Weekend trips and Birthday Fun:D

Ready for his first trip to Wilmington!

First time eating ice cream and liking it!  He ate the whole bowl:)

Mr. Popular:)

Kai had to be close to his new friend Addy

Kai and his new friend!

First nap in his own room!  What a big boy

Birthday morning balloons in the bed!

Those things didn't leave his side all morning.

Kai posing with his new kitchen!

Party time at Grandma's House!

Uncle Travis and his crew getting into the party spirit

Even Grandpa is Rockin' the ears!

He really isn't picking his nose I promise:)

Kai's "horsey" cake from Litty's

Why is frosting so much better than cake??

Birthday Rockstar!

I know this is a lot of pictures to look at but believe me I scaled it down big time!  So to start with last weekend we went down to Wilmington with Kai for the first time.  For those of you who don't know Wilmington is a town just north of Cincinnati where Reuben and I used to live.  We have dear, dear friends who still live there.  These folks are really just those rare people you meet in your life that you know you could never forget and they will always have such a special place in our hearts.  Our Family away from home:)  Kai had such a good time getting to know the children and we did some much needed catching up!  It was also the longest car ride he has been on and he did wonderful! 
  This Saturday the 26th was Kai's 3rd Birthday.  I think he had a pretty amazing day!  It also started with the balloons in bed, a Birthday breakfast at Grandma's restaurant in Mt Eaton, and then a short nap followed by play time with the new kitchen we got him.  Later we all went to dinner at the Chinese Buffet where he always gets tons of attention from the waitresses.  They brought him a "cake" which consisted of some mandarin oranges and whip cream and half a banana with a candle stuck in it.  Seriously that just says it all about the difference between the Asian diet and big fat America:)  It was then off to Grandma's for a Mickey Mouse themed party with tons of presents and a horsey cake.  Best. Day. Ever.  Among his favorite gifts was the puppy guitar.  He has been imitating guitar playing lately so we thought he would like it.  Lets just say playing that thing is no laughing matter, it is serious business!  So funny:) 
  So other than partying hardy Kai has been spending his days soaking it all in, he really likes going to Grandma's house and playing with his cousins, he comes home wound up every night!  He is saying a lot more English words- horsey, buggy, ouch, brrr cold, all gone, see ya, car, semi, truck, kitty and the list goes on.  He seems to understand A LOT.  He can count to 5 in English unprovoked, knows basic colors, all his body parts and many animal names and sounds.  I am just so ready for him to speak lots and lots of English, I know I will probably regret saying that:)  So right now we are just chugging along living life, goals for the near future are still working towards getting him in his own room, working on manners and language skills.  He is doing so well, we are so pleased and feel so blessed to have such a super kid.  I'm starting to sound like a bragging Mom. Ha.  Hopefully a pediatric ortho surg appointment coming soon and I will let ya'll know how that goes! 

Akron Childrens Apointment

Well today has been a looooong day!  We had an appointment up at Akron Childrens Hospital in The Oak Adoptive Health office.  It was a three hour long appointment where we spent one hour with a developmental specialist, one hour with the doctor, and one hour with an adoption counselor.  Everything went very well,  the developmental lady was very impressed with our boys skillz. lol  He is pretty much on target in every area except those involving language of course.  She said that the next time she sees us in 4-6 months she expects he will have pretty much totally lost his knowledge of the Chinese language!  To me it's bitter sweet to think of that, in one way I can't wait until that day but on the other hand I think it will be kinda sad not listening to his babbling and Chinesy little accent, we've gotten so used to the way he communicates.  The lady also told us she would give us lots of ways to work with Kai as far as motor skills, language and balance.  He also struggles a little bit with his problem solving skills, for instance, if he is doing a puzzle and can't get the piece turned right he will just stop doing the puzzle or if he is playing with a toy and it doesn't do what he wants he will scream or whine at times.
   The medical doctor also said everything looked good, all his labs came back great and he has grown three centimeters since we where there about a month ago and gained only half a pound:(  We did find out that Kai has some kind of parasite roaming around in his gut but that will be taken care of with five days of meds.  Apparently about 25% of kids from China have it.  The crazy thing we found out was this, now bare with me, as this is a huge surprise.  At the time of Kai's referral the difference between the length of his legs was 6cm, in China they measured 5cm, today it was only 4cm!  Yes folks we are believing that God is beginning to heal our little one and ask you to pray pray pray that somehow that sucker can catch up and spare a child a very painful surgery!
  We also talked to the adoption counselor,  I told him about our slight concerns with Kai seeming to make such a sudden change in the way he acts with people other than us.  We described how he is way more social letting friends and family hold him pretty freely and going to the sitter with nary a tear, he said it sounds completely ok to him!  All in all we left that office almost glowing with all the positive things they had to say!  The next step is getting him on those parasite meds and into a pediatrician to get some vaccines and then to the pediatric orthopedic surgeon.  Lets hope the next four to six months bring lots and lots of progress and growth and that we can get to know each other even more and enjoy every minute:)

Christmas and the Latest

 

 Well this post is a little late but I guess that's better than never:)  It just never seems like a good time to try and get on the computer.  Well anyway we had a good Christmas and New Year and I hope everyone else did too.  Christmas was a tad overwhelming for Kai but we got through it ok.  He got a little four wheeler, some tub toys, bowls, and a choo choo track from us and I wouldn't even know where to start on what he got from my family, they love Christmas and are very generous!  Kai has been making some more great progress, I have glimpses of times where I think he is acting like a regular kid.  It warms my heart when I can tell that Kai is totally content and happy with his world. We still are struggling with testing us a lot, we still have a lot of fears(footy pajamas???)  but we are seeing glimpses of a carefree little boy!  At times his lack of fear of strangers does scare us a little bit.  In a months time he went from not letting anyone but us hold him to at times letting ANYONE hold him, we are aware of it and are just cautiously optimistic that he is just being a kid.  We where told by the orphanage that he is an outgoing little guy so we hope that is just what we are seeing:)  Since the Holidays are over we are going to try and just kinda hibernate together for a while.  Today was my first day back to work and it felt SO GOOD!  I never thought I would say that! ha  It really did and I am really enjoying my time at home with my family tonight too.  Kai did just fine with Grandma Miller, no tears, he did look a little sad when I left but I think explaining it with Google Translate really did help.  Our next feat is getting Kai into his own room, I know they say not to push it but I really miss my room!  I also just think that Kai would actually sleep a lot better too, I mean I can't even sleep through Reuben's crazy loud snoring and I've had 12 years to get used to it!  That and with me going back to work and trying to get dressed and alarm clocks blaring it just makes more sense.  So maybe that will be my next post:)  Well blessings to all and keep those prayers coming, this adjustment has truly been monumental...