Thursday, part 2

We had a good afternoon visit.


This is probably the most fun that the three of us have had together. After this morning's visit and mentally reasoning with ourselves about all the reasons why he is not making an incredible emotional connection to us this week, and why in many ways that is a good thing, it was pure delight to just have fun with him. Again, I don't think he was particularly delighted by US being there, but he definitely was having a good time with us. He's decided that we are just fine people to be around, and he can be relaxed and have some fun with us. So this will be a post with some fun pictures, and only *some* of them had to be fussy-picked from videos. Some of these we just caught on plain old camera!

We spent a lot of time holding him this afternoon. I can't remember if we spent any time down on the ground today. He was just so willing to be held that we enjoyed having him close. We started as we always do by just talking with him for a few minutes while he's still in his stroller to give him some time to adjust, and then I picked him up and was bouncing and singing a little bit, and he started smiling!

Even though he's not very heavy (weighs a little less than Reuben), he doesn't hold on very well, partly, I think, because he doesn't know how to be carried nicely, and also partly because of his CP he has a hard time (strength and flexibility) positioning his body in a helpful way. So while we did some standing, we also did some sitting down! Today we learned how to say "kisses" in K's language, and he liked that. It is very encouraging to us to see how he responds to his own language. This makes me hopeful that he could also learn to understand English, and possibly, even, to speak it! We are familiar with slow progress on speech (Reuben has been a wonderful teacher for us on how to look for other ways to communicate with someone who cannot speak and is unable to use sign language!) and know that patience pays off. [Side note - just before we left to visit K, Reuben said a three-syllable approximation for "Bye, Owen" that involved two consonants and three vowel sounds. This is an amazing feat for our little Reu!! Even six months ago I didn't think Reuben was going to be able to do that any time soon!]

Back to K. ;) Here are a few photos of some of the smiles we were getting as I was singing and bouncing and tipping him backwards. Lots of fun!

 Then Daddy got a turn. Daddy sings differently than Mommy does (probably a good thing!) but we found out that K likes it all! This photo captures an amazing moment as K made very deliberate eye contact with Daddy for just a moment...and I think he liked it. (Well, I think K did - I know Daddy did!) It was amazing how much more trusting he was of us today than he was on Monday. Again, this is n-o-t-h-i-n-g compared to the way his whole body surges with delight when he hears his Baba's voice, but it's a step in the right direction. She's had three years to earn that delighted wiggly laugh. We will have time to earn ours, too.

K was also really interested in playing with Daddy's face today - especially his glasses. (We also learned from our translator how to say "glasses"! You know - those really functional words!) This is a game K will have to un-learn when he comes home, but at this point, it was a great bridge-builder, and we figured worst that would happen is Matt's glasses would break and we'd have to get a new pair, and it would be worth the cost. I have yet to hear someone say they chose adoption because it is a cost-effective way to grow their family! ;)

In looking at that photo Matt's thinking that the nose surgery may be more costly than the glasses! ;) Thankfully, both nose and glasses seem to have made it through the day.

This morning we brought along to show K some pictures that Leah drew for him. He enjoyed feeling the paper and hearing the noise it made in his hand, and he *really* liked handling the cotton ball "snow" that she glued onto the snowman picture!

So we learned the word for "snow." This one may be more useful in the future, considering we live in Minnesota! Funny moment - back at the hotel we were reviewing our day as we were walking up the stairs to our room. We don't use the lifts, partly because we enjoy the physical activity of walking up and down from the ninth floor, but secondarily because even the other translator says she doesn't like using the lifts in the Communist-era buildings! (Though she often does.) But not many people use the stairs, so it's a [seemingly] quiet, private place to talk. So we're walking up the stairs, practicing our language skills, going, "sneck, sneck" to each other, then turn at the landing and find ourselves looking at a businessman in a suit talking on his cell phone by the window. So we turned the corner and started laughing and whispering "stupid, stupid" to each other as we finished our walk. ;)

Well, after sharing that lovely moment, I think I'd better leave you with one more picture so you have a nicer place for your thoughts to end.

Tomorrow we make one last visit with K, and then leave him for 4-5 months. That's going to be tough. I can't think of any other way to say it.