11 Months

I can't believe I missed my 11 month anniversary! Not one thought about it during the day - I didn't even think about until March 2nd when I saw the Rumor Queen posts about new referrals (which btw, if true, means no referrals for my agency. The 3rd time in a year.)

My fingerprints expire next month and my I-171H will expire in June. I suppose I should contact my agency to find out what I need to do, but I'm really not so motivated to do so. I think it's because I'm worried that they'll tell me I need to have my home-study re-done by a completely new social worker. I'm pretty sure the "new" office is too far away for them to send their own... I really do not want to spend another $2000 for a document that may or may not ever lead to an adoption. So, I'm basically just sitting back and waiting to see how it all plays out. Secretly, I'm hoping that my documents will be reviewed before the I-171H expires and then I won't have to renew at all... because a "free" renewal is not all that free.

In the meantime, Lala is becoming more of a little person every day! She's learned to sit up fairly well, even in the bathtub. This weekend, she seems to have crossed the line between passive observer to actively touch everything - I dunno how to explain it, she just suddenly seems to be more interested in things around her. She's got a new favorite toy that she picked out herself (it was the only one she did more than just stare at)... she remembers it from previous play times, so maybe some object permanance is going on. She's still more interested in eating books that reading them.

She graduated to Stage 2 foods (which basically means, she eats more in a sitting) - we were getting mixtures of foods and fruits. I'm still trying to figure out all this "when to introduce..." advice. Everyone says something different... however Lala isn't at the stage where she recognizes that "if I put something in my mouth, I can eat it, rather than just play with it" and she's not at the stage of really chewing either, so we're sticking to mush.