Netta's Pages

There has been such amazing progress with Netta since I last wrote that I don’t really know where to begin…
The most dramatic is her language skills. Netta is now of the mind that she speaks, period. She will say what needs to be said whether she has the words or not. Netta uses a mixture of English, Hebrew and what sounds like Korean. Long stories are created describing real and imagined events. Many of them include falling down stairs and bumping one’s head resulting in boo boos, or descriptions of Netta’s day care which she loves. She has a collection of really funny made up words. Cookies are ‘Apgas’ Birthdays are ‘Happy toos’. Yesterday she came over to me saying ‘wape up homy’ (wake up honey).

Netta is making progress in every aspect of her development.
Physically she is much nimbler on her feet, running around easily, going up and down the stairs and occasionally scaring the daylights out of us by putting together furniture, boxes and anything she finds to create a ladder to get her on top of a dresser or drawer chest to examine what lays above it (books on a shelf for example).
Her handling of items found around the house is very refined. They are much more interesting than toys and she figures things out with stunning speed. Watching you do something once is enough for her to pick up on it.

Netta’s vocabulary is getting richer. She is starting to pick up more sounds and connect them to things around the house. She babbles a lot now too. No one can understand her then but she keeps going and going. Especially just before going to sleep, she can keep at it for a really long time.
We all have names now and she uses them a lot. When we get mad at her for any reason she will start rattling off her words, knowing it will appease us. It does.
Netta is very comfortable with her routine. She likes to take care of things and manage the routine, knowing what’s next. She will run and turn off the light at the right time, turn on music or get ready to go down for breakfast. When things are purring along according to script she is a happy camper.
Now that the weather has gotten better we get to spend more time outside. Netta loves this. She can wander the yard and check things everywhere, run and jump. She seems most in her element there.
Her days at the daycare (twice a week) have become much less traumatic. I should say non-traumatic. She is happy to be there and seems to be enjoying it a lot. Gone are the scenes of heart wrenching drama when we left her off there, her screams begging us not to leave her there to be slaughtered. She actually runs and hugs Gene.
Hugs are big with her and kisses more so. She likes them a lot and uses them on people, stuffed animals and small pieces of food. Kisses are good.
I am quite amazed at her transformation.

Today Netta said her first Abba (me!). She has been very talkative lately, she spends a lot of time on the phone, particularly the red one connected to her car. It is amazing she has picked up all the right gestures. As she speaks, she looks up and around with an expression saying ‘My god, I can’t believe they are saying this, what are they thinking’.
But today she just looked at me and said ‘Abba’ very clearly.
Usually she goes for the first syllable. Ga for Gaul, Ba for Bakbuk (bottle) etc. But I guess some things warrant the whole world…
What is uncanny is her understanding. She just gets everything. And quick. Complicated concepts, ‘Take the book to Michelle’ or ‘Go to the window to say bye bye’ I think she is going to be speaking in 5 minutes. She is so close. She is also very talented in imitating sounds and creating very diverse sound effects.
Netta has been surprisingly good during these past two weeks. We have been giving increasing attention to Ella, who gets the bulk of it anyway, But Netta has been really good. Mostly not making to much of a fuss or throwing too many tantrums (not that they don’t exist). She is always very affectionate and loving. Periodically she will run over for a hug. (and now she also gives kisses, or blows them from afar), Once hugged she’ll walk away and attend to her business. The connection needs periodic reconfirmation.

Netta has been a wonderful cooperating sister on this trip for Ella’s surgery.
Really quite amazing. This is not too interesting, entertaining, fun or comforting, yet she is fine with it. Most of the time one of us is with her while the other is with Ella in the hospital. We are staying with Val and Adam (who have been wonderfully helpful throughout, not clear how we would have managed this without them).
Netta has been getting friendly with Val and Adam’s cat and feels at home there.
I am always surprised at the speed she picks things up and just gets it. For example when we eat at Val and Adams, since they don’t have kid’s high chair’s we improvise. We use a normal chair, a pillow and a belt to go around Netta and keep her from falling. This morning I told Netta, ‘OK lets go and eat now’, she ran off and returned with the belt, handing it to me. Then on the way down in the parking garage. She stops me by the door and points at the button that opens the garage door… She is one and a half!
Yes, it is an extra burden to take care of Netta during Ella’s surgery but it is turning out to be the best we could expect.

Netta is going to be starting daycare next week. I think it will be really good for her. It will only be for a day and a half a week, at least in the beginning.
Netta has been doing really well. It seems like she has always been here (almost). She is in tune with the routine and mostly happy.
She is making progress in her speech, adding to her vocabulary of sounds. Almost everything is monosyllabic but there are more and more things she identifies.
As far as understanding, it is almost uncanny. She understands everything. Seriously. Anything we say around her sinks in and she gets it. She will run and get her coat to be ready to go out, even if we try and disguise the conversation about that plan.
Daycare will be good for her because I think she is a bit bored here in the normal day to day. Beth is mostly busy with Ella and Netta has very little interest in toys on their own. She will hardly ever just sit down and play with toys. She is much more interested in, say, Michelle’s desk drawer. That can supply hours of entertaining activities.
The relationship with Ella has also subtly changed. There is less jealousy, but still a lot of imitation. Ella is the big sister. If she thinks it is right to sneeze now. Then, it is now the right time to sneeze. Netta will fake sneeze right after her.
They really enjoy the shared ritual of listening to a story before going to bed. It has several steps to it and both of them anticipate the steps and cooperate. They are very cute together. And so very different.