Merry Christmas to All...

Hi from East Grand Rapids MI, C here.

It's late & I can't sleep, so I thought I'd post a few thoughts.

The run up to Christamas Eve was a complete blur. We were a little hampered by the snowstorm last week so we couldn't get out at all on Saturday, so we hunkered down. They boys and I WERE able to sneak in a few snow tubing runs on Saturday night and Sunday morning.

We had a very nice early Christmas celebration at Grandmom & Pop-Pop's (Lockhead's) in the city. It was rough driving in the neighborhood but the rest of the ride was fine. We got to see everyone (except Aunt Meg, UC, Justin & Malissa, who decided not to make the flight in from Guam!!! - We missed you guys!!!)

The big hit of the day was the Buzz Lightyear Star Command Wings that the boys got - they were hytsterical as the walked around the (very narrow) house with all of the people, decorations, chairs, tables, etc... They literally could harldy take 3 steps witout knocking something over

You can see why!

The rest of the week we prepared for our annual journey to visit "the Grandmom & Poppa that live far away" as Kyle likes to say!!

The trip was no problem, we made great time on Wed. night and the boys (peacefully!) shared one of the beds in the hotel room. Very exciting for them.

We drove the rest of the way on Christmas Eve and we got in around mid-afternoon. Just in time for Dad (yes, me) to take a short nap. Later in the afternoon we had a wonderful visit to Uncle Mark & Aunt Avery's to visit the boy's cousins: Paityn, Logan and Luke. Dinner was really good and we had a very nice time catching up. The boys passed out quickly and were ready for Santa!!

Christmas morning was really fun for both Kyle and Dylan. They got lots of really cool toys and games from Santa, Grandmom, Poppa, Mom & Dad. They have become really attached to their Leapster 2's. Kyle got a Batman Game which Dylan is just getting to know how to work his Diego Game. Santa also brought a "Big Piano" (just like in the movie)!

We think Dylan "got it", but we're not completely sure about the connection with Santa. We'll work on this for next year!

Today we went sledding with UM and the crew at a local sledding hill. Mom (Lisa) had been acting as the official photographer, until we were able to talk her into making a few runs down the hill. We all had a lot of fun and the hill was just the right size for our gang. Thanks to Paityn, Logan & Luke for sharing their snow stuff with us. It was really an enjoyable afternoon!

The Snow Gang...

Uncle Mark about to make a run with K&D...

Luke & Kyle on the move...



What goes Down, must come Up!

All in all a great trip so far - and we just got here!!

Dylan is continuing to progress extremely well, and he's move adventurous with his English every day. He is stringing together sentences and he is able to make himself more clearly understood. It's really rewarding to watch him and to watch Kyle progress as well as the big brother. Dylan has really bonded with all of his grandparents, and his cousins - it's sometimes hard to believe that it's only been SIX MONTHS!!!

Speaking of Kyle, Christmas Eve was his "Gotcha Day." Lisa and I were just remembering our first China trip to meet Kyle and all of the memorable times and "firsts" we had a as a family with him. He was our Christmas miracle that year - we never thought that day would come. I sometime re-read his story so I can keep these memories fresh in my mind.

Anyway, we are amazed at how quickly THREE YEARS has passed. I have a hard time remembering life BK - when we were not tripping over toys, not stepping on matchbox cars in the middle of the night on our way to the bathroom, and not running out to the car at bedtime to get Panda because we forgot him in the back seat and he was NEEDED for Bedtime. Kyle has been everything we have ever dreamed he would be as a little boy. And we can see him, before our eyes, quickly becoming the little person that he will be as he finds his way through life.

We have every confidence that he will be the big brother that little Dylan deserves.

Time to head off to bed as I'm feeling better now, and I'm certain that I will be able to sleep soundly now, with Lisa at my side and the boys on the floor. (They actually like it down there!!)

'nite all.

C

A Trip to the Mall to Visit Santa...

Hi all, C here (been a while)...

On Thursday, we arranged an early evening trip to the Mall to see Santa and have the boys' pictures taken. Dylan adn Kyle both did really well! Kyle "gets it" while Dylan seems to understand some of what Christmas is about.

Here is the picture - it looks much better in person - good smiles from both...
that's tough to do.



Funny story on the way to the Mall:

The boys often watch videos in the car on the way to/from school and on long trips. Usually it's something like Mickey's Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, or Handy Manny. So far so good...

When you're in the front seat, it's hard to change the video or the story (if it's a multi-episode DVD.) Kyle tries to help out by asking for the remote and pushing buttons until he says that the video is all right. Last night, he asked for the remote, we handed it to him, he pushed his buttons and he handed the remote back up to us. We figured all was well...

A while later the boys seemed like they were really enjoying the story. Lisa looked at me and asked what DVD was in the player. "To be honest, I'm not sure - let's see", I replied. (On the console we have an audio feed from the DVD - with just the push of one button.)

So I pushed the DVD button to hear what was so funny - after about 5 seconds Lisa looks at me and I right back at her & we break down laughing. Really good - hurts in the gut - laughing. It took all 5 seconds for us to realize that Kyle (in his zest to make the video play all by himself) had inadvertently set the language selection to SPANISH!!!

So here we are, motoring along with two little chinese boys in the back (one who's just really feeling his oats with English!) listening to videos in Spanish. And neither one said A WORD for the 20 minutes that they watched! Very funny.

Lisa and agreed that we should probably check the DVD audio feed a little more often!!!

Gotta get to bed - Hershey Park tomorrow and the drive-through Light Show tomorrow night.
The boys are really pumped - they dragged their little backpacks (fully loaded for their one-night stay!) all over the upstairs before heading off to sleep.

More soon.
C

It's October Already!

We are long overdue for an updated blog posting - it's been a very busy few months.

The boys have been back in full swing at school since Labor Day. As Kyle progressed to the Roaring Rockets room, Dylan settled in to the Thunderbolts handling the transition quite well. He seems excited to be with all of his new friends (he is already a "ladies man" as all of the little girls follow him around to just give him hugs!) He loves to play on the computer and to play with all of the dress-up toys, especially around Halloween when he can dress as a witch and stir the witch brew during pretend play. Despite the language barrier, he seems to communicate with all of other children very well.

Kyle is also doing very well as a new Thunderbolt and is very intently practicing how to write his numbers and his letters already. He is also getting more and more computer work. His language skills have really also taken off as he asks lots and lots (and lots) of questions and has detailed discussions with Charlie and me each day. He is very interested in learning about everything that he sees or hears.

Both boys cannot wait until the big Goddard Halloween party on Friday. Kyle will be dressed as an astronaut and Dylan is going to be a very petite fireman! I am not sure who is bigger, Dylan or the costume!!

Believe it or not, Dylan has already grown an inch since he has been home from China. He still is maintaining his extremely lean and mean figure, though. He is a very active child, who also has very picky eating habits (most of his habits being affected by the time that he spends entertaining, dreaming and making faces vs. actually eating food during mealtime.) We may hit Guiness Book of World Records one of these days for the "world's longest dinner hour!"

Dylan has just started speaking in some full sentences within the last few weeks. His most favorite question is "what you doing (Momma, Kyle or Baba?). He listens to Kyle intently and tries to repeat many of his sentences, too. He is spending alot of time with his favorite books in trying to "read" them to us, by explaining what is going on in the pictures. It's quite amazing how much he has picked up in such a short time. His comprehension is excellent, although he does think that "time out" is a game and one day when I was counting as a discipline measure and said "one......," he immediately piped up and said "two, three!" I was laughing so hard, that I couldn't discipline any further.

Dylan had his first corrective surgery at CHOP in September. It was a long week post the surgery, as he had to move back into diapers and pull-ups during the recovery phase, but then after about 8 days of healing, he was back to normal. We spent that week at home vs. school, so by the end of the week, he thought that it would be good to permanently "stay home with Momma." However, after a short discussion, we did go back to our normal school/work routine. Due to the severity of his urological issues, CHOP has decided that they'll do his repairs in stages, so we have at least one more if not two more surgeries to look forward to during the next two years. Our urologist was excellent and the repair has been amazing to date.

We have spent the late summer and Fall doing lots and lots of fun activities from the shore to amusement parks to Thomas the Train and even had several social engagements on the birthday party circuit.

A few weeks ago, Gramma and Poppa Wedder were in visiting so they got to attend Kyle's 4th Birthday party at Pump It Up and the Chestnut Fall Festival with us. Then, we all went to NYC to see the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island and of course, FAO Schwartz! It was quite interesting to have the boys at Ellis Island with all of the historical immigration displays. We tried to take their pictures in the Great Corridor, but they were more interested in racing around vs. posing for their special picture.

Here are some pictures from some of our August & September activities. We hope that you enjoy them!

Kyle at Dorney Park in the Splash Zone area (one of his favorite places even though the water was freezing!!)

Dylan at the Splash Zone and FREEZING...

The boys with their pal, Snoopy

Dylan being buried by his cousin, Alyx, at the Cape May Beach

Dylan's first Thomas the Train event (Kyle's third!)


Instead of "Hammer Time," it's "Jammie Time."

As the Summer Winds Down...........

Feeding the larkakeet with Kyle at GR Zoo (notice how far away Kyle is pushing himself!)



Playing at GR Zoo on the big ship wheel - Ahoy Mateys



Can you tell how warm it was (not) at the beach that day?!




Kyle and his giraffe friend





The boys at Millennium Park (in Michigan)






Kayaking with Uncle Mark & Paityn



The crew getting ready to set sail on the high seas



The boys and Paityn



Future Soccer Stars



Bowling with Paityn, Logan and Luke (who didn't want any pictures taken)



Hi all:

It's been a few weeks since our last posting, so I thought that I would update everyone on the last few weeks plus some new pictures. It's nice that we post pictures here, as we can usually never actually get them printed out in hard copies. We just fill the camera up, save them and move on! I have slowly begun the task of conquering Kyle's picture documentation of the last two years, but it's definitely a project!!

Anyway, two weeks ago, we headed to Michigan to see my parents and my brother and his family. The weather chose to be rainy and cool, but we had a great time anyway. The boys were able to meet their cousins: Luke, Logan and Paityn so they had a great time keeping busy. It was also very nice of the cousins to teach my boys how to wrestle - ha.ha. Charlie was only able to get away with us on the weekends, flying back and forth to Philadelphia during the week, but we managed to see and do lots of things including the Grand Rapids Zoo, where the boys hopped up on the camel ride and took off before Charlie even got his seat on the camel. They wanted no part of Daddy on their ride!! They did very well as the camel wobbled back and forth. They weren't as excited to feed and touch the stingrays or the larakeets but they liked watching Mom & Dad do that. We also had a nice bowling round with girls against boys (now, Paityn, remind me what your score was again?!!!) ; had visits to Binder Park Zoo (where Kyle fed the huge and friendly giraffes). Dylan is probably thinking to himself, what are these folks trying to do to me making me pet and ride all of these wild animals. This is not what I was used to in China!

We also went to Millennium Park (where the boys turned into aqua stars and thought it was funny to keep going deeper and deeper into the lake for me to chase them); and we had three visits to Uncle Mark & Aunt Avery's cottage where Uncle Mark and the kids took Dylan kayaking (who knew that he would LOVE kayaking Lake Michigan) and then super rafting behind a jet ski (both boys loved that, especially as Uncle Mark kicked up the gas several notches while trying to throw me off the raft!). Lastly, we saw the movie G-Force our last day there. It was interesting watching Dylan try and follow it (which he did) but he was probably wondering about what was going on since all of the language was in English! Then, Aunt Lisa had to smoke Paityn in Wii Tennis and Logan in Wii Bowling, after both assured her that they were the ultimate champions - Logan did get me in Wii Boxing. That one is a real work-out!

Now that we are home, every time that we ask Dylan if he wants to go to the Beach, he says "Uncle Mark and Avery." He really seemed to enjoy the water and sand.

Dylan had his first real full week of school last week, as we are finally getting back on schedule after such a crazy summer. He is slowly getting used to the entire routine, including the 5:30 a.m. wakeup. He always has a hard start when we initially drop him off, but then seems to really enjoy himself all day long. He already has lots of little friends that always say hi to him and one little one is always giving him hugs.

Dylan is very quickly picking up the English language and yesterday strung two words together "Mocha hungry" unprompted. That sounds like nothing, but for a little guy that only speaks Chinese and who only has English around him now, it was huge. He also has memorized and can hum the Thomas the Train tune along with any CD or book that is playing it. He has pretty much picked up his ABCs now and can do them almost to the end, when he will finish them up in Chinese. He also can count to 10 with skipping only 1 or 2 numbers, so there is no holding him back now.

Kyle has now advanced to the Roaring Rockets class, so he is very excited. He will start there next week. It may be a little bit of a tough transition for Dylan to have Kyle in a different room, but he will be close by in case they need a few reassuring visits. Kyle is also now concentrating very hard on his weight gain/height gain project. He needs to grow 1 inch and gain 1 lb. in order to move into a booster seat in the car, from his baby seat. EVERY day, he needs a weigh in and last night, he kept eating food telling us that he was going to get that extra pound on. It's very funny, but he is very serious about it! It will be nice to have one less baby seat in the car, since it is very tough to have any additional passengers with such big seats in the backseat right now.

We were in Ocean City this past weekend on Saturday for the day (with about 2000 other people). I honestly have never seen a beach or the water so crowded. It was wall to wall bodies - not my type of beach experience!!!! We did hit the Boardwalk in the evening for a few rides, so the boys enjoyed that. They are ones to never pass up amusement rides. I kept trying to get Kyle to go on the Double Shot with me (this massive Frogger type thing) but he just kept saying "no, not me - take Dylan!!"

We hope that everyone is having a super summer - enjoy the last few weeks!

The Start of School

Hanging out with Duke the Dragon


Splashing on the Water Park Dolphin



A fun-filled Splash Ball afternoon




Who's supposed to be guiding this plane?!

First day of Goddard School for Dylan

Things are continuing to progress along at home as the days pass. We originally had planned not to start Dylan at Goddard until August 17th, but he appeared to be getting bored at home and really missed Kyle, so he started school this past Monday. He looked so excited with his new lunch bag and sleeping bag. Kyle was also very excited to have his "Didi" finally going to school with him.

They are studying Florida this week, so it has been a week filled with fun Disney activities, the Alligator Tales man who told stories at school, swamp building and of course, Kyle's favorite activity: splash day. Dylan is slowly taking it all in. He had a rough morning yesterday when he realized that Mom was not attending school with him, but seemed to get over that fairly quickly. I think that the days are pretty long for him (7:15 - 5), so it will take a little more time to adapt. However, all of the kids in the class are very kind to him, and Kyle has been amazing in teaching him how to do things and the rules of the classroom. Kyle usually gives me the full progress report on both of them each evening! He has found his calling as the Father Hen.

As we did Boot Camp Potty Training with Kyle, we enrolled Dylan in Boot Camp Sleeping Camp last week!! Finally, late in the week, he spent one night by himself but then later wandered into the spare bedroom where he neatly tucked himself into the bed in there and fell asleep. The following night, he made it all through the night in his own bed and in his own room (yeah!) He has never looked back since. I think that he finally feels comfortable in his room. He and Kyle spend about an hour talking themselves to sleep at night. It's pretty funny, as Dylan is talking mainly in Chinese and Kyle is answering him in English (having probably no idea what he is saying), but they seem to have an excellent time together. They also usually entertain themselves with a light show from Kyle's circus spinner.

We continue to keep busy on the weekends. Two weekends ago, we went to Dutch Wonderland and had a great time in both the water park and on the rides. As Dylan is the daredevil, he had to ride some of the spinning, faster rides. He even wanted to ride the roller coaster, but was not tall enough. He and Kyle had a great time on any rides that they could do together. Kyle is also riding many more rides, in order to keep up with Dylan. He is slowly overcoming his fears which has been terrific. Kyle is also already planning our next trip to Disney World, so he can show Dylan all of his favorite rides there.

Last weekend, we went down to Cape May Beach. Unfortunately, the surf was so rough and the waves so high, the boys could only go in very close to the shore. We also forgot how rocky the beach line was (we miss Myrtle Beach sand!) They did a little bit of boogie boarding and then wave riding, but Dylan is still very afraid of the water washing over his head, so he hung back while Kyle did more swimming. They spent the majority of the day on the beach playing in the sand, watching boats zipping by, and advertising planes flying by. The beach was filled with seaweed, so they had a fun time planning with Dad and throwing it all around.

Dylan's English skills continue to increase. He only uses one word at a time, but he seems to really understand things that we are telling him and/or asking him to do. A combination of hand gestures also helps! He is already starting to count and has learned alot of his A,B, Cs. He makes Charlie read him Thomas the Train books nightly; I think that Charlie can recite the songs by heart now, so don't be surprised if you hear him break into one soon - ha.ha. Dylan also really likes cows, so we've had to do several visits to Freddy's Farm to visit all the animals that are out behind the ice cream parlor. I don't know if he had cows around his foster home or not, but he really seems to identify with them!

We are heading to MI tomorrow for a week to see my family and have them meet Dylan. We can't wait.

I am attaching some pictures here of some of our latest adventures!

Home Again

Hi all:

Lisa here (not sure why I have to post that, but Charlie likes us to "introduce" ourselves as we post - ha.ha)

It's been awhile since we have last posted. It took awhile to try and get re-settled upon our return home, after almost 3 1/2 weeks on the road!

We arrived back home on Friday, July 10th after flights from Honolulu to Minneapolis, another 5 hr. layover in Minneapolis (again not recommended for 2 three year olds especially when landing at 5 a.m. in the morning!), then on to Philadelphia. Luckily, we had in-seat movie/on-demand entertainment from Honolulu to Minneapolis, so Kyle and Dylan had fun trying out the movies and music over and over again. I also have one recommendation for NWA - don't put your flight attendant call buttons right at hand level for small children. Dylan thought it was fun to ring his about 20 times. I told the stewards repeatedly to stop coming to our row, but to him it was a game to get the light on!!

This week, we have tried to get back to a normal schedule again. On Monday, Charlie went back to work and Kyle went back to Goddard. Both were ready to get back on their own schedules again, even if it means a 5:30 a.m. rise.

Dylan is another story. He is having major sleeping issues. He and Kyle share a room, but he refuses to go to sleep at night. I have to be with him for him to go to bed, then it takes anywhere from 1-3 hrs. for him to fall asleep and for me to be able to leave. Then he will awaken multiple times in the night screaming and crying for me until I appear. I have taken to sleeping on the floor in their room off/on at all times during the night (yes, it is a little hard and lumpy!) Dylan seems to be afraid of something at night (probably just change and a big house now), but it makes us both walking zombies all week, as we are dead tired by Noon most days. Hopefully, in the next week or two, we'll be able to start weaning that behavior a bit. He also doesn't believe in naps most days, so today is one of his extra cranky days!

This week, we had 4 straight days of Doctor appointments ranging from the pediatrician, to the CHOP urologist to the CHOP international adoption team. Overall, he is in quite healthy condition (all bloodwork came back normal, all tests came back normal). He had all of his boosters again in the US, as the pediatrician doesn't fully rely upon the Chinese immunizations. He'll be scheduled for his CHOP surgery in September, to get those issues taken care of.

We are working on boundary issues on not running into the street, not putting magnets in the "on" stove area, not throwing things in the house at anyone. Yesterday, he was hanging off the laundry tub in the laundry room; I guess increasing his arm strength! He has alot to learn with just daily activities of what is allowed and what is not, but seems to be picking up things fairly quickly. He finally is doing much better at sitting in a chair for dinner at home or in a restaurant. He used to want to get up after eating, but now can sit for a few extra minutes. He did his first Brazzo run last night. He and Kyle must have waved to the waitress 10 times during the meal.

He now has "Tigger" and "Pooh" down very well from recognizing them on his Crocs, to his placemat to asking for the Disney show on TV with them in it. He wants it on all the time today, so we'll have monitor our viewings!! He is also walking around with a Leapfrog Alphabet magnet playing it 20 times plus a day, as he is learning the alphabet. He has a few letters down already, and is starting to count to 5 pretty well.

He has quickly adapted to the pets. Initially, he was very scared of our dog, Murphy and especially scared of the cats, Misty and Mocha. Now, he spends a lot of time saying hi to them and following them. He even takes pictures of Misty with his fake camera. The pets are not super appreciative of the noisy toys that are always "on" and the constant action in the house, but they are adapting pretty well. Misty even races the boys to their beds at night, and then sprawls herself out on their built-in bookcases.

This weekend, if the weather holds, we hope to do some activities outdoors as a family. Hopefully, that will help him burn some energy off. His attention span at this time is about 5 min. per toy or event, so that is a little hard to get used to (again).

We are still going through more pictures from China (appears that we took 600-700 of them) so we'll post a few more, once Charlie has time. I am going to attempt to post a picture of Dylan on his "bike" from China + a few other shots. We got these pictures back when I had the orphanage/foster parent pictures developed. I will assume that this is the foster parent's "bike."

Tuesday Night Update - More Photos...

Hi there, C here,

Here are some more photos of the crew...

The boys mugging in Shenyang



In the Park in Dalian City (I think Dylan may have thought this horse was real!)



Big Brother showing Little Brother how to wear swim Goggles!




At the Medical Clinic in GZ just after D-man's Exam...
(We have an identical photo of Kyle when we first adopted him - same pose!!)



The fellas enjoying a quick lunch of Ramen Noodles in GZ.
It was very obvious that Dylan had had these before.
He got every last noodle out of the cup before he would hand it over!



Lisa made me take this one - It's Chairman Mao, in Shenyang.
(He was a lot taller than I thought!)



While we toured the Forbidden City in Shenyang, we stopped for a photo in front of the theater stage in one of the courtyards. This man insisted that he be in our photo, to the sheer entertainment of his group of touring friends. The most excellent MV took this photo.
There were more cameras pointed AT US in the Shenyang Forbidden City, than at any of the other sights during this trip.
A bit unnerving for young Kyle - no bother for the rest of us!



A great candid shot of the Mom's Boy's touring the Mansion of one of the Great Generals of the Revolution.



Yesterday, we took a drive up along the North Shore, making a giant circle of the Island. Our first stop was the North Shore Martketplace.

Here are the boys...



Of course, we stopped for Shave Ice at Matsumoto's, just down the road...



We had a really nice time - good weather - we visited a couple of nice beaches.
He also had lunch at the Turtle Bay Resort at the tip of the North Shore.
He took the highway (H3) back to civilization.

Today we visited the Sea Life Park (where the movie "50 First Dates" - chick flick - was filmed). The boys had another meltdown free day, and we drove home the LONG way. The Park is on the far eastern tip of Oahu, but we drove back along Kamenamena Hwy along the water - another breathtaking drive. Not to worry though, Lisa was there to make sure I kept my eyeballs on the road: "Watch the line!", "This guy's stopping!", Watch it - he's going to pull right out in front of you!" ...you get the idea.
Seriously, we had a really nice day. We supped at the North Shore Marketplace (Breaker's) and enjoyed smoothies from Jamba Juice down near the highway.

Here are some photos from today:

Just after the Dolphin Show, Mom and the Boys posed in front of the tank:



Kyle and Mom getting a chance to touch a live turtle (1 yr. old) while Dylan hung back...



Feeding the Giant Hawaiian Sea Turtles:



At the end of the day a truly miraculous shot of the family (given the fraying emotional state of affairs):



Here is a parting shot for all of you...last night's sunset as seen from our balcony.



With that I'm headed off to sleep...more stories and photos, soon...