New Years 2010

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photos, Aug. - Nov.

first day of school

Boba Fett

With cousins Katie and Aidan

dolphin cruise in Orange Beach

cousin Katie

cousin Aidan

at the zoo

It's been a while

Life around here seems to move at the speed of light. Bo and Ryan started school in August and it has been just one event after another. I can't believe we are a week away from Thanksgiving break. It's definitely very needed. Ryan works about 18 hours a day, with 72 5th graders to teach and multiple administrators to keep happy. Being a first year teacher is hell fore anyone but being a first year teacher at his school has its own flavor of hell. Bo is learning so much in Kindergarten. We have some problems behaviorally but educationally he is progressing quite well. If we could tie large bricks to his feet when he arrives at school each morning it might keep him seated long enough to stay out of trouble. He is an energetic, extroverted, and curious kid who is a bit more than his teacher can handle at times (after observing his class I am not concerned about Bo, it's her first year and she has a hard time keeping all the kids engaged). We are in a special reading program at school and he is doing well, even reading words now on his own! He has many friends and has assimilated quite nicely into his new American life. His favorite things are currently Spiderman and Star Wars. Most days he comes home from school and changes right into a costume, with Spiderman being his favorite. We took a weekend trip over to Orange Beach, Alabama in September and we are planning a Disney trip the week of Christmas. Ryan is getting his wisdom teeth removed Thanksgiving week so we'll be here in town and will probably hit up the LSU - Arkansas tailgating. Bo went to his first LSU football game a few weeks ago v. Tulane. He enjoys going to tailgates and throwing a football with the other boys. Friday the 13th of Nov. was a crazy day as I finally had Bo's 7 teeth removed. We delayed it as long as we could but it was starting to hurt him so we had the procedure performed. Bo was a trooper and I survived a few diabetes related mini-crises before and after the procedure. It's always fun sedating a kid with Type 1. We had blood sugars of 42,57,39, and 35 all in one day. The last one made me pull out the glucagon because he was still under from the sedative. Bo's diabetes control has improved a lot but he's still a growing kid (4" in 8 months) so growth spurts and hormones make it fun some days. I vary from pure bliss to exhaustion throughout the day but wouldn't give it up for anything! I love that Bo and I can now have conversations about things. His vocabulary is amazing. He was progressing quite well but then Kindergarten just completely turned it up a notch. I just read through some of our earlier posts where we mentioned new words he was learning at the time. Now I don't even notice new words, I just assume he knows them all and sometimes I have to stop myself and ask him if he understands me. We spent time with Ryan's grandparents last weekend and they hadn't seen Bo since August so they were amazed at how much he knows. He started asking for a sibling recently (a sister) so Ryan and I are researching where to go next. You can tell when we go out in public that he loves playing with other kids and he almost stalks the girls who live across the street, trying to find opportunities to play with them. You can have a lot of toys but nothing is quite like having somebody else to play with. Bo is begging me to take him to the playground so I need to wrap it up. I will add a bunch of photos. Take care!

End of Summer

Hi All,

This is way overdue but the summer has flown by and life here is crazy. Ryan started teaching last Friday (4th grade) and Bo has been through all of his assessments and will be attending Kindergarten at the same school starting Thursday. Transitions like this are never easy but they are particularly difficult when the to-be Kindergartener still has a low English vocabulary and he is diabetic. Luckily Dad will be in the building should any issues arise.

Bo had his Preschool graduation from LSUCCC last week. It was really cute and we are sad to see all of his Koala buddies head off to different schools. Hopefully Bo will make new friends at Parkview and then he can stay there for the next 5 years (or as long as we live here in LA).

I'll try to take photos on the first day of school but here are a few recent ones for now. Also one video clip with Ms. Carolyn (preK teacher) talking about all the kids in his class

-Alison

Bo's Birthday Party

His birthday isn't until Wednesday (July 1st) but we had an awesome party yesterday, Transformers themed! Three of Bo's friends from school came and he showed them his room and his toys and then we played with water balloons and water guns. It felt very good to get wet because it was almost 100 degrees out. For his birthday Bo got a new bike which he enjoys riding around the neighborhood with us.

May/ June Update - Almost at 4 months

Graduation Day Pictures.

Summer fun: just add sprinkler!

Well, we're almost at the 4 month point and the changes in Bo and our family are incredible. In the past month Bo met his Nai Nai Marsha, Nai Nai Karen, and his great grandparents Tom and Joanne. Ryan graduated from LSU on May 15th and we had a fun time celebrating afterwards with some end of season crawfish - yum! I had two hand surgeries this past month and Bo was very sweet to me and let me carry him with one hand instead of two each time (LOL). He's growing up fast and really becoming his own little person. His English is getting so good I almost forget he doesn't understand it all sometimes. He has been speaking in broken phrases at home and finally started speaking a little at school. About a week and a half ago his teacher told Ryan that Bo had called her Ms. Carolyn for the first time. She was so excited. That was on a Thursday and by the next Tuesday when I asked about it the teachers told me that he's been calling his friends at school by name and he says "OK" and "yes/ no/ no more/ thank you" quite a bit. He acts liek he doesn't want to go to school each morning, which we attribute to general laziness and wanting to play video games all day. Once he gets to school he enters the classroom smiling and he has no issues of homesickness, etc. during the day. So we do whatever it takes to get him out the door in the morning and then all is well. He went through his "aw, man" phase a couple weeks ago where that was his response for everything we said.

Me: "Bo get dressed" Him: "aw, man"

Me: "brush your teeth:. Him: "aw, man"

and so on. Literally 30 times a day, I was pulling my teeth out to not hear any more aw mans.

Now he has switched to "good job", as in I bring him a sippy cup of milk and he says "Good job, mama". This is much sweeter than the aw, man phase and I am truly enjoying it. Such an ego boost to be complimented on every little thing you do during the day. He is also very good at his "thank you" and tonight at dinner after scarfing down two bowls of jambalaya I gave him a piece of sugar free cake and he took a bite of it then kissed me. Such a sweetheart!

Speaking of sweetheart, Bo made it through his first babysitting experience quite well. His babysitter was 12 yr old Ashley (and her mom and dad nearby). She kept him happy for 2.5 hrs and when I picked him up to go home he grabbed her arm and tried to drag her into the car. Seems he was smitten with her and wanted to take this new playmate home with him. He really is such a ladies man and at school he still plays mostly with the girls. It really makes sense when you think that most of the orphanage workers are female. Being nice to women was a survival instinct and it stuck. He's all boy in his play time but when he needs something is when he pours on the charm.

Swimming is still his favorite hobby by far and he is currently in swim classes. He swims very well under water and is trying to learn how to stay on the surface. It would probably help if he had an ounce of body fat because his skinny butt sinks so fast. We'll see if 4 more classes helps. Ryan took Bo to Blue Bayou last week and they both got season passes so I expect they will go there once a week in the afternoon. With my pump water parks are a challenge so I will probably only join them once or twice over the summer. For now, it's a boy activity and I am just fine with that.

We'll be in PA visiting the rest of the Hawkins clan July 2-8th and will definitely attend a softball game while we're there to catch up with the old gang. Hope to see some of you then!

Happy Mother's Day

Right after his haircutOn the ferris wheel bottom of the super slide

camera shy...


First of all I apologize it has been 2 weeks since my last post. I think our frequency of posts will probably go down to once a month from now on, but we will try to take good photos so we can all share in the fun of Bo Bo.

Big events the past few weeks were a new haircut, a school carnival, and lots of trips to the pool. Ryan finished up his student teaching last week so now he handles both drop-off and pick-up for school and Bo gets picked up about an hour earlier than he was when we were both working. We also went to Bo's endocrinologist this past week and she said he is done with "intensive therapy" which means he's about as well controlled as a kid his age is going to be so we don't need to send in blood sugars as frequently and he doesn't need to see her for another three months.

I am having two more hand surgeries soon so I have been working at getting Bo to walk with me and hold my hand (instead of being carried everywhere). My surgeon gave me a lecture on how our bodies usually start out carrying an 8 lb baby and then we get stronger as they get heavier. So starting out at 40 lbs is a major toll on the joints. Honestly I have been having problems in my right middle finger since about this time last year but with the adoption approaching I couldn't do the surgery so I put it off. Right before we left for China my left middle finger started to trigger and it got worse very quickly. I am actually having that finger done first since it will have a speedier recovery and I should have full function of that hand before I get the other finger done two weeks later. Anyway, just another reason why the blog may suffer a little over the next month.

Bo seems to have turned the corner since my last post. No more mourning behaviors and he has really taken off on the English. He says a lot of "this one", "that way", "more/ no more", "OK", and similar articles and nouns. Tonight he was playing XBox with Ryan and when Ryan got them past a level he said "good job, Baba" as clear as day. We try not to make too much of a big deal out of new words when he uses them because I don't want him to be self-conscious. I usually just repeat what he said so he knows I understood him and then continue on. I asked his teacher and she said he still doesn't speak English at school so I think he is a bit afraid to use his new words outside the family but he's probably not that far away from that either.

So today was my first Mother's Day and it was pretty good. I got to sleep in until 9 and woke up to breakfast cooking in the oven. Ryan and Bo went to the supermarket last night and Bo picked out flowers for me: pink roses! He tries to get me to buy flowers all the time so I think he really enjoyed this. And he made me a gift at school last week, which he proceeded to open up in the car on the way home Friday afternoon :) It is a cute windwill bird-feeder which the kids helped assemble and paint taking multiple days to complete. It is proudly on display in our living room! If I can say anything about Bo it is that he really enjoys giving gifts.

Our summer plans are starting to shape up. We are going to PA for the 4th of July (and Ryan's Birthday, Bo's B-day, and Grandpa John's B-day). We haven't bought our plane tickets yet but we'll probably be up there from the 1st to the 8th. We might take another trip in early August right before Ryan starts teaching, but we haven't decided where yet. Bo really needs to meet his cousins but not sure if that will take us to Michigan or to a joint vacation somewhere else. It stinks to live a plane ride away from all of your family.

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