We can’t believe that we have already been home for eight days. Things are really falling into place. Probably the most significant development is Christopher has really bonded with Deborah over the last several days. Now, we can once again indulge Christopher and include Michael in all of the fun playtime activities. We are both so relieved.
Parenthood is really taking hold at this point, as we have been basically planning our days around the timing of napping and dispensing of food (which never seems like enough). We are also really happy to report that Christopher will now go down to sleep pretty easily and stay asleep for about 12 hours with maybe one wakeup. More sleep for Christopher means more sleep for us, which is great. We almost feel like we have “got things under control” now. We realize that is, and will probably always be, just an illusion but we can at least have our little fantasy for the time being.
Things are moving along so fast with Christopher’s development. The pediatrician was really happy with his weight (25lbs) and height. He is within the US normal standards. She was also very pleased with his development. He is right on schedule but for the speech issue, which should improve once he has his cleft palate repaired. He now eats all by himself with his Elmo fork and knife and he is starting to use his potty seat. We can’t believe it.
Christopher has grown to love our Bulldog, Marty. We took Christopher and Marty to the park and they had so much fun. We had Marty off-leash and much to our shock and surprise, Marty started climbing on the playground equipment with Christopher. We swear Marty would have gone down the slide after Christopher if we hadn’t stopped him. Christopher also saw other kids petting “his dog,” which pretty much sealed the deal. After that, Christopher realized that he had a new best friend. All of our dogs have truly amazed us and made Christopher’s homecoming so much easier than we expected.
Not everything is rosy of course. After all, Christopher is a toddler. If food does not arrive at the time he expects it should, well he sure lets us know. We both had no idea a child could scream that loud. So we read the books on how to “compromise” with your toddler and we try to make decisions together on how to get the screaming to stop in a grown-up civilized way. But in the end we sometimes respond like grown-ups and sometimes we respond like toddlers ourselves. Whatever we are doing does seem to be working though. We can now get Christopher to hold off on screaming for food for longer and longer periods of time. It is truly amazing how much this little boy can eat.
Yesterday we took Christopher, in the backpack, on an adventure to More Mesa where he got to see the ocean for the first time. He seemed impressed. He just sat there staring at it for quite a while. Luckily no one was eating cheerios nearby or he wouldn’t even have noticed the ocean. Afterward, we went to lunch at Panini where Christopher scarfed down a large half a sandwich after he had just eaten a snack cup full of cheerios. To my surprise and his dad’s pleasure, he even ate part of tomato. It was really a nice “family” day.
We both feel so fortunate to have Christopher as part of our family. Tomorrow we start the next part of his journey as we visit the doctor that will operate on his cleft palate at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles. He will probably have his first surgery in early January and will then need another one (bone grafting) when he is older. He will also need significant orthodontic work over the upcoming years. Hopefully, he can go through all of this without too much pain.
Thanks again to everyone for giving us so many of the things that we needed to get ready for Christopher’s arrival. We have already filled the diaper genie and christened the potty seat. Christopher has worn and spilled food on many of the cute clothes and PJs that were given to us. He has played with many of the toys given to us and “read” several books before bedtime. At the end of the week, he will go to the Santa Barbara zoo using our new membership.
After we get ourselves a bit more settled in we will make an effort to get together with everyone. Christopher is pretty shy with strangers so we hope that you can help us to socialize him…maybe by giving him a few cheerios to break the ice!
Thanks for following along with us on this incredible journey!
(See pictures below) |
