How is Vindya doing?

The short answer is, better.  She still has moments of crying and tantrumming, but they are getting shorter and more manageable.   We were out with Mrs. Chandra the other day, and she let us out of the auto at the corner, to walk back to the YWCA.  When the auto drove off and she realized that "Auntie" had left, she started wailing.  But she held my hand and walked with me, making no attempt to fight or run away.  She got a lot of attention:  people stared, one auto actually pulled a little ahead of us and matched our pace so that the woman inside could lean out and stare at her, but then we got to the gate and turned in before anyone did anything else.  She continued to wail until we got to the steps of the guesthouse, at which point she stopped crying and said, "TV."  So she clearly has some control over her reactions!

The other night after supper, she started talking to me in Telugu.  First, she went through what I recognized as a list of her friends from the sisuvihar, reciting each name and having me repeat it.  The more complex ones she did syllable by syllable, to make sure that I pronounced them properly.  Then she had a long monologue that, based on the gestures and some rudimentary words I recognized, was a detailed run down of their daily routine.  Then she told me a story that I think was about some incident that occurred at school.  She kept pointing to a particular spot on her leg, even pulling her dress up to make sure that I could see the exact spot, and Raja Teacher and Muntaj Mommy both figured prominently.  I wish I had a camcorder to record these moments.

She continues to strongly prefer almost any Indian to me.  I have to be quite firm that she holds my hand, not theirs, that she doesn't run up and start conversations with random people in the lounge, that crying doesn't mean she doesn't have to go with me.  She will often cry when parted from someone, for example, with whom we happened to sit in the dining hall.  I have made it clear that crying means we go immediately to the room, and something is taken away - TV time, bangles, choccolate, whatever.  The result is that she cries less frequently and less furiously, although she has occasional reversions.

We are almost done with her sticker book, and I see big progress.  She has gone from putting the stickers where I told her, with no real understanding that they are part of a picture, to looking at the sticker and the pictures to tell where it went, to reading the number by each sticker, to realiizing that the number matched the spot where the sticker goes, to being able to remove the stickers and line them up appropriately all by herself.  I think she is bright enough, but very sheltered and not exposed to anything much.

I still think she is very unco-ordinated.  She reminds me of a toddler, moving in many ways in a very jerky fashion, as though she hasn't quite figured out inertia, and how it affects where her body ends up.  She trips and falls down frequently, and often spills food and drink.  She loves to show off how she can write the alphabet, but it's very rough and unformed, and she can't copy words or draw more than rudimentary stick figures.  She also has trouble manipulating a fork and  spoon.  I'm hoping that, as she gets more practice, she will be more graceful.

She still rocks a lot, and bangs her head in her sleep.  As she frequently bangs it on me, this means that I have lots of bruises.  She also sucks on her fingers when she is really stressed.  She can dress herself, but routinely puts her shoes on the wrong feet, although she may think this is funny.

The other day, I put her in the shower for the first time, and I guarantee you, there has never been anything more hillariously fun than water, coming down from above!  Who could imagine such a thing?  She laughed and pointed, and laughed and wanted to dance, which I would not let her do, because I figued she would crack her head open.

She has been healthy, with only a few minor problems.  She has some canker sores, which are treated with something called "Glycerine water."  I bought this at a pharmacy for 10 rupees, and when I pointed out that the screw-on lidd was cracked, they gave me a new one for an additional 2 rupees.  It turns out that it has a cork inside to keep it from spilling, but I was amused.  She had a slight runny nose/cough when we got here, but I think that was the change of scene..