Tuesday, March 1, 2011

1 Month Home

You are not going to believe this but I have - gasp!- actual pictures to show you of Joey and Jacob.
Go ahead,
be shocked,
I'll wait.

1 month home and life is goooood.
Their English is coming along remarkably fast.
They speak to each other about 95% of the time in Mandarin but every now and then we hear them mix in a few English words with their Chinese.
Chinglish at it's finest.
Chinglish is my new favorite language, it's especially cute coming out of these two little people.



I'd say at this point there is very little that they don't understand or on the flip side there is now very little that they cannot communicate to us one way or another.

We have learned how to think more abstractly when listening to them.
For example I told the boys we were going to go to the store on Sunday to buy out the produce section....again, stock up on more fruits and veggies.
But I failed to tell them what time.
So after church as we are walking to the car Jacob begins gesturing to drive and outlining a square and saying, "Apples, Oranges, Bannanas,..."
Well, that meant store.
He wanted to know if we were still going to the store.
It's charades on steroids.

Blows my mind that we have been home a month already.
Since the first two weeks we were all basically comatose it kinda only feels like we have been home a little while.
Yet every Sunday that we walk into church it dawns on me how far they have come that week.
And then the next week
and the next week.
It astounds me how relatively seemless this transition has been.....again, the first two weeks not withstanding. ;)

We still....of course....have our hiccups here and there.
Joey still shows no discernment as to who he will go to/cling to.
So in that respect I'm not sure that he really views us any differently yet than any other person on the street.
And along those lines, I came across this post the other day, which I highly recommend adoptive parents take a moment to read...
it just screams Joey to me.
Though honestly it's hard to know how much of this is just his personality or how much he is being "artificially charming."
My best guess is that it is a combination of both.

Jacob is doing 300% better than the first couple of weeks.
He is one ridiculously smart boy and I think the lack of communication was driving him kah-razy.
Now that he can tell us things he is much, much better.

So 1 month home, and we are family.
Simple as that,
just a family.
One big crazy Jesus lovin adoptive family.

Ok, I just realized that was only two pictures....that's probably not enough. If I wasn't so lazy busy sipping my coffee I'd get up and get the memory card out of the camera......but indeed....I am that lazy busy so I'll try and add more later.  Peace out.

7 comments:

  1. YA! Send MORE pictures!!

    SO glad things are normal now.
    Joey. Isabella did the same thing after we came home.
    I will email you the story as it's too long for a comment.
    I'm curious as to how you are handling it on your end.

    Love ya!!!
    Peace out!

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  2. LOL...Yes, would like more pics, but I understand how hard it is when you're so "busy" :)

    Are jacob and Joey in school? How is that?

    Love the updates. You need to video them talking Chinglish and share it!! I'm sure it's SO cute!!

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  3. Awesome post! Made me so happy! Loving the Chinglish, the smiles, the charades on steroids and most of all that you are "One big crazy Jesus lovin adoptive family." ;)

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  4. Um...yeah.. I need more pictures! To quote someone I know "Don't make me come over there!" Oh no, wait. I DO want to come over there because I miss your sweet family :) Give those boys hugs from us!

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  5. YES- we do want more- we are not satisfied with only 2 pics of those darlins!

    It amazes me how fast the transition goes AND how everyday is better than the day before!

    Sarah was "charming" too. She came around but definitely parent shopped for awhile! We had to set up a few guidelines for her to follow- she caught on pretty quickly for being a "Miss Charming"! It was more evident to me than anyone else. Everyone loved her but it bothered me and hubby soon saw what I was trying to tell him. She is incredible now!

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  6. I love reading about this awesome adventure to your darlings. It is so hard to believe that you have already been home for a month.

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  7. You keep sipping that coffee while you can! It is great to hear about your family. I am so happy for you that all your boys (husband, too?) are transitioning well.

    It does make you think, maybe the Lord did know the exact children needed to complete my family. :)

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