That's all Ive got for today. Please pray for Gabe to get his happy back. Love y'all!
By the way, muffin tins are hilarious!
Thursday, November 30, 2017
20 Months On This Adoption Roller Coaster
Gabe has been home 20 months now. That's 20 months of joy and tears, happy times and hard times, laughter and heartbreak, love and learning, and all things in between! It's a roller coaster ride that's for sure! Gabe is having a bit of a hard time lately, every 2-3 months he gets in a funk like this, it's strange and it can last a week or up to a month. I've noticed weather change affects him and the weather in TN has been insane so maybe that's what's going on. I also think he's going through the terrible two's even though he's four. He's been having tantrums when he doesn't get his way or when he's told no and he's been giving all his "people" a hard time (teachers, therapists, TVI, O&M). Basically, he wants to do what HE wants to do and not do what anyone else wants him to do. So, I was a little worried going into his IEP meeting this morning because I know how difficult he's been lately. I printed off several copies of this article http://www.bgcenter.com/BGPublications/OrphanageBehavior.htm on post orphanage behavior to give them a better understanding about him and his sometimes VERY difficult behavior. They all seemed eager to read it so that's good. I love all his people, ya'll! The first thing said this morning was "We just love him! Everyone is this building that knows him loves him!" That was followed by everyone talking "bragging" about all the progress he's made so far. I realize all IEP meetings don't go like this and I feel amazingly blessed by Gabe's wonderful team. We talked about kindergarten next year which i'm quite concerned about how a full day of school will go. He'll be in a regular classroom for some parts of the day and a special education class for the rest of the day. My plan is for him to be fully potty trained before kindergarten but if not they will work on it at school. Yay!
That's all Ive got for today. Please pray for Gabe to get his happy back. Love y'all!
That's all Ive got for today. Please pray for Gabe to get his happy back. Love y'all!
Sunday, August 13, 2017
Gabe Update - Home 16 Months!
It's been a long time (7 months) since I've written a blog update. Oops...life is busy! Anyway, Gabe has been home 16 months now and he's changed and grown so very much in that time. Physically, he's grown 7 inches and 9 pounds, 3 of those pounds he gained in the first two weeks with us in China! He's a big Mongolian boy and he loves to eat! His biggest accomplishment lately is that he finally learned to chew and now he eats almost everything! I happily took him off the waiting list for feeding therapy. Yay!
It's no secret that Gabe had a difficult time adjusting to life after coming home and who could blame him? Everything was new and different and he didn't ask for any of it. We were waiting for him and loving him from afar for a year but he wasn't waiting for us, he was happy right where he was. When you add blindness, not being able to communicate, and not being able to understand this new language.....well, its a lot for a little guy to handle. We were stuck in our house for almost a year because going anywhere was just too overwhelming for him. He would immediately cover his ears and cry in any place that wasn't home. So, we stayed home and waited for him to be comfortable and feel safe.
I'm happy to report we can now leave the house with him! I think a big turning point was starting preschool last January. School just started again this week and Gabe is doing amazing! He has been hesitant about walking in to his classroom, he pulls back so I'm basically dragging him and he whines. Once he's in he does just fine though so I'm taking it as a positive sign for our bonding and attachment.😃 In Gabe's classroom they have a special area just for him, it's a safe area for him to go in case he's feeling overwhelmed. Well, so far he has not used it at all in this first week of school, he's been participating in all the class activities!
A few things Gabe can do now that he didn't do when he came home:
-Feed himself finger foods- He is still hesitant to pick up some foods but we're making progress.
-Eat with utensils-we're still working on scooping.
- Play with toys- on his own terms. If he finds it himself he will explore it, if we give him something, he wants nothing to do with it.
-Use the potty. He will even sit on the big potty now, but we are far from him being potty trained.😕
-Shake his head 'yes and no' appropriately- sometimes....he's stubborn!
-Go up and down stairs independently.
-Starting to use his cane a little bit.
-Using a blanket and touching soft things. He absolutely hated blankets, stuffed animals, anything with a soft texture and would get upset if he came in contact with these things. Now he uses a weighted blanket to sleep and has been intentionally touching fleece blankets and stuffed animals, even petting the dogs on occasion.
We were a little concerned in those early months about how often Gabe would stim, but we hardly ever see any of those now. The same is true about covering his ears with his hands, he still does this for comfort but it's so much less than before. He seems to understand most of what we say to him now and that has made life a lot easier. I could go on and on I'm sure but i'll stop here for now and leave you guys with some pictures. Please pray with us that Gabe will be able to learn how to talk one of these days.
It's no secret that Gabe had a difficult time adjusting to life after coming home and who could blame him? Everything was new and different and he didn't ask for any of it. We were waiting for him and loving him from afar for a year but he wasn't waiting for us, he was happy right where he was. When you add blindness, not being able to communicate, and not being able to understand this new language.....well, its a lot for a little guy to handle. We were stuck in our house for almost a year because going anywhere was just too overwhelming for him. He would immediately cover his ears and cry in any place that wasn't home. So, we stayed home and waited for him to be comfortable and feel safe.
I'm happy to report we can now leave the house with him! I think a big turning point was starting preschool last January. School just started again this week and Gabe is doing amazing! He has been hesitant about walking in to his classroom, he pulls back so I'm basically dragging him and he whines. Once he's in he does just fine though so I'm taking it as a positive sign for our bonding and attachment.😃 In Gabe's classroom they have a special area just for him, it's a safe area for him to go in case he's feeling overwhelmed. Well, so far he has not used it at all in this first week of school, he's been participating in all the class activities!
A few things Gabe can do now that he didn't do when he came home:
-Feed himself finger foods- He is still hesitant to pick up some foods but we're making progress.
-Eat with utensils-we're still working on scooping.
- Play with toys- on his own terms. If he finds it himself he will explore it, if we give him something, he wants nothing to do with it.
-Use the potty. He will even sit on the big potty now, but we are far from him being potty trained.😕
-Shake his head 'yes and no' appropriately- sometimes....he's stubborn!
-Go up and down stairs independently.
-Starting to use his cane a little bit.
-Using a blanket and touching soft things. He absolutely hated blankets, stuffed animals, anything with a soft texture and would get upset if he came in contact with these things. Now he uses a weighted blanket to sleep and has been intentionally touching fleece blankets and stuffed animals, even petting the dogs on occasion.
We were a little concerned in those early months about how often Gabe would stim, but we hardly ever see any of those now. The same is true about covering his ears with his hands, he still does this for comfort but it's so much less than before. He seems to understand most of what we say to him now and that has made life a lot easier. I could go on and on I'm sure but i'll stop here for now and leave you guys with some pictures. Please pray with us that Gabe will be able to learn how to talk one of these days.
I went a tad bit crazy taking pics today.🙊
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Traumaversary?
Look at this! Two blog posts in one month.😃(Ok, so I started writing it in December). As most of you know Gabe did not enjoy Christmas. He doesn't like changes in routines and schedules, he doesn't enjoy visiting relatives, he doesn't like the sound of paper tearing. Basically all things Christmas. It was nothing like I imagined our first Christmas with him would be, but that's true for the whole adoption experience and it's ok because he's been through a lot, too much really. Our home is the fourth place he's lived in his short life. Can you even imagine? Not only the fourth place he's lived but he's had people come and go from his life and that's just hard, we are forever, he doesn't know it yet and he doesn't understand but time will help him to realize that we're here to stay. Mike and I took shifts with Gabe at home while the other parent and other kids went to visit family during the holidays. I'm hopeful that 2017 will bring lots of progress for our little guy and he will be able to enjoy doing things outside of our home without so much fear and anxiety.
On New Year's Eve Gabe woke up from a nap screaming for an hour and a half. We couldn't do anything to calm him. I always think about the date when things like this happen, and wouldn't you know it had been 9 months to the day when we took Gabe out of his home country and away from the people that loved him, away from familiar food, smells, and language. On top of all that, as if that isn't enough, our travel day was so horrible. If it was traumatizing for Mike and I (and it was), it must've been even more so for Gabe. I think traumaversaries can happen even on a monthly basis sometimes, or at least it seems so from our experience.
Tomorrow is Gabe's first day of preschool! I'm praying he settles in does well. I think it will be good for him in so many ways. He's already come so far. Remember when we couldn't turn the television on without him freaking out? He has moved beyond that now, thank goodness! Keep the prayers coming, we need them!
On New Year's Eve Gabe woke up from a nap screaming for an hour and a half. We couldn't do anything to calm him. I always think about the date when things like this happen, and wouldn't you know it had been 9 months to the day when we took Gabe out of his home country and away from the people that loved him, away from familiar food, smells, and language. On top of all that, as if that isn't enough, our travel day was so horrible. If it was traumatizing for Mike and I (and it was), it must've been even more so for Gabe. I think traumaversaries can happen even on a monthly basis sometimes, or at least it seems so from our experience.
Tomorrow is Gabe's first day of preschool! I'm praying he settles in does well. I think it will be good for him in so many ways. He's already come so far. Remember when we couldn't turn the television on without him freaking out? He has moved beyond that now, thank goodness! Keep the prayers coming, we need them!
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