Swimming lessons and new glasses

Here are some pictures I took today of the little man. He did not want me to take a picture at swim lessons with his glasses on, but he did let me at home while he was finishing his lunch. And yes that is a "hot mom" Vera Bradley tote that he is digging in at swim lessons. My mom baught it for me! Love it!!

Father's Day Weekend

We had a fantastic Father's Day weekend! Longji went fishing for the first time with his Baba and he had a blast. We went back to Guadalupe State Park on Saturday and spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Casey. Jordyn was able to go with us as well. I am attaching some great pictures of John and Longji. My favorite is the one with their backs to the camera. Definitely frame worthy. We fished, ate, and tubed down the river a bit. Longji loves the water and he definitely loves his sister, Jordyn. Uncle Jeff caught the first fish and Longji couldn't wait to touch it. Sunday we returned to church and Longji attended his first "Sunday school class" at BRCC! He seemed to have a good time and it helped that Jordyn stayed with him in the room. Hopefully he will do just as well next week. We ate ribs, chicken and sausage at John's parents house and spent the day visiting over there with Uncle James and Longji's cousin Wade. Longji and Wade seem to get along very well and they kept hugging each other...it was adorable. On Monday Longji helped me vacuum, dust, fold laundry, empty the dishwasher and feed the birds. He loves to help around the house. We also did some school work and took a walk. When he wants to, he does very well with his school work. He is really good at numbers and simple math problems. He knows all of his alphabet and we have been practicing writing three letters at a time, capital and lowercase. We have worked on a few simple words, but he has a hard time retaining them. We are really going to hit the reading here soon in the next few weeks. He takes an assessment in the first week of August to determine what kind of services he will need through the school system. I am anxious to see how he does. Today we started swim lessons and he loved them. We go Tuesday through Friday for two weeks and I have already decided to sign him up for another session. I will try to post pictures of these tomorrow. We did buy new swim trunks today...stuck with the Spiderman theme of course. This afternoon we picked up his glasses and at one point he was excited about them, but today he refused to go pick them up. I know it will take a while to get used to and he is a six year old boy, but he really does need them and I think the more he wears them the more he will realize how much better he can see with them. His sleep is improving, but I still worry he is not getting enough rest. I read somewhere that for his age he should get between 10-11 hours and I would estimate he is only getting around 7-8. I know in time it will continue to improve. He has come a long way from our first few weeks home. I really can't complain. Tomorrow I will try to post swimming pictures and maybe some with his glasses if he will let me take them.

Summer Fun!

So Tuesday we did the eye doctor thing and then we tortured Longji Wednesday with blood work. He actually did amazingly well...better than his father. They took what they could from his arm, but they had to stick him again in his hand which was painful I am sure. Not a tear was shed. He sang his ABCs for the nurses and counted to 20 for them also. They were able to get everything they needed in one visit which is great. We should hear from the doctor next week and then we can start re-immunizing...ugh! Meanwhile, my niece has been with us all week so we have had different craft projects going on at home, we have visited the library a few times, the park and Pump It Up. We have also been doing school work at home and Jennifer did take Longji to Artworks last night for open art. He loves to paint! John is halfway through summer school already and I have started running again...thankfully! I have some "baby weight" to lose. Tomorrow we are going back to the river and then Sunday we will be at nainai and yeye's house (John's parents) for the best BBQ in Texas!

Glasses!

Okay, so the little man needs glasses! He can't wait to get them. We had a two hour eye doctor appointment today and Longji is nearsighted with astigmatism and has thinning of the retina in both eyes which has a very fancy name, but I can't remember how to spell it. The astigmatism will eventually go away and we have to monitor the retina problem because he is more susceptible to retinal tearing and detachment. For the nearsightedness he gets to wear glasses. He did awesome at the appointment and they even gave him eye drops to dilate his pupils. He loved the "sun glasses" they gave him to wear outside. We treated him to dinner and ice cream at Chick fil A. On Tuesdays kids eat free and they usually have an activity or something for the kids to do. Last week was fire safety week and he got to visit with the firemen and sit in the fire truck. This week he made a little Father's (Ba Ba's) day gift. Tomorrow we go to pump it up with his cousin, Avry, and then to the hospital for blood work...that should be fun.

doctor visits, school work and bedtime anxiety

Well, this last week was by far the most challenging. Poor Longji just is not sleeping well and we found out he is having night terrors about 2-3 hours into sleep. He didn't have these in China when he was with us, but he is having them now and there really is no cure. He is also very anxious about bedtime which just adds to the whole experience negatively. We have reached out to various resources including our social worker and pediatrician and we have received some great advice on how to work through bedtime anxiety and the lack of sleep. We are down to a set routine which includes very little stimulation in the late, late afternoon into the evening hours. There have been some improvements, but with a lot of crying and very little sleep...for everyone. We also have set up a plan for Longji to get all of his blood work done and re-immunizations. He has an eye appointment on Tuesday and we have a dental visit in early July. We are trying to do some school work every day if not every other day. He definitely does not like "school." Apparently, he does not plan on attending school in the U.S. This is what he told someone in Mandarin. Little does he know...he is living with two school teachers! We have also visited the library twice and Longji has his own library card now. We have been bike riding, hanging out with grandparents, gone swimming, had numerous play dates and run endless errands. He really is adjusting well.

New Bicycle!

Well, our little man got his first very own bicycle today! Aunt Autumn came by to meet him and in the back of her big orange Hummer was a hot wheels bicycle for Longji! He was so ecstatic he could not stop smiling. She visited for a while and then Longji and I worked on counting, colors and a matching game this afternoon. We walked around the block once after dinner and we just couldn't wait for tomorrow to let him ride so we ran up to the store to buy him a helmet. He was the happiest boy on the planet at that point. He rode his bicycle in a big open parking lot and he could not stop smiling the entire time. Of course I forgot the camera when he was riding, but I did grab a picture of Longji with Autumn and the fantastic gift. What a day for him. Now I am hoping he will have happy bicycle riding dreams all night long and not wake anyone up. He only came to our room once last night so John and I were discussing the progress we thought we were making this morning when we found out he woke up Jennifer four other times. Poor guy, something just does not allow him to sleep through the night. Sweet dreams my little cyclist.

Summer is here!

We are all officially on summer break! It's great that John and I are both teachers and we can spend all summer bonding with Longji. Yesterday John wrapped up some closing procedures at his school while Longji and I went swimming with the Ferlands. Of course we had a fantastic time! Today we woke up this morning and decided to meet my parents at Guadalupe State Park for a picnic and some fun in the water. We had to explain to Longji that this is a river and not a swimming pool so things will be a little different. He didn't quite get it until we were there and saw the park and river. We had so much fun and his appetite is getting so much better. He ate three hot dogs and tons of watermelon. Last night we had rice and noodles and he asked for seconds. I am attaching photos from today in the water. He had a blast with Jordyn and she of course loves her little brother a lot.