Jaden is 5! :-)

Jaden turned 5 on May 30th.  Wow, how did that happen?  (As always, questions like "how did another year go so quickly" are answered “one day at a time.”)

It has been quite an amazing year for him and for us.  He has enjoyed it and has changed so much!  I was looking back at several pictures and have compiled some “then and now” pictures below.

Jaden has been in his family for almost 500 days now (it will be officially be 500 days on Wednesday, June 4th).  He was 1332 days old when we got him, so he has been with us for over a quarter of his life now.

(Incidentally, he will have been with us for half of his life on September 14, 2016 and Katie will have been with us for half of her life on February 25, 2016.)

Looking back to the time around his 4th birthday, at that time he was speaking about 200 English words (quite the accomplishment for having never heard the English language until four months prior).  And now he is essentially fluent in the English language (for his age).  There are still times when he pops up with ways to say things that make us stop and wonder “in what context did he hear that?”

The only area where he tends to struggle is with gender / pronouns (he, she, his, hers, etc). In Chinese there is no gender associated with pronouns.  "He" or "she" would simple be “ta” and he was old enough that this was wired into his brain pretty firmly.  As strange as it seems to us for him to continue to struggle with this issue, we know that of course it will eventually be a non-issue.

His writing skills have come along amazingly well in the past year (when we got him he had never held a crayon), but he does still have a way to go on his reading abilities … but again that will be taken care of with time.  He will be repeating Pre-K to allow him a chance to catch up (and allowing us to have him an extra year at the end of his schooling!)

He continues to be a happy kid overall, being glad to go to school, glad to go to the office, glad to go to the park, glad to go to church, etc.

He especially enjoyed each of our trips during the past year.  He gets great joy out of going on trips and really likes to go to new hotels or to fly somewhere.  When we finished our 24+ hour trip home from China with Katie, we hadn't left the airport when he was saying “I miss the airport” and wanting to know when we would go on another trip!

The biggest event in his life as a 4 year old of course was going to China and bringing Katie home.  He was excited to become a Gege, and tends to introduce Katie as “my baby.”

He has done incredibly well as a big brother, sharing very well and for the most part accepting that his new sister will have to get priority for our time.  Admittedly he has been more needy and clingy at times (no surprise there), and at times will tell us “You have two babies” which is his cue that he wants us to “baby” him a little, too.

Lately he and Katie and I (Tim) have been going to the park at the YMCA while Tracy, Mitch and (when she is in Okmulgee) Laura go play racquetball.  Katie pretty much requires my full attention while at the park, and I was worried that this would be a problem.  For the most part, though, Jaden plays with whatever other kids are there and enjoys himself.  When he needs some Dad time he asks to go over to the swings so I can push him.  It has been good to see him working on his social skills and learning to interact with a variety of other kids.  One of the areas that he has continued to need to mature in has been his interaction with other children.

He was a joy to watch as he and Katie opened presents Friday night.  We went ahead and had them both celebrate together since their birthdays are two days apart, and rather than just ripping into one present after another he took time between presents to play with them.    (Although I do think that at his office birthday party he may have been a little more on speed-opening mode!)

Anyway, while it is hard to believe that he is 5 it is also hard to believe that is was only 16 months ago that we got to hold him for the first time.

HERE ARE THE "THEN and NOW" PICTURES 

First day of Pre-K

Last day of Pre-K

One month already and Jaden finished his first year of school!

Well, we've been home 2 weeks now and things are settling in.

I had my first  Mother's Day as a mom of four. I'm amazed by the fact that I have 4 kids.  I hope things stay as easy as they have been so far.  Jaden continues to do well as a big brother and the big kids continue to be supportive and helpful as well.

Some things are a little different now.  Just 16 months ago,  Tim and I were empty nesters with a quiet house and full cabinets.  How weird is that?  Now we have 6 people at the dinner table and a perpetual grocery list.  The house is decorated with pink stuff and Legos.

It is amazing how much more laundry we have.  Instead of the pretty little gazebo we had been considering we now have Fort Sanford and a plastic kiddy pool and a water table. 

Instead of my quiet oasis of relaxation, the bathroom is now an indoor splash park. 

Alright, so things aren't really just "a little" different.  :)  Would I do it all over again?  Absolutely.

Jaden finished his first year of school and did very well.  Our goal for pre-K this year was not that he would be a reader or comfortable in math but simply that he learn to enjoy school and start to learn social skills.  If he was given a letter grade for each of those he'd probably get an A+ and a B respectively.  He is still working on his social skills but then, aren't we all?  He has not developed the best "filters" yet and will repeat anything he hears at school.  Ugh.  He loved school this year (well, except Spanish) and even asked to go back shortly after returning from China.  He will do Pre-K again this year and will hopefully be ready to tackle more of the "academics."   Hopefully this time next year he will know all of his letters and numbers but even if he doesn't, if he is continuing to work on his first two goals, all will be well. 

August 2013

May 15, 2014 (Hasn't he grown?!)

He is still such a character.  When he and Tim left for church, leaving me and little sister behind, he came to me and very seriously said, "Now remember, don't let anyone in the house while I'm gone.  Wait, you can let in my people--Laura, Daddy, Gege or Laila (Laura's roommate) but nobody else!"  I think the Snow White video we watched last week really affected him.  :)

Mitch and Laura are both moving on to new academic challenges.  Mitch finished undergrad and is going to start med school in August.  Laura is about to take her part 1 boards for med school and is FINISHED with the book work!

Katie is growing every day.  She has had lots of firsts...she met her Aunt Tami and Uncle Felix, Nai Nai and YeYe, cousin Brody, Uncle Danny and Auntie, jumped into the pool (over and over and over) after watching her xiao gege do it, went to the zoo, had her first shopping trip with just the girls; how much her life has changed in just a month!

She is also learning some words now...Mama, Dada, Gege, Sister, Jay, kitty, pretty, UP!, dog, bye-bye, hi, Katie, that.  She understands many, many more and has found a few that she dislikes including "no" and "gentle."  We are still using some sign language with her to try to help her communicate until she can speak and she knows several signs...up, milk, more, ball.   She is enjoying books, especially Hop on Pop and Go, Dog, Go.  We had a major accomplishment today, she used the potty chair!  Whoot.  She is not nearly ready to potty train but at least we can start.  As far as her comfort level here, she still wants to be held if we are out of the house but is much more independent when we are home.  She is starting to be less frightened of strangers but we still have a long way to go on that front.  She doesn't get nearly as nervous out in public if people are talking to me and ignoring her, but if people want to try to talk her to she gets very anxious.  She has 2 doctors appointments (new patient physical and dental exam) coming up soon and I am not looking forward to them.  She is not likely to be happy when they want to examine her.  Prayers please!

One week home!

Tim here with some home-for-one-week thoughts

At 8:08 Monday night I turned off Jaden's light after we finished our last book.  (Tracy had already settled Katie into bed for the night, and Katie was either asleep or very close to it.)  And I realized that exactly one week ago (at just after 8 PM) we were landing at the Tulsa airport, ready to start the next part of our adventure.

And I realized that our home life has already settled into a new routine.  (Granted, some of the routine will probably change in the weeks ahead, like the midnight Cheerios snack that Katie likes to have and some other aspects of our routine.)

And I also realized that our perception of time is a strange thing ... For example, it sure seems like we have been home for much more than one week ... and while in some ways it seemed like we were gone to China for a long time, in other ways it seemed that our time in China went more quickly this time than it did with Jaden's adoption.

Anyway, thinking about these things set my thoughts in a one-week-home flight of ideas moment, so here are some random comments and observations that came to mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's a lot harder to do stuff one-armed ... holding baby in the other arm really tends to make tasks more challenging ... But that's certainly a good trade off!

Being awake at midnight or 2 AM or 4 AM when you child cannot sleep is really pretty easy to take with grace if you stop and think about how much you had been dreaming of having time with your child over the past eight months.

Love wins. (This is a repeat thought from Jaden's adoption blog, but every bit as true for Katie)

Jaden is a super big brother ... but Jaden still wants to be the "baby" sometimes
Jaden plays the big kids card for stuff he wants (certain toys or foods) ... "Big kids get to do this, but it's not for babies.  Sorry, Meimei"
Jaden shares really really really really well ... he shares his stuff better than I do.
Jaden is patient and waits for a turn when Katie is in our laps or our arms or is taking our attention ... usually with good grace

      

Oklahoma spring is great and it is great to share it with Katie.  This morning we spent a lot of time outside and for a while she just stood and watched the wind blowing the trees around.  It was cool to see her enjoying it so much.

 
Katie likes to swing ... and Jaden likes to push her or to swing next to her and to tell me when her swing is slowing down.

   

Love wins.

God is good. (This is also a repeat thought from Jaden's adoption blog, but every bit as true for Katie). :-)

Based on all of the pictures that we had ever seen of her before the adoption, we wondered what her personality would be like and if Katie would ever smile ... and if so how long it would take ... now she smiles and giggles all day long (reference previous two comments)

Katie likes to laugh when she hears Jaden laughing, and sometimes they will just go back and forth laughing at each other.

Katie has already learned several words ... Mama, Dada, Gege, Sister, kitty, doggy, pretty, up.

Katie was unsure of the cats at first, but she warms up to them quickly and "kitty" was one if the first words she added once we got home.  It is taking her a little longer to get used to Doug, which makes sense since he is about 140 pounds of giant furriness.  But she is making great strides about Doug and is ok to stand near him now as long as one of us is nearby.  She actively seeks out the cats and will go over to them when they are lying down and will talk to them and try to pet them.

   

An 8:00 bedtime is awesome sometimes ... But the challenge is getting the kids asleep first ... Just sayin'!

Cheerios at midnight is fun if you have a 23 month old to feed you.

Love wins.

Katie slept very soundly in China ... Not so much here so far ... She is more likely to wake here, although she does tend to sleep more soundly once the sun comes up (which matches the sun being down in China) and sometimes we have to wake her in the mornings to try to get her on Oklahoma time.

If Katie wakes in the night she usually lies quietly in bed and does her adorable leg kick thing (or sometimes she does an arm flop) ... Sometimes she pokes us or pats / rubs our arms or backs.

I really thought we were done with these!
   

... And I certainly did not foresee driving around Tulsa looking at several locations for the perfect nipples.  (Wow, did I just type that?)  Anyway, I don't remember the style of bottle nipples being a problem with our first two kiddos, but part of that may be due to the fact that they were not still needing bottles at 23 months of age.  Unfortunately Katie had not been fed any solid foods at all at the orphanage ... when we first got her she had no idea what to do with solid foods.  Tracy started working with her, and she made progress quickly but at times she would just hold solid foods in her mouth ... sometimes we would get little bits of solids back from her several hours later (she would just hold food in her cheeks and would not be willing to get rid of it until we offered her more food at the next meal.)

Katie's entire face crinkles up she she laughs big or smiles big.  It is adorable.

Love wins.

Katie giggled at Laura all the way home from the airport.  Katie is in a back-facing car seat and Laura sat in the far back.  At Glenpool Laura said, "my face hurts from smiling so much."  :-)

Katie's first interaction with Mitch was not so smooth.  She had not had any exposure to males at the orphanage other than her surgical team, and she had been been very leery of me for 10-12 days in China and has continued to be leery of other men.  So it was odd that she just walked over and sat in Mitch's lap when he got home from college ... She was happy and relaxed with him, at least until she saw me enter the room and she realized that Mitch was not me!  ... Not a happy surprise for her, in case you are wondering how she took that realization.

Katie likes dresses, but she especially seems to like the dress on Belle from Beauty and the Beast.
 
She continues to be shy and standoffish with most people ... She still needs to cocoon from people and figure out this new world she is in with all of its new sounds and sights and smells ... So : sorry to everyone who wants to meet her and hold her and talk to her and touch her, and if we run into you at walmart and we try to shelter her, please understand.  Thanks.

And one final thought ... I miss Hong Kong and China, but you've got to love being home in the good old USA!!