10 weeks as a family

I just did the math and tomorrow marks 10 weeks since little Bo joined our lives. What a crazy roller coaster it has been. He is making incredible progress and after a rough start to the week he seemed to really turn a corner.

On Monday morning I went on a field trip with the Koalas over to the Ag school at LSU. We had a fun time, although Bo made me carry him for about an hour and a half so I was exhausted. I also got to meet some of the other kids in his class's parents. We all walked from the center over to the field trip, towing the kids in wagons and double strollers. It was a sight to see as 4 classes went together so we had about 40 kids and probably 25 adults. I think Bo caught onto the idea that a lot of kids were crying when their mommies left so he decided to latch onto me and throw a fit when I tried to leave him at lunchtime. I did my best to calm him down but could tell that the only thing that was going to work was going home so that's what we did. To an outsider it probably looked like I was giving in too easy but after the weekend we had just had I knew that Bo was still in grieving mode and so I gave in. I was mean mommy at home though because I had a ton of work to get done so I made him play quietly in his room for an hour and then we did "nap time" which is basically him watching a movie next to me on the couch without any toys.

Tuesday came and at 11:15 I got a call that Bo was hiding under a table and wouldn't come out to get his blood sugar checked. I talked it over with his teacher and after about 10 minutes he came out and all was well again. I had to pick him up since it was a day Ryan had class after school so I went to get him around 3:45.

Wednesday again Bo showed a little reluctance going into school and then at lunch his blood sugar was high and he started crying right around lunchtime. He settled down and did take a nap but I went and picked him up at 2:30 and decided we were going to have some good one on one time at the pool. The pool is Bo's new favorite thing and I like that he gets good exercise and we bond while I drag him around by his floaties. He doesn't swim yet but is getting braver each trip over there with getting his face wet and even taking off the swimmies and walking along the edge where he can touch the bottom. I know it's just a matter of weeks and he will be swimming full speed.

After our little mommy and me day he seemed to finally turn the corner and Thursday and Friday were both good days. Friday afternoon we went to his pediatrician for more immunizations and we finally did the cryo-treatment on one wart he had near his elbow and a small one on his neck. It took 3 of us to hold him down again and he was not happy with me but again once we hit the car and got a Sonic sundae to split he was OK again.

Saturday we went to the pool, then we went to a going away party for Richard, his classmate who speaks Mandarin and is moving next week, followed by another party for a co-worker's son who turned 2. It was an eventful day but Bo held up quite well and he really enjoyed the motorized car at Preston's house and the Elmo bouncy house at Gabriel's birthday.

So every day now Bo is starting to use new words. This week he started using "okay" "more" "no more" "thank you" and "cold". It's so funny when he just randomly uses a new English word in a Chinese sentence like it's no big deal. Ryan and I both feel like he is about to take off in terms of speaking in English.

One of our cameras came back so we have a few new photos to share from the weekend.

Spring Break

This week was filled with fun and excitement as I had the week off for Spring Break. Friday of last week was our only real day all to ourselves though, as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday Bo went to daycare, Tuesday the three of us went to the dietician and I received training to give Bo insulin shots, and Thursday we went on another dental visit - this time to New Orleans for an oral surgeon that was recommended by the Children's Hospital. This dental visit was well worth it as the surgeon was much more friendly and understanding (though he also made a point to tell us on at least 3 or 4 occasions that Bo is not 4 1/2 because he has at least a few permanent six-year molars in place. The oral surgeon intends to pull 4 teeth in his office instead of the initially suggested 8 at the hospital.

This age discrepancy situation is making us feel better about our consideration to enroll Bo in kindergarten in the fall rather than daycare for another year.

Every morning at 6:50, like clockwork, Bo wakes up and wants to play Kung Fu Panda video game, or now a Buzz Lightyear game that we happened upon on the Mac when we were looking for pictures of Toy Story. He now sees the laptop as nothing more than a toy, fun fun fun!

We have watched Toy Story and/or Toy Story 2 nightly (he can't seem to get enough of them), and he is enjoying the Ultraman Season 1 dvd set that we found courtesy of Amazon. Though these are dubbed in English, Bo really enjoys them as they seem to comfort him and bring him back to China. Bo did have the crazy idea that Toys-R-Us would have aisles full of Buzz Lightyear action figures just like Al's Toy Barn on Toy Story 2 - but it was not to be. I guess they are waiting for the film to be re-released in 3d in the fall to stock up on Buzz action figures once again (or when Toy Story 3 comes out next June).

Yesterday was a rainy and dreary day in Baton Rouge, so we headed towards the local Children's Museum and caught an IMAX movie about Sea Monsters, and Bo got to see some fighter planes. We were surprised about Bo's reaction as we left around 4:30 (the museum was closing and it was about time to get home to cook dinner, etc), but Bo threw a major tantrum the whole drive home (which included a nice 20 minute traffic delay because we chose to drive by the football stadium right before the spring game).

***(This is Alison now: this was the worst Bo tantrum yet, and really surprised us because he has been going days without one and we were having such a good time before it happened. Usually Bo is dragging us out of places early but it was the opposite at the museum. I've noticed a few signs over the past few days that pointed me to the fact that Bo is finally starting to grieve over the loss of his old life in China. He has the spaced out look on his face more often and he has been especially clingy to me. I expected this and it's probably healthy to go through this stage but it's also rather sad to see him so easily distraught. When we got home from the museum he was still crying and going on 30 minutes so I took him into his bathroom and stripped him out of his dirty clothes, used a cold washcloth on his forehead to cool him down, then we went into his room and I offered him some of his China clothes. He chose to wear the peach quilted pants that he was wearing as one of his layers the day we met. He immediately calmed down and went straight to playing with Legos. Today we went to the neighborhood pool and afterwards Bo again chose to wear China clothes, this time his camo pants. I try to get him to wear them all the time and he refuses so this was definitely another sign that he is struggling with choosing between his two worlds. In my international adoption "bible" it says to put a book together with photos from the child's earlier life and them meeting you and then some photos from their new life so you can talk about it and show that you understand what a big change they have been through. Now with the added reality that Bo may be closer to 6 than 4.5 that puts his age at separation from his birth parents at around 4 instead of not quite 3, so I think his memories of them might be quite strong even though it has been 2 years since he has seen them. I'm sure we will learn more once his English improves and I can't wait until then.)***

Today our community pool opened and Bo and Alison stopped by for a while after we attended the first 4 innings of an LSU Baseball blowout loss (ranked the #1 college team in the nation, yet we have not witnessed them scoring a run in either of the two games that we have gone to). I have no doubt that Bo will want to attend frequently as the weather warms up.

Sorry, no pictures to include during this post, but the good news is that Olympus is currently fixing both of our broken cameras, and we should have them back within the next week or so.

Another week goes by...

This past week was full of excitement for Bo.

The week started with an endocrinnologist visit for Bo, and Alison finally got her way and got to cut down on Bo's nightly insulin dose before bed. After a week of low blood-sugar levels at 4am, we were very thankful to not have to wake him up and feed him every morning/night. We are pretty sure that Bo is grateful too.

We got to be psycho diabetes parents for the first time, as we had to circumvent the daycare Easter party that included cupcakes and candy-filled eggs. Alison prepared for this by purchasing empty eggs and sugar-free candy which would be switched with whatever Bo found during the egg hunt. I arrived as quickly as I could, and removed him before the cupcakes were served to the class.

We had our first overnight visitors (Amy and Jason), so Bo had an opportunity to take his baths in our rarely used (read: NEVER USED) whirlpool tub (which he loved), and he got to sleep with us in the big bed (with the dogs of course).

Bo got along well with Uncle Jason, but I think he is still unsure of what to think of Auntie Amy (and I believe that she shares these same feelings - not everyone speaks 4 year old!).

Saturday we went to the zoo, which Bo enjoyed for the first 45 minutes. Thankfully, we are now official zoo members, and we can continue these 45 minute long visits until we have seen each of the animals. Bo took a good nap and slept during his car ride from the zoo to his first crawfish boil at Rob and Candace's. He wasn't too keen on this (though he did enjoy the crawfish and shrimp that he tried), and Bo and I headed home after about an hour and a half at the party. Alison is still under the impression that he was stuffing his face with the seafood because he understood that we would go home after he ate. Our return home was right up Bo's alley as we made our way home to play Kung Fu Panda on the newly discovered XBOX 360 and ate french fries and hushpuppies with LOTS of ketchup.

On Easter Sunday I got out of bed a bit before Bo and hid eggs filled with a few toys on our back patio, and after discovering the first egg or two he figured out the game and enjoyed playing with his new toys all day.

The hottest new toy in our home is the plasma car, courtesy of Miss Becky. Bo is carving a path around our patio nightly and getting very adept at his 360 maneuvers (and Alison enjoys riding it as well).

Somewhere over the past month Bo became an official Louisianian as he now wears full gloves, ski cap and winter coat when the temperature goes below 70 degrees. Alison picked him up from school on Tuesday afternoon and he was wearing his gloves during nap time. According to Ms. Carolyn, he took his gloves off for food and nothing else.

This week's words were: Yogurt, Thank You, Banana, grapes and the phrase "I LOOOOOOOVE KUNG FUUUUUUUUUU!"

This week's major interests were: Toy Story, Bakagon that he received in the Easter Basket, and continued requests to watch the Letter Factory DVD while drawing his letters on a whiteboard. We also introduced the game 'Trouble' (thank you Weko family!) today, and he counted out all of his moves using English numbers.

New foods introduced this week that he enjoyed: hushpuppies, Danimals yogurts, ham or chicken salad sandwiches, and sugar free jelly beans (the kid is smart enough to always hand me the licorice ones and save the good ones for himself!).

Ryan

Quick Recap of Bo's Recent Activities

So with school and doctors and just adjusting to his new life in general, Bo has been pretty busy. He has however kept up a pretty active social life so here's a recap of some of those activites and a few anecdotes from fun times at home.

Bo has had a few visitors at his house so far. Last weekend he got to meet Madison Smith, a potential babysitter, along with her father Dave. He had also had visits from Mr. Nile and Tom and Becky Wendahl over the past few weeks. Next weekend he will have his first over-night guests when Amy and Jason come to visit from Houston.

Bo has been to 4 different playgrounds (BREC rocks) and he loves swings of all shapes and sizes. He likes slides too but chooses to run up them instead of slide down them. I think it's a boy thing. I don't let him run up the tall ones because they are only safety designed for sliding downward but he has fun climbing the short ones so it's a good compromise.

Bo has been to two dinner parties at other kids houses. Last weekend it was an NCAA March Madness night over at Rob's house to play with Abby and Robbie. Bo was really into Robbie's Playstation and watched intently as they played a Sonic the Hedgehog type game. However, he did his usual thing which is eat dinner in about 5 minutes and then want to leave. Last night we went over to the Stanton's house and played with their kids (Jack and Sydney) as well as little Gabriel who was also over for dinner. Bo did very well and played on a bunch of bikes and tried out the jungle gym they have in their backyard. He is getting better at playing with other kids, probably from being at school every day and getting more confidence. I also think his English is getting better (understanding it spoken, not necessarily speaking it himself).

I have left him home alone with Ryan twice for more than a quick trip to the grocery store. Last weekend I went for a massage and while I was gone and Ryan was mowing the lawn Bo helped himself to a regular Kool-Aid. We have those stashed away in case of low blood sugar but Bo just helped himself. When I got home he got a special shot of insulin to correct. This weekend I decided to go for a manicure and left with Bo all ready to eat lunch, mac-n-cheese in the microwave. Well, Bo refused to eat the mac-n-cheese so Ryan made him a bowl of ramen soup. While it was cooling on the counter Bo decided to grab it and carry it over to the table himself. He then proceeded to drop it and it spilled all over the kitchen floor. Then he dropped on all fours and started eating noodles off the floor and cried as Ryan started cleaning it up. Luckily there was a spare brick of ramen in the pantry and Ryan cooked Bo his third attempt at a meal and all was well. Bo is a super-active, 100% boy four-year old so you have to be anticipating every way he can hurt himself or break something all of the time because given any freedom one or both will happen. Ryan has spring break the week after Easter so we may have some more funny stories then.

Earlier today Bo learned that the silly white box on top of Baba's TV is a magic cube that plays a Kung Fu Panda game. And yet another XBox junkie is born! I had to go out and buy an egg timer so we can set limits on Bo's playing. This morning I had to practically drag him away from it to eat lunch and then when I did he realized he was feeling shaky and freaked out. His blood sugar was 46 (note to fat people: playing xbox burns calories!). Then I had to drag him out of the house to run some errands this afternoon and on the way home all he could talk about was Kung Fu. I think we have created a monster, although I did use this new obsession for some good too. I now have some leverage in our little battles over getting dressed, getting out of the bath, etc. I just say "no more Kung Fu" and he quickly does whatever I asked him to do and then kisses me. This is probably not what is recommended by Family Circle magazine but whatever works go with it, right?

And last but not least in the bragging how great our kid is category, Bo is now sleeping all by himself in his room. Friday night before bed I showed him that I would sit with him until he fell asleep and then I would go into my room and sleep there and then in the morning he could come in and wake me up. It worked like a charm. We still have to go in his room at 4 AM to test his blood but the rest of the night I sleep much better. Not getting kicked in the kidneys makes sleep so much more enjoyable. Plus Bo is falling asleep between 9:30 and 10 now so we still have a little time to get organized for the day ahead and to watch some of our shows on TV.

This week is a 4 day week for Ryan and Bo because they both have Good Friday off. It's supposed to be gorgeous weather next weekend so we will probably go down to New Orleans and visit the zoo. I haven't been posting as many pictures because both of our small cameras are broken right now and I am stuck using a larger one and I always forget the camera bag when we leave the house. I'll try to take some good pictures at the zoo.

Bo Goes to the Dentist

His new smile, minus one tooth on the lower right

Recovering from the dentist, Boo is making sure he doesn't drop any food on the floor!

So Bo is still enjoying school and I worked two full days Monday and Tuesday. On Tuesday ryan picked Bo up from school and took him to his class at LSU from 4:30 to 5:30. While Bo was good during class, coloring in his coloringbook most of the time, I definitely think it was too long a day for him because he was a royal pain last night, on the verge of tears about every little thing. So luckily Ryan doesn't have that class the next two weeks and then we'll have to rethink Tuesdays. This morning I took Bo to his first dentist's appointment and it was quite an experience for both of us. The hygenist came out and greeted us and gave Bo a sticker and let him pick a new toothbrush out. She then proceeded to tell me that she would have no problem with him because she is used to non-verbal kids from working with autistic children. I felt like telling her that he isn't non-verbal, she just doesn't speak his language, but I bit my tongue and smiled and she took Bo into her room all smiles. Bo has had a loose tooth (baby tooth) the past few days and I guess it was really hurting in the X-ray room because he decided to yank it out himself! I don't think he was quite prepared for the pain or the blood that followed and he screamed so loud the building shook. I was out in the waiting room for this whole ordeal because they don't let you go back with the hygenist so she got to enjoy Bo's rage all on her own. When she finally finished his cleaning and brought him back to me they both looked a bit worn down and Bo was still sobbing quietly. I picked him up and he melted into my arms and settled down. Next I got to talk to the dentist who informed me that Bo's teeth are as bad as I had feared and we are going to have to remove 5 or 6 of them, which will require an out-patient surgery at the hospital because it's too invasive to do in his office. Bo already has a lot of permanent teeth in or coming in so some of these teeth are just making room for the permanent ones. The hygenist was kind enough to tell me (bluntly) that Bo is probably more like 6 years old than 4.5 based on his teeth that he has. I've always thought he's probably a few months older than his Chinese info states but I didn't really need a rude hygenist to tell me that my kid is two years older than I think he is. His paperwork is what it is so he's just going to stay four and a half (sorry, Barbara)! And if he really is older he'll just have an advantage in little league so why start down a path you will never get an answer to? Just another expample of the joys of older child adoption and how inconsiderate people are. So after the dentist informs me that he is going to completely rearrange my child's mouth in a few weeks and under general anesthesia I get the pleasure of speaking to his office manager about how much it's going to cost and how neither my dental nor my medical insurance will cover the cost of the hospital or anesthesia. Why is it we want this great private healthcare again? It would suck so bad to live where you don't spend half an hour holding your recently sobbing child while some lady named Jan tells you how many thousands of dollars you will need to pay upfront or else they can't schedule the operating room for a necessary procedure. Anyway, I tested Bo's bloodsugar in the car after this wonderful ordeal and he was 47 so we went straight to the Sonic drive-through for a caramel sundae and headed home. I couldn't bear to drop him off at school in his condition so I have been working all afternoon while he watched Madagascar and practiced his letters.