She Plays!

When Vivian first arrived home one of the things we noticed about her was she did not seem to understand how to "play".  The first time we gave her a baby doll she did not have a clue what to do with it.  We now know that there were few to no toys in the orphanage, and we also know she had little to no time out of her crib to learn to play, so it all makes sense.  She has struggled these 6 months to figure out how to "play".  She basically just likes to spend her days following me around.  She rarely gets busy playing with toys.  She will do some puzzles and has gravitated to some baby toys, but not the things you would expect a 3 year old to play with.  We have a playroom with an easel, a drawing table, a kitchen, bassinets, and PLENTY of baby dolls but, unless Kate is with her or encouraging her, she has spent very little time paying attention or playing with these things.  And if she does pick up a doll, or pick up some crayons, it doesn't last too long.

Until now.

 

We seem to have had a bit of a breakthrough.  I noticed the other morning that she was not by my side and when I went looking for her I found her playing with her new dollhouse.  I was shocked she was playing BY HERSELF, but what was even more surprising is that this went on all morning long.  She had some "visitors" stop by and join her for a few minutes, but then they would leave and she just kept on playing.





 

Then a few days later she disappeared again.  This time she headed downstairs to our basement.  It is VERY rare she will go down there without me, so I was again surprised to find her playing with the dolls.  She was down there for over an hour.  I am not really sure what was going on between her and her dolls (she plays in silence  ... does not talk to them), but whatever it was she was really into it.

I have NO idea what was going through her head here, but she started moving chairs and I wasn't about to interrupt her.

Then the baby needed to be changed.  She even took the diaper up to the trash like she always sees me do with her diapers.

It is pretty cool to watch her begin to learn how to play and pretend like this.  These moments where she gets buys are still in the minority (following me is what she does the majority of the time), but I think she is on to something. I also believe that being in preschool two days a week is going to help her figure out how to play more.

Her language continues to improve, also.  She is really trying to talk, has tons of words, is starting to put several words together, and can communicate just about anything she needs with us. 

She is also playing better when we go out to parks. She loves to swing and slide and she will actually do these things on her own now. She continues to make such progress. 

We are pretty proud.