One Week Home

I don't even kow where to begin this post, this week has been a complete whirlwhind.

When we left GZ, our flight was delayed about 6 hours...so things got off to a rough start. XJ did great on all the flights, but we didn't get into Shanghi until 3:30 am, and had a morning flight. So, although he easily slept on the flight, when we arrived home, we were already going on a sleepless night. It caught up with us, big time. We hadn't planned on having any family visit right away, but we called Barb, my mother in law in Florida, to come and stay until we got settled. It was the best decision. Jason went back to work on Monday, and we had tried to get all 3 dogs home at once on Saturday. It was not a good idea.

Fast forward a few days and things are MUCH better. We have added dogs slowly, and the 2 we have home now are doing great with XJ, and he with them. He loves Butternut, and ignores Annie...which is just fine. Basil will join us on Sunday and we will ease her in as we did the other two. I am confident it will all work out. My dogs are just furry babies to me and it was a difficult week without them all home.

XiaoJun continues to amaze us. It is like he has been with us all along. He has taken over the gardening and every day reminds me that we need to water the tomatoes. We've gone to the park  and he loves it...and gets along and takes turns with the other kids. I have completely forgotten he has "special needs"....he climbs, jumps, swings, runs, kicks and actually climbed a rock wall...all with his club foot! We have had adventures at Central Market where he askes "ya sha ma..." about 50 times. I think it means "what is this"? He has been understanding us much better and answers "yes"and "no" now to our questions. His first English word unprompted was "gentle"...since we say it so often with the dogs and being a boy. He knows: milk, grandma, water, shampoo, uh-oh, and his vocab is growing each day. We had a visit with our local pediatrician and we do not have to re-do any of his vaccines. He was impressed with the records from China and feels they are all up to date. He's in the 25% for his height, and 10% for weight...this kid is skinny! He likes to eat, but mostly fruit and other low-cal options...his favorite snack is edamamme.

We start his Ponsetti casting next Friday for his foot. I feel bad starting so soon, but he's adjusting so well that I am confident the sooner we start the better. I hope he can still run and play some with the cast, he is super active so it might be a LONG summer here in ATX.

I will continue to post as we go on in our adventures here with XJ.
All is going beyond well...and XJ is a joy.