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Thursday, December 9, 2010

Life As We Know It

First of all, I need to apologize for leaving you guys hanging for so many days.  Especially those of you who don't live near and haven't visited.

Life with Parker is grand.  We had a good flight home from China.  Parker wasn't really interested in watching the movies (must be because the foster family only allowed him to "watch 30 minutes of cartoons a day as to protect his eyes.")  We still get a chuckle from that!  Instead of watching tv on the plane, he shredded his headphones and then wanted us to fix them.  Repeatedly.  As in every 5 minutes.  It was ok.  After awhile, I got so good at that I could do it without taking my eyes off my movie!  :o)

He only slept for about 4 1/2 hours total on both flights so by time we got home, he was exhausted.  It was 4:00am China time, by the way!  We were greeted at the airport by neighbors and friends and it was so awesome to see everyone that prayed this baby home get a chance to finally meet him and love on him.  

Since we've been home, Parker is really struggling with potty training.  He's getting used to our big potties here in the US and isn't crying or resisting as much as before.  We've actually had some success yesterday and today so I'm hoping we're on the road to a diaper-free lifestyle!  

His temperament is great.  He's very happy and content most of the time.  He still gets angry when we tell him that he can't do something or when we tell him no.  But we've been showing firmness with kindness and he's showing less and less anger.  I know part of it is just being a 3 year old and part of it is being part of a new family.  He loves to talk on the phone and has his hand out every time one of us is on the the phone.  He will say, "Ky-lo" when he gets on the phone and then attempt to repeat what you tell him to say.  He also just talks in Chinese, which cracks me up because he leans back and starts chatting on the phone like he's talking to an old friend.  So cute!  He says I love you so much (I law bu soooooo macheeeee) which is my favorite.  He also gives kisses and hugs, usually at bedtime when we're snuggling with him or first thing in the morning when he wakes up.  

He L.O.V.E.S. his daddy, whom he calls Ba Ba.  When he sleeps with us, he loves to put his head on his daddy's pillow.  But, since he doesn't really like to sleep on a pillow, he ends up sleeping sideways in the bed between us. Thank goodness he's short!  He's had some bad dreams and has been kicking, punching, pinching, and scratching whatever he can grab.  Vuong actually has a pretty big scratch on his back from Parker scratching him one night.  Since we've been home, Parker has been suffering from some jet lag.  He's been waking up between 1 and 3am and wants to get up and play.  Vuong got up with him the first night and stayed up for about 2 hours.  The next night I got up with him but I didn't take him out of the bed.  We talked for a while and then he went to sleep.  The third night,  he was up for about an hour in the bed talking and playing and wouldn't get quiet when I asked him to.  He was also trying to wake Vuong up.  This was also the night before Vuong had to go back to work.  So, I moved him to his own room and we fell asleep in his bed. The following night, we started out in his room which he did NOT like.  This was Tuesday night and he had started crying about almost anything that day.  Taking a nap, taking a bath, getting in his chair for dinner, going to bed.  It could be some grieving  or just that he's really tired.  Either way, I just loved on him until he felt better.  He got up at 1:40am and didn't go back to sleep until about 4:30am.  He was back up at 6:30am.  Last night, he FINALLY slept ALL NIGHT!  Whew!

Many of you have asked about his bath.  He LOVES his bath now.  He still sits in one place and asks me to help him get the toys that have floated to the other end instead of getting them himself.  But he's learned how to move the water around with his hands to get to the toys to come closer.  He's also gotten much better as letting me rinse his hair.  Bath times are no longer stressful times for him.  Thank goodness for that, because for those of you who know me know that I am the QUEEN of baths!

The dogs came home from Mary's on Monday afternoon.  He was terrified of them.  He was cringing in the corner of the sofa and wouldn't take his eyes off of them.   By the end of the evening, he was kind of okay with them sitting on the same sofa, though if they looked at him, he would start whining.  He's very particular, and so he was upset that the dogs weren't chewing on the bones or toys that HE wanted them to.  Then he was upset because the dogs were leaving their bones and toys on the carpet and not putting them back in the basket.  Sometimes I wonder if he might have a bit of OCD.  He worries about things all the time-- the doors and drawers aren't closed; buttons on coats or shirts have to be buttoned all the way from the top to the bottom; jackets and sweaters have to be zipped to the top; there can't be an food or liquid on the table and if there is, you have to clean it RIGHT AWAY; he doesn't like ANY food on his face or around his mouth on the plastic bib we've been putting on him; and the list goes on.  We'll see if these are just behaviors he's learned from his foster family or if there really is a problem as time goes by.

Anyway, back to the dogs.  He still doesn't prefer for them to be near him, but as long as they aren't jumping on or near him, he's ok.  He doesn't want to walk around when the dogs are out because he's afraid they will jump on him.  I do think that with time, he'll learn to love them. 

And that's it for this post.  I could go on and on with more, but I'll save something for next time.  Next week, we'll be going to the dentist and maybe a few other specialists to see how he is and if there's anything we can do to help him catch up.  I'll elaborate on that more later when I have more information.

Thanks to all those LURKERS who've been reading my blog daily but haven't had the guts to comment.  I do feel blessed to have so many caring friends who've shared this experience with me!

Steph

3 comments:

  1. I bet someday he'll learn a vauluble lesson:"A dog is a man's BEST friend." -coleman mcnee wilson

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  2. I am so glad you are sharing your adventure! So much fun! I am so happy for you and hope you keep up the postings!

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  3. we'll keep watching to see him come around to those dogs!

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