Two Months Home

Today is our two month anniversary of being home with Hui-Hui. Things continue to go amazingly well with him.

So far in regards to general health we haven't had many concerns. Our biggest surprise and worry was when our doctor told us that he tested positive for thalassemia. This is a genetically inherited form of anemia (sort of like sickle cell anemia) where the red blood cells are too small. The lab results we got on this labeled his form of the disease as "asymptomatic alpha thalessemia". This is pretty good news, as it means he doesn't show signs of problems which would require treatment. For some people thalessemia requires ongoing blood transfusions, and consequently a difficult and uncomfortable treatment called "chelation". We are going to see about further testing to make sure we understand the exact nature of this condition in Kai. If you would like more information on this, CLICK HERE to view the March of Dimes information page on thalessemia.

We have an appointment on December 6th with Dr. Hanel at Children's Hospital in Seattle to look at his hand. We have no idea what, if any, treatment this will require. We think he could use his left hand more than he does, and wonder if he was discouraged to use it at the S.W.I. Either way, it is unlikely he received any helpful intervention regarding this, but the reality is that we simply don't know. He does compensate for it amazingly well, and it's almost hard to notice it when you watch him.

Because Kai was in an orphanage for the first 33 months of his life he has a number of developmental delays. This is normal for children in this situation, and they will usually gain ground rapidly once they are placed with their family. Our doctor suggested we have him evaluated by the hospital's children's neurological development center to see if there are any local programs which may help him in this area. We went to the center and had a fun time with an O.T. there who did a basic evaluation of him. Because language is an issue she was not able to give him the full battery of tests, but she seemed to think he was doing just fine. We are going to have a follow up visit with them in our home this week.

Eating continues to be a bit of an issue. We have adapted to his diet and see that he gets plenty of nutrition, but he still refuses to eat any foods that require chewing. That is, no cookies, crackers, dry cereals, solid meat, cheese, etc. The most common daily diet consists of organic instant oatmeal for breakfast which we make with Boost supplement instead of milk, then we mix in unsweetened applesauce. This is very sweet tasting, and is the only sweet thing he seems to like. For lunch he usually has Top Ramen with eggs and maybe a little milk added. He also likes jarred baby vegetables and will usually have a jar for an afternoon snack. For dinner he usually has some type of soup. We have also taken to liquifying things in the blender to make "soup". This way we can get meat and other types of vegetables into him.

Talking is starting to come along. He clearly says Mama and Baba, and Daisy (our dog), which he says in a high "sing-song", like when we are calling her. He's getting close on "water" (again in a sing-song) but usually says "guh" when he wants to drink. He says "gah" for car. Cam and Ben are both something like "Hem", sometimes Cam is more like "Ham". He says "c'mon" when he wants you to come to him or follow him. We have gotten him to mimic a few words including "Tuesday" and "Black Shoes", again these were both sing-songy chants and not really in context. Over the last couple days he has begun to babble almost constantly. He looks at you and "talks" away in a very deliberate manner. I really don't think it's Mandarin, but rather just toddler babble. When he does this he appears as if he is trying to communicate, but he's such a little mimic that sometimes I think he is "play-talking", and just imitating what he sees and hears us doing.

We continue to use a small range of Mandarin expressions with him:
Wo Ai Ni - I love you
Wo Shi NiDe MaMa - I am your Mommy
Wo Shi NiDe BaBa - I am your Daddy
Ta Shi NiDe GeGe - This is your older brother
Zhe Shi Gei Ni De - This is for you
Bie Ku - Don’t cry
Gui Heidze - Poor Baby
Mai Gui Shi - It's going to be okay
Ai kwan shui shui ba - It's time to sleep

I am trying to expand my Mandarin vocabulary in this area, both to help him understand us, and because I really want him to maintain his native language.

He has overcome his fear of dogs. We no longer use gates to keep Daisy out. He's still not particularly fond of her, as she is big and gets in his way. I know I would not really want a dog around that was taller than me and over four times my weight. But he will pet her with us, and he enjoys chasing her with his ride-on car, or with his toy broom.

This is such a funny stage to start a relationship with a child at. I really wonder what things will be like in a year. I imagine all of this will seem like a dream then. Sometimes I think I want him to develop more quickly: start talking, be potty-trained, eat regular foods, etc. But really, we are enjoying him so much just the way he is, that I'm not in a hurry for those things. They will all happen for him, and I want to enjoy watching the process. I guess my desire for faster development is really about wanting him to be less frustrated by the current obstacles in his path.