Laugh Out-Louds with Isaac

On Monday I came out of the bathroom with Eli to find Isaac swallowing a metal ball from our magnet collection. I think he put them in his mouth and intended to spit them out but my appearance scared him, knowing full well they are not to be in his mouth and his immediate response was to swallow them instead of taking them out. I was a little worried but not too much once I realized he was fine. I knew the drill since Eli's penny incident. So I planned on waiting several days. Tuesday morning Isaac went to the bathroom and came to tell me "my poop is making a clink, clink noise". I had forgotten about the balls so I just figured he was making up a silly story as he does a lot recently. Isaac went back on the toilet and then came back a few minutes later to announce that the balls were at the bottom of the toilet. They sure did pass fast. I was surprised to see two and not one.

Today I was cleaning Isaac's room and he asked me if I was going to clean the blood off the sheets from a past bloody nose. I told him I would wash his sheets later. He responded..."well red blood is nice for Valentine's day." okay.

Random Updates

Our week was filled with the excitement of watching this...



become this...



that is the house that Kyle's grandparents and himself with his parents and brother lived in. The house became to moldy after a leaky roof to remain livable, so hence the demolition. Isaac has been thrilled about watching it all take place. We started watching it on Thursday morning and have taken several trips back and forth between meals and sleep times to see the machines at work and all the rubble taken away. When Isaac has been home is main play is demoing buildings with his own digger and dump truck.




Eli is crawling around and standing up everywhere. This week he has been wanting to follow Isaac outside. He crawls out to the porch, stands up and steps onto the ledge to shout at people and Isaac. He also signed and said "mama" simultaneously the other day.

Prema's language seems to be improving more and more since we started neurofeedback at the language area of the brain 2 weeks ago. She has been able to put together 7-9 signs on one topic...not all in correct order but understandable. This week after neurofeedback and setting up pictures and dolls to represent India/ birth parents and America/ us Prema was signing a lot about a hospital visit where her IV broke and was bleeding and she was told not to pee or poop. We couldn't understand if it was when she had her oral surgery here or her adenoids removed in India. The next day she and I were looking at pictures of her orphanage and she began telling me that the car in the picture was the one she left the hospital in and the same car that took her to school where she peed her pants. These two stories we have not heard before from anyone, but assume they are true. We are very excited that she was able to tell us herself.

Happy Valentine's Day

Yesterday, we had fun celebrating Valentine's Day as a family. Last week the Prema, Isaac and I began making their Valentine cards. They each dictated their own list of people to give to and then we began the process of tracing hearts, cutting them out, pasting them on red paper, and stamping their fingerprints around the hearts. The entire creation took about 4 days since their attention span and Eli's willingness to stay out of the activities was limited. Wednesday we made chocolate cupcakes with pink frosting to hand out with the cards.
Yesterday we woke up and got ready for the day, all dressing in red or pink. Then we took Prema to school and Isaac gave one of his valentines to Prema's teacher and Prema handed out some of her valentine's to her classmates. While Prema was school the boys and I visited the Heuertz girls and exchanged valentines.
For dinner Kyle's parents joined us. Kyle's mom arranged a very nice fondue dinner with nice red and white table decorations. While we were eating the fondue rules were established. One rule was that if you dropped something in the pot you then had to either kiss or hug Kyle or myself. This is really a fondue rule, but normally you would hug or kiss anyone you want...not a good idea for a child with RAD so we limited the hugs. After the two fondue trays (veggies with cheese and chocolate with fruit) we then exchanged Valentine cards/ gifts. The kids loved the meal and handing out their cards. The fondue may become a V Day tradition...we'll have to see. Thanks Sandy for your thought and preparation.

2 year old Talking...hmmm

Yesterday Isaac spoke several sentences at various times that blew us away. He speaks very clearly all the time, with very few mispronunciations. His sentences are become more and more complex, and yesterday was a day filled with the use of big words.
"I am having a CONVERSATION with Dillan."
"I REALIZED when I was at the park that some tree needles stick to my shoe."
and on Friday night sitting by the campfire he recalled a conversation from the week before that he overheard when we had some guests over.
"So do you remember when the Fullers told us the story about Mr. Curt's brother falling in the fire."

Its a lot of fun listening to him talk and carrying on conversations with him. He talks constantly and nothing is filtered so we know everything that is going on in his head. Some of his ideas are right on track and others are a bit amusing.

A New Phase in RAD

We are entering a new phase in this journey with Reactive Attachment Disorder. We have come to know another family with an adoptive child who is deaf and also has reactive attachment disorder. An important piece of the healing process and home therapy is that the parents are able to take care of themselves first and get relief when they need it. Since we sign and the other family also signs we have decided to help one another. We will be watching the other child whenever they just want to get away on a date or if she becomes violent and extremely disobedient at home. They will be watching Prema under the same circumstances. This can become a very tricky endeavor as we may take on another child for a short time at a moments notice. We are excited to be able to help another family and have options for more relief ourselves. In the past we have interviewed several people for this particular need and have come up without any options due to lack of signing or lack of understanding or willingness to follow through with RAD techniques (some can seem harsh to others). So keep us in your prayers.

Father Isaac

Along with Bob the Builder and Football, Isaac is very interested in anything to do with Jesus, Fr. Mike and church. It has been an interest consistently for a long time, ever since he sang "Alleluia Bob the Builder" while jumping on the trampoline. He has become extremely observant in church, even repeating things at home that we didn't think he even heard because he didn't appear to be listening or watching. Its very sweet to watch him carry candles and crosses high above his head around the house singing "Alleluia", "Gloria in excelsis Deo", or "This Little Light of Mine". Sometimes he will come around to all in the house and give us a blessing on our foreheads. One time he was sleeping with a book because he thought that is the way Fr. Mike sleeps. Another day he insisted he could not take a nap on his bed because it was the altar and Fr. Mike does not sleep on the altar...I argued his statement recalling Good Friday when Fr. Mike prostrates before the cross on the altar. Isaac bought it and took his nap. From Thanksgiving to New Years we listened to Josh Groban's rendition of "The Little Drummer Boy" sometimes more than 3 times in a row while Isaac played his drums. He loves to dress up as Mary and stuff a baby in his shirt and act out the birth of Jesus. Prema is usually Joseph and I am the Inn keeper. However, when Isaac is Mary he insists that there is room in the inn because there is an empty bed behind me. He will sit at the piano to play and sing his church songs. This week we read the story about Jonah and the whale and drew pictures of the story. Isaac loved talking about the story and looking at his pictures over and over again. Recently he has really enjoyed listening to the Kids' Kingdom on our local Catholic radio station. Throughout the week he will be singing his favorite songs "BAA BAA we're lambs" and "One the Day that______(name) was born". Today it was precious to watch Isaac walk down the isle in church toward Fr. Mike for his blessing. he had made a cross in kids church. All the other kids held them in their hands down at the their sides, but Isaac at the end of the line held his proudly and reverently above his head with both hands. Fr. Mike often says..."one day he may be Fr. Isaac, wouldn't that be cool."
Isaac dressed as Mary...the blue head scarf makes the outfit for him.