Progress

1. Calvin loves water now, meaning he plays in the bubble bath, plays in the turtle swim pool, runs through the sprinkler in the back yard.

2. He loves to pray...he reminds us to pray before meals, at bed time and through out the day. Tonight he was praying himself, in broken English, thanking God for his home and car. He loves the car.

3. He is singing Twinkle Twinkle, Jesus Loves Me, and getting better at Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.

4. Beginning to be choosy with food. Turned peas and carrots away yesterday at dinner. He was asking for 'puddin', which I put in front of him and told him to eat his peas and carrots for some pudding. After a few tears, he did.

5. Understands us very well, better than he speaks.

6. When the phone rings he says' daddy'. Daddy is usually the one calling us from work.

7. Says hot, open, close, thank you, pray, pudding, yogurt, drink, milk, water, juice, banana, apple sauce night night, see you in the morning (says this when he lays down to sleep at nap and bedtime). Yells at the girls to stop, asks for his pacifier, diaper, lets me know when he goes pee pee or poopie. Says mommy!

8. He was rubbing Cathryn's head when she hurt herself, and was saying okay and kissing her. Too cute. He kisses his bear good night, and kisses us when we ask.

9. He is happy and teases. He is fun.

10. Still not interested in tv, sitting for a book or sitting for long periods of time. Learns well to music and sings well too. He ask for music (the radio to be turned on).

I love him so much, and am so thankful for this gift God has given us.

I look at him sometimes and feel sad for his biological mom, how she is missing out on this little blessing. He is so adorable and such a ray of sunshine. He is stubborn, gets scared and insecure but we love him for who he is.

pictures ..

Playing with play dough

snuggles after playing in the water

Calvin now sings Jesus loves me, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and counts when he walks up and down the stairs. He counts up to 5. Such a smart little boy.

Busy week for Calvin...

This past Saturday my mom flew into town from Alabama to see her first grandson and her grand daughters too! Calvin calls her baba, even though we have tried to get him to call her granny. There have been kisses and hugs but no picking up or helping him. He was shy when she first got into the car at the airport but by dinner time he was running around outside and playing and doing just fine.

This week has been a very busy one for Calvin. He had his peds appointment Monday. Our doctor had to make referrals for us to the cardiology and the urologist (he needs to be circumcised). We also noticed he vomits (in his mouth, through out the day) so we had to go to radiology this morning at the children's hospital. The appointment this morning he did great. He wasn't allowed to eat or drink so we had a 8am appointment. He had to drink some pink raspberry flavored stuff and then lie down (strapped in with velcro) and they did watched the fluid move through his tummy and intestines. Everything looked fine! Great, except we still don't know why he is vomitting and how to stop it. I personally think it is so he can have a 'second meal' and he forces himself out of habit. This is not good, mainly because of his teeth. He has many cavities (brown spots on his teeth). So not sure what to do now, any suggestions? Anyone else experience this with their kids?

Calvin has an appointment with the cardiologist in October!!! When we were at our primary care physician on Monday he said he didn't hear any murmurs and his heart sounded great! What a praise. He was also weighed and is 28pds. Calvin eats everything and is learning to be more patient for his food. He says 'yum yums coming?', over and over. He says about 2 new words a day, yesterday was all done and please. He says good night at bed time, bubbles for bathtime and brush for brushing his teeth. He loves to brush his teeth, have his diaper changed and bath now.

My favorite time of day though is bed time. I rock him in my arms in the rocking chair, we read a story, sing some songs and cuddle. He is a precious gift from God. He is doing very well, we lay him down for naps and bedtime and he will talk and play for about 30 minutes and then go to sleep sucking his finger.

This past week home..

We have had some good days and not so good days!. What is considered a good day you ask? No tantrums (or not many). We did go one day with no tantrums, it was lovely. He was affectionate, cuddly and smiley. The other days he was grumpy and not happy ( Thursday was tantrum after tantrum). It seems like he has most of his tantrums in the morning and gets better through the day. Evenings are the most enjoyable. What are his tantrums about? Anything! Changes from one day to the next. So this doesn't help me much.

He loves to go in the car and ask all the time to go in the car. We always go for a walk in the morning (he loves outside, probably because he doesn't know how to play). He loves all food, says banana, and water now too. He loves singing twinkle twinkle little star. He doesn't want to learn any other songs. He will start singing twinkle in the middle of me teaching him another song. He said thank you for the first time today in English, what a surprise that was.

I am trying to put some weight on him. Thanks to Viviane, fellow blogger, she suggested making pudding with pediasure to put some weight on him. He eats this for snack time or dessert before bed. I have only been giving him juice at breakfast (prune) so he isn't drinking as much during the day now. He doesn't love water. This past Wednesday he was very constipated so I bought him some prune juice and he drinks this at breakfast. It has really helped him. We have never had a problem with loose bowls (most adoptive parents do because of the change in the children's diet when they come home). Calvin has always had 'pellets' in his diaper since the day we picked him up. Now he is doing better with his bowl movements. Calvin is still prefering me to anyone else. He wants me to do most things for him and no one else. He has some good moments with Chris but I am not sure if he thinks Chris is a caregiver and not part of the family. The girls and I are with him all day, but Chris only comes home for dinner and sees Calvin for 2 hrs each day. I am trying to let Chris do more on the weekends to bond with Calvin, and to give me a break too and spend some time on the girls. Calvin has not had any problems at night sleeping which is wonderful. He doesn't need me anymore during nap time to sit by his crib, he just goes to sleep. At night one of us will sit with him for 30 minutes (sometimes he is asleep by then and other times not)If he isn't we still leave, and he has been fine with this too. He doesn't cry in the mornings for us when he wakes up. I have a baby monitor in my room and know when he wakes up. It is usually around 7:15, the last 2 mornings it has been 8am. Then I go in and he smiles at me and sits up.

The girls just love him to pieces and he laughs when they laugh and wants to do what they do. He still isn't keen on the sandbox or turtle swimming pool. The girls were on their slip and slide today and yesterday and he wanted to join in, so he just walked down it. That was fun enough for him. Today after dinner we went to the public swimming pool the last hour it was open. There was hardly anyone there, which was great. He did so much better than I thought he would, I was sure we would have to leave after 5 minutes. He walked around in the baby pool for about 5 min and wanted to leave. So we went in the big pool. He was fine as long as he was in my arms and we did sit on the stairs most of the time. The girls had so much fun jumping off the diving board and going down the water slide. They have been begging me to go and see them. Chris usually takes them and I have stayed home with Calvin. All in all he is doing very well. I would say he is like a 2 yr old emotionally rather than a 3 yr old. However he is ready to be potty trained and I am having to change him quiet a bit because he tells me all the time when he has gone pee pee or poopie.

I am still trying to figure out his tantrums and what sets them off, if anything, and how to manage him during these times. I just feel like holding time makes him more angry and he wants to bite me or himself. The verse in the bible keeps going through my mind about parents not making your child angry! Any suggestions welcomed!