March 2009

Gotcha Day was one month and four days ago today. Unbelieveable. Joshua has made himself at home in his new world, including coloring on the carpet with three different color crayons. (Yes, he's on crayon probation for a while.)

The first time he came to school with me to drop off Allie, he gave Mary and Leigh Anne (the administrators at Allie's school) big hugs. I think he though Leigh Anne was a volunteer he knew at the orphanage. Anyway, he was very sweet with them, and then a little more apprehensive, and a little more apprehensive as we made our way down the hallway and people fussed over him and talked to him. I suspect he thought he might be staying there, and he was very happy to get back in the Mama tata (his word for "vehicle").

John took him to the pediatrician last week, and since then, he has been Joshua's new best friend and source of comfort. He follows John everywhere, doesn't like having him out of his sight. It's giving John a taste of what the first three weeks were like for me. At least John can finally hold him. And they are pretty cute together.

Joshua is picking up more and more English. He understands 90% of what we say, and he now says "Shadow, Sunny, Allie, McDonalds, Mickey (as in "Mickey Mouse"), bye-bye, thank you, moon, good night, hungry, potty" and more words that I'm forgetting. We're still using a lot of Mandarin with him, so he'll probably never learn the English words for fruits and beverages. : )
I videotaped him saying "Brown bear, brown bear what do you see?" I'll see if I can post it on You tube. AND I must videotape Allie reading "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to him. Half in English Half in Mandarin.

I think Allie is doing a super job adjusting to the new addition. She does get jealous of the attention he's getting, and still wants to rip toys out of his hand, but she also hands him things, giggles with him, and worries when he's crying (if she and I are leaving the house without him). One of my favorite of his new sentences is "Thank you Allie"!

She LOVES being the big sister. And she definitely thinks she's the boss of him. She doesn't realize he's going to catch up to her in height and weight in a year or two. (He's in the thirtieth percentile, or thereabouts, on the AMERICAN chart.) (When we first brought Allie home, she was in the 5th percentile on the Southern Chinese charts, and not even close to being on the American chart...) He's pretty solidly built. He will not need adjustable waist pants. Allie will probably need them her whole life. : )