One Year With Zack

Taken about 2 hours after our first meeting.  He'd agreed to let us care for him and meet his needs without screaming his head off, but he was still very suspicious about both of us. 

 



 

Just shy of one year with our family - fearless 

Exactly one year ago today, Lee and I met a very wary little boy in the Civil Affairs office in Taiyuan, China.  What a ride it has been.  In a year, Zack has settled in nicely at our home in England.  He’s made two trips to the United States, one to Ireland and one to China to bring his brother home.  Planes, trains and automobiles – he’s turned in to a great little traveler. 

Zack is a great eater – remarkably unfussy.  Noodles are unquestionably his favorite thing to eat.  He would have them three times a day if we permitted that.  He loves animals, the playground – especially the sand pit, the pool and everyone he meets is a friend.  He’s got an extremely sunny disposition – except when he doesn’t.  Zack’s temper goes from zero to sixty in about half a second if he perceives the world isn’t going the way he thinks it ought to be going.  Fortunately, these moments are short lived.

Zack loves our cat – it is not a mutual love but Henry seems resigned to something akin to a fond tolerance.  Zack loves his family, but usually seems to prefer his daddy. 

He is talking up a storm and lost all of his Chinese language at about 6-8 months home.  He speaks in complete, simple sentences and is using pronouns, talks about emotions and feelings (happy, sad, sleepy, funny), sings at the top of his lungs constantly, counts to ten, tells me he loves me several times a day, and is very independent – “I do it” and “I do it myself” is a phrase I hear frequently.  He’s about 95 percent potty trained and when we get done being the gypsies that we have been for the past month and get home, he’ll be in underwear during the day.  He rarely has accidents and is usually dry all night.  All of the travel and lack of schedule is keeping him in a pull up for now. 

Bringing him in to our family was the best decision that Lee and I ever made.  I can’t believe it has been an entire year.  As we celebrate our first “Gotcha Day” we look forward to many more.  I hope that Zack continues to live his life with the zest he has now and that he continues to settle in to his role as brother.  Sharing his possessions and his parents has not been an easy adjustment, but as I watched two little boys in a shopping cart today giggle and take turns playing “got your nose”…I am pretty confident that adjustment will come. 

I haven't mentioned Zack's "special need" because honestly - it isn't an issue.  Hasn't been and won't be.  He's got practically no right hand.  He's got a bit of a stump that he can flex a bit.  He'll write with his left hand, obviously.  He can climb a ladder, playground equipment, throw/catch a ball, ride a tricycle and a scooter and probably do damn near anything else he chooses to do.  He's probably "behind" in learning to pull up his pants, but he's catching up, and I seriously doubt that I'm going to send him off to kindergarten without him being able to do that.  It's a noticeable issue, sure.  It usually isn't the first thing people notice and he's going to have to find his own way with the questions, stares, and ignorant comments, such as "what happened to his hand?"  My standard response is "nothing happened to it" or "oh my gosh...Zack, your hand!" depending on my mood.  Soon, Zack will find his own preferred way of managing that.  Right now, I really don't think he grasps that his anatomy is any different from anyone elses. 

Happy “Gotcha Day” Zack.  I know that my telling you that you’d been with your family for a full year this morning doesn’t mean anything to you yet…but I hope that someday soon that this will be a fun day that we can take to celebrate you and rejoice that you’re in our lives, which is exactly where I think you belong.