Catching up

This whole week has been really good for Drew. He has had zero meltdowns and has not gotten into trouble at all! We've been so busy that we've been slacking on getting this updated. The only fit he had was for grandma when he didn't want to sit in his car seat, but she won that battle too-no problems since. Tuesday, he visited preschool for a little while. He was a little timid (this was a first for him) with all the kids surrounding him. We think he will warm up to them as he gets used to visiting them more often though. Mrs. Belcher the teacher, who lives two doors down from us, brought him bubbles the day before so she was already his buddy. Later he had to ring her doorbell like twenty times so he could see her again. Yesterday, was his first Dr. appt in St. Louis. There is a physician who specializes in post-international adoption exams and the program is called F.A.C.E.S out of Cardinal Glennon. They just make sure everything is up to date and that your adopted child is on target healthwise and emotionally too. While we were there, we had our pictures taken by this photographer who does this magazine for Cardinal Glennon. So Drew's and our pictures will be featured, we were told.
Needless to say with the 3 hr drive, it was a long exhausting day for all, esp Drew. He did really well though considering there was no Mandarin translator available, and the fact that he ended up getting 4 shots and gave tons of blood for labwork. He even thanked the nurses when they gave him the band-aids to cover up the boo boos. I think he had like 6 or 7 band-aids on him! They had to poke both arms to get enough blood out..poor thing. He screamed and cried the whole time, saying "mama!" But as soon as it was over, he was fine, just ready to get out of there. He got a good report, with normal growth & development, it seems everything is fine, along with his earlier special need as an infant. He will have to go back in 6 months for a follow-up and the get the remainder of his shots.

It's getting a little harder to find foods that Drew likes. He's getting a little tired of the same ole' fruits and veggies at times. Tonight, he ate the spicy hamburger meat and really liked it, that was for the enchiladas. So, he had that and sliced cucumbers. What a combination, eh? He does like barbecued chicken and pork steak we found out last week. He ate alot of it!
Even some of the food that the report said he liked and ate while in China, we can't get him to eat here. Sometimes, I take him up to the Chinese restaurant here and the owner Fawn and her husband lets him eat whatever he wants there. When we visit there, it's pretty awesome to hear the conversations that Drew and Fawn have (not that I can understand, but Fawn tells me most of it). He told her that he knew my brother Mark was his uncle and that his house was messy and his refrigerator didn't have any food! I' m not sure where that came from, but we had to laugh at that one. He also told her that he basically understands most of what we tell him at home. So it seems that we have more trouble understanding him than vice versa. However, we are quite surprised to realize that it's not been as terribly hard as we thought it might have been in trying to communicate with him. We get used to hearing the same phrases and the same words, so we've figured out a lot in such a short time. Who would've thought?? I hate to admit this, but I will be sad not to be able to hear him speak Mandarin later when he loses most of it. It's soooo cute to hear him talk! He's so animated! He picks up English really quickly and repeats everything we try to teach him. Even the physician yesterday said she was amazed by how well his receptive language is for only being with us for 3 weeks.

BTW, bath time is still a breeze..... thank goodness! So is bedtime and he sleeps about 10 hours a night!!