Friday, May 29, 2009

Jet Lag and Adjusting...

Things are going well. But I'm TIRED.

Last night GG woke up sometime in the middle of the night and didn't go back to sleep for a LONG time. I don't know how long it was or what time it was. The advantage of no Lasik? I couldn't read the clock and really didn't want to know.

This morning the kids and dh were up and preparing for work/school. GG was VERY sound asleep. LilDude wanted me to take him to school so at 8:15 I started trying to wake up GG. It was difficult. He doesn't like to be awakened. I finally got him up and dressed and then as the big kids were walking out the door, LilDude decided he wanted to ride the bus too. Sigh.

GG and I played some. Did a little laundry. Put a few things away. Mom came over and helped. At around 10am, we all went for a walk. GG seemed to relax in the Ergo, so I continued to wear him until around 12:45 when LilDude got home for lunch. I fed both and GG started getting fussy. I lay him down on my bed and he was asleep without complaint within 10 minutes or so. LilDude and I also took much needed naps. GG slept about 2.25 hours and woke up on his own, which surprised me considering that to his body, it was the middle of the night. My body certainly thought it was.

The two boys played inside and outside until Liz/Anakin returned from the after school dance and dh came home from work. GG sang a lot today. He especially liked it when I Ergoed him and put on a Chinese children's CD. He definitely knew some of the songs and sang a few words before they were played.

GG is eating well. My friend Doris brought us beef stew and he ate that with enthusiasm, as did the rest of us. I cooked some rice at lunch and mixed it with the stew and he ate even better. Doris also sent me a note that said that the Guangxi people use a lot of pickled beans and bamboo shoots for cooking. Tonight I offered him small chunks of canned dill beans (spicy/pickled) and he loved them. It's funny...our guide/SW in Guangxi said he must not have any spicy foods (his list of approved food items read much like that of an infant.) As soon as he saw the breakfast buffet, however, the main thing he pointed to was the picked/spicy stuff. I followed his lead and he ate. We're foregoing the Chinese formula as well; I made him a bottle this afternoon of regular 2% milk and he guzzled the whole thing. I think I do need to go buy him some prune juice, if you get my drift...

One thing about adopting a 3yo internationally that I hadn't fully considered... Everything is new to GG. The washing machine/dryer were a little scary until he got to push the buttons. Everything in my kitchen is new and he looks into all the drawers and shelves, trying to figure it out. When you consider that this was his kitchen before, you can understand why mine looks so confusing.



In many ways, he needs supervision like a much, much younger child only because of the environmental differences. He doesn't know what's safe and what's not. He hasn't seen an oven, a bathtub, or spent any "quality time" with a Western toilet. Lawn/grass is new. Freedom to run and run outside is new. The sandbox (and sand!) are new. He likes to walk around the house opening every drawer, door and cabinet to see what's in there. He doesn't understand the concept of "outside toys" and "inside toys." It will all come with time, but meanwhile, there isn't time to do much except for watch him as you would an infant...an infant who RUNS!

1 comment:

Dogwood said...

Hi! Added a post on another of your blog message postings. Zoe here from Canada. Our DD of 21 mos. screamed and was terrified of the hotel bathtubs while in China hotels, so we sponged bathed her! And you are right about the kitchen. Many pictures of her in the foster home are of her in the kitchen where I think she played a lot with her foster sister (now in the Netherlands). Their kitchens are different from ours. We had her in a high chair for about two months for eating meals in the kitchen and dining room, then that went out the window as she protested so strongly about not going in it. She wanted to eat while seated on my lap at the table. That bonding thing. DH says that our DD is at an "emotional" level of an infant of 7 months (7 months that we have had her now), and she needs all that close contact that she did not have in the orphanage like biological infants get when cuddled and cradled by their caregiver/parent(s). fellow adoptive parent of 28 mos from Guangxi (Yulin SWI)

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