Short update

Monday, all the Hunter kids except Nathan went back to school after their long Thanksgiving break.  I was not at all sure how this would go, but Nathan has done fine with just boring old Mom around.  Today, he had his first visit to the dentist- 5 cavities and some tender gums.  He did great overall, though when the dentist found one of his cavities he jumped a bit, and we weren't able to do a thorough cleaning because his gums were so sensitive.  We will be consulting a pediatric dentist on Thursday who does sedation dentistry about getting the 2 fillings he really needs and finishing the cleaning since we really can't explain things to him very well, plus I just think it will be better for him that way.

Have I mentioned how much I love our little elementary school?  High praise from this former home schooler!  Yesterday, Josiah's speech path at school called to see how we were doing (I think Nathan may need her services...)  Today, our principal called me at home, after school hours, to see how Nathan was doing and to welcome us home.  We had had some long discussions about Nathan's education prior to bringing him home.  I am still not sure what is going to work for him, but hopefully we will figure it out by January!  Our school doesn't have any other ELL kids so Nathan would go to another school nearby for 2 hours of an ELLclass with kids K-2nd grade and then spend the rest of the day at our school.  I really like the ELL teacher and think this mixed age group class would be perfect for him, but I am concerned about him being a student at 2 schools, with so many new people to deal with. Tomorrow, I am going to take him up to our little school to say hello- Grace has been begging me to bring him in, her classmates want to meet him, and our principal is excited to meet him too.  I hope we can figure out a plan that works for Nathan so he can be part of the Lincoln community this year but still get some ELL services as well.  If any of you BTDT parents have any great suggestions, I'd love to hear them.  I would be willing to home school him, but I think he is going to want to go to school.  I don't know if we can do a part time thing and gradually transition him, but I think that that would be best.  Just don't know if the county will allow it. 

Much to be thankful for, glad to be reminded of it every year!

Had a pretty low-key Thanksgiving this year, just our immediate family. It was probably best for Nathan that way.  He seemed to enjoy his first American holiday, including all the food except for the cranberry jelly (which I could live without myself...)

Another good day!

Today we ventured out of the nest to the school playground. The three amigos had a lot of fun, running races, climbing on the equipment, and being silly.

Nathan is overall doing just great. There are some things that scare the heck out of me- yesterday, he was practicing using the skateboard in our driveway, and all of a sudden he just ran up to it and jumped on with both feet. SMACK! He landed on his rear hard and was close to tears. We have yet to see this kid really cry from pain. Grace was the same way, I remember having to make a big deal of little hurts (so totally against my nature!) before she would feel free to cry and seek comfort when hurt.

We did see a little bout of the wildness/bouncing off the walls kind of activity yesterday that we saw constantly in China, but somehow we got Nathan to stop revving and settle down fairly quickly.

He is eating great, though not the massive quantities that we saw in China. I am pretty limited in my Chinese food cooking skills, despite many attempts, but he seems to like American food fairly well. As for Chinese food, I have given him a couple of noodle bowls, frozen potstickers, my sad attempt at fried rice, and some sauteed bok choy with his eggs this morning. If anyone has any other suggestions of easy stuff I could have on hand for him, I'm open!

We also made a short foray to the grocery store yesterday after the playground and he did very well, staying with me, picking out a couple of noodle bowls and some apples. I had to turn down his request for a balloon and he took that very well. I let the kids each buy a pack of gum at the end and he was quite excited to hand his cash to the cashier! When we got home, he offered all of us a piece of gum (which was about half the pack!)

Nathan is having a little trouble adjusting to sleeping in his own bed, even though he is sharing a room with three of his brothers. I don't think he has ever slept alone in a bed, and he always wants to climb in with Marc and me. In China, we let him do this a couple of times (but we had a king bed there.) Neither of us could sleep well with him there- he grinds his teeth at night like crazy, and it is the most horrifying sound. We are heading to the dentist as soon as our insurance is in place, though I sure wish we could communicate with him a bit better before we go. Last night, he came in our room, half crying, sort of whining, and wanted to get in bed with us. I had set up a sleeping bag and pillow on the floor next to me already, just in case, but he was not thrilled about that option, and he didn't want me to come and lie down with him in his bed either. He did end up getting in the sleeping bag, but it took him a long time to fall asleep again.

We received an email from his foster family thanking us for sending photos of him while we were in China. I am so thankful that we can stay in touch with them.

Jet lag...

This is where I found Nathan around 5:45 pm yesterday. I had lost him about 5 minutes earlier. The kids were like, "He was just here playing, Mom. We don't know where he is!" I was a little freaked out and ran through the house, calling for him. Found him! He woke up around 10:30 so I fed him some potstickers and put him back to bed. He managed to sleep till morning.

We skipped church this morning (well, Marc went since he had set up and Children's Church.)  Too many kids coughing and hacking around here plus I think it's too soon for us to take Nathan at this point.  Hopefully, next Sunday.  Still not sure how I can explain to him what church is all about!  I guess this week I'll have him listen to the Chinese CD of Bible stories I bought...wonder if that will help?  Also not sure what we are going to do about Sunday School for him.  I wonder if the nursery will take a 9 year old?

Home again, home again...

Well, all you pray-ers, your prayers were answered!  Call me amazed!  We survived 28 hours of traveling with Nathan, without major event.  He stuck with us in the airports, he sat on the airplane like a champ, he didn't need to be constantly entertained, he napped, he obeyed us, etc.  The last 3 hours of our Beijing to NYC leg were difficult, because he was exhausted and couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep well.  He was sort of in la-la land, half asleep, half crying, kicking around, falling off the seats, etc.  He finally fell asleep across our laps.  Once we landed, the lady behind us told us how good he was on the trip and how she didn't even know he was there!  Oh, my, after spending 2 very lively weeks with Nathan in China, I sort of felt like pinching myself to see if I was imagining this comment from the stranger behind me!

Immigration at JFK was a breeze.  So different than when we came in at Miami for our girls 8 years ago, where we sat in a room for a couple of hours with our 'brown envelope' waiting to be processed by an unfriendly INS staff.  Missed our connecting flight thanks to that and got home a day late!    This time, the staff members were helpful and friendly and the whole process took about 3 minutes.

We came home to a very clean house (thanks, Louise, Mary, Trisha and Vania!)  All the kids were happy to see us and show Nathan around the house.  He seemed very happy to meet his sibs and they have been great with him so far.  He will need to learn that some things are off limits, but overall, he is doing great- not bouncing off the walls or anything.  He seems much calmer and we've seen an awful lot of smiles.  I was concerned about bedtime, esp. with the jet lag/messed up body clock we are all dealing with, plus the fact Nathan has always shared a bed with someone, but even bedtime went OK. I think having 3 of his brothers in the room with him helps.  I read some picture books to the littles, including Nathan, tucked him in, did my best to explain that if he needed anything all he had to do was call 'mama'.  Of course, he immediately started calling, 'mama' over and over, the wisenheimer.  He had trouble falling asleep, so I put on a CD of Chinese folk stories for him.  After this finished, he came in our room, so I took him back to bed and laid down with him.  He fell asleep after about 5 minutes and back to bed I went.  He managed to sleep till about 6 am when he started making a good bit of noise in the boys' room, so we brought him into our bed for a little while.  I then took him downstairs and fed him.  Shortly, all the littles were awake, and the fun began.  They have been playing all morning.  I hope the honeymoon lasts for at least a week...the kids are off school for the next week so hopefully we can lie low and keep things as boring and low key as possible for Nathan.  Not that it is ever too boring around here.

I feel almost human after 6 hours of sleep.  Maybe I'll even be able to go for a run today!

Our last night in GZ...sniff sniff

Well, our time here is just about done. As happy as I am to be heading home and seeing the rest of my kids, it's always kind of sad to leave, because we never know if it will be the last time we ever see China. Hopefully, we will be able to return some day and bring at least our 3 from here so they can visit their birthplace.

This trip I feel especially sad to leave, as we were able to visit with our dear friend Ann quite a bit this week. We had so much fun with her and her family, and who knows if we will see them again?

Will post the last few photos from today in the morning if I have time, otherwise once we get home! All you praying folk, we would appreciate your prayers for safe travel, and for Nathan in particular since it is just about IMPOSSIBLE to imagine him on a plane for 14 hours! Also for our kids at home who may need some special grace getting used to their new sib!

Marc's Musings #3

Crash Test Dummy

Nathan will always have a job waiting for him at Ford, GMC, or Toyota.  He can be the first live crash test dummy!  I am very surprised that he has not broken a bone thus far.  On one day he fell hard four times; twice he was running and did full body slams on concrete...both elbows were bleeding after one fall...after both falls he got up and walked away without a tear but did limp a bit.  At the pool he fell twice.  Once, after I explained to him not to run, he ran, tried to make an abrupt stop, slipped and fell on his butt, head hitting the floor.  The second pool incident happend in the locker room.  He tried to run out in the lobby naked but there was a jog in the wall leading to the lobby.  The floor was wet and he could not navigate the turn. SLAM!  He hit the floor and slammed against the wall.  We were at the play ground having a great time when he decided to attempt a leap over a metal fence.  As he was midair, and before I could tell him not to jump, he caught the top of the fence with his feet and did a frontal slam on the concrete.  I was sure the kid would either, not get up or surely have broken bones.  He laid on the grould for about 20 seconds as I and a group of 10 Chinese grandmothers all gathered around.  He rolled over, I held him in. my arms and asked where it hurt.  He pointed to one thigh and one knee.  He eventually wanted to get up amd move.  He was obviously hurt but limped away to find another activity.  That night at bath time we noticed another whole suite of leg bruises and noticed that he had de-scabbed his elbows.  I am glad we knocked down the tree fort in the woods and glad we have health insurance.

We will be home in a day and a half and I can't wait.