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."