Ride the Zebra!

Stefanie, who used to work at the library, and her partner DJ adopted a little boy named Blake from Guatemala several months before I adopted Henry. She brought me this zebra on Saturday that her son has outgrown.
It reminds me of the horse I had when I was little--on bare springs that would probably not be considered safe today. Henry was a little wary of the zebra at first, but it didn't take him long to figure out how to make it go up and down and spin around.

Twenty months old!

Henry is twenty months old today--going by the birthdate we decided to accept as accurate. It is exciting to see him growing, getting bigger every day and learning to do new things.
He seems to feel much better since he got the tubes put in his ears. His eyes do not water and his nose is not running all the time. He is more active, squeals more and wants to move around. He seems to laugh more and he tries to attract attention by making noise.
At twenty months he weighs 22 pounds, or 10 kilograms. If I understand the Vietnamese Growth Chart correctly he is around the 50th percentile (assuming there is an even distribution from the bottom to the top). At least he fares better using this chart than he does with the US chart.
It is interesting to me that the orphanage did not report him gaining weight since last spring. For months he was reported to weigh the same amount. I am really glad that he is finally gaining weight, and he has also added two inches in height.

I remember a year ago today--I had had the referral for Henry less than a week. I was so excited to have a photo to show people. My mother was finally enthusiastic about me adopting now that there was an actual child at the end of the tunnel. Everything dragged out longer than I thought--I had anticipated bringing Henry home in the summer and it ended up being the middle of November. I tried to picture what it would be like to have him in my home. I looked at his photos, enlarged them on the computer and looked at his fingernails and ears and any other detail that I could see.

Now that the reality of Henry is here I am so glad that things worked out the way they did. He has brought great joy into my life.

Happy Valentine's Day

The Children's Center had a Valentine's Day party today. I was informed yesterday when I picked up Henry that I needed to bring two bags of candy and 28 valentines today. Thanks goodness I wasn't asked to bake cookies at that short notice.

When I got there Henry was eating ice cream and cookies and cake. I was reluctant to let him see me--he cried for me when I went to the Christmas party. But he did eventually see me and seemed okay, although I had to sit by him and feed him the rest of his ice cream. After about five minutes I got up and moved to the edge of the room, he was still okay. Then I left and came back to the library.

He seemed to be having a good time. He seems to play well with the other children. I am hoping he learns to talk faster by being around children that are talking and having those tubes in his ear so he can hear better.

Last night on the way home (which is 24 miles) I stopped at the small grocery store that is run by a Vietnamese family. They have a seven month old girl. They seem anxious for me to bring Henry over to play with her when she is older, I guess they don't seem too many more Vietnamese children around here.

Tet Celebration and Ear Surgery

Saturday we went to the Chinese market to see the New Year celebration. We had a really nice meal at Bau, Chris, and Kevin's house, prepared by Kevin's nanny. She made spring rolls and soup. The day was very sunny and where we stood looked into the sun--it was hard to get Henry to watch the dance because it was so bright. Afterwards we went to a local park and the boys played and ran. Shannon and her daughters Emma and Laura were also there--they played really well with the boys even though they are several years older.
Monday morning we left at 5 AM to get to the surgical center in time for Henry's scheduled treatment to put tubes in his ears. He played happily in the waiting room, unaware of what was to come. There were several other babies and one older girl who all had the treatment scheduled one after another.
We were ushered into an area with several beds and changed Henry into a hospital gown. They gave him something that I think they called a Marlowe Cocktail and he got very relaxed and groggy.
The relaxation turned into fits of laughter and I suppose Henry was feeling pretty loopy when the nurse came to take him to the operating room. He was only gone for around fifteen minutes. Soon we were called to a different bed where he was very grumpy and had red cotton stuffed in his ear. They had put the tubes in both ears but more drained out of one than the other. He was very hungery since he couldn't eat before the surgery, so we quickly fed him and then got him dressed and went on to Dr. An's office.
At Dr. An's office (he is the gastro-enterologist) Henry was fairly somber. He didn't like having to be stripped naked for the weighing--but he was measured at 21.5 pounds and 31 inches long. That is five pounds heavier and two inches longer than the last time we were there before Christmas. Dr. An was really impressed by how much Henry had grown.

Last night Henry was very hyper. I suppose his hearing was muffled and he was no doubt in some discomfort from the numerous ear infections. Maybe he always had a headache. It certainly could explain why he was so hard to deal with on the plane ride back from Tokyo.

At the Car Wash

We celebrated Tet yesterday by going to the doctor. I picked Henry up at 11 AM from the children's center. He was laying down for his nap. It is always a thrill to go pick him up and see how happy he is to see me. He smiles and looks around at everyone.

We got to the doctor's office a little early and had to sit in the hall to wait for them to open the door after lunch. It was on the fourth floor and there were really big windows. Henry was really intrigued by being able to look out on the expanse of Frisco and Plano. The glass went from floor to ceiling--he seemed hesitant at first as it probably seemed like he could just step out into space and fall. But when he realized it was safe he beat on the glass and made yelling noises as he looked at the cars moving below.

The actual doctor visit was not as much fun. He is okay until he sees the ear poking instrument, then he starts crying. His hearing has improved since our last visit, but he still has fluid behind his ear drums. I am hoping they will schedule us for Monday for the surgery to put tubes in his ears. The doctor said his hearing is probably muffled, and I guess he must be having ear aches or some discomfort from the ear infections.
On the way home I found an automatic car wash, so Henry had his first experience going through one. You can see in the photo above that he was initially scared--it was pretty noisy and at times the car was shaking back and forth. I guess if you don't know what is going on it can be confusing.
But he seemed to like the green and purple suds that was covering the windows. Like everything else that seems frightening, I think he realized he wasn't in any danger, it was kist noise.

One Year Ago Today....

A year ago today I received the referral for Henry. I had waited months for an adoption appointment from Ukraine, and in the meantime Vietnam had opened backup to the US. As soon as I changed directions everything just fell into place.

I had been told a week earlier that a referral was eminent, and I remember waiting nervously and with great excitement for a message fromt he agency. Finally it arrived on 7 February. This is the first photo I saw of my son.
I can't count the times I looked at the photo and others, wondering what he was doing, what life would be like when he was part of my family. I looked at his somber expression and dirty fingernails and fretted about him.

And now he is with me and my life is so completely different. Henry brings great joy and great responsibility to my life. The blurry photo below is one I took this morning. He did not wake up on his own, I had to go in and turn the light on and rouse him out of sleep. He had a quick bath and then I dressed him for the day. He was laughing as I put his shoes on and I snapped this photo.

A Quiet Weekend

In anticipation of Tet we spent a quiet weekend at home. Henry slept Saturday morning while I watched President Hinckley's funeral on television. In the afternoon it was warm enough to take him outside. He doesn't have much interaction with Sugar, my indoor cat. She is not very friendly and does not like to be touched. On the other hand there are several cats outside that are very friendly. Henry managed to get close enough to pet this cat.
He is ambidextrous when it comes to taking toys out of these two boxes I bought at IKEA. My idea was that the living room would be nice and tidy with the toys all put away in these boxes, but Henry seems to dislike having them out of sight. He prefers to see the toys scattered all over the floor and will use two hands to accomplish this task.
Henry also likes to walk around the house pushing this small shopping cart, picking up stray toys along the way. So far it has not been an effort to help tidy the house--he just enjoys wandering around with the cart.
Sunday after church I took Henry to the city park. The nicer park with all the new equipment was too crowded, so we went to this smaller and older one where we were the only people there. He tolerated the swing but I don't think he really liked it.
We ended the evening by watching the Celitic Woman concert on PBS. I thought maybe the slow tempo music would mesmerize him into a state of sleepiness.

Rocking Chair Aggie

I like rocking chairs, and have several in my house that belonged to my grandparents and my great grandparents. I've even thought of bringing one to the library. I remember being rocked by my mother when I was little, and now I rock Henry in them.
I dressed Henry this morning in his Aggie shirt that my friend Robbin sent him.
Then I sat him in a big rocking chair. He enjoys the three toddler size rocking chairs, but this was the first time I put him in a big one.
He seemed a little confused at first, but he quickly realized that he could brace himself on the arms and shift his weight back and forth.
It was a little bit more effort than the smaller chairs.
But he eventually got it and started rocking back and forth. Here he is in the midst of moving rapidly back and forth.