Christmas time!!

Boy, do I have some cute stories to tell about Drew. Guess what he had started saying he wanted for Xmas last month? A baby sister! He heard us talking about it a while ago and he told his teacher at school that he was getting one! Wow his wish will come true in the near future. We have decided to adopt again, this time a little girl from Korea. We're just waiting on our homestudy to get done , our paperwork is done (much quicker, less painful than for China). The wait is still around a year or so though by the time it's all said and done, we're looking like probably 1 1/2 yr.
We took him and Riley to meet Santa and all that jazz too. The cutest thing is that he brought in his stocking and said he was ready to go , so Santa Claus could fill his stocking up with toys. Good thing I didn't let him take it with us there-haha. He was not even afraid of Santa, and sat right down on his lap without hesistation. He told him he wanted a transformer, but later changed his mind to power rangers. I had to "call" Santa and let him know this new change of plans.

We watched Frosty the Snowman on TV last week or so and he kept calling him "Krosty" instead. At first, I thought for sure he called him "Krusty".....again, too cute. Drew has really caught on to the idea of this Christmas thing, he knows he will get presents really soon. He's already counted his gifts under grandma's tree and ours. We were homefrom church a few weeks ago and he started singing Jingle Bells. It took a little bit for me to realize that he'd never heard this before or sang it for that matter. I asked where he'd heard that and he said at church. They were starting to practice for their Christmas program songs and Drew learned the chorus of it after the first time. The following Sunday night, during bath time he repeatedly was singing Happy Birthday Jesus over and over , yet again another song he'd heard. I should 've recorded it. This past Sunday evening was their program in which Drew was a shepherd. He asked me if he could keep his "costume" before we got there and ,"if it was going to be Iron Man". Of course I had to try and explain this concept to him, which I should've showed him pictures of shepherds-duh. He did great in it, though he was playing around and dropped his "big stick" as he called it. Don't you just love his hair in the pic too? I had to laugh even though he was so cute.

Still here

Surprise everyone! Yes we are still laggin' behind with posting as usual, but we are still here and doing just great too. Since I'm so far behind here, I'll just mention the pics on here. We went to our friends to Pumpkin Hollow to feed the animals, take a pony and a hay ride, play on hay bails, and pick out pumpkins. Drew had a big time there, as you can see. For Halloween he was the bumble bee transformer. He almost wasn't though, as he had a bad day and was refusing to go trick or treating! Thank goodness he changed his mind, he loved every minute of it. By the time we were done, his little pail was full as could be. Guess I should throw what's left of it in the trash now.

Urumqi reunion at the river

Two other families who also adopted and traveled to/ from Urumqi, China joined us for the weekend at my parents' house at Current River in Doniphan,MO. The Prescotts, John,Karen, Lily and Luke are from Springfield,MO and we visited them earlier this summer. The other family were the Morales,- Tonio, Becky, Vivi, Maya, and Tonito from the Chicago area. The Prescotts arrived early around dinner time and the Morales got there around 10 p.m. due to unexpected news and several stops along the way. Drew was getting so tired waiting for Tonito, that he told Scott to wake him up when he got there, however, he never did take a nap. So needless to say, the kids were running around trying to keep awake til they got there. At first meeting, Drew was a little quiet and stand off -ish, only b/c he was so tired and not sure how to react to them all being together. This changed quickly as all the kids jumped in their sleeping bags in the floor lying beside each other to go to sleep. This was such a cute sight to see. The only two left there in the morning were Drew and Tonito. Drew got up around 7 and came in our room to wake me up. The weather had been dreary and rainy that night they got there, and we weren't sure how it would play out the rest of the day for Sat. but it ended up not raining just being really cloudy. The kids played in the hot tub a bunch of times and we got to go on a boat ride, though the wind was a little chilly. They thoroughly enjoyed being together and playing the entire weekend. They all got along really well, with no fighting, no crying, and hardly any whining! Karen brought a pinata and the kids helped fill it with tons of candy which they later got to bust open. Man did they love doing this! The kids also got to roast marshmallows over the fire pit and make s'mores. As Karen said, it was pitch black and we only had some flashlights to see the fire, the kids, the food, and the river beside us. Thank goodness no accidents!
Sunday morning came too fast for us all. The Prescotts left early that morning around 7:00 but the Morales fixed breakfast for us and ended up following us to our home in Malden, an hour away. They were driving to St Louis to go to the zoo the next day, so they decided to visit for a little while. Drew was so excited to show Tonito his room, toys, and all the animals. Vivi, Tonito's sister loved the two kittens we have and held them the entire time making sure our puppy Copper didn't harm them. He also took him for a ride on his "vroom vroom" (his battery powered 4wheeler), which they both loved. They also got to hitch a ride with Scott on his new 4 wheeler, which they both wanted to go fast! We all ate leftovers for a late lunch, then they headed toward St. Louie. It's a good thing Drew didn't understand or realize that it might be a long time before he gets to see his little buddy again. Hopefully we will get to Springfield for the Chinese New Year celebrations, this would be a first for us & Drew. We all said that we will have to plan future "reunions" esp so that the family in Florida can join in. Well enjoy the pics!

Drew's updates

Yes we're lagging behind in updating this blog. There's so much to talk about now, that I can't keep up and remember it all. Well I finally took Drew to the dentist about a month ago, yes I"m a slacker with that too. Anyhoo, his teeth checked out great, no cavities! Drew had to go back by himself and he wasn't scared nor asked me to go with him--this was one of the firsts. We were just amazed that he didn't have any cavities since he eats lots of candy. Drew loves going to school still. He also now goes to ESL class three times a week. Yesterday, we had our 6 month post adoption visit with our social worker here. Drew was such a ham and had us laughing most of the time she was here. First let me back up, Drew had a minor surgery last week (circumcision). So he proceeded to tell Rebecca our social worker that the doctor fixed his wee wee, among other statements.... He had to show her his bedroom and everything in it. He even showed her his stash of cash he has hidden in his underwear drawer. She was surprised we had more animals/pets than the last time she was here. Just recently we've added 2 kittens, and a puppy as of last week. So now we've reached our quota with 4 cats, 2 dogs, 4 rabbits, and 1 iguana. Maybe we should start charging admission or something.... Drew had to show off all his pets to her too. She was quite impressed with Drew's continued progress and how bright he is.
We're just thankful that he has adjusted amazingly well and secure in such a short time and is the perfect fit in our family. Well in one more day, we will be seeing two other families that we traveled with to Urumqi to meet our kids. Drew is soooo excited and happy, he can't stand it!!
They are meeting us at my parents' house at the river for the weekend. Yes it will be such a short weekend, but well worth it. The only downside is that the family from Florida won't be attending, good grief that'd be a long drive!

Time for school

Well Drew started preschool last Monday with a slow start. He had been waking up early for the entire past 2 weeks prior to starting, however this day, he did not want to get up. He was sooo crabby. I had to prod him just to move an inch. He couldn't decide what he wanted for breakfast and we were running late anyway, so he stood in the kitchen and started to cry. So, the first day of school pics were NOT what I had anticipated. However, once we got to school he cheered up and was fine when I left. The next day, we took another pic b/c he was in his regular cheery mood, so he cheezed it up big time. Drew has been doing great in school so far, receiving good marks everyday from his teacher. She noted that he was a very good boy and a super listener! Last week, he came home and asked me who could come over to play with him, he was already bored at home with me. I told him everyone was at school or at the babysitters and he said, "no one play with Drew." Too bad his class doesn't last all day, it only goes til 11 a.m. I'll have to find ways to entertain him for the rest of the year.

Drew has his first gymnastics class last Friday. He loved it, to say the least. The first part of it was body conditioning and it wore me out just watching them. I figured he'd be tired by the time they got to the rest of it but he did great. He practiced doing hand stands, cartwheels, and a whole lot of jumping and running too. Everyday since, he asks in the morning if it's flip time. He wants to go everyday now. When we'd watch gymnastics on the Olympics, he'd say, "Drew can do that." We'd just laugh and let him go on.

Bonding time

Last weekend Drew and I went camping with our friends the Lampes. Scott was working so he couldn't go this time. We drove to Sam A Baker state park on that Friday evening and was dark by the time we got there so I missed a few turns on the way. Luckily, it wasn't too bad though. Deer jumped across the road right in front of us before we turned to go into the campground too.

Drew loved this new camping experience. He got to roast marshmallows, even though he didn't like to eat them. They had paved roads and bike trails so we all rode our bikes alot too. The park presented a snake encounter program for the kids that we went to and Drew got to pet a snake, he didn't want to hold it just yet. He also swam in the river like a fish. Thank goodness he's taken a liking to the water! He told us that he wanted to stay 5 times camping, he liked it so much. He also said "babaw sleep here, bed fall down!" and laughed hysterically. I couldn't help but laugh too as he said this when we were going to bed one night. We both enjoyed the snuggle time we got since we had to sleep in the same bed. So after we got home the whole next week, he wanted to sleep in our bed. Yikes, Scott said not to get that started-haha.

Our trip to see the Prescotts

The day after Drew's b'day party, we left bound for Springfield/Branson. We met the Prescotts, a family we traveled with in China. They adopted their son, Luke from Urumqi while we picked up Drew and they also have a 4 yr old daughter Lily who was adopted when we was about a yr old. We met for a late lunch at a nice Japanese steak house that was delicious. After that, we went to their house so we could visit more and the kids could play in their backyard. The kids loved it, as they got to jump on their trampoline, look for bugs and fish in their pond, and play in their treehouse. The next day, they rode with us through the animal park. I don't know who was more excited to see/feed the animals--me or the kids! By the end of it, all four kiddos were standing up, hanging out of our sunroof- thank goodness we had to go slow. We later had lunch at this pizza joint that had indoor go karts and arcade. This was Drew's first time for this and he loved it. John, Luke, and Lily came to our hotel to swim that evening, which all the kids really enjoyed. The next day, we spent in Branson going to the Titanic exhibit, which was really interesting esp with two kids..haha. I also got to go shopping of course at the outlet mall. That evening we went back to Springfield to have dinner at the Prescotts' house. By then, the kids really played well together and played hard too. Wednesday, we went to an animal show in Branson then met the Prescotts at the Branson Belle Showboat for dinner and show. At one point, Drew was sitting beside me and Lily was on my lap with Drew insisting on putting his arm around Lily's neck. It was toooo cute!! After the show, our boys still wanted to play with the kids so they came back to our hotel to swim and say their final goodbyes. We were so used to seeing them everyday, too bad we had to go home.

Drew's 5 !!!!!!

As of July 15, Drew turned 5. We rented a huge blow up water slide for the kids to play on. Drew and Riley loved this thing. Drew got scared and intimidated when all the kids got here and started playing on it though. He doesn't like crowds of kids just yet, he' d rather have a small group or one on one interaction. We also had to get the spiderman slip n'slide out too for the little ones.

The week before the party, Drew asked every day when his birthday was (as it was on Tues and the party was on Sat.) Therefore, he thought or wished that he had 2 birthdays and turned 5 yrs old then 6 yrs old at the party. Whenever someone asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he'd reply, "spiderman presents." So... low and behold, that's what he got. He now has virtually most of everything with spiderman on it. We even got him a spiderman bicycle with training wheels of course. He now rides it around the block in the evenings and loves it. He thinks he is such a big boy now, just like brother Riley. The only thing now, he can't wait to turn 6!! He's growing up soooo fast already.....

Summer of fun

There's so much to blog about and catch everyone up on about Drew and our family. He is doing really good as before, still eating every fruit and vegetable in sight, talking up a storm these days. He's practically lost all of his Mandarin and speaks only in English now. He won't answer anyone who speaks to him in Chinese but only in English as well. Drew still loves to go fishing, matter of fact he won the kid's fishing derby he was in in June. He caught a 6.9 lb rainbow trout to take the lead. He received a new fishing rod/reel, tackle box , and duffle bag. He beat hundreds of other kids in this tournament, though he truly didn't realize just what a feat it was at the time! The fish was so big Drew was scared of it. We're getting it mounted so that he won't forget this big day. Here are a few pics with his prize winning fish.

We took the kids plus my niece and a friend to the waterpark earlier this summer too. Drew was not too excited about this at first. Finally after lunch he loosened up and got in the water freely to play and asked to go in the lazy river again and again. He wouldn't go down the waterslides but he would act as if he was swimming in the ankle deep part of the wave pool. This was good enough we thought.

We celebrated 4th of July over at the river house, eating lots of food, playing in the river and shooting fireworks. Drew loved the sparklers that he could hold, though he had grabbed hold of a punk/lighter and burned his finger. I'm not sure if he had seen big fireworks before or not, as he didn't make too much of a fuss over them though he did like watching them. The pics of him and Riley doing fireworks at home somehow ended up above this post as well as pics of us at the river.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Six Flags with our friends and their little girl. Drew was happy to see the Looney Tune characters up close, especially Scooby Doo who was there. He actually rode a few roller coasters/type rides but didn't really like them. He rode the new Tony Hawk spinning roller coaster with Riley, Chloe and Felisa but said he didn't want to ride it again. The day was hot but the lines for the rides weren't that bad. It actually rained us out of the park at the end of the day so we headed back home sooner than planned. The pic is of their fake tatoos they had to have before leaving.

We also visited our local children's museum here in town. Yes, we have this here in our very small rural town matter of fact. It is called the Bootheel Youth Museum and is visited by hundreds year round. One of the pics is of Riley, Drew, Chloe and Sadie standing in front of the animal furs hanging on a display. Another is of the town grocery store that they liked to play in. The third is the big sized bubble maker.

School dayz

Well Drew went to preschool all last week and even stayed til the end of the day 2:45 four of the five days. He said he liked it and had fun. All he could talk about was Mrs Traci and he even mentioned a classmate's name too. Last Friday I had to pick him up early from the Bootheel Youth Museum from their field trip and when I got there, he was running around holding hands with two girls who are twins. He had one on each hand and laughing. I wish I'd had my camera to take that cute pic. We later teased him about this and he knew what we were talking about, and he just smiled big and giggled. This summer school lasts the month of June only and regular session starts back in Aug. By that time we think Drew will be an "old pro" at going to school and getting into that routine. Drew is starting to interact more with his classmates now too, according to his teacher. He is a very sociable kid and so we figured it wouldn't take too long, he just has to get used to them.

I took Drew and a friend Chloe to see Kung Fu Panda yesterday. He was sooo excited and kept asking where Kung Fu was during all the previews before it started. If you ask him about the movie he'll tell you about Po and Tai Lung fighting, it's so cute to see. Now he keeps asking for money to go buy the DVD. We already are planning on that, just waiting til it comes out.
Oh yes, he also wants all the figures from McDonald's from the movie too. He's got two pandas and another character so far.

On another note, forgot to include a post from last week. We are now the owners of rabbits after seeing Austin's, we decided that the kids would love to have them. Riley has asked many times in the past for one anyway. So we bought 4 and 1 died the next day. They are the cutest things though. Drew runs out to check on them everyday. Scott built a big cage for them too so they are doing great. Hmm... now what other animals can we get to add to our zoo?....

More "firsts" for Drew

Last week as usual, we were still quite busy. Drew got his first haircut, finally. His hair was over his ears! Everyone kept asking when he was going to get a haircut, it was getting bad. So my hairdresser, Nick cut it for free. He gave me my first haircut too so it was only natural that he cut Drew's too. I took pics of this as well and will post them soon. Drew was very quiet sitting in the chair, never talked or moved. He of course wanted Riley to get his hair cut too, if he had to do it. He always sure to try and get Riley to do the same as he has to do, such as going to bed, etc. So anyway, Drew looks so cute with his new do'. After this, we went to the movies, which was also a first for him. He looked at the screen and said, "big DVD". He still can't wait to see KungFu Panda , and still doesn't understand that we just can't go buy the DVD to watch here yet. The next day was Drew's first day to actually go "swimming". He got in and waded around, then later agreed to get into a little floatie boat that wouldn't tip over. He loved for us to push him around in this. He thought he was a big boy. He later got brave and tried to sit on this shark floatie which he fell off of and went under but Scott was there to pull him back up. He didn't like this so he didn't want to get back on after this accident, who could blame him?
We believe it won't take long for him to be swimming around this summer, as this was only the first day that he'd been in an outside pool and he was quite brave. He knows that his cousin Taylor is going to teach him how to swim and he is looking forward to it.

Last night at his friend Chloe's, Drew learned how to swing himself around or flip over the rings on her swingset. He was so proud of himself and he came and dragged me out to show me his new trick. He later got mad when he couldn't do this on our swingset at home because the rings are different. I told him that I'd show him how to do it and he was ok then.

So yesterday was his first day at summer preschool. I took him late in the day and he was fine to go but he didn't want me leaving. He "caught" me trying to leave and he kept saying, "Kimber, quit!" So finally Mrs. Traci just dragged him away crying as I left. However, after calling to check on him, I found out he quit crying as soona s I walked out and was fine. He got restless about an hour or so later and was asking for me so I went to get him. He had a paper with stickers on it and a beaded necklace with a smiley face sun on it. He immediately asked about the Spiderman DVD that I'd promised him if he'd be good at school,etc. He doesn't forget anything.... Right now he is at school again. He didn't cry at all and wasn't nearly as clingy as yesterday. Maybe we're making progress! So since he's not here, I have time to blog and clean his room-hhaa. He will get ESL tutoring this summer after his preschool class too. Hopefully he can stay focused long enough for the teacher. The other night while watchin E.T. for the 3rd night in a row, Drew said,"mama, two E.T., why?" He said it twice before I realized what he'd said. He continues to ask many questions such as, "what are ya doing?" He wants an answer for everything. He was getting the cat inside last night and he said, "get in there". He'd heard us say that before at other times, but then I hadn't said a word so he came up with that all on his own.
Speaking of the cat, he continues to love on them both everyday. The laid back cat now hisses and growls at him almost immediately now when he tries to pick her up and the other cat now is more easy going--who would've thought... He also loves on Katie, our dog everyday even though she bit him on the forehead about 3 weeks ago. Luckily this had healed up wonderfully, even though it looked horrendous.

Finally.... some pics!!!

Here are a few pics of Drew since we've been home. He has the best time riding on his 4-wheeler and playing on his new swingset babaw put together for him and Riley. Scott has him saying "peace out" and making hand gestures too. This is the funniest to hear! He's already getting that Southern drawl'---hahha

Drew's first fish was a good sized blue gill. Here he is taking his first lessons from his uncle Mark.

More of Drew's adventures

Well we had a very busy last week/weekend. Last Friday, Drew had to have a spinal tap done. He was a true trooper for this though. He only started to cry when they had to stick him for the third time in the hand for an IV and even then he never whimpered. He was sedated for the procedure, which only took <10 minutes. After that he had to lie flat for 30 minutes, then he got to pick out three "prizes" for being such a tough/brave boy. We then had to go to xray so they could get pics of his long bones. This was so funny because everytime he heard the machine go off, he would smile really big. We told him everytime that he had to smile for the pictures. It was so cute, he had the staff chuckling. Because he was unable to eat before the procedure, he was starving so we ate at Olive Garden (which he loves). He ate a large helping of salad, and most of his spaghetti. You would never had known he had anything done to him that day, thank goodness. We got home and he was ready to "vroom vroom" his 4wheeler. We have an appt with a pediatric opthamologist on 6/25 and the GI pediatric doctor on 6/13. He also has to get caught up on his immunizations in the meantime too. This should take a while to get completed though.

For Memorial Day weekend, we went to the river and stayed with my parents. Drew has been there before with me but this time, he got to go fishing with his new Spiderman fishing reel and go for boat rides. He absolutely loved being on the boat! He asked about "the boat" constantly when we weren't in it. We kept his life jacket on him the entire time out in the sun, so he has darker arms, legs, and his face is brown as a biscuit now even with lots of sunscreen. He also had a good time in the hot tub. He probably thought it was a big bath tub to play in!

Drew's citizenship papers finally came in last week so we've sent off for his Mo birth certificate and just today, applied for his SS# card, which takes forever. So, he will have the last of his official paperwork done very soon!

Drew and Riley both went fishing with Scott today. He got them up at 5 a.m.! Let me tell you that Drew is still going strong and has not had a nap all day and it is now after 7 p.m. He fights sleep so badly. He accidentally lost his fishing pole in the water, as he let go of it at some point. He told Scott, "babaw, kahn (look) spiderman,bye!" as it went under.
Drew is always saying "one time" to everything that is asked of him to do or try. So now we all basically answer for him with his famous one time reply, while laughing the whole time. He will try anything once, whether it's trying different food or giving out kisses to everyone. He also now asks, "what are you doing?" He's said this a few times here lately. He tells us all the time that he wants something that Riley has such as games, toys, anything and everything. He also told us that he wants a "big woof woof" like Austin's (his cousin). His uncle Mark told him that he'd get him one if it was ok with his babaw--thanks for that one!...haha He reminds us just about everyday that he wants a "big woof woof". Maybe one of these days he will get his wish.

Well the pictures are FINALLY uploaded to our computer folks, so be ready to see lots of pics of Drew and the rest of our gang!

Progressing right along...

Drew continues to learn more things/English everyday and talks up a storm. He can now say 3-4 word sentences too. Here are some words and things he says on a daily basis- "What is it?", "I not know", "I love you big", "Come on Katie", "Look Mama", and much more. It's the funniest thing when he gets onto Katie our dog or one of the cats by telling them "boo!" (which means no in Chinese). He is now used to saying No and Yes as well to questions we ask him. He understands everything we ask of him and tell him to do, while answering or responding appropriately. His aunt Rose taught him how to play cards, the high /low game. He now knows the faces of the high cards and asks to play all the time. Today he started cheating a little bit though when he played with Nai Nai. He liked to pick out the high cards for himself and gave the low ones to her. That's what I call strategy! ...hahha
He asks about these folks Riley, Felisa, Chloe, Sadie, Uncle Mark, Austin- he usually asks me where they are everyday. He is now used to answering his own question of where everyone is, with answers being "school" or "shong ban" -(which is work in Chinese). He says vroom -vroom (meaning either he wants to go riding in the car somewhere, or he wants to drive his 4wheeler he just got 2 days ago).
He can clearly say anything you ask him to repeat, usually on the first try. Actually, he repeats anything we say , even when we don't ask him to. He wants to see Kung Fu Panda, he got the stuffed animal and the book at Kohl's and now when he sees the commercial he says "Kung Fu Panda, DVD!" I try to explain it's not out on DVD yet, we have to go to the movies to see it when it comes out. He can identify everyone by pictures as well.
Last weekend his Uncle Mark brought him 6 quarts of fresh strawberries. Drew ate all but those that I sent with Scott to work. He called him and asked him about the "big strawberries", meaning he wanted more!
Now, Drew asks to go to the gym with babaw everytime he goes. I showed Drew pictures of weightlifters/gym in a magazine when he asked where babaw was one day and ever since he now knows when he hears the word gym that he wants to go too. He makes the funniest motion with his arms as if he is lifting or pushing weights to show us what he wants to do. Now he says"pump it up" along with the motions, which is hilarious to watch. He eats more so that his muscles get big too. He makes a muscle with his arm to show it off too.

Well it looks like we'll be going to see a pediatric GI doctor in St Louis soon for his colon. It seems they want to do a scope just to see what all they "fixed" in China and to make sure it works as it should. He is doing bettter going to the bathroom too--after the Miralax episodes.
As far as his eating habits, they're coming along too. He now eats chicken nuggets and can pronounce them , along with McDonalds. He finally found a cereal he likes, which is Honey Smacks-he calls it mama's because it's mine. He continues to eat tons of fruits and some veggies though which is great. He prefers to eat the onions and peppers out of the meat dishes, so we have to remind him to eat some of the meat too. Some days he will eat fruits and snacks all day long, (not enough in my opinion), and some days he'll woof down tons of food/meals.
Last weekend, he went to his first swimming b'day party. He did actually get in the pool with his babaw, but didn't want to stay in it for too long. He'd been "practicing " swimming in the bathtub all week prior to this party. He'd basically let us know that he wanted to go swimming in his own way. So now that the party is over, he said he wants to go again! We'll see.... hopefully he will learn to love to swim and play in the water. We're going to the river this weekend again and he'll get to ride in our boat for the first time too. This should be fun to watch. He thinks our dog Katie can drive the boat-(he sees a pic of her sitting in the driver's seat and laughs all the time)!

Another day

Drew was asleep last night at 9:15 and guess what time he woke up this morning?
Well it was 9:00 ! Can you say sleepyhead? Yes , that's what Scott and Riley always called me because I never got up as early as they did, but now I can say Drew is the real deal here.
He woke up in a good mood and with a smile on his cute face as he usually does. Isn't that pleasant to think about? At least he's not a bear to wake up. He ate a banana and 1 1/2 eggs that Scott fried for him. We didn't make it to preschool again today. We only made it there once this week. We'll try again next week. We just got done going around the block, with him riding his tricycle and I was walking. It's been storming and raining here earlier and still sprinkling a little but we made it back. He just had to ride through all the big water puddles too. He has now just finished off another box of strawberries we just bought this morning. I only bought 2. For lunch, I made philly cheese steak sandwiches, which Drew loved the meat, onions, and green peppers. He ate a lot of the cut up pepper raw and then ate more that were cooked. He ate broccoli warmed up in the microwave as a snack last night before bed. Isn't that strange for kids to request this for a snack? Strange, but healthy.

He questions everything that he comes across in asking if it is his. He points to himself and says,"Drew's?" , or "woh, Drew's?" When we say yes , you would think we just gave him a million dollars! When he found all the toothpaste and toothbrushes we had for him, he counted it all and then jumped up and down when he knew they were his. When we started going for our walks around the block, he would go to everyone's mailbox and try to open them to get their mail. He didn't realize it was somone else's mail he was trying to get. When we get our mail, he immediately asks if it is his and wants some of it to carry and call his own. So thank goodness for junk mail, it's all his! He is happy to get it too. He has this thing for papers, pamphlets, leaflets, advertisements, instruction booklets, etc. He kinda hoards them in his room and hides them in his drawers and under his pillow. He likes to get them out and look or "read" them alot.

He talks all the time and is busy almost constantly, unless he's watching a movie or asleep-haha. He sings his little Chinese songs and phrases alot still too. It's soo cute to hear him talk. He is so cheerful, happy -go-lucky most of the time too. He loves to play hide-and-seek, especially with his Nai Nai (grandma). His little laugh is sooo darn cute! He likes to play fight/wrestle , play karate kicking with his baba too. He thinks it's so funny to beat him up and to catch his leg when kicking it up. He is so talkative and playful with us, but sometimes with new people he clams up. He tends to do this when we go to preschool to visit too. We wish that everyone could see him interact at home to see his shining personality and abilities. He now likes to tell us or remind us to say thank you, so he can say your welcome! When we tell him we love him, he says it right back with even more emphasis, it's sooo sweet to hear!

More catching up

Well as you can read, there's not a lot of time to update this blog or read/catch up on our emails either. So we apologize in advance. Drew is outside at the moment with Scott so I have a few minutes to spare. He is continuing to adjust pretty well this week. Last weekend, he went to church for the 2nd time and did really well. He stayed in his Sunday school class with Riley the entire time as before and then went to children's church afterwards. We'll be glad when he gets used to going and when he really understands the reasons for going. He also went fishing for the 3rd time and had a great time. He reeled in 3 or 4 fish for his baba and he actually cast out and caught 1 himself! They were all large bluegill. He thought about keeping each one, and when we asked why, he replied with a biting motion and pointing to his mouth! He is turning out to be quite the little fisherman, just like his daddy. Forgive me for not posting any pictures lately, I haven't had time to upload any yet! Oh yes, last weekend was our niece Taylor's 16th b'day party. Riley and Drew had a big time dancing and running around there. Riley stayed out on the dance floor the entire time cuttin' a rug. Drew got a helping hand, or actually got carried around on his cousins' Austin and Jesse's backs while they were boogeying down on the dance floor. Drew loved this and wasn't shy at all.
This week we met his regular pediatrician too. He did great there, and was entertained by dad the whole time. They only flag we got was with his colon. They took an x-ray of it and it was really enlarged and full of stool. So now we have to give him Miralax to get rid of it all and see where we stand. We hated to see that his colon was so large, considering the problems/surgery he had when he was a baby. Well we have to go back in a week or so and get re x-rayed. There are a lot of what ifs and I can't help but think ahead and prepare for the unknown. Speaking of Drew's eating habits. He is still eating all kinds of fruits. In the mornings, he usually wants either strawberries, oranges, grapes, carrots, plums or bananas. There is no variance either here. Only Scott can get him to eat an egg occasionally. He doesn't like cereal, pancakes, waffles, donuts, any of that kind of stuff. Drew now bargains for pieces of beef jerky in the morning too. Today he forgot to get the piece but he ate a bag of strawberries and a bag of bananas. He now found out he likes canteloupe as well, so we can add it to the growing list. He now has this obsession with having his food in a plastic baggie. I have to put his fruit in a bag for him to carry around. He almost always eats every bit of it too. Even when we go anywhere we pack snacks of the same fruits for him to eat. He gobbles it all up usually too. I've never in my life bought so much fruit in such a short time, no kidding. We have to make extra trips to the grocery store just for fruit when he runs out. You would think that his bowels would be working great with all the fruits and veggies he eats too. That's what makes me wonder....
As far as regular meals goes, we've found he likes and will eat spaghetti, salad (loves all the veggies), any meat like grilled/barbecued or meat/noodle dishes, fajita meat/veggies, and stir-fry. Other than that, we've not had much luck. Oh yes, does ice cream count? He loves ice cream bars. He is good about trying something for the first time, but usually he decides he doesn't like it. So the list of normal foods that kids usually like such as hamburgers, pizza, chicken nuggets, he doesn't like. So when we visit McDonalds, he will only eat french fries and drink coke. Yes he loves sodas--bad habit. By the way, forgot to mention that he still insists on eating with chopsticks too. Ever seen someone eat spaghetti with them? If you visit our house, you will. However, Scott has had him eat a few times with a fork when we ate out and I forgot the chopsticks anyway.
Drew is becoming used to his regular daily routine. He is quite used to taking a bath at night then getting settled down to go to bed. However, he usually also has to have a night snack of fruit, usually carrots or strawberries. In the mornings, he always tells me he wants to "vroom vroom" and making a driving motion with his hands, that he wants to go in the car somewhere. Two or three of those times, he told me he wanted to go see Tonito--his buddy from China. We already told him we would hopefully this summer but that doesn't make sense for a little heartsick 4 yr old I know. He loves to go out to my dad's work office too. He is the center of attention and always gets a soda out of his "yeh yeh" (grandpa), and usually some gum or money from his uncle Mark. Today he said, "see ya later uncle Mark" with no prompting at all. It was a funny surprise. He is also pretty good at going to different stores with me. He's been really good at them all, with no tantrums or whining for toys, etc. I'm waiting for that shoe to fall soon too... haha. Drew has really taken to the movies he got from the shower. He watched Green Eggs and Ham so many times, he says "Sam I Am" all the time! He also likes 101 Dalmations, and now Ice Age 2. He points and repeats words or phrases he knows in English when he hears them in a movie or on TV. That's great to know he recognizes it. He is continuing to learn English on a daily basis. He is such a fast learner and catches on quickly. He likes to call me by my name and says "Kimber!" 100 times a day it seems. Every now and then he adds in Mama! He thinks this is so funny.

Catching up

This whole week has been really good for Drew. He has had zero meltdowns and has not gotten into trouble at all! We've been so busy that we've been slacking on getting this updated. The only fit he had was for grandma when he didn't want to sit in his car seat, but she won that battle too-no problems since. Tuesday, he visited preschool for a little while. He was a little timid (this was a first for him) with all the kids surrounding him. We think he will warm up to them as he gets used to visiting them more often though. Mrs. Belcher the teacher, who lives two doors down from us, brought him bubbles the day before so she was already his buddy. Later he had to ring her doorbell like twenty times so he could see her again. Yesterday, was his first Dr. appt in St. Louis. There is a physician who specializes in post-international adoption exams and the program is called F.A.C.E.S out of Cardinal Glennon. They just make sure everything is up to date and that your adopted child is on target healthwise and emotionally too. While we were there, we had our pictures taken by this photographer who does this magazine for Cardinal Glennon. So Drew's and our pictures will be featured, we were told.
Needless to say with the 3 hr drive, it was a long exhausting day for all, esp Drew. He did really well though considering there was no Mandarin translator available, and the fact that he ended up getting 4 shots and gave tons of blood for labwork. He even thanked the nurses when they gave him the band-aids to cover up the boo boos. I think he had like 6 or 7 band-aids on him! They had to poke both arms to get enough blood out..poor thing. He screamed and cried the whole time, saying "mama!" But as soon as it was over, he was fine, just ready to get out of there. He got a good report, with normal growth & development, it seems everything is fine, along with his earlier special need as an infant. He will have to go back in 6 months for a follow-up and the get the remainder of his shots.

It's getting a little harder to find foods that Drew likes. He's getting a little tired of the same ole' fruits and veggies at times. Tonight, he ate the spicy hamburger meat and really liked it, that was for the enchiladas. So, he had that and sliced cucumbers. What a combination, eh? He does like barbecued chicken and pork steak we found out last week. He ate alot of it!
Even some of the food that the report said he liked and ate while in China, we can't get him to eat here. Sometimes, I take him up to the Chinese restaurant here and the owner Fawn and her husband lets him eat whatever he wants there. When we visit there, it's pretty awesome to hear the conversations that Drew and Fawn have (not that I can understand, but Fawn tells me most of it). He told her that he knew my brother Mark was his uncle and that his house was messy and his refrigerator didn't have any food! I' m not sure where that came from, but we had to laugh at that one. He also told her that he basically understands most of what we tell him at home. So it seems that we have more trouble understanding him than vice versa. However, we are quite surprised to realize that it's not been as terribly hard as we thought it might have been in trying to communicate with him. We get used to hearing the same phrases and the same words, so we've figured out a lot in such a short time. Who would've thought?? I hate to admit this, but I will be sad not to be able to hear him speak Mandarin later when he loses most of it. It's soooo cute to hear him talk! He's so animated! He picks up English really quickly and repeats everything we try to teach him. Even the physician yesterday said she was amazed by how well his receptive language is for only being with us for 3 weeks.

BTW, bath time is still a breeze..... thank goodness! So is bedtime and he sleeps about 10 hours a night!!

Battle of the wills...

Well Drew cried the first night without his baba. He kept putting off sleep even though he was wore out. So finally I had to call Scott (at work) so that he could tell Drew to go to bed/sleep and to leave the cat alone. Drew has this obsession with our one cat who is passive and declawed in the front paws. He constantly looks for her if she is not where he can see her, or is carrying her around to the point that she hisses and growls at him, or tries to keep her shut in his room or closet with him. We have to make him leave her alone-- no joke. So anyway, on with bedtime, he did sleep all night long then and every night since /after then too. He now likes me to lay down with him and watch movies before he goes to sleep. I know, I started a bad thing here. But I love cuddling with him and sharing time with him. I'm just glad he sleeps through the night and doesn't have nightmares. Scott's just glad he doesn't sleep in our bed!

We've had our battles with him pretty much everyday except for yesterday. He was very good all day long. We took him shopping for clothes and made a run to Wal-Mart for groceries, etc. Of course he got tons of stuff at all stores. He waited patiently in line for me to pay and thanked me for his stuff too. We thought this was sooo sweet!
Drew is very hard headed and strong willed. He is starting to realize maybe that he's met his match with us, especially with Scott. He can be the sweetest ever then choose to be onery the next. I suppose he is just still testing us in what he can get away with, (which isn't much here).
He is very stubborn and yet he knows when he's in trouble. He went to his room earlier b/c he wouldn't pick up the trash on the floor that I repeatedly asked him to do nicely. He later came out and said "sorry". So he does know when he's wrong.

Whew this discipline stuff is a whole new ballgame for mama here. I'm learning quite a lot, at a very fast pace!

Busy days...

Drew keeps us very busy everyday! I guess this is no surprise, except to me since I'm a new mom--haha. He's been riding his tricycle in the driveway and "racing" me on my bike again today. We also went riding this morning around the block. He made it the whole way but we took several small breaks on the way. When we got home, he had to tell babaw all about how he raced mamaw! He must have been wore out from this as he is in his room watching one of the movies Fawn got him. He has looked at all the movies in his room but hasn't watched them yet. He does like to watch them in the car but doesn't use the headphones much to listen to it. I suppose because he can't understand it anyway? Oh yes speaking of cars, he likes to act like he's driving it. He also likes to fiddle with the controls so now we've had to be sure and take out the keys and use the child locks on the doors! I'm sure he's never been in a car before. He doesn't like seat belts, of course what kid really does?
Last night we went to my brother's house to see them for a minute. Drew was taken back by my nephew Austin's dog Buddy. Buddy is a very big chocolate lab and very rambunctious! I let him out of his cage and it tore after Drew, wanting to play. This scared Drew as he ran through the house with Buddy at his heels about to run over him. However later he kept wanting to go back and look at him. He'd say woof woof and stretched his arms out as far as he could. He and Austin get along just great too. He loves other kids, especially boys. He followed him like a little puppy dog.
He continues to be fascinated with the cats, especially our black/white cat who is very passive and slow moving. He talks about her constantly and always wants to be holding her or making sure she is sitting beside him. Yes, she gets quite mad at him at times hissing at him. I don't know why she doesn't just run and hide better!
Drew's leg is healing up more every day-thank goodness. It just needed some air to dry up a little ( well that and no one pulling off his healed new skin each time as in China). I try to put stuff on it but he howls thinking it's going to hurt like it did before, so mostly I just leave it alone. The scar is huge-poor kid!!
Well tonight will be our first night without babaw here. He has to go back to work tonight--too bad. I'm really wondering how Drew will do without him here. He loves to snuggle up with Scott on the couch and fall asleep. I will keep you posted on this new venture.

Drew's first days home

We've had a few days now to sleep and get some rest. Over the weekend, Riley slept in Drew's extra bed and the only thing that happened was that Drew got woke up by one of the cats-which scared him. Otherwise, he's done great sleeping. Last night he slept in his bed all night long, I had to wake him up this morning at 9:00 ! Boy, does this really help too! You'd think that we'd be caught up on our sleep too by now, but today I still felt pretty darn tired. I'm so thankful he is a good, sound sleeper so far. Well Saturday was our first trip to Wal Mart. We had to go get the necessities at least. Drew had just taken a two hour nap before we got there , so he was still in a daze. (I think we all were). Riley and their friend Chloe was sure to help make sure that Drew did get a toy though (like he doesn't have enough- haha). Today, we rode bikes in the driveway- he rode a tricycle and I rode my new bike. He got to hit the ball with the bat and liked it until he couldn't hit very many, then he quit. He got to play at the park for just a few minutes too. Oh yeah, today was the first time that he rode the lawnmower with his babaw. He absolutely loved this! (Too bad he won't love it in a few more years--Scott says). Yesterday we visited our preacher's family and he had a ball riding Cole's battery powered 4 wheeler. He wanted to go faster and also went for a ride on the big 4 wheeler. I figure it's only a matter of time before we have to buy one at Wal Mart.....
We continue to have visitors and many people asking when they can meet him. He has done very well and just gone with flow each time. He loves to say hello, thank you, good-bye, see you later and count to 10 in English for them all. He also repeats just about everything we say or tell him to say for us. He is learning all of the time!
Yesterday Fawn called and asked if Drew wanted to come to the restaurant and eat some crab and noodles. Of course he wanted to. He calls her "Aye Ei" just as he did to our guides in China. It's like rewinding our time in China... our travel group will remember this forever I would say. Has little voice carries quite far! Fawn told me that all the women in China are called this for "aunties" so it's just normal.
He had a good time there at the restaurant too. He ate a lot of noodles and pieces of crab that Fawn would pick out of the shell for him. She gave him a bag of goodies, cookies, snacks, a
Chinese letter pad, and 2 Chinese cartoon movies. He told her that he missed it over in China... mostly I think he was referring to his friends from the orphanage and those who were adopted the same time he was. He specifically said "Xin Zhu" which is his best buddy Tonito. I told him that we would maybe visit him this summer. He said, "no he wanted to go now." Gee, if only it was that easy.

Just a while ago, he ate a package of ramen noodles and a whole ziplock bag of cut up cucumbers. He would drop or dip the cucumbers in the juice and eat them. I told you he eats gross stuff! haha The women from our church are cooking us dinner all week and tonight it was pot roast, salad, rolls, and ice cream dessert (which Scott devoured). Thank you ladies!!! Drew later wanted to try the pot roast. He tasted of the meat and didn't like it. I think he thought it might have been lamb. He did eat a few potatoes though. And earlier, he ate tons of baby carrots. Good thing he likes his fruits and veggies!
Right now, he is sitting on his baba's lap singing the ABC song along with the LeapFrog fridge phonics magnet he got. It's so cute to hear, he keeps repeating it if he messes up. He sings his own version of it, instead of E-F-G, he says U-F-G.