First Day of School and an Itchy Head

Hmmmm, looking at that title, I'm feeling a little creepy . . . most people put "school" and "itchy heads" together and come up with lice! In this case, that would be a most incorrect correlation :)

Three of the kiddies started back to school yesterday. Sofia is in the 5th grade (when did she get so big?), Peter is in the 3rd grade, and little Molly started KINDERGARTEN! We took the obligatory first day of school picture at the front door. This year we somehow managed to add the "gansta" pose, as well. Looking at that shot makes me wonder how I managed to get them into the car and off to school. Truth be told, when I got out of the shower at 7:00 AM, all three were up, dressed, hair combed, beds made and breakfast nearly done! We didn't need to leave the house until nearly 8:00. Ahhh, if it would only last. Today, I had to wake up Molly at 7:10, and drag Sofia out of bed at 7:15 . . . Peter had a repeat of yesterday. They all had a great time yesterday, so I have high hopes for a great year.

OK, now for the itchy head. I finally managed to capture a shot of Micah scratching the top of his head with his toes at the dinner table. My other monkeys think it's hilarious, so . . . monkey see, monkeys do.

Back and a Loooong Break

So many people have been after me to update our blog, but I just haven't been able to find the time. 4 kids, a hubby, dog, cat, hamster, frog, a house, gymnastics, riding lessons, doctor appointments . . . I've been lucky to find time to breathe!

I haven't figured out how to do captions for pictures yet - so this one to the left was taken at the airport when we got back from China.

Everything has been going wonderfully here. Micah has slid into the family like he has always been here. It took about 2 weeks to get totally comfortable in his car seat (he made the 6 hour car trip back from Chicago with nary a whimper). It took a few weeks longer to get the high chair routine down (I had to sit with my feet in his high chair and Micah on my legs. I would feed him, laugh with him, and gradually slide him closer to my feet. He would laugh, eat, and whip his head around to be sure my feet were still there. This went on for a couple of days. Finally, I pulled my feet out from under him, and . . . he went into a hysterical crying fit. The next day Todd took over and had him eating pancakes in his high chair within minutes. I take credit for laying the groundwork!). He is mostly adjusted to baths (Todd keeps slipping on his swimming suit and hopping in the tub with Micah - I have a very clean husband). The stroller, however, still seems to be an "acid" stroller. He sees it and starts screaming. I have decided that the true purpose of a stroller is to carry the diaper bag and other purchases while I cart the kid on my hip.

Micah has gone to see the docs/therapists down in Cincinnati at the International Adoption Center. All of his blood work has come back just fine - no HIV, syphilis, Hep B or C, all immunizations took, liver and kidney functions are fine. He has visited the ENT doc (ear, nose and throat). His hearing test was - right ear has a 65 dB loss, and left ear is at 15 dB. This was pretty much what we expected. We will get more accurate results as he gets older and can respond a bit more responsibly. His TB test came back reactive, which seems to be very common in kids adopted from China. It can be either that he was exposed to TB, or it is a reaction to a vaccination that they give in China. We had a chest x-ray done to be sure that he does not have the disease - all clear. Now we get to give him antibiotics for 9 months as a safe guard in case he was exposed to it and is carrying the "bug" in his body somewhere. It will be a pain to get this bitter tasting crushed pill down him for the next 9 months, but worth it in the long run. He has gained 3 pounds since we got him, and grown a full inch!

Now for the fun stuff. He crawls like a speed demon. Loves to escape from Daddy and climb the stairs to play in the toilet in our bathroom. He can demolish a room in about 10 minutes. He is cruising furniture. He loves to imitate baby birds (open mouthed "AAHH", to which he expects us to do a nice, loud, "AAHH!!" back to him. Quite a funny sight when all 4 kids and myself are doing this walking through a store.). He thinks it's fun to pull his right leg up and scratch the top of his head with his toes WHILE SITTING IN HIS HIGH CHAIR (still trying to get a picture of this). He can snarf down 2 pieces of pizza as fast as I can. His favorite position is upside down. He finally started feeding himself a couple of weeks ago (unfortunately, he started with blueberry pancakes - not the cleanest thing. He ended up with blueberries all over his face, hair, clothes, arms, neck, etc. ). He's got lightning fast hands and will catch hold of ANYONE's hair who has the misfortune to walk within grabbing range. He loves to hug and cuddle. He loves to give kisses (unfortunately, he gives kisses on your nose with his teeth - have I mentioned that he slobbers ALOT?). He sleeps very well - 10 hours at night and a couple hours in the afternoon. I just have to put him in his crib and he plays himself to sleep. I could go on and on. He's totally awesome. So far, things are much easier that we thought they would be.

Negatives - diapers and drool. Enough said.

Sofia, Peter and Molly have been champs through this whole process. They think Micah is the cutest baby in the world and really have fun playing with him. I hope that these feelings continue as school starts up again. "Mommy time" will be at a premium once school, homework and extracurricular activities start up, so I can foresee that some jealousy issues might pop up. Hope not!! Micah seemed to be attaching to both Todd and myself . . . until Daddy went TDY for a week. He would have nothing to do with Todd for a while when he came back! We expected it, but it's still hard to see it happen. We get to go through that again next week. Ugh.

Well, I'd better sign off for now. Lots to do around the house while the little guy is asleep.