Thanks Brittney! Sorry I have not typed an update in awhile.
The transition is going great! The only issues we have had are sleeping and temper tantrums. The normal for 2 yr olds. The first night home Kaegan had to sleep with his shoes on. He would pitch a fit if I tried to remove them. The second night he had to sleep with his shoes and his jacket on. The jacket has only been worn for one night but the shoes another story. Mom and I went shopping all over town for kids house shoes and finally found 3 pair. (FYI: Children's house shoes are seasonal and only available during the Holiday season. This message is from BELK's, TARGET, WAL-MART and KOHL's.) Kaegan has been sleeping in his house shoes everynight. He has not asked for the jacket yet. I put it in his closet so it is out of sight.
The tantrums come after I have him dressed for bed. We have not been to bed prior to 12:00. It has taken longer to adjust to our time than it was to adjust to China time. Especially with a 2 yr old that knows no English. I have been trying different things at night like reading to him and rocking. Tonight I turned off all of the lights and put on the movie Finding NEMO. He is watching it now so we will see the results. It is only 9. I did not give him a nap today to see if that might help.
This will be the first movie that he has sat thru. Marty and I agreed that we would not allow him to watch TV until later in the transition but tonight I needed rest and am willing to try anything.
Kaegan is an incredible child. He is smiling all the time, giggling and loves to play outside. At home he is very active but when we go to new places it takes him a few minutes to acclimated. He becomes shy and clingy to Mom. After he feels comfortable enough he becomes Kaegan. A fun, smiling energetic child who is free of all worries.
He does not speak at all. We learned in China that boys normally do not speak until they are age 3 or 4. With him being in foster care we are positive that they did not work with him. The orphanages only work with the girls because they are most likely to be adopted first. SAD!! Kaegan has done well with telling us what he needs. He is fully pottied trained! He will tug on himself to tell me and has tried to say potty a few times but it sounds like pot. He did say Mommy!! Marty heard it first then later in the day I heard it. That is the only word that he said correct. We have gotten DADADADADA! That is for Daddy and PAAA for Panda our dog. Mimi, my Mom, has been called MAAAA. That is close enough for her. We have been working on the ABC's and 123's. Nothing yet. It will not be long though.
Yesterday Mom was vaccuming and when she finished Kaegan unplugged the cord and partly rolled it up and handed it to her. Then when she was folding clothes Kaegan grabbed for the fabric sheets and went to the window and started cleaning it. It appears that he has cleaned alot in his life. Marty grabbed the fabric sheets and said "That is last window you will ever clean." It is so sad to think about what he has been thru.
Last night Gigi and PawPaw stopped in to meet Kaegan. I was showing them a set of chopsticks that we purchased in China and Kaegan saw them. He grabbed at them and started to get excited. Gigi asked if he had eaten with chopsticks and I said no. I have just given forks and spoons. We decided to give him the chopsticks to see what would happen. He ran to kitchen and wanted us to put him in his highchair. Mom warmed up some leftover rice and voila!! Kaegan went to town with some chopsticks. He can put more rice on the chopsticks that we can on a spoon. I posted pictures yesterday of him eating with them. We were so amazed.
Kaegan will continue to do some amazing things and I will keep you guys updated. Now that we are almost back to normal I will blog more often. Marty is still sick. I am going to take him back to the Dr. tomorrow. He says that he feels fine but after playing with Kaegan for 30 minutes or so he gets tired and goes to sleep for 2-3 hours. I think it is just the strong medications he has been on and the stress we have been thru. I will let you know what the Dr. says tomorrow.
I am still doing great!! No sickness. That is amazing for me. I am the one that always gets sick. Mom came over yesterday and finished washing all our clothes and I got to sleep in this morning because Marty got up with Kaegan. It was so nice.
Now it is 9:30 and guess what!!! Kaegan is asleep.....
OK. I just put him in bed next to daddy and he did not wake up!! YAY!!!! Looks like Nemo is our new bedtime story.
I am going to get some ZZZ's while I can. Talk to you tomorrow.
The transition is going great! The only issues we have had are sleeping and temper tantrums. The normal for 2 yr olds. The first night home Kaegan had to sleep with his shoes on. He would pitch a fit if I tried to remove them. The second night he had to sleep with his shoes and his jacket on. The jacket has only been worn for one night but the shoes another story. Mom and I went shopping all over town for kids house shoes and finally found 3 pair. (FYI: Children's house shoes are seasonal and only available during the Holiday season. This message is from BELK's, TARGET, WAL-MART and KOHL's.) Kaegan has been sleeping in his house shoes everynight. He has not asked for the jacket yet. I put it in his closet so it is out of sight.
The tantrums come after I have him dressed for bed. We have not been to bed prior to 12:00. It has taken longer to adjust to our time than it was to adjust to China time. Especially with a 2 yr old that knows no English. I have been trying different things at night like reading to him and rocking. Tonight I turned off all of the lights and put on the movie Finding NEMO. He is watching it now so we will see the results. It is only 9. I did not give him a nap today to see if that might help.
This will be the first movie that he has sat thru. Marty and I agreed that we would not allow him to watch TV until later in the transition but tonight I needed rest and am willing to try anything.
Kaegan is an incredible child. He is smiling all the time, giggling and loves to play outside. At home he is very active but when we go to new places it takes him a few minutes to acclimated. He becomes shy and clingy to Mom. After he feels comfortable enough he becomes Kaegan. A fun, smiling energetic child who is free of all worries.
He does not speak at all. We learned in China that boys normally do not speak until they are age 3 or 4. With him being in foster care we are positive that they did not work with him. The orphanages only work with the girls because they are most likely to be adopted first. SAD!! Kaegan has done well with telling us what he needs. He is fully pottied trained! He will tug on himself to tell me and has tried to say potty a few times but it sounds like pot. He did say Mommy!! Marty heard it first then later in the day I heard it. That is the only word that he said correct. We have gotten DADADADADA! That is for Daddy and PAAA for Panda our dog. Mimi, my Mom, has been called MAAAA. That is close enough for her. We have been working on the ABC's and 123's. Nothing yet. It will not be long though.
Yesterday Mom was vaccuming and when she finished Kaegan unplugged the cord and partly rolled it up and handed it to her. Then when she was folding clothes Kaegan grabbed for the fabric sheets and went to the window and started cleaning it. It appears that he has cleaned alot in his life. Marty grabbed the fabric sheets and said "That is last window you will ever clean." It is so sad to think about what he has been thru.
Last night Gigi and PawPaw stopped in to meet Kaegan. I was showing them a set of chopsticks that we purchased in China and Kaegan saw them. He grabbed at them and started to get excited. Gigi asked if he had eaten with chopsticks and I said no. I have just given forks and spoons. We decided to give him the chopsticks to see what would happen. He ran to kitchen and wanted us to put him in his highchair. Mom warmed up some leftover rice and voila!! Kaegan went to town with some chopsticks. He can put more rice on the chopsticks that we can on a spoon. I posted pictures yesterday of him eating with them. We were so amazed.
Kaegan will continue to do some amazing things and I will keep you guys updated. Now that we are almost back to normal I will blog more often. Marty is still sick. I am going to take him back to the Dr. tomorrow. He says that he feels fine but after playing with Kaegan for 30 minutes or so he gets tired and goes to sleep for 2-3 hours. I think it is just the strong medications he has been on and the stress we have been thru. I will let you know what the Dr. says tomorrow.
I am still doing great!! No sickness. That is amazing for me. I am the one that always gets sick. Mom came over yesterday and finished washing all our clothes and I got to sleep in this morning because Marty got up with Kaegan. It was so nice.
Now it is 9:30 and guess what!!! Kaegan is asleep.....
OK. I just put him in bed next to daddy and he did not wake up!! YAY!!!! Looks like Nemo is our new bedtime story.
I am going to get some ZZZ's while I can. Talk to you tomorrow.
3 comments:
Thanks for the great update! That is so crazy that he knew exactly how to use the chopsticks and ate so well with them!
Thanks for the pics! He is so blessed to have the two of you for parents and vise versa.
God is sooooooooo Good!
Rene' Tate
Thank you for such a wonderful update! That is amazing how different raising children are in China - and how different it must be for children in foster care. Continue to keep us updated with all the good details you include! We are praying for you guys!!
-Brittney Breck
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