Six Months...

It has been six months since we met our little guy in the Taiyuan Civil Affairs Office.  Looking back on the day and the days since, we believe Zack was pretty well prepared to be adopted – I guess as well prepared as a two year old can be.  That is not to say he wasn’t pretty suspicious of us at first or that he was digging the tall redheaded lady who scooped him up and tried to give him kisses when he was clearly indicating that he wanted no part of that. 

Zack’s transition (and ours) has been relatively seamless, if you can ignore the marked reduction in sleep the grownups are getting.  After a few hours with us, Zack seemed to come to the decision that we were OK…maybe not to be fully trusted…but safe to be around.  We seemed to have an endless supply of snacks and he that seemed to help him come to the conclusion that we meant him no harm. 

While traveling in China, one of the other mothers (an “adoption veteran”) told us that Zack would be speaking full English in six months.  I did not believe her.  Zack seemed to figure out VERY quickly that his new caretakers could not understand his language and became VERY adept at using nonverbal methods to communicate.  His receptive language was also very quick to progress.  The second or third day that we had Zack, I asked him to “go get Mommy’s shoes”.  And he did. 
I should have listened to the mom in my travel group about the six month thing, because at six months home, Zack’s English is probably on-par with most kids his age…he might be a little bit behind on using language because he’s had to learn the language (in addition to all of the other adjustments he’s had to make) but he is catching up by leaps and bounds.  He is a little bit hard to understand, but kids of this age often are.  Some examples of the things Zack is saying at six months home:

“Daddy go work.  Daddy Air Force”. 

“Mommy go away”

“No bath, no night-night” (these are VERY bad things in Zack’s book)

“Eat, eat eat!  Eat oatmeal!”

“Mommy lay down”.

“Daddy fix it”.

“Go go go…go school!”

“Not like it”

“Kitty go potty”

And so on.  He says please and thank you (usually without being prompted and he will throw out that “please” pretty fast if he wants something he thinks you are not going to give him).  He is starting to say “welcome” for you’re welcome.  He knows the names of all of his body parts and most of the things in our house.  He can count to five pretty well and can count to ten if coached.  He can pick out the letter “Z” when it is mixed with other letters.  He’s started to be able to correctly ID colors.  He can ID animals and make the noise that goes with them.  He understands concepts like hot/cold, up/down, sleepy, scary, mine (or mommy’s/daddy’s), go, fast, hurry, and his favorite “roundy round” (around and around).  He understands and appropriately uses “yes” and “no”. 
He’s making some progress with the potty, although he is not so good at notifying you when he has to go.  He understands that you get one skittle for “number 1” and two skittles for “#2”…but he is crafty and will try to get two skittles for peeing sometimes.  I guess just to see if we’re paying attention. 

In the past six months, Zack has gained about 5 pounds and grown about an inch.  He’s currently wearing 2T size clothing and size 6 shoe.  He’s a pretty outgoing little boy.  He does well at nursery school and his caregivers say he plays well with other kids and in general, listens well and follows directions. 

Poor Zack was not feeling at all well this Saturday.  This was as much of a smile as we could get!

                                        Look what was in my red envelope!  A fiver!

He likes playing with the same sort of toys that any kid his age likes – favorites are his train set and puzzles, although he likes toy cars, books, blocks and stuffed animals too.  He is starting to become very interested in crayons.  He likes to watch TV but we’ve not let him do a lot of that.  He does not do well if you try to take him away from a TV program in progress, although he will be just fine if you tell him to walk away from the TV when his show is ending…I guess I can relate to this.  We download/store most of his programs on a disk – he really likes Barney (yes, the purple dinosaur), Thomas the Tank Engine and Ni Hao Kai Lan.  He enjoys most of the Disney cartoons, too, and seems to really like Cars.  His favorite night time toys are his small stuffed panda (Coco) that has been his sidekick since he’s come home, and the Woody “doll” from Toy Story that my dad got him for Christmas.  Occasionally, a small stuffed monkey and/or a stuffed cat that sings “Soft Kitty” from Big Bang Theory will be asked to join the night-time party, but Woody and Coco are regulars. 

Zack likes anything to do with monsters, lions or tigers.  He likes to roar and growl and make monster noises.  Loud monster noises.  He likes to yell “roar tiger roar” and then growl and snarl.  He’s started to “pretend play” as a kitty cat.  He will crawl on all fours and meow and ask for “treats”. 

I haven’t mentioned Zack’s hand because it honestly hasn’t been an issue at all for us.  He’s uses his “little hand” as a support and uses it to help anchor objects he wants to carry to his torso.  He uses it to turn pages in a book, push buttons, and do two-handed pickups – such as balls and cups.  He can pull himself up on to his rocking horse and brace himself with both hands.  He loves the playground and I really don’t see him having any difficulty manipulating himself.  The only thing I’ve really seen him have trouble with his pulling his pants up, and he’s still a pretty little guy. 

Zack is seeing an occupational therapist right now, but that is really only because he qualifies for Early Intervention services until he is three.  We don’t feel we “need” the services for him, but we’re taking advantage of everything we can get.  He will undergo an evaluation in a couple of months to see if he potentially qualifies for continued services after age three, but the OT basically told us not to expect that.  The OT comes to our house twice a month and plays on the floor with him for an hour.  She has given us some suggestions on how to do things or possibly modify things for him as he gets a little older, but honestly, nothing has been an issue for Zack as of yet.  I walked around for a couple of hours one morning only using the heel of my right hand and although it does take some getting used to, I unloaded /reloaded the dishwasher and did a few other household chores.  It really is not that much of a hindrance and this is what Zack is used to. 

We’re still looking in to some surgical options that might give him some better grasping ability and there is always the possibility that he could wear a prosthesis for some things when he gets older, but really…the fact that this little guy was adopted under the “special needs” program is really pretty silly.  He has started noticing that his right hand is different from his left hand…he will look at his hands side by side and give us a look like “what’s up with this” but it really hasn’t been a big deal.  He’ll have to learn to deal with stares and comments as he gets older, but he will find his own way through that, with our help and support. 

All-in-all, Zack has adjusted well so far.  He’s a little bit of a daddy’s boy right now – he and Lee have their little boys club going.  He doesn’t quite grasp that when mommy tells him to do something that daddy is probably going to back her up.  When mommy says to go to bed/take a bath/sit down/get up…whatever he doesn’t want to do…Zack likes to get a second opinion.  All of his Chinese is pretty much gone.  Up until about a month ago, he referred to himself as “Wa Wa” but now he says Zack.  Mama and Baba are now Mommy and Daddy.  The only holdout from his Chinese language is “lei”.  He used to jabber “lei lah and lei lo”…it meant some form of come here/go there.  As much as we’ve worked with him on learning English, I find it is a little sad to see him lose his Chinese so quickly. 

 

 

                                Zack and Daddy (yep, he's really under there) having a morning snooze. 

The first six months has been exciting.  It seems like he has always been here with us.  It has totally changed our family dynamic.  I have more conversations with my husband about poop and snot than I ever thought possible.  Here’s to continuing the adventure…

It is hard to get him in the tub but once he's there, he has a blast!