Jaden did exceptionally well with the whole thing. My big worry was that he would wake up and be sad or frightened about not being allowed food or water. God showed up in a big way on this! Jaden woke up relatively easily just before we needed to leave. We left him in his jammies in hopes that he would fall back asleep as we made the 45 minute drive. He did. :)
When we got to the hospital, he was very serious and would only go with his Baba but he never asked for anything to eat or drink. It was a good 2.5 hours from the time he woke until he got his sleepy syrup (Versed) and he never asked for anything, even when he saw others in the waiting room eating and/or drinking. Entirely a "God thing" because normally he wants something to drink and eat nearly constantly. After his sleepy syrup, the nursing staff came and wheeled him away on his bed and he just waved at us. Not a single tear was shed. They waited until they had used gas to make him sleep to start his IV and so he never had that fear to deal with either. The dentist said that he didn't cry a single tear in the surgery suite either. We got to go to him in recovery before he had awakened and he basically woke up in his Baba's arms. He ended up getting one dose of pain meds and otherwise he did super. He really didn't seem to have any pain after the first day. His teeth look great. She said that she found a few other areas while she had him under and she went ahead and repaired them so he got 6 root canals and 4 fillings total.
Now that that is behind us and we received all of his lab back (yeah! normal) we can breathe a sigh of relief.
He went to his first day of "school" yesterday with me. He and I went and visited a local private school called Stonebridge. They are very accommodating and allowed him to come into the class that he would be in next year even though he is, of course, too young for that class right now. It was incredible. The class is small, maybe 12 kids, and the teacher was wonderful. When we got there, Ms. Wann was already preparing them for Jaden. They were all so excited to have him visit and were very sweet to him. One of the little girls is also adopted from China and was stuck to him the whole morning. It was very cute to watch although during the morning, she asked me why he didn't understand her. She asked, "Is he French?" and the teacher replied that he was Chinese like her. To which Nellie replied, "I'm not Chinese, I was born here!" Ms. Wann responded easily with a simple, "Okay." and a smile. I know the family and I am quite sure they were not keeping this from her so who knows what that was about? Jaden did very well with most things. He was bored during book time but otherwise he seemed engaged. It is times like this though that I am reminded about how much he has missed. They had a Play-Doh center and it was fun watching him discover Play-Doh. He had obviously never seen it before and once I showed him how to use it, he was fascinated. He loved stringing beads, even the small ones and was a pro after he saw the others do it first. The teacher handed him a pair of safety scissors to do the work sheets they were working on and he just looked at them. He had no idea how to use them. It makes me sad to see some of these gaps in his experience. Not because he doesn't know how to use scissors but simply because it reminds me of that sterile white orphanage without a single toy or crayon or book.
(and for my daughter the expert "reframer" I can say at least he had 3 weeks of his life in the children's hospital in Shanghai where he did get to play with some toys)
But right now he is at his play table at home, learning the joys of scissors!
The only trouble we had the first day was when we were leaving and they all wanted to hug him. He was ok with the first couple and then he had had enough! One of the little guys asked why he didn't want a hug. When I tried to explain that he didn't really understand about hugs a whole lot, the little boy was so cute! He grabbed another boy standing beside him and said "Look, Jaden! This is how you hug!" and demonstrated a great bear hug. Too cute.
Tim took him back again this morning for another 3 hour visit and said he had a great time and seemed very comfortable. The director was very kind and invited Jaden to come in for the remaining few weeks of school on the Tiny Tot days and spend 2 afternoons a week visiting so that he will get to know the kids that will be moving up and will be in his class in the fall. We aren't going to try to leave him there at all until the fall but we are going to try to make as many of those Tiny tot days as we can when one of us can stay with him for the class time. The lady that teaches that class is also wonderful and even volunteered to come to our office and meet him there some first so that he would be comfortable! Have I said in this blog how awesome our friends/church/community has been about loving our son? I'll try to add some pictures a little later, but I wanted to get this done while Jaden is entertained.
Blessings, y'all.
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