We continue to see progress as Peter continues to settle in. Some things have remained pretty consistent such as his good sleeping habits, big smiles and laughs and willingness to learn. His language skills are incredible. He knows so many words and is putting together some serious sentences. He is still eating pretty well although we have seen some attempts at controlling behavior during mealtime. We are working on that and continuing to reaffirm that we are in charge and he will always have food to eat. We continue to wean him from one of his medications and so far everything is going well on that front. Tomorrow will be his last dose (at least for now) of the medication that is going away......and we are thrilled to be done with that one! We have had one illness since he came home that appears to have been some sort of viral deal that lasted about a week. We kept a close eye on him to make sure the fevers didn't cause any seizure activity. Peter is becoming much more social and likes to wave at people when we are out and about. He is still excited to go to HyVee and recognizes the logo by sight. Hilarious. He had his first overnight out of town visit this past weekend. The daytimes were great. The nighttimes not so much. We will keep trying so he gets used to it before our big summer vacation. All in all we are very happy with his transition so far. There are still frustrations but he is a 3 year old boy afterall. Someone was loving the puzzles.
Having fun in his room.
Still loves him some Pororo!
He really enjoys playing with his cars and trucks and trains. He has gotten the hang of this remote controlled train.
For the last day of Paul's spring break I took the day off work and we spent the day together. He chose our spot for lunch - breakfast food was his choice so we hit Cracker Barrel. There was a short wait for our table so we sat outside and played a game of checkers. He looks so old in this picture!
He played the golf tee game while we waited on food.
After lunch we headed to Barnes and Noble to pick up a new book. And then we ran to the movie theater to see Zootopia. It was a really fun day and I am always glad to take time away from work to do something special with Paul.
Somehow it has actually been 7 years since that cute little baby was placed in our arms and made us parents. Unbelievable. We spent his special day primarily focused on wrapping up the basketball season and welcoming Gram and Pa.....but let him choose our dinner locale. Not surprisingly he chose the Diner (just like last year) and ordered the waffle with strawberries and whipped cream and side of bacon (just like last year). You can't say he isn't predictable.....er, I mean consistent.
We spent time during the day talking about his birth mother and his foster mother as well as what he lost and what he gained through his adoption. I do appreciate as he gets older that we can have more in depth conversations about things that are important for his life. This kicks off the weeks that lead to his birthday......
Paul wrapped up his winter basketball season a few weeks ago. We were so impressed with this program and will definitely be back for more! He really improved a lot this season and had a great time. His team didn't win a single game but they did tie once! He had great coaches and teammates. Gram and Pa were in town for his game and enjoyed watching him play. Regardless of his skill, this kid has serious HUSTLE. Giving me a thumbs up before the game started.
The look of concentration.
A little pre-game huddle.
Good form Paul!
Showing off his hustle.
He's got good hops.
Taking on his coach before the game.
Mom, when are you going to stop taking pictures of me!?!
Not afraid to mix it up a little during the game....his confidence has grown a lot this year.
Gotta love a good medal at the end of a long season!
I took some video during the game and managed to get a clip with Paul scoring!
Things have been pretty busy the last few weeks. Lots of fun moments and some not so fun moments as well. Here's a recap of the random stuff we've done. It was spirit night for Paul's elementary school at the high school boys' basketball game. We met up with one of his buddies and had a great time cheering the team to victory....with a little popcorn to boot!
It's fun to have a silly mom that will make lots of crazy faces for a laugh.
After over 3 months home the little man finally got sick. And he was pretty darn sick with a fever for 6 days straight. The doctor thinks it was just something viral so we kept him comfortable and hydrated and took pity on this poor pathetic little man.
Last Saturday was a very nice day with lots of sunshine. All things with wheels were brought out of the garage.
Just hanging out reading a magazine.
We took the kids out for hibachi last night for yet another first time experience for Peter. He was clearly impressed with our chef's skills.
We weren't sure how Peter would react to the fire on the cooking surface....they do it all for show so we asked the chef to keep it to a reasonable level so it didn't freak him out. The chef obliged and had the perfect amount of flame and excellent reactions from the littles.
Paul was very proud of the work he did to organize the bookshelf in his room. I am impressed.....and he even had a one square setup as a showcase of his favorite legos, robots and pokemon cards.
Lillie put this whole puzzle together completely on her own.....she was very proud.
And with that I am completely caught up on all outstanding pictures and fun videos!
Lillie was invited by one of her preK classmates to a princess themed birthday party. Clearly that required the purchase of a new princess dress....we went with a Cinderella theme. I let Lillie borrow my sparkly headpiece from our wedding and some cheapo fake pearls. She thought this was the best thing ever. She had the perfect princess pose.
The ladies headed to the party. No princess gear for me.
Nothing like a group of 5 year old princesses watching Beauty and the Beast before Princess Belle arrives.
Very excited to meet Belle.
Lots of great photo ops with Belle. Her skirt took up half the room!
Lillie thought this day was the the best thing ever. She had a great time with her friends and got to spend time with a real princess. What could be better?
We evidently have started a little pattern of impromptu plans after church on Sunday mornings. Last weekend when the little man was starting to feel a bit better, we decided we needed to get him out of the house and get a bit of sunshine and fresh air. It is so fun to have all of these first times and new experiences. The vote from the bigs was for Zombie Burger so that is where we went. The line was wrapped to the corner of the block waiting for the doors to open. We got a table after a short wait......and surprisingly everyone waited pretty patiently.
Score! We got a good table with a fun waitress and had a yummy lunch.
And then it was off to the zoo. The day was balmy for February but ended up being a little cooler and breezier than we had thought. We made the best of it and just walked a little faster than normal. It will be nice when it is actual spring and we can wander a little more. We started in the inside exhibits and snagged a cute shot of the three kids on the swinging bridge. Paul and Lillie were so kind to help Peter across.
Checking out the fish in the aquarium.
Our silly crew outside the sea lion exhibit.
Not sure how Paul got the seat of honor while the rest of us had to hoof it.
Spinning the globe.....from South Korea to the US.
A few weeks ago we decided that Peter needed to visit the science center for his very first visit. So we made a spur of the moment decision and headed downtown to grab some lunch and then walk over for some fun. The restaurant was a ghost town at 11:15am and we enjoyed having most of the dining room to ourselves. This place gives the kids wiki stix and they love it. Paul made a cool star.
This was right before Peter got sick so these are some of the last true smiley pictures for a little while.
She's such a cheeseball.
Peter learned what a chicken says and he is proud to tell you.
I had tears rolling down my face at this one. I am not sure why he decided he needed to make faces but man were they funny.
We met some friends at the science center and Peter walked in like he owned the place. The littles spent a lot of time in the kitchen/grocery store area.
Lillie tried her hand at catching fish.
Off to the geometrical shape exhibit.
It was a fun time and the kids all did well. No pictures of Paul at the science center because he and daddy split off for most of the time and did big kid stuff.
