Boerne Market Days, Post-Adoption Shower and School!

Well, summer is very quickly coming to an end...ugh! We have picked up Longji's backpack and lunch box as well as his school supplies for the school we think he is going to. He actually gets tested on August 4th and we will know after that where they want him to go. We are currently in the middle of swim lessons part 2 and we have continued to do school work throughout the summer. I actually gave him a mini spelling "test" the other day on some words we have been working on and he did fantastic! We also did some research and we found a Chinese School for him to attend on Sunday afternoons. Don't worry, it is only for two hours...not a full day of school. Attached are some pictures from Boerne Market Days and a post-adoption shower that some wonderful people at PM&R (my part-time job) threw for me. We had a great time and Longji loved his "special party." We have actually started incorporating his new first name, Adam. John is better at it than I am, but we figured he needs to get used to responding to is since school is around the corner.

Mini-Vacation Pics

Great Teeth!

I had to post about Longji's dental appointment yesterday. He did absolutely fantastic! He let the young lady take the x-rays and he did great during the exam. He has no cavities which is unbelievable. We just knew we would have more visits with the dentist before school. I still can't believe it! So we are pretty much done with our doctor visits. He still has some more immunizations, but we should wrap these up soon hopefully. Overall, he is a very healthy young boy and he is continuing to transition well! I will try to jump in and post more pictures later today.

Happy July!

Sorry I have been ignoring my posting duties. We have been very busy lately and it seems like I can't get ten minutes at the computer without interruptions. Welcome to motherhood...right? I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. July has been fun and exciting so far. I am definitely not ready for all of the school supplies they are setting out at Walmart...ugh!

Longji wrapped up his swimming lessons last week and we decided to sign him up again for the last two weeks of July. I want him to be a fish in the water at some point so paying for swim lessons is a priority in my book. We did have a couple of appointments last week, one of which was a bit traumatizing. I still don't understand how the little prince can give so many vials of blood and get stuck twice, but simply does NOT like getting shots. He had to have four shots on Wednesday afternoon and he was not happy. On a good note, he did great with the audiologist and his hearing is perfect so far. Now I know he is just ignoring me when I call him sometimes...a true six year old. This Thursday we see the dentist. I have a feeling this will be the first of many many visits.

We did take him to see his first movie here with us, Toy Story 3. Loved it! And so did Longji. John finished summer school so we have the remaining summer left to just do whatever. We left July 3rd for New Braunfels and stayed at my brother's house for a couple of nights. We had a blast and Longji did fantastic! He sleeps just fine through the night and he did great over there. We went to the parade Saturday morning, visited Gruene in the afternoon, had a fish fry that evening. On Sunday, Casey and I officially started our training for the SA Rock n Roll Marathon in November. We ran three miles together through their neighborhood. We took a drive down to the river that afternoon and then headed out for a spot for fireworks. Oh and we grilled fajitas that night. They too were awesome! Longji loved the fireworks. Monday we took a drive out to Canyon Lake and ate lunch out there. Today we hit the swimming pool for some summer fun and Longji had a blast. He will never admit he is tired or sleepy, but I got proof that he does in fact sleep on the way home. Five minutes in the car after two hours in the pool and he was out.

We are planning a trip to the beach for a few days next week so we will see how things go in the big ocean.

As far as adjusting goes, he is doing amazingly well. Our only real concern in the beginning was the sleeping, but he seems to be doing much better now. He is beginning to speak in sentences rather than just spit words out and I know he understands about 85% of what we are saying. He is just like any other six year old at this point and I am sure he will continue to transition well. I am posting some pictures of the last few weeks events. One of them is Longji sitting on the couch playing on his Cars Laptop. He seems like a little adult sometimes. We also took him to Chucky Cheese the night of his shots to ease the pain a bit...it worked. He had a blast and could not wait to hug Chucky! I am posting pictures of this as well.

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.