pictures of my beautiful girl!!