Bulldozers 101

So, this is what Godfathers are good for!

Thanks Steve, for making my little man so happy!

And just so you know, he said Mommy's a goober, Steve is awesome on the ride home.

Gee, thanks for that too.

Sand and Surf!

So, what's your guess?  Did he loathe or love his first beach day? Do you think he sat in the beach chair for hours on end because he didn't like the sand and was afraid of the big wide ocean?

Well.....he was definitely careful to contemplate the awesomeness of it.......

For about 2 minutes!

Then he spent hours running!

And jumping.

In and out of the surf.



Back and Forth.



Up and down Kiawah.



I have a feeling we will be spending quite a bit of our summer here!



How Is It Really Going?

Mostly, it is going very well.  I've told you we have a happy, healthy bouncing baby boy!  He is the sweetest little booger around.  He wakes up, bleary eyed but happy each morning and ready to wreak havoc tackle the day.  First he tackles his brothers in full-on bear hugs, usually before they have even gotten out of their bunks! 

First time in at Monkey Joe's for our little monkey!

He dresses himself.....and redresses himself until he finds just the right combination of pants and shirt that he wants.  Oh. my.  That drives me only slightly nuts!  I honestly have no idea what he is doing, but he is seriously picky about his clothes.  Even Isabel can choose an outfit and stick with it usually!

And, he is totally in love with "Cwars".  That would be Cars to you and me.  Not sure where the w comes from, but it is absolutely adorable and I will not let anyone correct him!  He loves the movie, the toys and anything and everything with cwars on it!  We've watched the movie two or twenty times in the last month.  Just so you know.  And praise the Lord, our clothing supplier {that would be Charlene and little, but bigger than Asher, CJ} must have totally been into Cars too, because there must have been 5 Cars shirts in the latest deposit of hand-me-downs.  Talk about excited! 

Showing off one of his many beloved Cwars shirts!

It was a sad day when I would not let him wear the dirty "Cwars" shirt he pulled out of the hamper last week after discovering that there weren't any clean ones left.  Woody and Buzz Lightyear became the back-up choices.  Poor Woody. 

Once dressed and brushed, the boy is ready for cereal.  Cereal.  That was one of his first consistent English words.  Who knew cereal was so important!  That boy loves him some Cereal though!  He can put away two bowls.....and a yogurt and a banana if they happen to be around.  This one is going to be the one that bankrupts us at Whole Foods. 

He is slightly less motivated to do chores though.  Okay, he down right hates them.  And he only has one beyond the regular clean-up-behind-yourself stuff.  He has to fold kitchen rags and dish towels.  What?  It's the entry level chore around these parts.....and well, he's entry level!  So the mean mom that I am, I make him sit until he does it.  Oh, for crying out loud!  There is only one load every few days anyway.  And Claire does half.  She's still entry level.  But, the emperor balks at doing chores for some reason!  So Claire does hers and off she goes.  That motivates him!  Until next time, when he refuses again and has to stay.  Again. 

Oh well, bud.  You came to the wrong family to get out of chores.  Just ask Parker and Noah! They have been trying for 12 years and haven't had any success. 

Another English word he uses a lot.....I mean besides "no"?  Bicycle!  That boy loves to ride his bicycle in the driveway.  Problem is, he wants to do it every morning!  He pitched a fit because I said no this morning and told him that it was raining.  That did not compute.  Finally, after arguing with him for a few minutes it dawned on me {poor guy, mom is slow}, that he had no clue what I meant.  So, I parked his little self on the front stoop.  And held my hands out and said "rain!".  He caught on. 

He also loves to play with toys.  All kinds of toys!  Right now the doctor kit is a favorite.  He also likes to fight over toys with Claire.  That has been one of the hardest things.  See, Claire is going through her own little issues right now too.  Half the time, she loves Asher to pieces and even says so!   The other half....not so much. 

{Most of the time} they love playing together and have a ton of fun!

Claire loves her little brother!

Asher has a tendency to snatch toys and he will hide things under his legs when he is done playing with them, just so she can't have them.  If you make him share with her, he pitches a fit.  Yes, screaming and kicking are involved in fit pitching.  And Claire?  She is fed up!  So now she is snatching toys and whining when she doesn't get her way and pitching fits too. 

Great day!

If Claire sits in my lap, Asher has to sit in my lap.  If Asher gets a hug from someone, Claire wants to know why they didn't hug her.  If you say something nice to Asher, you had better say something nice to Claire.  Claire hugged a stranger {to her, someone I know}, the other day, because Asher did.  Claire doesn't always want to hug us!  She would never hug a stranger!  But, there was no way Asher was getting a hug and she wasn't. 

Aside from the fact that the boy packs away food like he is going into hibernation, I have to say I'm impressed with his eating.  In China, he was soooo very picky.  And, he wanted mostly junk.  Here?  Well, it's kinda funny.  I put the plate of food in front of him.  He says no and shakes his head.  I say yes and nod.  Then we all ignore him and begin to eat.  He sits.  And watches.  And then?  He eats.  It's kind of a "if you can't beat um, join um" thing.  But, he usually eats it all And asks for more!  So, I think he is just resisting the new foods, until he tastes them and decides they aren't all that bad after all.  Whew!  So glad we don't have food issues.

The boy loves his bath, loves riding in the car, doesn't mind his car seat and sits {mostly} quietly for church!  What more could we ask for?

Future Shadowmoss Shark!

Except maybe a little more sleep.  That would be nice. 

Asher {mostly} sleeps through the night.  But, he cries out in his sleep some and even thrashes around.  He is saying "no, no" when this happens.  I have no idea what is going on, but I know he isn't awake.  We can usually settle him down easily.  But, it happens as often as three times a night or not at all.  There is no rhyme nor reason to it, either. 

But, he sure loves his snuggles in the morning! 

I'm not gonna lie.  Adoption is not for wimps.  There are times when I think I'm at the end of my rope with two preschoolers running around. 

Then, I look down and find there is always more rope.  Some days I'd like to use that rope to tie them up!  But, mostly I'm having a blast! 

My handsome guys!

And pretty girls!

Yes!

YES!

We are still here!

YES!

We have been very busy with our busy boy!

YES!

We have had a few appointments that have helped us get to know our boy better. 

Want to know what we found out? 

I bet you do!

First off, and this came as no surprise to us at this point, there is no evidence {as seen with the naked eye} that Asher has CP.  Cerebral Palsy.  You know, his "special need".  Cerebral Palsy is what got him on the waiting child list.  Cerebral Palsy can be a pretty scary diagnosis, especially when all you know is what is on a few sheets of paper known in the adoption world as "a medical file".  And all you can see are a couple of grainy old photos.  So, I believe Cerebral Palsy is the reason that boy waited and waited on the list. 

We didn't have a CT scan and see no reason for one at this point.  He pretty much looks and acts like an ordinary extraordinary three year old boy!

Like any good international adoption parents, we also had him tested for everything under the sun.  Eleven vials of blood, one urine specimen and a stool sample later {TMI?}......WE STILL HAVE A HEALTHY BOY!  Everything that needed to, came back negative. 

Some even better news is that Asher's titers came back that all the vaccines he had in China were good!  So, he is actually up to date on all that and won't need anything until he turns four. 

What else did we learn?

We learned that Asher has a head full of cavities!  Bad genetics?  Too much junk?  Not enough brushing?  I don't know.  Probably a combo deal.  It doesn't matter now, anyway.  We have a head full of cavities so we just have to deal with it. 

By-the-way, he really enjoyed tolerated going to the dentist really well.  He followed Claire's lead all the way.  She had an appointment too, so we used this as an opportunity to let him see how it was done.  And it worked! 

Claire hopped in the chair for her annual x-rays!

Asher hopped in the chair...



And tried to give himself the x-rays!



Oh, that boy of mine!



What can you do....except snap pictures, of course!

Then it was time for cleanings.  Claire used to only sit in my lap, but with little brother watching?  Well, there was no way she wasn't going all the way this time!  Up in the big chair is the only way to go when showing little brother's how it's done. 

Open wide!

Monkey see, monkey do!

Good news for Claire! 

No cavities!



Bad news for Asher.

He's going to loose a few damaged front teeth.

Needs a few crowns.



And about a dozen fillings.

Great visit for Claire and her pretty smile.



And well, Asher got on his zebra and rode off .....'cause it seemed like the thing to do at a time like this.  You know, with all this dental work to look forward too.

It's what I would do!



First Days

So far, Asher has stolen the hearts of many here in Charleston, SC.  He flirts with our friends, enchants the neighbors and has his Godparents and Grandparents right where he wants them! 

Isabel is smitten.....and her mother-hen tendencies have kicked in big time!

And big brothers?

Are the bomb!

Especially when they play basketball with you, and give you piggy back rides.  And they boys say that we can keep him because he is at least as cute as YoYo! 

Whew.  Thank goodness for that!

For Asher's part, he has learned their English names, but continues to call them GeGe (GuhGuh for big brother) and JieJie (GiaGia for big sister). 

The English word he uses constantly? 

No.

Hmmmm, I wonder why?

The rest of the language is not so interesting to him yet.



His first church experience wasn't so bad.  He actually sat for all of the service and was......well, not as noisy as usual for him!  I personally, was very impressed because I figured one of us was going to missing church for a while until Asher got acclimated to the situation.  We will see how next week goes.



This boy?  Is fearless!  He climbs, runs and jumps with total abandon!  His exuberance is refreshing.....and also a little scary for Mama! 



And, after his first doctor's appointment, during which 11 vials of blood were drawn for a battery of tests, Mama took him to get a little bicycle.  I know it was an indulgence.  But with all the other boy stuff we already had, it was the only thing we needed to buy.  

And Claire is so thankful not to have to share her's anymore! 

Because, that was not her favorite part of having a little brother.



I just knew you wanted to see picture proof!