Thick as thieves and...SUCCESS!

L.B. is still doing well almost a week after being home.  He has always seemed pretty comfortable in our house, so hopefully it is seeming like home.  He is definitely quieter than he was in China, though we are starting to see a bit more of those tantrums James talked about.  The area in which we see it the most is naptime/bedtime.  He can drum up quite a dramatic performance when put into his bed.  Bed  to him is what toothbrushing was to K.  If you don't know that story, K had really yellow teeth when we got her.  Clearly her teeth had not been brushed.  When we would brush them, she would act as though the toothbrush was some medieval torture device and scream like a banshee.  Perseverance and smoker's toothpaste solved that issue.

We had a major success today when Momma got her first kiss! Hurray, huzzah, and all that jazz! When the day was over, I could count a total of three kisses from my littlest man. That there is victory, my friends.

In addtion to getting my first kiss, we saw our first act of aggression on L.B.'s part.  James was playing with the trio as in this picture:

L.B. was having a great time when it was his turn to be turned upside down and tickled by Baba.  When it was M's turn, L.B. got mad and took the part of Little Bunny Foo foo and bopped M on the head.  M did not do anything, but L.B. got a "Noooooo" from his momma and baba.  That made him cry, and when he saw that that would not have the desired effect (namely sympathy), he did his own thing.

The trio does like doing the same things, though not always together.  They all very much like getting rides from the big boys:

But coalescing as a trio will take some time.  The WTs are going strong these days and are thick as thieves:

It'll be pretty hard to get between these two...

 Would you want to try???

Fun in the sun...for some

It's been warm here, so we thought we'd let L.B. enjoy a typical childhood activity, playing in the sprinklers.  Now we know better than to think he'd jump right in, so we were not disappointed with the results.

M was ready to jump right in, of course

The older boys thought they would "toughen" themselves up by doing push-ups in the cold water

K was a bit hesitant at first, but then joined in with gusto

C paused briefly from her jumping up and down to let me take this picture

We took out a water toy that shoots out water in various amounts of pressure when you turn the top.  M is slightly excited about it...

Take note of where our youngest is in this picture

You can see he is keeping a good distance away from the festivities

You can see the skepticism on his face, "This is supposed to be fun?"

Baba is trying to coax him into at least touching the water

 This is how L.B. decided to "enjoy" the water.  He was recovering after this tragic event...

A mist coming off the sprinklers touched his person...without permission!

I guess this time honored tradition will have to wait to be enjoyed...

No good very bad morning

Our poor little guy was running a fever this morning and thus could not go to church to meet his "other family."  He was not feeling well and he let the rest of us know it.  I took the remaining five with me to church while Baba stayed home with Mr. Crankster.

We love being at church, and so we don't get distracted, we tend to sit up toward the front.  This morning we were sitting in the third row, which would be fine if you did not have WTs who were doing their utmost best to win the "naughtiest kids at church" award.  M was being goofy, flirting with a girl several rows behind.  At one point he said, rather loudly, "Why are there SO many songs?" K decided that she would decide to play the part of the Wicked Witch of the West and start melting there in the third row, close to the front, being an elder's kid, with lots of people in back of us to witness the event.  I had to finally take her out so we could have a "discussion" in the bathroom.

We returned just in time to hear the recognition of L.B. coming into our family.  It is the custom in our church that when a new baby is born into the church family, a rose is placed on the piano and the baby's arrival is announced.  I thought it was so very thoughtful that L.B. was being recognized the same way.  That made up for the rest of the morning in which I could not finish a conversation because the WTs were again working on their award.  At one point one of my kids' friends said, "Uh, M is taking his pants off right by the door."  Apparently, M had his pants on backward and decided to rectify the situation right there in the narthex by the door people use to come in and out.  I said, "Uh, maybe he's just trying to tell visitors that we preach nothing by the naked truth here?"

When we returned home, L.B. was still feverish and lathargic.  We gave him some medicine which helped him to perk up a wee bit.  A wee bit that is.

Here he is watching the WTs being themselves.

We've noted that he has a little emperor-ness in him.  If he drops something, he will look at you as if to say, "Hello! Did you see that I dropped that? Pick it up, minion." We can tell that he is quite accustomed to others doing things for him, things that the WTs do for themselves.  Ah well, he is the youngest of six, he'll learn soon enough that he has entered the school of hard knocks (also known as "reality central").

He actually sat for a little while to watch "Cars" with the WTs.  He wasn't interested for too long and surprised us by striking out on his own (the medicine did wonders).  Unfortunately for us, that meant finding and climbing the stairs.  He discovered that it is much easier to climb up than to come down.  Sigh, back to baby gates on the stairs.  Momma, welcome to reality central yourself.

I leave you with a few triplet photos:

 Rub a dub dub, three tots in a tub

 Here are our bambino burritos

Don't let those angelic faces fool you...



Home at last, home at last, thank God Almighty, they're home at last

Oh glorious day,  this was our first full day home as a family of eight.

The guys came in Thursday night at 6:00pm and C and I met them at the airport.  The WTs stayed with my parents.  C and I were almost beyond ourselves as we watched for our fellas.  A seismograph could have measured our nervous energy as we vibrated with excitement.  Finally we spotted them and I did my best to take pictures of them, but it's really hard for a camera to focus when its user is jumping up and down like a crazy person.  Then I lost it.  Yep, I had more blubber than a humpback whale.  It's no wonder that L.B. wanted nothing to do with me.  Here was this sobbing mess of a woman blathering on about "mama,"and pointing to herself! He had this look on his face that said, "I have a momma, and you ain't my momma, lady.  And by the way, let go of my Baba (Daddy)."

I was not in the least offended by his less than enthusiastic response to me.  He had had a foster  momma in China who undoubtedly cared for him very well.  I was a total stranger who was intruding on him and his people.

The response of the WTs to L.B. was priceless.  They both seemed to instantly grow about a foot, and they seemed to suddenly mature.  Here were two older siblings who acted the part. 

 Not super impressed by his closest older sister, who calls him yet another name,  "L.B."

 We were very shocked by the size difference between the boys, who supposedly are only three months apart in age.  In fact, L.B. is so much smaller than we imagined, we are going to have to buy some new clothes.  I donated almost all the size 2 clothes to the orphange James visited in Beijing! 

 There's L.B. with mister "Heart Breaker" himself

 Here's M being goofy as usual, doing some kind of ritualistic "welcome home" dance

 He allowed C to get closer...

...and warms up to M

 Daddy's home!!!!!

 Our first dinner as a family, a brief stop at my parents' before heading home

Once we got home, we put C and the WTs to bed.  The boys were not quite ready to go to bed, and L.B. was wide awake.  There were places to explore and toys with which to play.  There was also this very interesting machine...

 We should have given him some popcorn to go with his show.

 We discoved that he loves cars, of which we have plenty.  He played until we finally pulled the plug on the festivities at 1:00am.  He was not ready to go to bed, but we were.  This did not make him happy.  This guy loves to sleep, but does not like going to sleep.  He staged a protest, but Baba prevailed.  I wasn't about to force him to go to bed, I'm already on the "do not give any physical attention to" list.  He gave everyone a goodnight kiss but me.  All in good time.  Right now he tolerates me, which is better than outright rejecting me, right? I said, right????

The next day,  we had a great time catching up.  Here is K showing her big brother how much she missed him.  It's hard to believe we brought her home almost two years ago and went through this same adjustment process.  We have since learned that the process does take a lot of time, even when it's going well (which it wasn't as much when she first came home and M was her chew toy, she'd bite him about 6-7 times per day..it was rough).  It probably took a full year before we really felt that we had overcome the effects of institutionalization.

 I'm not sure what Mr. Bear has just said to G, but clearly he now needs the protection of Hello Kitty

 Dogpile on D

 Add another...

 This is either the "icing on the top," or "the straw that broke the camel's back"

You'll notice that L.B. is nowhere to be found.  When there's mayhem to be had, he steers clear.  So yes, he steers clear a lot.

The three of them played really well together, sometimes it was the WTs together without L.B., sometimes it was one of the WTs with L.B., sometimes they were all together.  They definitely treat him as the younger sib, and not an equal.  He's not a threat yet, but give him time.

There they are, either the triple trouble or the tremendous triplets.  Either way, their designation will be "the T2."  I will still refer to M and K as the WTs, because, well, some things are just meant to endure.

Today, the second full day of being home, we discovered what a parrot our little guy can be.  I was on the phone with a friend when I said, "Oh right...." I then hear L.B., who is playing with his Baba, start saying "Oh right, oh right."  He is very quick to copy what he hears, which is both good and bad.  I've already heard him tell C to "go away," which is a line straight out of the WTs lexicon (and which they are not supposed to say). 

We did get some sad news (for us) today when we found out that the little girl we were hoping to adopt was matched with another family.  It is bittersweet news as, as disappointed as we are, we are very happy that another family will be blessed by her.  It also means that God has someone else in mind, we just have to wait and see who it is. Now, judging by the two kids given to us via adoption, I'd say the wait will be worth it.  Kind of like the kiss that has still eluded me from my newest son.  No kisses for the momma, day 3.  Stay tuned.

One last picture before home

My father-in-law took this picture during a Skype call.  It's one last look at the fellas before they head back home! They leave tonight (11:30pm PST) and will finally be touching down on home turf at 6:00pm PST.

Of course C and I are very excited to have them coming home, while the WTs are somewhat hard to read.  They are enjoying sitting in LB's seat at the table, and in his brand-new carseat. I think they're wondering what's in it for them.  Good thing the boys are bringing back gifts for them, otherwise "just" getting a new brother would seem like a consolation prize.  You know, like getting plain underwear instead of Lightning McQueen or Hello Kitty underwear.  I did mean in the eyes of three-year-olds, but if the shoe (or other) fits.....

Next post: home at last!!!!!

On the home front..."The Taming of the Two"

Back on the homefront we are eagerly awaiting the return of our family.  We Skype twice a day, so LB is very familiar with us.  He says our names and loves to say "bye-bye."  Now he's added "wuv you" to his repertoire, to my great satisfaction . 

So how have the WTs been? Well, quite good, in large part, generally speaking, on the whole, with all things being considered.  Have we had our difficult moments? Uh, yeah, you could say that.  I think I should get a medal for all the victories I've won in the great "Battle of the Wills."  Those were some hard won victories.  You know, however, that they must be victories.  Sometimes I fantasize about being one of those moms you see in the grocery store that, after "counting to three" 4-5 times, finally gives in to her whining child "just this once."  But then that fantasy turns into a nightmare with my kids as guests on "The Jerry Springer Show" or "Dr. Phil." Thus, I press on.
If you've never been a fan of the "Superfriends" cartoon, which aired Saturday mornings, you might be unfamiliar with the original "Wonder twins."  Here is a clip on YouTube of the original WTs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktUx57i63e0

I had an instance recently in which not one, but both of the WTs turned themselves into octupi (or octopuses or octopodes, all are now acceptable according to Mirriam-Webster http://boingboing.net/2010/07/27/octopuses-octopi-oct.html) (instead of an ice unicyle, which don't we all own?).  I took the WTs and C to the 99cent store (since we can't afford the dollar store, kidding, though this China trip is costing us) and forgot to have "the behavior talk" (BT) before entering.  Of course there were lots of people there and the WTs activated and took the form of octopodes, touching everything in sight.  I hastily gave a condensed version of the BT (also called the thinly veiled threat or TVT) and things improved.

The next time I took the WTs to the store, we had dropped off C at her karate lesson and I gave the BT before we entered the grocery store.  Well wouldn't you know, the WTs activated and took the form of well-behaved children!  They were helpful and stayed by the cart and I could see people casting admiring glances our way.  I would smile and then mutter under my breath, "Don't we have you all fooled???"  I could just imagine this conversation: Person 1: "I saw this lady in the grocery store who had two toddlers and they were so well-behaved! The mom must really know what she's doing."  Person 2:  "Really? I saw this crazy lady with two octopuses in the 99cent store, and somebody better take the keys to her zoo away from her!"

I gave M's belly a name because it seems to have a personality of its own (the sibs have given K's belly the name "Bessie").  M's belly's name is "George."  The other day M came back into the kitchen after dinner had been over for a while and announced "I don't feel well.  I ate too much and now George is full.  George is sad now."  The next night when M was about to have dessert, I reminded him not to eat too much so George wouldn't get sad.  M became very animated and said emphatically, "No, it's okay.  George likes being full.  He likes tummy aches.  He can rest for a little while longer, so it's okay."  I guess 5 minute mug cake is worth the trouble.  Here is the recipe, you judge for yourself.  (http://www.food.com/recipe/5-minute-chocolate-mug-cake-354827  Let me just warn you that a good friend of mine put the blame on me (for giving her this recipe) when her doctor told her she was putting on too many pregnancy pounds.  Dangerous stuff, it is.

Another step closer

That sums up today, another step closer.

We’re another step closer to going home. We mostly had to just wait through the day. Our tickets are for tomorrow and then we finally get to make the last step to our final city of this China Tour.

D with a new friend, G barely visible up to left

We’re another step closer because we got LB’s passport today! Now In Guangzhou we deal with the American side of things to make all this copasetic (satisfactory) on that front.

Dancing on the street corner

We’re another step closer as we seem to finally have a break through on the temper tantrums. Today he actually controlled himself enough that we actually were able to let him have what he wanted. After that happened a few times in a row, it seems like we may have progress on that front. Now it doesn’t happen every time, but…

At breakfast at our hotel in Zhengzhou

We’re another step closer from fear of the water. I gave him a bath the other day and he was really getting bothered by the rising water (the whole inch I let it get to in the tub. Today we went to the pool and the larger boys had a grand time. We went to a mostly empty hot tub with a remnant 4 inches of nice warm water in it. It was all I could do to get him to walk around in it. After a while he started throwing one of his tantrums, but couldn’t flop himself down as he likes since there was water there. He settled down after a bit when G came over and pulled him down into his lap. I thought “uh oh”, but after a few moments LB realized it wasn’t so bad, settled down, and started putting his hands in the water. It wasn’t long before he was having a grand time.

Looking the other way at the table

We’re another step closer to this family thing being a little more real to LB. He now gets excited when I ask if he wants to talk to Ma Ma (that’s the Chinese way of writing it in English characters) and he starts heading for the computer. He also gave kisses out for the first time. D got one first, and soon they were handed out to everyone, with a flourish! He gives a cute little quasi pucker, gets you on the lips, and then pulls away with a dramatic “Mwaaah!”

Taking great delight in putting his brother's clean underwear over his head

Finally, we’re another step closer to the day when he hopefully will grasp what it meant for him to be adopted into our family, and then hopefully understand even more what it means to be adopted as a son into God’s family.

O, and there’s one thing I don’t think we’re one step closer on, and that’s getting a translations any more accurate (or are they???)