Three months and 6 days ago we arrived home with our precious boy. It is hard to believe that it has been 3 months already. Wow, he has come so far in 3 months. Many people ask if language has been an issue. Not really. We have always been able to understand each other from the beginning. We all figured out, by "acting out" stuff or simply taking each other's hands and going to what we were trying to talk about, what needed to be said. It has been amazing to watch the way his English has RAPIDLY taken off. Here are some of the phrases he says:
1.) Ming Ming (
Baba, Mama , whoever) do it.
2.) "This
wayway" . When he is trying to show us which way to go.
3.)" Didi e"
prounounced "Dee Dee e' (short e sound)" meaning little brother is hungry. However, he now says that for
ANYthing he wants especially gum (or "
dum").
4.) "Wu
Ku uh"
Prounced with all short u sounds. This is his version of I am thirsty in Chinese. He uses this for anytime he wants a drink.
5.) New phrases lately "I don't know", "Because", "what happened?"
6.) "
Jie Jie Da" meaning something belongs to
MaiLin. Or similarly "Mama
Da", "
LiLi Da".
7.) "
Jie Jie Na" meaning where is
Jie Jie8.) When I've told him to do something and he ignores me, I'll start counting and then he'll say, "OK Mama. I love you Mama. " Not sure how sincere that "I love you " is.
9.) "hug" at bedtime. Self explanatory. Too sweet and melts Mama's heart.
Also in the last 3 months we have had numerous
dr. 's
appts . We've made two trips to the
Intl Adoption Clinicwhich included a physcial, a developmental assessment, bloodwork, a kidney ultrasound (to check for stones due to tainted milk in China a couple of years ago), and we've met with a plastic surgeon to discuss possibly doing the surgery close to home and a dermatologist to monitor his nevus. He's had a hearing test, an eye exam and blood tests galore.
Here is the bottom line: Adrian is a poster child for international adoption. He has attached to us beautifully and so easily. He is developmentally on target even including his speech/language. His hearing is perfect. His vision is great and all of his blood work came back normal. We did bring home a little
souvenier ( a common parasite) but with some
meds for 10 days that
souvenier should be gone . In about 6 weeks (our two IAC appt timespan), he grew 1 1 /2 inches.
Our biggest concerns have obviously been related to his nevus. People with a nevus near the eye area can also have Nevus Otis which is where the pressure in the eye builds up because the eye doesn't drain properly (as best I understand it) so glaucoma is something that can occur over time and the optic nerve could be permanently damaged. If the pressures are too high they may have to do surgery to reduce it or use medication. I think the opthamologist (which we use for the girls and LOVE) was expecting the pressures to be high but the huge praise was that they were absolutely normal and he didn't see any nevus on the scalera (white part of the eye). His vision right now is great. He will be monitored over time to make sure pressures don't increase as he gets older.
We have been truly blessed. We will see our local pediatrician on Monday. ADrian will have to get caught up on a few immunizations before surgery. ONce we determine the time frame on that we will return to the plastic surgeon soon for measurements on his nevus and then wait for insurance approval which should take about 6 weeks. Surgery will probably be sometime around the beginning of October.
Surgery schedule will be as follows:
1st surgery--insert tissue expanders in the neck and two in the forehead--maybe more.
Wait 3 weeks for healing and then began expanding the tissue expanders by inserting saline once or twice a week. This should take about 10-12 weeks.
After the expanders reach maximum capacity, the excision of the nevus will be the next surgery (probably sometime after the first of the year). Then from that point we wait for healing , see where things are , possbily re-expand and excise again if all the nevus is not removed in the first excision.
After all excisions are done, there will be a skin graft done from behind the ear to replace the eye lid and tissue under the eye. Then we wait and revise scars, etc as necessary. After all is said and done, several years down the road we will replace his eyebrow by doing a hair transplant from his head. WOW!!!
We are certainly going to have to pray about this decision but already have a peace about doing this surgery only an hour and a half from home.
Displaying his citizenship bear. Silly boy!
Having fun with daddy!
