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...

Pictures and Info- three weeks home

Well, its hard to believe its been three weeks since we are home!  We've had good days and bad this week.  When I think back to our time in China, and the blog post where I said I can't believe how much of a baby he still is, I realize just how far Kai has come!  To think that at first he was afraid to sit in the little rocker, now I'm lucky if he's just sitting in it!  The babyish toys he was first afraid of and then enamored with have now been discarded for bigger better things, like my IPad:)

Kai has gotten pretty good at telling us what he wants, he still doesn't say  many English words but he is definitely understanding a lot more!  We discovered that he loves pictures, I've been trying to work on his life book when he naps but I feel like my attempts are juvenile at best and very hurried.  As you can see from the picture below he enjoys looking at it anyway!

We had a very small family party to welcome Kai last weekend, he had a blast, he just ran and ran and ran.  The hit of the night was the balloons, he took them home and played with them for days!

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I also think back to how Kai used to be in the tub.  Sitting in one spot afraid to move a muscle or get water in his eyes.  NOW, Reuben is in charge of bathes at night and it gets pretty wild in there.  Loud odd noises come from the bathroom and water is splashed everywhere,  he is a fish now days and dumps cup after cup of water over his face!

 Kai is slowly starting to let a few people hold him now for a few minutes, I'm glad he is still standoffish around others, to me it's a good sign that he is bonding to us the way he should!

Kai's relationship with Reuben has improved so much it's unbelievable,  I did get to go away by myself the one night and he did really well, he only cried for a little while and then he was completely fine!  Reuben also took him somewhere in the truck with out me the other night, no complaints from Kai!  It used to be he would have been screaming before they even got to the truck!

The other day Kai wanted to go outside, I put his coat on and off he went all the way to the back fence with me at the door.  He was just gabbering away at the dogs as fast as he could! ha  When we first where home he wouldn't even let his feet touch the ground outside!  Big progress, Big...

Here is Kai in his spot doing his favorite thing ever, playing with momma's IPad, notice Adam sleeping so sweetly right next to him!  Adam and Andrew are doing quite well with Kai, Kai can really tell them off!!  It makes me smile when he gabbers at them and they just look at him like "huh?"  Well we have a busy week next week with Christmas and going back up to Akron Children's.  I can't believe next week is my last week before I go back to work!  I've not given it hardly any thought and I need to start asap, we will be starting to bring Reuben's mom back as she will be babysitting.  Well Kai has had enough of me being on the computer soooooo.........

Two Weeks home

Hard to believe we've been home for two weeks, the first week was the longest of my life.  But the second has gone fast.  We are doing ok, we've had a visit from our social worker, and been to the adoption clinic at Akron Children's.  We didn't find too much out at the doctor, at least about his leg.  She pretty much didn't say anything other than you need to see a pediatric orthopedic surgeon.  She did say that on a regular child growth scale Kai is in the 3rd percentile. yikes. However on a Chinese scale he is about in the 50th.  He is however fairly proportioned as far as his height and weight.  She did want him to gain some weight though.  We have to go back next week for a ton of labs and vaccinations because he wasn't on our insurance yet.  That will not be fun:(  The social worker was pleased with Kai's progress and it was so good to talk to her.  We just have a long way to go.
   As far as progress with Kai, I'm happy to say he has not had any crying in his sleep for two or three nights now!  HOWEVER, he is getting way too smart.  He has picked up on that I sneak out at times while he is sleeping, like at nap time, after I put him to bed, before he is awake or during the night to go to the bathroom etc.  He is NOT happy about it and has become a very light sleeper.  The other night it took me forever just to go to the bathroom in the night and then I just woke Reuben up to hold him while he screamed. ugh.  This morning instead of his usual scared cry when he woke up I walked in to him hitting our bed and throwing a tantrum because I wasn't in bed! HA!  He is getting somewhat braver as far as walking instead of being carried but he still wants carried a LOT.  I try to carry him if its not excessive or almost obsessive but I do make him walk quite a bit.  The other day he walked into Nature's with me just holding his hand!  It felt AWESOME!  He is getting a lot better with Reuben,  at the social workers recommendation I am going to have a night to myself tonight!  Well a couple hours at least.  Reuben will plan on doing nothing but holding him while I'm gone as he will probably scream the whole time, it's scary for me because I don't want to traumatize him but it has to be done, we expect him to regress but he will be ok.
  He really is a good boy he has just had so many changes.  He can play so nice, and seems very smart, he likes things just so.  He is the silliest little boy, he loves music and stickers, he still loves his dishes, and is starting to be a little more interested in books.  He is quite the little imitator,  the other day he was pretending to put makeup on:) He also was pretending to lick envelopes, he doesn't miss anything!  I'm truly hoping that each week is significantly easier than the one before, for us and for him.  The time for me to go back to work is drawing nearer and nearer, it scares me because he is far from ready in my opinion.  keep us in your prayers!    

one week home

It's hard to believe it's only been a week since we've been home!  I have to say, I would not want to live this week over again but we survived!  Kai seems to really like our house and isn't really scared of any room or thing in it.  He loves all his toys but to BaBa's dismay his favorite toy would have to be his play dishes/tea set! ha  I love it.  He loves containers of any sort.  Also anything with buttons that he can push that make noise.  He is so busy playing sometimes in the evening when we are both home it just makes me smile, he's really working hard:)  He loves things in a row.  He is continuing to surprise us with things he does that he did not do in China, he will bring us our shoes if we say bye-bye, and always the right ones.  He will put on his own shoes for the most part.  He just is getting better at getting his point across.  You can tell we've spent a lot of time in airports because he takes his play golf bag and takes the clubs out and pulls it behind him like a suitcase and says Bye-bye and leaves the room for a little.  cracks me up.  He is just pure silliness.  He however is very strong willed and has thrown quite a few tantrums and will even hit us sometimes.  Night time is not the greatest as he cries in his sleep a lot.  He has separation anxiety so bad when it comes to me I can't even shut the bathroom door part way even if Reuben is home or he has a total breakdown and sits on my lap for an hour afterword.  I worry about going back to work in a little over 3 weeks.  I just can't imagine but I have no choice.  I will be praying about that subject many hours I'm sure.  Tonight when Reuben came home from work Kai ran( and I mean ran) to the door yelling BaBa and flew into his arms.  That is a far cry from earlier this week when he wouldn't even acknowledge him and cried when he tried to hold him.  We started making a point that when Reuben comes home he takes over as much of caring for Kai as he will allow, getting his food and helping him eat, giving him his bath etc.  It has really helped but like I said we have a long way to go!  I'm sorry to say that if I wouldn't have seen someone else wish my husband a happy birthday on Facebook I totally would have forgotten, I felt SO BAD!  How could I!  My world is just so upside down right now.  As far as our dogs go and getting used to Kai, our yorkie Adam, who is 12, has actually done very well!  Surprised the heck out of us!  He had some anxiety too in the beginning and barked all night for the first night and then had to get into bed with us because he just wouldn't quit. I'm happy to say we now have a toddler bed, a huge dog cage, a queen size bed and two night stands in a bedroom roughly the size of a postage stamp.  Talk about closterphobia!  But I'm just glad he is in his own bed.  I'm sorry to say however that we have not brought our Schnauzer home from my Mom's.  We are hoping that Reuben's brother and his wife will take him.  This makes me sad beyond words as he is my baby boy and has always been so special to me, he is the definition of sweetness with one exception, he does not like kids and has a history of biting them.  My hands are more than full with a senior citizen, halfways psycho yorkie and a brand new two year old to handle a dog who is very jealous and could be dangerous.  Well I could bore you all with every detail but I won't:)  PLEASE continue praying for our family and bonding/ attachment process.  Just like any other relationship it takes work!

Home and recovering

Well we are home and I apologize for taking so long to post,  for some reason with the time change we have been sleeping until 10 or 10:30 every morning which is very unlike me.  It makes for very short days.  Actually I seem to have very little sense of day, time or reality.  I am happy to say that other than sleeping in too long I have had little trouble with the time change coming back.  Kai is doing pretty well too, Reuben has not been so lucky.
    I am still struggling to come up with a routine that will work for us now as well as when I go back to work, there is just tons and tons of adjusting to be done on all of our parts.  Kai continues to be very adamant about following me everywhere I go, I mean literally.  Being in the same room with me is not good enough, he is actually right behind me and even up against me at times.  Unfortunately he gets bumped into a lot and even got his eye poked accidentally the other day.  Its very trying for me and even more so for Reuben,  he wants one on one time with Kai too and its hard to get right now.  As far as sleeping arrangements it's Kai and I in our bed and Reuben on the couch,  if I get up Kai mostly knows and will scream and cry instantly.  Today I am moving his toddler bed into our room beside the bed and we will try it, Reuben needs to sleep in his own bed, I think that will help his sleeping problems.  And then there is Adam, our old yorkie dog.  He does pretty good accept in the early morning hours, he barks and barks and won't stop until I let him out and into the bed with us, he did good today and actually stayed in bed with Kai for a few minutes after I got up!  Our friends and family really went over and above to make our lives easier coming back and to make us feel special.  We had food to last us through the first several days as well as snacks too, they decorated our house for Christmas, and of course my lovely parents kept our dogs and still have Drew.  I just don't trust him with kids and need a little while before we add him to the mix yet too.  WE have gotten so many gifts, they are all so great.  Kai hasn't met a toy he doesn't like, other than the ones he was initially scared of but now loves!  He is getting braver in some ways, the other day he ran all the way from the kitchen to his room and got his shoes and brought them back, he also was playing like crazy last night and crawled all the way behind the couch twice, very adventurous for him!  At first he was even afraid to sit in his little rocking chair, not anymore!  The language barrier continues to be an issue.  The other day I took a Zyrtec and he cried and plopped on the floor on his bottom because I wouldn't give him one too.  I couldn't explain to him it was medicine.  The same thing happened with a cough drop.  WE are realizing that food is a bigger deal to him than we initially thought and I'm trying to just feed, feed,feed him.  He loves broccoli noodle soup, noodle casserole, cooked carrots, and of course rice.  He does not like peas, applesauce, grands biscuits, sour cream, or sliced cheese.  He is probably gooing through rice withdrawl by now.  I'm hoping maybe a better diet will help his skin clear up and his hair get a little thicker.  Well I better attempt to get something done today!  More later:)