Another Good Day...

Hi all,

Just a quick post...it's getting late.

Special-K had a great day at School today - this morning was the first day that he didn't seem upset at all. He saw me head toward the door as I said goodbye, and calmly turned his attention to the piece of toast (the last remainder of his breakfast) he had in front of him. It was a great feeling!

And then this afternoon, he did not break into crocodile tears when I came in to pick him up. Again, first time since he started school!

To cap off the day, he got a lot of walking practice behind his Sesame Street Car Toy. He walks behind it holding onto the back bar for support. He's doing really well - getting more confident every day!

Here are a few pictures:








And finally...a close-up of Kyle, just after eating a lunch of hard boiled eggs.



I guess you could say "The Yolk's on Him!"

I can't even tell you how long I've been waiting to use that!!

Getting late, Kyle's up EARLY, so gotta run.

C

What a Difference 2 Months Makes - Gotcha Day was just Dec. 24!!

Hi all,

Just a few moments of reflection...

Two months ago, to the day - as you can read in this very blog - we were blessed with Kyle.
We thought we were prepared, but deep down it was really difficult to watch Kyle that day.

He got up that morning just like every other day in his life, up to that point. He must have though something was a little off, since he probably didn't ride in cars much - and here he was taking an hour ride into the city. And he was dressed in an outfit that was probably a little odd for him.

Then he rode in the elevator, which was probably something new for him. But something just wasn't right.

Then in the Gotcha Room, things got very stressful very quickly. For some reason, his caretaker kept pointing to 2 people he had never seen before and saying Mama & Dada. Then, just like that, it was over. What the heck just happened???

He was in the now arms of these 2 people - "Who are they and what are they going to do to me?" Why can't I just get back into the car and go back to my crib, and my walker and all of my little friends?

Everything he ever knew was gone.

We felt so bad for him as he frantically searched over our shoulders for the familiar faces of the caretaker that rode in the car with him and also for the Assistant Director, who drove them from the Fengcheng SWI to Nanchang. They were not there. He was utterly inconsolable.

We forced a lot of pictures and videos that day - and Kyle wanted no parts of us or these pictures.
In fact, it was about a week before he laughed for the first time (I'll remember that moment always.) It was about 8 days before he even began to bond with Lisa - the picture we have of this is priceless.

I've tried to tell his story here in words...how he's been getting better every single day, all the things he's accomplished, and all the good times we've shared as a family already. Today we went to the Chinese New Year celebration at the Philadelphia Seaport Museum. Kyle had another great day, he participated in some dancing activities, and he made a Dragon mask.

Today is exactly the sort of day that we are so happy and thankful to have these Gotcha Day photos, as stressful as they were to take.


Only because we can so easily see the transformation that Kyle has made.


The words in this story try to paint a picture...but I won't even clutter the (2) pictures below with words, because I'm not that good of a writer. The one on the left is Gotcha Day; the one on the right is today.

What a difference two months makes!








Gotcha Indeed!!!

More soon...
C

"Steady As He Goes..."

Hi everybody,

Thanks for checking in again.

Kyle continues to thrive here in Harleysville. He's a hit at his Goddard School...chicks dig him. Seriously, he's doing really well. He still gets a little upset when I drop him off in the morning, but his teachers say that he settles down very shortly thereafter. I stopped by this week around lunchtime to spy on him and was very happy to see that he was happily participating in a class activity. In the afternoon, he still cries a little bit when I pick him up. But as soon as I pick him up and hold him he shuts off the crying like flipping a switch!

We're really blessed that he's such a great sleeper. He goes to bed between 7:30 & 8 after his bath. After we leave him in his bedroom we just leave the door open. (He no longer cries when we leave the room.) We have a monitor and hear him taking to himself for 10-15 minutes and then he conks out. All this time we can go about our business, picking up his toys, doing the laundry downstairs, watching TV in the Family Room (with the volume at normal settings!) whatever - he hardly ever fusses. He sometimes coughs a little if he's not feeling well, but even then he usually goes right back to sleep on his own. (He does have a bit of a mischievous streak - he sometimes coughs purposely, knowing that we'll probably come in to see that he's OK; then as soon as we lean into the crib, he lets out a little giggle.) We're very lucky.

He continues to enjoy his bath time:



More to follow soon...
C

School Days!!

Hi Everyone...sorry for the posting lag.
We're all doing really well here in Kyleville.

Thanks to those who have posted comments, keep 'em coming!

Since our last posting, there have been several developments.

Noel & Joanne have returned to Michigan and are getting back into their routines after becoming such a welcome part of ours for the past few weeks. I just wanted to say Thanks to them for all they've done for use to help us acclimate Kyle to his new home. I get the idea that Kyle missses them, since the only "home" he's known up to this point has included them. (Noel, I hope the rib is healing up well.)

Kyle continues to make progress every day - getting stronger and more confident - learninbg that he can make more noises that make people laugh. He's gotten right into the swing of things around here, accompanying us on our amny trips & errands around town. He's very good in restaurants and in stores - he enjoys shopping!

He's taking more & more steps in his quest to string more than 5 steps together before literally falling into the receiver's arms. His routine had been to lean with his back against our family room couch, and reach out as far as he could so that he could take your hand for support before pushing off. He now confidently shoves off himself after gauging the distance and judging that you'll catch him sometime after step#4, but before a faceplant!

We've finally started to make prints from our digital photos. We took nearly 1,000 of them!

Here is a photo some of you have seen - it's our adoption announcement:



As of last week, Kyle has started at the Goddard School. He went 2 days last weeks (1/2 Days only) to get used to it. He did great!

This week he starts full days. Today was Day #1. Again, he got excellent reports from his teachers. As I picked him up today, I hung just outside the door to peek in. He seemed right at home, reading a small book and interacting with a few of his new little friends while waiting for me. As I walked in, he saw me and burst into tears!!! I'm not sure why, because as soon as I picked him up, and started to get him ready to head out, he began telling me about his day! He seemed a lot more vocal and quite happy on the ride home. He didn't fall asleep and managed to get all the way through the Baby Einstein "Baby Beethoven" DVD I played for him.

It's all good since he chowed on snacks on the ride home, ate a good dinner, got a bath (absolutely loves bath time and gets sort of giddy when he hears the tub faucet running) and went down to sleep almost immediately.

In conjunction with Kyle's school days, Lisa has returned to work. She seemed to have a good day - no dirty diapers would make anyone's days more enjoyable, work or not!

Again, thanks for all of your kind wishes here on the weblog, we look forward to the comments.

Here are a few more photos...



Enjoy - Talk to y'all soon!

C