2+ Weeks Home

Well, it's pretty obvious that I was a much better blogger while I was traveling than I am now.  Understandable I guess. :-) It is a little different when I have 7 other people in the house vs. being by myself (or with one other person) in the apartment in EE. But, it's way past my bed time, but I wanted to get a quick update posted about Elijah. I'll try to post pictures in a few days.

To sum it up so far, Elijah is doing really, really well. I KNOW it's because so many of you are praying. THANK YOU! 

He seems to be continuing to attach to us very well. He cried tonight when I went down into the basement to get something and shut the door behind me. I'll take that as a good sign. (I don't think it made Pat feel very good though since he was right there. :-)) One thing I realized last night as I was listening to him sleep (he's still in a crib in our room for now, and sometimes he isn't a very quiet sleeper) is that he rarely makes his deep throaty "grunting" sound anymore. It's not really a grunt, but just a noise he makes in his throat. Pat and I first thought he was grinding his teeth, but it's not that.  He did it a lot when we first met him. He did it a lot in his first machina ride to get his passport photo taken, on the train, plane, etc. So, basically, when he was unsure and/or nervous about something. But, he was doing it in his sleep last night, along with the self-soothing sucking on his tongue that he does. Maybe he was just trying to get comfortable or having a bad dream...who knows. But it struck me that I hadn't heard it during the day for quite a while.  Hopefully that means he is feeling more and more comfortable around us all of the time.

It seems like he is getting heavier too. Although I haven't actually weighed him on our scale - I really should do that - his hands seem to have some "pudge" to them now, and he just feels heavier. We'll go back the first week in February for a height and weight check at the doc's office. He continues to eat and drink well. He drinks his milk cold, which is somewhat unusual for kids coming out of orphanages where everything was served warm.  He even ate ice cream the other night! That is very unusual from what I've read on other blogs. I'm discovering Elijah is just really a pretty laid back kind of kid with a very sweet spirit. (I'm hoping Rachel's impatience with food won't rub off on him!)  We are really truly blessed by this new little person in our house. As we see his true personality start to blossom, I'm amazed at how well he fits in with our family. Hmmm...imagine that...God knew that all along...

But speaking of Rachel, their relationship is improving everyday. Two steps forward, half a step back. He still raps her on the head, but it is much softer now and she barely flinches anymore unless he happens to have a lego in his hand. Sometimes I'll see him reach for her, but pulls his hand back. Other times, he "pets" her as we are teaching him "nice touch".  We practice "nice touch" on mama's face too. :-) So, he is learning!  She is learning too.  They often will "fight" over a toy like siblings do. Normal stuff! Sometimes they will even play together a bit. Yay!

Well, I'm sure there's more, but I'm too tired now to think. I go through my day and think "Oh, I should blog that or this." I need to get over my perfectionism (a nasty, ugly thing) and just post little snippets here and there, instead of thinking I need a nice long post with cute photos every time. I'll try!  I'm sure most of you would appreciate shorter anyway! :-)  Good night!