10 months home....

Calvin has been home 10 months and 1 week.  It feels like he has always been apart of our family. He tells me he loves me through out the day for no reason. He hugs my legs, and is just the sweetest little guy.  He is eating everything again, for awhile he was being picky. I think it was a control thing for him. He will say he doesn't like something but I tell him he has to still eat it. This is usually what happens when I serve asparagus. He always complies.
He is healing well from his surgery. He is back to his normal self. When we did get back from the hospital though, he had a few nightmares and was talking about 'them' getting him. I told him daddy locks the door and will fight 'them'. We tell him he will always be with us forever and ever. He smiles when we say this.
Now that Calvin is able to communicate verbally with us, he has been talking about Bulgaria. He will tell us things out of the blue like, he ate oatmeal for breakfast and ate pretzels for snack in Bulgaria. He also told us he played in a swing.
He is doing well with his occupational therapy. He was at a 21 month year old, but his therapist says he is not around a 3 year old. He doesn't enjoy physical therapy as much, it is more difficult for him. We have signed him up at 2 places for preschool and waiting to hear which one will accept him. Both are very close to our home and he will be able to get ot and pt there.
Do we have some behavior issues sometimes, yes. He is just like a typical 3/4 year old. His biggest issue is control. I have learned to give him choices and this helps him and keeps the tantrums down to almost non existent.

 Calvin doing some fine motor activities at home

Calvin and mommy 

He is now watching tv these day, some days I tell him he can't watch tv and he cries. I remember when he came home he couldn't watch 3 min of tv. His favorites are curious george, little people and wiggles. He loves music and loves teasing his sisters.  Calvin loves to sing Amazing Grace and The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round. He also loves me reading to him before bed. Calvin's biggest accomplishment so far is that he can now ride a tricycle and he is learning to ride a big boy bike with training wheels.  We are so excited for this summer.  We are really looking to the Bulgarian Reunion in Ohio. I don't think he will appreciate it much this year, but I sure will.

Calvin turns 4

 Mickey Mouse Party

Mickey Mouse cupcakes

This was a special day for us. We missed celebrating Calvin's first 3 birthdays. Our son is finally home. We are so thankful that his birth-mom chose life and that God chose us to be his parents. We are so blessed. Happy Birthday Calvin, we love you son.

Hospital Stay

After we got back from our Disney Cruise, Calvin had a doctors appointment to see if a mass in his body had gotten smaller or not. He had a CT done under anesthesia, and they still saw it there. After he woke up (not happy mind you) they then sent me to talk to a surgeon. The surgeon said they wanted to put a needle in and pull out the fluid and biopsy it to see what was in there. They still couldn't tell after the CT, MRI and X ray's they have done on Calvin the last 6 months.
So they scheduled us to come in the following week to have the biopsy done. I asked my mother in law to pick the girls up from school and brings some clothes in case we might have to spend the night. So glad she did, because we ended up having to stay at the hospital for 5 nights.
To make a long story short, the doctors found a sponge inside his cavity, next to his lung. They had to make an incision between his ribs and pull it out, but it wasn't easy. He had to have a drain tube in his chest and this is what kept us in the hospital. Calvin wasn't too happy about having his blood taken each morning (many tears) and he was in some pain from the tube. He is home now, still recovering. I am praying we don't have to have any more doctor visits other than yearly check ups with his cardiologists. We are also hoping to take him off his blood thinners when he starts preschool.

Our next adventure is Calvin's birthday party this coming weekend, he turns 4 and has requested a Mickey Mouse theme.

Disney Cruise over spring break

It has been awhile since I last update, sorry folks. Calvin had a wonderful time on our Disney Cruise, and so did the rest of the gang. He was so excited to see all the characters, with Mickey and Minnie being his favorite.
It took a while to convince him we were actually on a boat. After our first excursion he finally realized it when we had to walk back to the boat. We all had a wonderful time swimming, eating, swimming with dolphins, plays at night and Calvin's favorite was dancing.
Once we got home I came up with a great idea of writing a book on what not to do with your adoptive child on a cruise. Of course it was a Disney cruise, which means they cater to the kids and families. We would be eating breakfast outside on the deck and servers would walk past, feed Calvin, touch him, talk to him etc. He just loved it of course (seeing he is already so out going). He would say ' mommy, feed me', 'mommy, hug me'. Telling me he was being fed and touched by others. What do ya do in that situation? So a word of advice sit your child between you and your spouse so no one can get to them! To help him with boundaries we have been telling Calvin we only hug and kiss family. We give high fives to friends and we don't talk to strangers. Well, on the cruise you have to hug the disney characters right? He was having a blast! ' Look mommy kissing Mickey'.

 Calvin head butted and kissed all the characters

 Snow white gave him a kiss, and he is reaching to hug her! Oh well.

 Daddy and Calvin dressed for formal night

 Pirate night on the boat

A dolphin swimming behind Calvin in Mexico