Saturday, March 7, 2009

Day two




Elijah and IsaacGoodbye cake

Elijah is still doing really great.  He woke in the middle of the night again, yelling "MARIA!"(one of the long term volunteers at COTP) and was very upset.  He climbed the gate in his doorway and was running down the hall.  J. and I took turns trying to calm him down and got him back to sleep, then he stayed in bed until around 7 am. He is taking a nap now, he fell asleep in the car on the way home from Costco.  I was surprised that he went back to sleep after transferring him to our bed.  One thing I noticed is he doesn't like his little pillow, or the quilt/blankets on his bed.  I worry about him being cold, so I cover him after he is asleep, but he seems scared of them. So we will try to go to bed without these things tonight.   They didn't use them in Haiti.  

He is eating well, interacting well, and has been pretty well behaved.  He had a small tantrum today but nothing too difficult to deal with.  Other than that we have been pleasantly surprised!  I think the hardest thing has been the sleep issue, and communication or language barrier.  These haven't been as bad as I had been preparing myself for.  

While we were at Costco and Target I felt like we had a LOT of kids.  I felt a lot of eyes on us as we maneuvered our way through the store.  We ran into a few friends and it was nice to have Elijah meet them.  He was GREAT the whole trip and really liked the free samples and hot dog for lunch.  During lunch, a lady made eye contact with me while J. was getting some drinks.  She asked "are these all your kids?"  I smiled and said "yes, they are!".  She said, "oh, that's wonderful, good for you."  I was puzzled by what I should say in response so I just said, "it's a lot of work!"  Thankfully all the kids were behaving so we were representing large, adopted families in a positive way.

As far as eating, there are only two things so far that E. doesn't like...cantaloupe and string cheese.  Everything else he has eaten without problem.  His portion sizes are about the same size as my 6 year old daughter, so not outrageous.  His belly seems a lot less bloated now too since he got home.

4 comments:

Laurel said...

Glad things are going well.

I get a lot of the "good for you" type of comments. My response is usually, "Thanks. God has blessed us."

Laurel

Ericka said...

TOO cute!!

Anonymous said...

Yippee! I'm so glad to read that he is home and you are a complete family again. Oh so good to read! As for the eyes being on your family in a store, it's because we learn so much from you. You are a wonderful momma and wether the moment in a store is a happy one or a grumpy one.... all of us other mommies are learning from you. That's not a comment meant to add anxiety, but rather a compliment. You are a mom to so many and more of us wish we could be too!

Anonymous said...

Is it snowing there in Custer? What does E. think of that?!?

Congratulations Smith family on your newest member and on the happiness and love the future holds.
-Courtney