Friday, September 3, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Great need for families to adopt boys from China
After you read what I write, please click on the link at the bottom to read a really informative blogger post about current trends in adoptions from China. It sheds light on a great deal.
Many people don't realize how many boys wait to be adopted from China. The problem is, the orphanage directors assume that Americans prefer to adopt boys when actually the reverse is true (only 35% are willing to adopt boys right now roughly.) So, the orphanage directors put more boy files on the shared list of children's files to be adopted than girls. With about 65% of the files being boys and only 35% of the families willing to adopt them, many wait, even with minor needs in this shared list program. The program is usually called the special needs program, but as you know from Jamie, it doesn't necessarily mean a special need in the sense that Americans typically think of the word. There are a whole range of needs. Some lifelong, some major, moderate or minor; many are correctable. Jamie happened to be on the remarkably low end of the need spectrum with his tiny heart murmur that is getting smaller and never affected his health along with the small umbilical hernia that is closing on its own and we could never even tell he had it except for a little excess loose skin around his belly button. Did you know that in China, if you have a visible special need (like even a port wine stain birthmark on your face) you can not go to school? Even for the healthy children, being an orphan has such a stigma associated with it, the future is very, very bleak for Chinese orphans who are never adopted. They have trouble finding any jobs, trouble finding apartments. Many become prostitutes. I have read that it is considered especially good to be able to become a doorman or a waitress if you are an orphan--a sign that you really made it, and not many get to become those even.
If you know of families that you think might be open to the SN program from China, feel free to have them contact me for more info or they can look into agencies like the one we used, Small World or an agency like Holt or BAAS. Josh Savley runs the Small World China SN program. They're a small Christian agency. They do prefer to work with practicing Christian families. I can give you his email address if you want to contact them or you can google it. Say that Jacqueline, mom to Jamie referred you to them if you actually wind up signing with them as it could possibly reduce our fees in the future if we adopt a second time. Holt is great. They're a very experienced older agency and a large one. Beth Smith is the woman that is one of the people running their china SN shared list program. Their program is called Child of Promise so you can call her and talk with her. She is very nice. I've also heard great things about BAAS (Bay area adoption services) though I don't know anything personally. Many, many people love them.
There is an amazingly informative, eye-opening post made by another blogger who attended a seminar run by Amy Eldridge, one of the people working with an amazing organization that helps thousands of orphans in China called Love Without Boundaries (LWB.) Amy met w/ 100 Chinese orphanage directors in China and this blog entry covers a lot of what Amy shared. Please take the time to read it. I tried to copy and paste it here but it isn't working. Here is the link: http://chinaadoptiontalk.blogspot.com/2010/07/amy-eldridge-of-lwb-speaks.html
Many people don't realize how many boys wait to be adopted from China. The problem is, the orphanage directors assume that Americans prefer to adopt boys when actually the reverse is true (only 35% are willing to adopt boys right now roughly.) So, the orphanage directors put more boy files on the shared list of children's files to be adopted than girls. With about 65% of the files being boys and only 35% of the families willing to adopt them, many wait, even with minor needs in this shared list program. The program is usually called the special needs program, but as you know from Jamie, it doesn't necessarily mean a special need in the sense that Americans typically think of the word. There are a whole range of needs. Some lifelong, some major, moderate or minor; many are correctable. Jamie happened to be on the remarkably low end of the need spectrum with his tiny heart murmur that is getting smaller and never affected his health along with the small umbilical hernia that is closing on its own and we could never even tell he had it except for a little excess loose skin around his belly button. Did you know that in China, if you have a visible special need (like even a port wine stain birthmark on your face) you can not go to school? Even for the healthy children, being an orphan has such a stigma associated with it, the future is very, very bleak for Chinese orphans who are never adopted. They have trouble finding any jobs, trouble finding apartments. Many become prostitutes. I have read that it is considered especially good to be able to become a doorman or a waitress if you are an orphan--a sign that you really made it, and not many get to become those even.
If you know of families that you think might be open to the SN program from China, feel free to have them contact me for more info or they can look into agencies like the one we used, Small World or an agency like Holt or BAAS. Josh Savley runs the Small World China SN program. They're a small Christian agency. They do prefer to work with practicing Christian families. I can give you his email address if you want to contact them or you can google it. Say that Jacqueline, mom to Jamie referred you to them if you actually wind up signing with them as it could possibly reduce our fees in the future if we adopt a second time. Holt is great. They're a very experienced older agency and a large one. Beth Smith is the woman that is one of the people running their china SN shared list program. Their program is called Child of Promise so you can call her and talk with her. She is very nice. I've also heard great things about BAAS (Bay area adoption services) though I don't know anything personally. Many, many people love them.
There is an amazingly informative, eye-opening post made by another blogger who attended a seminar run by Amy Eldridge, one of the people working with an amazing organization that helps thousands of orphans in China called Love Without Boundaries (LWB.) Amy met w/ 100 Chinese orphanage directors in China and this blog entry covers a lot of what Amy shared. Please take the time to read it. I tried to copy and paste it here but it isn't working. Here is the link: http://chinaadoptiontalk.blogspot.com/2010/07/amy-eldridge-of-lwb-speaks.html
Some new pictures
Here are two pre hair cut pictures and some post cut pictures. He is adorable no matter the hair cut but I do LOVE those curls and miss the curly wild look. Isn't he the cutest?
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Ha! We told him he had to eat broccoli if he wanted more ONIONS!!
LOL! This kid amazes me. He is picky and he normally does not like much variety and rejects many/most veggies. So what does this kid decide he can't get enough of tonight and complained if we didn't start giving him our own portions off our plates? Roasted red onions, lol. I am still shaking my head. If he were adventurous and non-picky I could see it. The funniest part (and David and I kept giving each other amused looks) is he decided he ONLY wanted to eat the onions and couldn't get enough of them so we had to resort to telling him he had to eat the salmon or broccoli and then he could have the reward of onion. Have you ever heard of a kid whose reward/treat was a grilled red onion?! lol! This kid is a riot. Of course at his age, tomorrow he'll probably decide it's disgusting. ;-)
By the way, today he helped me make french toast. He is so pleased to help in the kitchen. Tonight he wanted to help and he raced over to grab a cardboard fake brick block to use as a stool to reach the stove when I went to get something out of the oven. He hated not being able to help me (it was hot so no way will I let him). I love that he likes to be in the kitchen cooking!
By the way, today he helped me make french toast. He is so pleased to help in the kitchen. Tonight he wanted to help and he raced over to grab a cardboard fake brick block to use as a stool to reach the stove when I went to get something out of the oven. He hated not being able to help me (it was hot so no way will I let him). I love that he likes to be in the kitchen cooking!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Chef Jamie's debut!!!
Jamie Oliver, move over. Jamie LuQuan is an up and coming new chef to be reckoned with.
First time in the kitchen helping mama make dinner tonight (okay, so I made it easy for my son by having him help assemble bologna and cheese sandwiches.)
Look at his masterful plating job! We had to take a picture of his craftmanship--note how he placed one of the bologna sandwich triangles on its side and how he was sure to include a small piece of bologna directly on the plate to accent the featured dinner item. Of course none of that was planned and it was all by accident since he knocked the sandwich on its side accidentally and it fell into place next to the ones he placed intentionally and he happened to lay the bologna slice down on his plate after he ate some. Just look at the masterful, skillfully planned presentation I say! He also later selected a bowl for tomato soup from a choice of 7. He also selected grape halves and banana slices to place on his plate as well. I must say he has good taste. ;-)
Soon we will try our hand at make-your-own-pizzas!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Charades
Jamie is just starting to try to link 2 or 3 words together at a time now. It reminds me a great deal of charades b/c he isn't exactly using 2 or 3 actual spoken words, but usually one or two spoken words (never in sentence order), some gesturing and pointing in the place of other words and sound effects. It's quite amusing and I'm getting a real kick out of it.
For instance, a few days ago we went to a playgroup at someone's house w/ other 2 year olds. Jamie picked up a stuffed tiger and was carrying it around. It was the first time the host's 2 year old son had children coming to his house to play and he wasn't so sure he wanted to share apparently. Jamie wandered into another room with the stuffed tiger and I heard a boy crying after a couple of minutes (it wasn't Jamie.) Jamie came running into the room looking a bit concerned, still clutching the tiger. He said to me, " Baby!! Baby!!" and pointing towards the other room. I said, " Do you mean a boy or a girl?" "Boy!" he said, " Boy! Puuuuuuuuulll! (and he's saying puuuuuuuu as he's demonstrating with his hands a pulling action) then he pointed to the stuffed tiger. " I had no idea what he was saying, then it clicked. "Oh, Jamie! You mean the boy tried to take the tiger away and pulled it?" He nodded his head vigorously, pleased that I understood him. Ah! That is why the boy was crying. He couldn't get his toy tiger back from Jamie. ;-) This 'conversation' with Jamie might not seem like much sentence-wise but it's one of the first times he's trying to put more than one word together! When we were ready to leave the playdate, Jamie said bye to the other moms then turned to them and said, " Cah (car)! Then he made a brrrrrrrrrrr sound effect with his lips vibrating, then he said, " Mama." I said, " You're telling the ladies that we are going to the car and mama will drive?" He said, " Yeah!"
The first time I heard him put two words together since way back when he was first home (when he said two two word sentences only a few weeks after getting home then never did again until the other day) was when we were watching his favorite show, Caillou. It's about a little 4 year old boy and his family. Jamie adores Caillou. Sometimes Caillou imagines he's doing all kinds of things like being a car racer, etc. We were watching an episode over breakfast a few days ago and as soon as Caillou started to imagine himself driving a race car in a race, Jamie shouted, " Go Caillou! Go!" I had to laugh. He does things when motivated. His first 'sentence' in months is about his favorite tv character. It figures, lol.
Jamie is also really crazy about Bob the Builder right now. He loves to pretend he is either Caillou or Bob. When he pretends he is Bob he pats himself or says, " Me." Then he says, " Bah (Bob)." Then he says, " Hah (hat) and pats his head (for the hard hat Bob wears.) Then he goes off and pretends to fix something or build a road.
Another thing Jamie has enjoyed nearly every day for the past month or so is pretending to be a fire fighter rescuing a cat from a tree. He will take his fireman toy and walk it up the ladder (and if the toy is not available he'll use his fingers like legs going up the ladder) and he'll pretend to rescue an imaginary cat (or a fingerpuppet my cousin gave us.)
I love Jamie's realism or maybe it's humor? Recently he was playing with a little toy piano about 3 inches long and a plastic pig from his farm. He wanted the pig to lift and carry the piano somewhere so he pretended to hoist the piano onto the pig's shoulders and even grunted with effort like the pig was having to labor under the weight of the piano. I love when Jamie throws in the sound effects. ;-)
Oh, one last amusing thing Jamie did. Getting into the car to go to that playgroup the other day, as I was lifting Jamie in (hoisting would be a better word b/c that kid is solid!) I said, " Jamie. Are you a sack of potatoes?" And he patted himself and said, " Fry?" I laughed and said, " Oh. You're a French Fry?" He said, " Yeah." and smiled. I told him I would dip him in ketchup and I pretended to nibble on his hand. He wanted to do the same thing so he pretended to nibble on his other hand and then he immediately gave me a thumbs up with his thumbs, lol! Evidentally he tasted great.
For instance, a few days ago we went to a playgroup at someone's house w/ other 2 year olds. Jamie picked up a stuffed tiger and was carrying it around. It was the first time the host's 2 year old son had children coming to his house to play and he wasn't so sure he wanted to share apparently. Jamie wandered into another room with the stuffed tiger and I heard a boy crying after a couple of minutes (it wasn't Jamie.) Jamie came running into the room looking a bit concerned, still clutching the tiger. He said to me, " Baby!! Baby!!" and pointing towards the other room. I said, " Do you mean a boy or a girl?" "Boy!" he said, " Boy! Puuuuuuuuulll! (and he's saying puuuuuuuu as he's demonstrating with his hands a pulling action) then he pointed to the stuffed tiger. " I had no idea what he was saying, then it clicked. "Oh, Jamie! You mean the boy tried to take the tiger away and pulled it?" He nodded his head vigorously, pleased that I understood him. Ah! That is why the boy was crying. He couldn't get his toy tiger back from Jamie. ;-) This 'conversation' with Jamie might not seem like much sentence-wise but it's one of the first times he's trying to put more than one word together! When we were ready to leave the playdate, Jamie said bye to the other moms then turned to them and said, " Cah (car)! Then he made a brrrrrrrrrrr sound effect with his lips vibrating, then he said, " Mama." I said, " You're telling the ladies that we are going to the car and mama will drive?" He said, " Yeah!"
The first time I heard him put two words together since way back when he was first home (when he said two two word sentences only a few weeks after getting home then never did again until the other day) was when we were watching his favorite show, Caillou. It's about a little 4 year old boy and his family. Jamie adores Caillou. Sometimes Caillou imagines he's doing all kinds of things like being a car racer, etc. We were watching an episode over breakfast a few days ago and as soon as Caillou started to imagine himself driving a race car in a race, Jamie shouted, " Go Caillou! Go!" I had to laugh. He does things when motivated. His first 'sentence' in months is about his favorite tv character. It figures, lol.
Jamie is also really crazy about Bob the Builder right now. He loves to pretend he is either Caillou or Bob. When he pretends he is Bob he pats himself or says, " Me." Then he says, " Bah (Bob)." Then he says, " Hah (hat) and pats his head (for the hard hat Bob wears.) Then he goes off and pretends to fix something or build a road.
Another thing Jamie has enjoyed nearly every day for the past month or so is pretending to be a fire fighter rescuing a cat from a tree. He will take his fireman toy and walk it up the ladder (and if the toy is not available he'll use his fingers like legs going up the ladder) and he'll pretend to rescue an imaginary cat (or a fingerpuppet my cousin gave us.)
I love Jamie's realism or maybe it's humor? Recently he was playing with a little toy piano about 3 inches long and a plastic pig from his farm. He wanted the pig to lift and carry the piano somewhere so he pretended to hoist the piano onto the pig's shoulders and even grunted with effort like the pig was having to labor under the weight of the piano. I love when Jamie throws in the sound effects. ;-)
Oh, one last amusing thing Jamie did. Getting into the car to go to that playgroup the other day, as I was lifting Jamie in (hoisting would be a better word b/c that kid is solid!) I said, " Jamie. Are you a sack of potatoes?" And he patted himself and said, " Fry?" I laughed and said, " Oh. You're a French Fry?" He said, " Yeah." and smiled. I told him I would dip him in ketchup and I pretended to nibble on his hand. He wanted to do the same thing so he pretended to nibble on his other hand and then he immediately gave me a thumbs up with his thumbs, lol! Evidentally he tasted great.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Yikes, it's been a while!
Life gets going and it's hard to keep up with blogging. We moved to a new house (same city) and it is tremendously challenging to move in, manage to unpack and clean out the old house while parenting a very active 2 year old! All that aside, you really want to know about how Jamie is doing, right? His hair is growing longer and the curls are adorable. He has probably grown about 3.5 inches since we got him in October, can you believe it?? Maybe even more. He's 34 inches now. And 31.5 lbs!! My baaaaaaaaack! ;-) His latest skill he's honing is dancing. He has some pretty rocking dance moves down now and a sense of rhythm with his arms and fingers. ;-) I'll have to post a video sometime.
Jamie isn't progressing a great deal with his speaking skills so I think we'll be trying to get a speech eval done soon to see if he'll qualify for speech. I doubt he will b/c his comprehension is amazing and very good for his age, it's just the spoken language that is lagging.
Jamie continues to improve with his attaching to me. I get many spontaneous small hugs of affection throughout the day now, though his first words in the morning are still, " Dada?? no no no! Dadaa!" ;-) But even that is shorter now and he's fine with me w/in a minute or two. Jamie is so cute with his blossoming imaginative play and he wants to 'cook' waffles for me nearly every time we go to the playground and there is sand (he pretends the sand is a waffle.)
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