Eli is doing great. As a whole I absolutely cannot complain. He is a generally happy and easy going little guy. He loves to eat and will eat a good variety of foods...but oh, his happy face really comes out if I break out some ethiopian food...or pancakes. The boy will eat his body weight in pancakes! He also loves bananas, grapes, bread, yogurt, chicken nuggets, mango, peanut butter, soups, and almost anykind of casseroles. He does not like ice cream, popsicles, milk, or juice. Only water for him.
As far as the attaching process...I really think we are making good strides. He will play independently around the house, but always near me, or he always comes back to me within a few minutes. He receives affection from us and has even at times initiated it. He gave me my first kiss last night! He absolutely loves Jeremiah...and wrestling, hide and seek, "getcha", or any kind of running game. He loves music and loves to try and make us laugh and is quite the ham! He does have a very stubborn side to him, but we just stay consistent and firm with our boundaries and he responds very well. He is three after all!
He is about 75% potty trained. He does great during the day and most naps but we put a diaper on him at night. No complaints here!
Language wise we are making slow but sure progress. He can say Eli, Mommy, Daddy, Ella, and Ezra...and says them often throughout the day. He attempts to say Levi, but can't quite get the "L" sound yet. We are teaching him a few signs...more, all done, please, and thank you...and last night at dinner he signed more by himself, unprompted, for the first time! He can do all done as well...but only when he wants to. He will repeat words after us (if he feels like it, ha!) but I wouldn't say his language is growing by leaps and bounds at this point. I remind myself often that he has been exposed to three completely different languages in his three short years of life and that we just need to be patient with him.
He is sleeping from 8pm (or 8:30-ish) to around 7am. He generally wakes up crying one or two times a night...not really even waking up, just sits up and cries. It is so sad...and we feel it is maybe how his grief is expressing itself in his little body. He naps for about 2-3 hours in the afternoon. We have seen progress with his crying during naps. He used to wake up crying throughout his naps as well...but have been cry free for three days now!
His gross motor skills are very behind at this point. Climbing up a ladder, jumping, even going up steps is a challenge to him. I know this is due to the fact that his whole world at the orphanage was three little rooms, with no place to run, climb, jump, or play outside like a little boy should. I am excited to see him get stronger and more confident in his abilities!
His fine motor skills are on target, if not a little advanced for his age. He can string beads, eat neatly with utensils, button, snap, hold a crayon, etc and has the attention span to go along with these activities too! Now if I can only teach him how to put outfits on and off of Ella's barbies he can start earning his keep =)
He has already had two doctors appointments. The first was just a quick visit to get his chest and sinuses looked at...because of his constant dripping nose and cough I wanted him looked at as soon as possible to rule out any kind of ear infection or bronchitis. Thankfully, all was clear and has gotten so much better already.
The second appointment was a general check up to look at everything. He is in the 3rd % for height and weight...I was excited that he was even on the charts! Developmentally, given his circumstances and the language barrier, we did our best to evaluate to get a baseline and we will go back in 2-3 months to re-evaluate and make sure he has been making strides for all developmental milestones.
We are having a ct scan done of his head to see if we can find out any reasons for the abnormal shape of his head and just to rule out any brain damage. We will have a consultation with a pediatric neurosurgeon to help us evaluate if there is anything we can or need to do. Obviously, this was a somewhat unexpected road we are having to go down with Eli and we appreciate your prayers.
We have made great efforts to maintain a routine for him and to limit visitors these last few weeks...but have enjoyed swimming, visits to the science museum, target, the park, library, and a friends house for dinner. He has done really well on all the outings and gets excited when I hand him his shoes to put on because he knows we are going out! He seems to be very social and enjoy having others around...once he has warmed up to them!
He is a joy...and his smile will light up the whole room. We are enjoying getting to "know" him and see his personality emerge. Who knows what two more weeks will bring!
6 comments:
These are GREAT updates Jenn. Thanks for sharing!
let us know when Eli is ready to go the the park and play!!!!
SO great to see all the progress he has made.
We are also a North Carolina family!
great to hear about the nitty gritty of his transition. thanks for sharing with us :)
Jenn, so glad he is making / showing progress! Thanks for sharing!
so fast update..
visit me ok..
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