In the clear, says cardiologist!

Yay!! It's the news we expected, given how small his VSD heart murmur was, at 2 mm at his 7 or 8 month old checkup and echo, but it was nice to hear it from our pediatric cardiologist yesterday. He said there is no need to get another echo done unless we just wanted to for our own curiosity of seeing how much it's closed since his last one. He said he can tell by listening that it is smaller than 2 mm now. And it was small as it was then! It has never affected his health and the doc says even if it never gets any smaller we'll never need to do anything and Jamie will be fine, even as an old man. Yay!! We will wait a few years to see if his umbilical hernia entirely closes on its own. It doesn't look like anything anymore so it is closing. They suspect it'll be closed by the time he's 4 or so. So that's the latest report. ;-)

Jacqueline

I guess he wasn't quite ready

Apparently Jamie wasn't quite ready for being babysat yet. We really were going based on how he seemed to be doing which of course you know is great; trusting and happy, talking up a storm, etc. He also loves going to Mimi and Grandaddy's house. He was happy having Mimi doing stuff w/ him alone a few weeks ago while I sat in her library reading for 30 minutes. Well this time everything seemed to be going fine. David and I dropped him off and he was happily doing things with his grandparents. David and I were gone about 2.5 hrs out to dinner. We called a few times during the meal to see how he was doing. For most of the time they said he was really happy and his typical self; not really seeming to miss us at all. But then about 10 minutes or so before we got back there he started being out of sorts and looking around with nothing that previously pleased him pleasing him. He seemed to be looking for us and unsettled. I went in first and he wanted me and of course David came in and he really wanted David (David being his favorite person still!) We got out to the car and we could tell by the way he was acting and looking, he was acting exactly like he did on the first and second day we had him. Completely stunned. And quiet. Not one peep on the way home. He continued to be that way for the rest of the evening. He just sat on David's lap somewhat listlessly and looked around in a stunned way and didn't talk at all. Poor little man.

We really thought he seemed so ready. None of us ever would have done that had we known how he would react. And the fact he was obviously enjoying himself at his grandparent's house for most of the time threw us too. Maybe it was that last bit of time? Once home, none of the evening activities he normally gets excited about did anything to perk him up. He didn't even talk during his bath which is normally a major source of joy for him. :-( This morning he was still subdued but thankfully after nap today he was acting like himself again and talking/chattering away. I guess we'll have to wait a while before we do babysitting again and maybe next time make it a one hour little coffee run or something.

David and I felt just awful, seeing him regress and act shell-shocked again. What a flashback to day 2! It just made me feel sick for him, wondering if we damaged any of his trust when he was so clearly at ease with us. So all of that is to say if you're bringing home your newly adopted child, it may or may not work out having people the child normally enjoys being around babysit in the first couple of months. Some kids do just fine with it. I know my Chinese niece did fine with it even in first month home. I would have thought that would have been Jamie based on all the signs. But oh well.

Dinner was great, by the way. We enjoyed eating various appetizers at the Cheesecake Factory. Didn't actually eat dessert. ;-) It was so nice getting to have just the two of us but we'll be okay waiting awhile before we do that again. It was just too much for Jamie too soon I guess.

Buh Buh, Duh Duh!

Or as we would say it, " Bye Bye, Doctor!!" and said in a non-cheerful voice. This is the second simple sentence Jamie has put together and it sure made me laugh (the first was nigh nigh Mama and also the first time he called me mama last week.)

During Jamie's doctor visit on Friday, the doctor had to go out of the room at one point and return. Shortly after he returned is when Jamie basically told him to leave by saying buh buh duh duh. Whenever we tell him something is, " Not for Jamie" he always says bye bye to us and tries to shoo us with his hand away, so I guess he wanted that doctor GONE. After that Jamie got a couple of shots. He sure didn't like duh duh! But the doctor gave him a truck sticker at the end of the visit so that made him get over his anger. ;-)

Jamie loved Christmas eve. He was in his element at Mimi's house, running with the other cousins, playing with Mimi's vacuum and brooms, etc. There were between 25 and 30 of us, most of whom Jamie sees on a regular basis at Sunday lunches at Mimi's. It was nice. Jamie was delighted to discover that two of his presents that evening were a child-sized vacuum complete w/ noise and lights and a child-sized broom. Today Jamie has been trying to sweep our carpet and sometimes the kitchen floor with the broom, all the while making vacuum noises with his mouth. He's a little confused there, lol. Very cute.

Christmas day we went to visit David's dad and step mom next state up, a drive of about 1 hr 40 minutes so longest Jamie has been in a car. David sat in the back with him while I drove so they played and Jamie did really well. David's dad played some acoustic guitar while we were there and Jamie seemed to really enjoy it and he even strummed it a little. Jamie also enjoys filming things with our flip camera and even went over and tried to film some of the guitar and his Papa Joel playing it. We'll have to send them the video. ;-)

I had typed more here but it all just got deleted some how and I have to go do other stuff, sorry!

All of the pictures I've posted here are from Christmas day. We didn't have our camera with us on Christmas eve b/c we couldn't find our charger and the camera was dead. So I'll post pictures that relatives send us once we have them. You can see several from our Christmas morning in our living room (with our cat Zoe ever present, lol) and then ones from our trip to visit David's dad and his family up where they live. ;-)

I think he called me mama!

Twice now Jamie has pointed at me and said "Mama!" So, I *think* he's starting the get the idea. He did it once today and once yesterday. We'll see. But I did say, " Where is mama?" and he pointed outside, so, um....maybe not yet. ;-)

Jamie continues to impress me with his ability to understand what we're saying to him. He keeps trying to say things but no one but David and I would know much of what he is saying b/c he continues to do mostly specific variations on the d's and various vowels put together to make words like snowman (day day or something like that.) Spending all of your day with a toddler though makes you get really good at understanding what they're saying even though no one else would!

The other night when we were putting him to bed he was looking out of the window into the dark night and pointed and said, " Sku? Buh?" for squirrel and bird. I told him I didn't know where they were and shrugged. David also said, " I don't know" and shrugged. So Jamie thought that was so funny and copied us, shrugging every time we said ' I don't know'. Well then last night David was asking me a question at dinner and I answered him with, " I don't know." I happened to have Jamie in my peripheral vision and saw he was shrugging and putting his hands up, lol! Tonight he pointed to the dark window again and shrugged and I said the squirrels and birds went night night in the trees. He loves to say nigh nigh now for night night.

A couple of nights ago we delivered this wonderful Christmas crunch toffee/saltine/chocolate bark thing that we make every year to our neighbors. (I can't take credit for the recipe. I have no idea who the genuis was that came up with this pairing of saltines w/ chocolate and homemade toffee but it is really good.) Since Jamie didn't seem to want to say bye bye and wave at people as we left their doorsteps, David said to say night night. Well he loved that. He was even looking over his shoulder as we were leaving people's houses, walking down their driveways shouting ' NIGH NIGH!!!' ' NIGH NIGH!!' It was so funny.

We've taught Jamie to do something I think is cute. Sometimes when we say, "Sing music Jamie!" he will hum. I will ask him whenever we get into the car, " Do you want to listen to music?" and he will start humming with an Mmmmmm sound. ;-) We listen to Christmas music pretty much exclusively these days both in the car and most of the day at home. Sometimes I think about how to Jamie, this music must start to sound completely 'normal' and yet these are hits from decades ago. I like that he is enjoying some old fashioned music. I will miss it when the season passes and we're back to the typical music.

Jamie has started to try to say run run run when he plays with his stuffed donkey (thank you for that, Pop Pop!) He picks it up like we demonstrated, by the back making it appear to be running. But he growls ru ru ruuuuuu!

Hope I'm not boring you or gushing too much about his language development. It's just so fascinating. I will have to talk with my mom (a speech therapist for preschoolers) about whether we might need some speech therapy in a few months if he doesn't start adding some consonants on the ends of his words and start to sound a bit more intelligible. But I would think for his age he is doing really well.

Jamie has another doctor's appointment tomorrow. I feel badly for him b/c it will involve more shots. :-(

David and I sure feel extra blessed by God to have been given this particular boy as our son. I think of all the possibilities that could have happened and that are not uncommon in adopting from China. He could have been in a situation of malnourishment or neglect and developmentally delayed. He could be having obvious attachment problems early on. He could be very, very ill and he might not have been cute or smart. We are amazed that he not only is healthy and from the great CWI he was from and he is ultra cute to boot but now we are quite pleased to see that he seems typical or maybe above average with his perception and smarts. We are so happy for him. We would have loved him even if he had a lot of mental delays and all but it does make us so happy for him to see him just shine like he is. We don't know why God has shown us such extensive grace in giving us this little one but we are so happy to have him. I am glad that all those years I wasn't able to have children or we would have missed out on this little ray of sunshine.

More pictures

A few more pictures. I only seem to be able to upload about 5 with each post due to resolution and I don't know exactly how to downsize, so 5 it is. ;-)

Looking at the picture of Jamie with Santa on *his* lap makes me imagine Jamie saying, " So Santa. Tell me what *you* want for Christmas." Some of these pictures are from David's mom's house (Mimi to Jamie and her other grandkids.) She always decorates with lovely decorations for Christmas. Jamie really likes the deer on her fireplace hearth and is always sure to go in there and point it out to me and try to say deer (he says it like die die or something like that.) The one of Jamie with his cousin Ava (2.5 year old niece also from China, home a year ago) is incredibly cute. Even though it is dark and a bit blurry I had to post it. ;-) David's parents are doing a lot of landscaping out front at their house and you can see Jamie thinks the front loader (or whatever that is called) is the most cool machine ever! He really enjoyed steering it and you can see his Mimi is clearly enjoying him having so much fun. ;-)

More on Jamie...

Jamie continues to entertain and be entertained. ;-)

He has learned, as you've probably seen in the video, how to stand up on the seat portion of his little riding car. Well the other day I was in the kitchen and suddenly saw the lights go on and off in the living room. Hmmm. How did *that* happen?! I went in and lo and behold, there was Jamie, standing on a chair that we had under the light switch, turning both the fan and the lights off and on with great joy. He had pulled his car up alongside the chair and used it as a step stool to get up to the chair. He was just delighted.

I mentioned that Jamie started saying die-ah for tiger and loves to find them in his animal picture book and point them out to us. Well the other morning I had on a shirt w/ leopard and tiger markings on a portion of it (normally I wear solids so this was new to him.) He immediately touched the stripes and said, " Die-ah!" ;-) His latest words are fi (fish), fa (fan), guh and stah (go and stop) and he loves to say guh, guh, guuuuuuuuuuuhhhh! when we're driving in the car and start up after stopping at a light. I notice he doesn't put a consonant on the end of any word yet. That's interesting how people, kids or adults (like with some of my adult friends learning English as a second language from Burma) will not bother with consonants on the ends of words if people will get the first part of the word. Such as gah cah for golf course (where some of my friends work.) I thought of them when Jamie started speaking in English b/c it's the same. I just emphasize the last consonant and exaggerate it for him but don't tell him he's saying it wrong. I've read that if you do that you can contribute to a child starting to stutter. So if Jamie says "Gah!!" for cat (which is all day long) then I say, "Yes!! Cat!" and smile.

Jamie seems so trusting and content with us. He is allowing David more freedom now when he's home in the evening to actually do things besides constantly hold Jamie. David got to cook eggs for dinner the other night and Jamie played in the other room. I couldn't believe it! He didn't even ask to be held (he *still* says ma for up. Does anyone know if that is Mandarin for 'up'?) as soon as David got home Thursday and Friday nights. He wanted to immediately show him where the cat was near the Christmas tree and show him his toys instead.

I'm so glad that Jamie was able to get his seasonal flu and H1N1 vaccines done. Thankfully no side effects that we notice yet. He gets the boosters in about 3 weeks. He wouldn't have been able to get the H1N1 vaccine without a regularly scheduled check up so that is good. They are telling the people that just want to bring their kids in for the vaccine that they don't have any. Too bad for them. I didn't find out until we were with the doc and I said, " Well, when do you expect to get any in since you're out?" and he said oh we have it for regular appt people!

Jamie and David and I went out with David's parents last night for David's birthday dinner. David wanted them along so his mom could help us feeding Jamie so David could actually enjoy his dinner more. ;-) It was great having them along. Jamie *loved* having his Mimi dangle a spaghetti noodle over his head and he would eat it like a bird. He also got the biggest kick out of when she took a straw and put it in a glass of ice water then put her finger over the top to stop the flow and put it to his mouth and let it run in. He LOVED drinking water that way and was as delighted as ever. He was so delighted that he was drawing his shoulders up with delight and shaking his head a little and waving his hands. It was so much fun to witness!

Tonight some friends with young kids had an early dinner get together. There were 10 kids including Jamie. One was a younger baby by about 5 months, one was older than Jamie by about 5 months and the rest were 3-6 years. Oh, they all had a blast! Jamie LOVED it. Well he love3d the toys as much as the kids, lol. We knew he was a social kid at the CWI (orphanage.) He was all about looking through the multitude of great toys and running around with a huge grin on his face as the big kids raced around with toy trucks. Later on that evening there David and I found a large, life-sized soft stuffed kitty cat and I put it over by Jamie to see what he'd think. In the past he's been afraid of stuffies but lately he's into his small stuffed squirrel more (carrying around on his car and feeding with plastic spoon) so I gave it a try. Oh boy! He was sooooo sweet with the cat stuffy! He took it with a big smile and immediately loved on it, hugging it and laying his head along its head several times. Then he turned it so he could see its face and stroked the plastic whiskers gently. Oh my, my eyes starting getting a tear welling up in them, he was so gentle and really loving with that stuffed kitty! I want to get a life-sized one now for him! That was the first time I"d see him act that way with a stuffed animal. It made me think how much he wishes he could do that with our cat. Believe me, he would if she'd let him! Today and yesterday he went to her and tried to pick her up, gently putting a hand on either side as she stood on the floor. Well you know she wanted none of that and walks away. She is too delicate and old for him to be able to pick her up anyway, but I wish she'd let him love on her more. He gets such delight from going over and brushing his hand across her fur and he's been easy to correct with her. Also, and this is a bonus for me, he just started enjoying screeching at the very top of his lungs two days ago. UGH. Well, it was obviously bothering our cat, so I told him, "Shhh! Quiet Jamie! (saying in a whisper) Kitty cat doesn't like loud. Be quiet!" Then Jamie made noises at a normal level (not quiet but normal, lol.) Twice he's done that. I know he'll go into screeching fests galore I'm sure, but I like that I might be able to use the kitty not liking it as an excuse to get him to stop! ;-)

On the pictures, I wanted to take a bunch of pictures of Jamie with him angled so I could get those adorable 'balloon' like cheeks while he still has them! I wanted to capture them b/c who knows how long they stay. Those cheeks are utterly adorable and love caressing them. So I included a close up w/ his cheek for you to enjoy too. ;-) (Notice his trademark 2 fingers backwards finger suck. He has callouses on both fingers, lol.)

Jamie really loves his picture books (ones with real photos) and asking what everything is by pointing. The other night he decided he wanted to look at three books at once and so I included a picture of him 'multi-tasking'. ;-)

Adding three videos...

Uploading videos from flip video cameras takes FOR.....E.....VER!! Today's took 2.5 hrs to upload to youtube so these are kind of random videos that I'm linking to here and I won't be doing it often, lol. Please read the previous post I made yesterday for updates on little man! These are all ones since home, the Christmas one and the alien coat one from today and last weekend. The squirrel one was from a few weeks ago. ;-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEU991u82Z4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUmx39YWeco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF863XSZijk

I love Jamie! Want an update?

Here is Jamie in a now typical blurry picture (partly my camera's fault b/c something is wrong with it and partly the fact that our active son doesn't sit completely still long, lol.) Still, he is so adorable in this picture and I just love the alien jacket. This is the coat and actually those are also the pants that match it which he came in at the orphanage. I just love that coat! I think I'll have him wear it tomorrow and try to get some video of him if I remember. He won't be able to wear it much longer!

I've been meaning to post links to some videos but I don't have much time to view them to see which ones to take the time to upload. Uploading one video to youtube or the flip site takes 30 minutes to 1 hr or more! I have no idea why.

Jamie continues to be incredibly adorable as always. It is amazing how fast he's been adjusting. Even one week home he was already acting like he's been here for months. I think while some of that is his personality, a lot of it is because he was in a Half the Sky program. I think I've mentioned them before but if you are ever looking for a charity to support, their work is invaluable. Look at how happy and well adjusted and on target developmentally our little guy is! Half the Sky is an American foundation that works with selected Chinese orphanages and they train nannies to nurture the children well and help provide a great situation for the kids that find themselves in orphanages. For instance Jamie's nanny only cared for 4 kids including Jamie! Jamie was with her since he was about 3 weeks old. They play with them, bring them outside, do all kinds of activities and help them grow developmentally. Some orphanages children just lie in cribs all day long, never getting outdoor time or even playtime out of the crib or loving caregivers to have any one on one time with at all. It is very sad. That could easily have been our Jamie had he been in a different orphanage. So we LOVE Half the Sky. Their website is here: http://www.halfthesky.org/ Jamie's orphanage is the one in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Another cool thing about Half the Sky (added side benefit) is they give the adopting parents a book that tracked the development of their child w/ written reports and photos every quarter during their stay at the orphanage. We have dozens of pages written by his nanny that we have yet to get translated but we get to see his hand and foot prints at various months, photos galore and even a baby picture from when he was 16 days old! ;-) What treasures that you normally never get when you adopt from China.

Jamie's comprehension of English is really cool to watch. It's amazing how quickly babies learn things. In terms of verbally trying to speak in English that is of course a slower process. He signs the words for milk and more and please and occasionally thank you but he thinks the thank you sign and blowing kisses are the same b/c they are really close, the thank you being from the chin instead of lips. He can clearly say dada and bye bye very well. His first two words were cat and squirrel but of course he is saying ga and sku. ;-) It takes time to learn consonants and vowels! Dada and variations on it make up a lot of his words. For example I have learned that certain pitches and variations of da da mean Daddy, dog, tiger, truck, 'something is in that tree', 'hey look over there!', etc. etc. It's funny but if I'm in the other room and a nature program is on, I can tell if he just saw a tiger or a dog depending on how he says dada, lol! He actually sounds pretty Chinese w/ tones and cadence when using the dada's--very consistent w/ the difference between tiger and dog for instance. Today he also said dada for doctor and he is trying so hard to imitate us. Oh yeah, dada is also for snowman and again, he has a distinct way of doing it for that so if he does it I know he just saw a snowman on tv. We've been watching a lot of a channel of Christmas music which shows repeating winter scene photos during the songs so he sees several snowmen during those.

Well I've talked a bit about Jamie but that is what you're here for so I figured you would like that. ;-)

Oh by the way, we had the big doctor's appointment today for his first big checkup. Doctor said he could hear a little murmur in his heart though last three couldn't. Doctor thinks it's pretty small from the sound of it so that is good though I would have liked for it to have closed already. He said the hernia is nearly closed already but not quite and looking great. I had him look at a birthmark we hadn't previously been told about on Jame Jame's bottom and he confirmed it is a birthmark but no big deal. He said it won't fade but it won't change in size at all but will stay the same size so as Jamie grows up it'll appear smaller and smaller even though it isn't really getting smaller.

Jamie, if you're reading this years from now, please forgive me for mentioning the birthmark on your fanny to the general public, lol. Love you! ;-D

I just think it's interesting that they didn't note it in his adoption paperwork but they might have not intentionally or else never saw it b/c it isn't obvious. The doctor wrote up a note I'm going to get laminated to keep permanently in my diaper bag documenting the various Mongolian spots (which look just like mild bruising) so if we ever have to go the the ER someone won't think we've been hitting our boy. Mongolian spots are on most asian children, at least Chinese and Korean (I assume others too) and they tend to fade or even go away as people age and grow up.

Jamie got his first flu and H1N1 shots today. I am so glad. He gets the boosters in 4 weeks. Jamie hated the doctor's. I knew he would be terrified b/c even just getting his head measured he was going nuts so the prolonged blood draw to get titers to see if his Chinese vaccines took was agony for the poor little guy. But his cheerful disposition quickly came back after coming home. We are going to be testing him for a common orphanage parasite that is probably the culprit behind the 6 weeks of mild diarrhea. (Again, sorry if you're reading this as an adult Jamie, lol!) We won't find out for another week if it is that or not. Ghiardia is what they think it might be, either that or just toddler diarrhea. We'll see. If it's the toddler thing and not the single celled parasite then he may already be lactose intolerant which is highly unusual for asian children this young. It is extremely common for older asian people to have lactose interolerance but usually not babies. I heard as many as 90% of grown asian people have varying degrees of lactose interolerance so Lactaid pills are probably in our future! Thank the Lord they make lactose free whole milk. We've been giving him that as his dairy exclusively for a week now.

By the way, we bought our tree a few days ago. Once home, David worked the base onto the tree outdoors then dragged it in while Jamie and I waited in the living room. As soon as David stood it up in the living room Jamie let out a huge "Woooooooow!!!!!!!!" as he had his head tilted back looking up at the tall tree! It was hysterical. If only we had it on video! He learned to say wow while my parents were here over Thanksgiving.

Well I'm tired and need to go to bed. So there is the update for today. ;-)

Jacqueline

A nice Thanksgiving visit...

My parents came to visit for the holiday weekend, arriving early enough on Wednesday night to enjoy meeting Jamie for the first time. Boy, he sure did enjoy his Pop Pop from the start. My stepdad really loves to cook and especially enjoys preparing Thanksgiving food each year for the family. His stuffing is awesome and we were all pleased that Jamie really liked the stuffing. Sadly, while Jame Jame loved the turkey the night of Thanksgiving, he didn't care for turkey any of the following days and we've had to hide tiny bits of it behind the stuffing as it goes into his mouth or he quickly spits it out. We also found out he loves sweet potatoes. He was a delight for my parents and I was so happy with the way the days went w/ their visit with him. I'll share a few photos from their time here.

Jamie enjoyed family birthday party...

Jamie is smiling after having an adult-sized portion of lasagna! First time he ate something with cheese that he didn't spit out. Yay! You can see the sauce stains on his smiling mouth. ;-) Jamie thorougly enjoyed his first family dinner. David's family all live nearby and we frequently have family lunches or dinners on weekends together. This was the first one for Jamie! You can see he enjoyed celebrating grandaddy's birthday and he loved his first piece of cake. (Well we know he's had cake in China but this was his first with us anyway.) The other little one from China in the pictures is our niece Ava. She lives not far from us so they'll see each other regularly. David's mom, known to her grandkids as Mimi enjoyed singing patty cake with Ava and Jamie. You can see Ava is enjoying doing the fingerplay along w/ Mimi and Jamie is enjoying the song though he isn't at the stage of imitating it yet. It was cute seeing the two of them together. Ava is 1 year older than Jamie. She is talking up a storm! She wasn't too keen on sharing the tricycle with Jamie but she was so sweet to him earlier sharing her blocks and letting him knock over her creations. ;-)

Jamie might be a future Jeff Corwin!

My word, this boy LOVES animals. He is passionate about them! Okay so you know he loves squirrels and kitty cats. I put Animal Planet on once yesterday and earlier today when a dog program was on and he was quite excited about the dogs. This evening he was getting more relaxed and sleepy and snuggly so I put on Animal Planet HD and there was a program on large cats (mainly lynx and bobcats with some mountain lions.) Oh my goodness! Jamie gets excited about animals, but this was really something to behold! I wish we had someone to video us watching this ( we were all on the couch and I was under Jamie and David was under the cat so we weren't moving to find the camera.)

Jamie would screech with delight and get wide-eyed and hoot and squeal and say cat over and over every time a big cat was in the picture. Well when the squirrel (red squirrel) appeared in the nature program you know who was very interested. ;-) He was pretty keen on the bear, elk and everything else but the big kitties just made his day. He would jump off my lap and run up to the tv, pointing towards it and looking back at us as he ran to the tv, so excited and wanting to be sure we were seeing these amazing cats. We really enjoyed how excited he got. I wish you all could have seen it. ;-)

Jamie is obviously delighted with this excellent program as you can see in the picture. He is pointing to the bear in the other picture though the cats were the animals he was squealing the most about. Probably b/c he can say ga for cat. In fact he would point to the tv and say Ga! Ga! And then he would immediately point to Zoe and say Ga! Ga! He petted Zoe more today. Now that he's trying to pet her (he's being gentle) Zoe isn't into lying right up next to him any longer and she vacated the couch. Too bad for him b/c he's nuts for her!

Squirrel!

If you have seen the movie 'Up' you will remember that whenever the dogs saw a squirrel they shouted squirrel! and then stopped and stared, wide-eyed and attentive. Well, Jamie reacts exactly the same way to squirrels! He LOVES seeing them outside on our walks or from the front door. One rather nutty young squirrel delights in coming up to our front door mat and licking it to death along with licking the front porch floor slats (it actually leaves them wet), completely oblivious to us standing there at the front glass door, staring at it. Even when our cat Zoe sits there staring at it and clicking her teeth at it, there it is, licking like crazy. I can only think it is b/c there must be a small remaining residue of melting salt from this past winter when we had snow and ice that needed salt on the walkway. We tracked the salt melt stuff up onto the porch and the doormat I remember. I plan to buy a saltlick for it. So, Jamie was pretty impressed with the nutty baby squirrel. He actually was rather nervous when it started coming closer to lick more surface area of the mat and Jamie backed away, lol.

So, has Jamie said dada for daddy yet or mama meaning me specifically (and not mama for both of us and for up and more which is what he uses mama for right now)? Nope! Today he said squirrel. ;-D Well, technically he said sku or schoo (as in school.) On our outdoor walks if I say let's look for squirrels as soon as I say squirrel he starts looking all around and I think he looked up in the trees too!

This evening some of our good friends paid us a short visit and during their visit I was telling them how Jamie tried to say squirrel today and how much he loves looking at them and pointing at them and growling w/ delight. So I said to Jamie, " Say squirrel, Jamie! Say squirrel!" and he immediately put his lips together like for a q but w/ no sound and his eyes opened wide with delight and the poor kid toddled fast for the glass door to look out. (This is with full night darkness.) He thought I'd sighted a squirrel! He can give a squirrel-lovin' dog a run for the money any day for sure! So now David and I (and our friends this evening) were saying 'Squirrel!' like from 'Up' when Jamie wasn't paying attention. The poor boy, we really shouldn't mess with his little mind.

Oh, speaking of learning words, David and I were feeding him dinner tonight and Jamie wanted to know what the computer was called. When we told him, we *think* he tried to say computer! It was three syllables and sure looked like a baby trying to say it. We laughed together saying he says computer and squirrel but still doesn't say mama and dada. ;-D At least he has mama and daddy's great loves in mind (computers and animals.)

I'll add some pictures from the past couple of days. The sequence with the rocker: that is an antique rocker that my stepdad had when he was a little boy! He gave it to Jamie and I kind of expected he'd be able to use it a little later, like when he is three. Well little man needed some assistance the first few times of trying it and I still need to stand nearby b/c he is wobbly w/ his coordination still but he did it all himself, including rocking a little! Wow!

David's sister and her daughter and I went to the playground yesterday near their house. Jamie loved it. Towards the end of the time there we were by the basketball hoops and older boys were playing. Jamie was extremely interested and wanted to be in the thick of it. In fact he was. he was directly under the hoop. Oops! I did move him but he nearly got a ball on the head and he was so excited. David's sister picked him up w/ a basketball in his hands so he could dunk it in the hoop and he loved doing that several times. He is all about that kind of thing!

A funny thing: we have a couple of baby dolls for him which I thought would be good to help him be a nurturing 'daddy' to his dolls. Well he is such a boy. Yes, he'll play with them a bit but yesterday he was found trying to stuff the head of the doll into one of his stacking cups. He really enjoys trying to see how things work mechanically and fit together. He's very spatially oriented. Ah well. I guess he can keep fitting baby's head into the stacking cups if that is truly what he loves. ;-)

I'd like to say that Jamie and Zoe cat are looking for squirrels in the picture of them at the front door but in reality Jamie was watching daddy trying to jump start his car. We took it into the shop today for some repairs. Jamie was asleep when we arrived at the car shop. Otherwise I know he would have been thrilled to be there. What amazes me is that this boy has had no background for having such a love for cars. I mean he hasn't had someone feeding a 'boys love cars and trucks' agenda/stereotype into him. I guess in his case it really is just an innate love for anything with wheels! He really is into them big time! I really thought boys loved that kind of stuff b/c that is what parents conditioned them to want and like but boy was I wrong!

Well, that's enough for now. ;-) Night night.

I need to go to bed but here is a quick post...

I felt like putting up a picture of the woman in China who matched us with our son. Her name is Lily and she tries to travel to Guangzhou from her nearby city whenever her families come so she can share a meal and some conversation. She is so gracious and wonderful. I am so glad to have met her. She was so incredibly helpful to us every time we needed some info. She has a great relationship w/ the CCAA (Center for Chinese Adoption Affairs, the center that processes all China adoptions in China) so she did many things for us that we needed along the way. She also made some translations for me so I could show people laminated cards whenever we ate that said I was allergic to shrimp, crab, etc. I really enjoyed meeting her. Lily, you are an awesome woman and we thank you so much for caring for our family! I don't look great in the photo but I want to go ahead and share a picture of us with Lily!

Day by day some learning and improving!

I guess we're all learning, not just Jamie. Jamie has some issues at mealtimes, I guess from his being in an orphanage. He tends to try to hold a ton of food in his mouth and doesn't want to swallow it before stuffing more in so we've had a lot of issues with feeding times. Today was so much better! I know each day can be completely different depending on his moods, but still, I am encouraged. At breakfast and lunch he didn't launch into screaming fits of anger if we didn't continually stuff him w/ bites before he swallowed the previous one. I gave him whole wheat french toast in little bite sized pieces and he loves drinkable yogurt so he enjoyed some strawberry keffir. He actually would eat the bite of french toast and swallow most of it before I'd give him the next and surprisingly he wasn't complaining like on all previous days. Then at lunch he was the same way w/ his chicken casserole. Let's hope dinner turns out the same!!

Our doctor said to start feeding him all regular food including whole milk (and this doctor is an allergist) even though the 2-3 diarrheas a day haven't gone. He said it can be good to have fat and veggies in the diet sometimes for diarrhea so we'll see what transpires. Only 1 diaper of it today so far so as long as we don't have more than 2 or 3 a day the doctor said it's fine b/c he's happy, healthy and hydrated.

Jamie really enjoyed his Mimi's (David's mom) visit today. She helped feed him lunch and believe it or not he actually let her hold him and he was happy! That shocked me b/c he's been not into anyone putting their arms towards him and has only had David or I hold him so that was cool. He also led her around by holding her finger. He's down for a nap now, David has gone down as well and I'm about to become the third family member (fourth if you include JoJo cat) to take a nap.

Tuesday is here and nearly gone...

We've had 3 full days at home and while the night before last was AWFUL and very sleep deprived for us three (and the cat Zoe) I think I figured out why. I think it might be a teething issue. He has almost all of his teeth but there was one bottom front one that is only emerging now and I saw blood on his gum. So the awful night, after hours of crying, I said, "Hmm. Well maybe he's teething? I'll give him some tylenol and just see if it does any good." Well he slept for 6 hrs after that! So last night I gave him ibuprofen right before bed and he slept for 12.5 hrs!! Woohoo! It felt great to us to get a normal night of sleep and we even got to eat breakfast and shower before we went and woke him up. Yes he was still sleeping!

Here are some pictures from his time as a new American. We visited Jamie's great grandparents this afternoon and the American flag sweater pictures are from then at their apartment. They adore him and he was fascinated with their toys and the curling ribbon.

I put up a picture from our living room showing the cat in her tunnel and Jamie wanting to hover nearby with toys. He is crazy about the cat and says ga and gee ga for kitty cat. This is a typical scene in the other picture. Jamie and daddy building something and playing and Zoe cat lying near by. The poor old girl has had some near misses w/ Jamie nearly stepping on her tail and feet as he toddles around with eyes forward. When do they start looking down? 8? ;-) You can see the 18 month pants are way too big for him. We have to go get 12 months pants for him b/c those jeans kept falling down all day and the only thing keeping them on were the shoes!

Pictures from last days of trip...

The outdoor photos are from our group's trip to the botanical gardens in Guangzhou. There are also a couple of indoor photos of Jamie in our room at the Victory hotel. (Eating Cheerios, of course.)