The First Kiss

There are many benefits to international adoption but one of the harder parts of it is that your baby is older when you bring them home. In our case, we missed Aaden crawling, his first steps, his first smile, his first laugh, and so many other things.

When we first visited him in March. I tried to have the teddy bear I brought him give him a kiss. He looked at it kind of funny and then tried to bite it's nose off. I asked our translator what the word was for kiss in Russian so he would understand what I was doing and she just looked at me like she didn't want to be the bearer of bad news and then said quietly, "It doesn't matter, he doesn't know what kiss means. No one has taught him."

This is something I thought about constantly for those 2 months while we waited to go back for our court hearing. No one had ever kissed or hugged my little boy. So you can imagine that since we've had Aaden with us Michael and I have kissed and hugged him at every chance we get trying to make up for this. But I'm not sure he ever really got waht we were doing.

Well, this past week, I not only kissed Aaden, but I got a kiss back! His first kiss. It took 7 weeks of persistance but he finally understands what kiss means. I can now say kiss and he pushes his little face out and touches his lips to me and then smiles. He doesn't quite understand to pucker his lips yet but he is getting there. It melts my heart every time he does it. He's still a very active and not very cuddly little guy but I am learning to cherish these little "kiss" moments with him and they are worth everything.

Summer Fun

Aaden has been loving being outside this summer. Here are some of our favorite shots:

Doctors, Doctors, Doctors

We've been so busy this past week with doctors visits. Aaden has been cleared as a very healthy little guy but all they had to do was a bit overwhelming. 4 doctors visits, bloodwork galore, 7 vaccinations, & stool samples in less than a week made him a bit of a cranky boy and I don't blame him. He ended up with a rash and low grade fever for 3 days after the vaccinations. The doctor said it was a heat rash but it happened on the coolest 3 days and started the day after all his shots so I'm skeptic that it wasn't related. The good news is he gained a pound in 4 days! The doctor was very proud of him for that. He is still very little between being premature and in an orphanage setting but he is thriving now :)

Now we have 6 more appointments in the next couple of weeks. I guess this is the usual when children first come home from Russia but I didn't realize it until we got into it. He has to go to 4 specialists just because he hasn't had much medical care and he was in an orphanage setting. All his tests came back normal so we don't suspect anything but they want to make sure. Then we have Early Intervention and another peditrician appointment too. The poor little man is getting sick of being dragged around and poked and prodded all the time but we should be through most of it by the third week in July. Luckily his rash and fever finally went away yesterday and he has been feeling better.

Otherwise, Aaden is still doing great. He loves getting out of the house and actually cries to go out the front door at least once a day. Again, the reading I did said the opposite of this. I was prepared to have to stay home most of the summer while he adjusted but he just can't get enough of going for walks, going to the mall/shopping, and even restaurants. He loves to visits our friends and family too as long as it's not too much of a crowd. We are looking forward to visiting Grammy & Grampa at the Lake for the first time next week!

Happy 18 months, Aaden!

Today Aaden turned 18 months old. Our first milestone together. I'm sure he didn't get a birthday cake for his first birthday so we decided to give him his first piece of cake today. Boy did he love it ;)

Happy Days Again

We had a rough few days early in the weekend with Aaden. Everything you read says that the children will go through a grieving/loss period but it always says around the first few days with you. We thought we had passed that since Aaden had been so happy but I think he just had a delayed reaction. He was inconsolable on Friday and Saturday. He was a sad little guy and no matter what we did we couldn't get him to smile for more than a minute before he pouted or cried again. But he seems to have gotten through it just in time for Father's Day. He had a wonderful day with his Daddy. Here are some new photos from the last few days:

Aaden's first few days at home

I've already told you how great he's been. Here are some photos of Aaden at home:

With his big brother Ryan

1 week and 1 day

Well, I wanted to do a 1 week post but yesterday came and went and I somehow never found the time. It's amazing that Aaden has already been with us over a week. We are starting to settle in now at home and we are all getting more used to the time changes and getting on a schedule. He really is a good sleeper so that helps. He has learned so much in a week and you can really see the changes now. Just to brag a little, here are all the things my little guy learned in under a week:

-How to eat solid food. He had only had soft food but is now a champ at eating cheerios, goldfish, animal crackers, and bread. We're still working on the fruit, he's not really sure about the textures and tends to spit them out.

- How to zoom around the room without falling all over the place. We were told he couldn't walk but he started the second we put him down in our hotel room although he was quite wobbly and got tired after a half hour or so. Now he runs around for hours in the morning and barely falls down and never seems to tire.

- How to sleep on his own. At first he would only fall asleep in our arms but now he is able to fall asleep in his crib after being home only 2 days! His parents are really proud of him for this one because it means we get more sleep too ;)

-How to hang on when being carried. At first it was like carrying a stiff board. He would keep his legs straight and not hold onto you. We had some sore backs from carrying him those first few days. Now he has gotten the point to hook his legs on you and hold onto your arm. My back thanks him!

- How to high five. This is one of his favorites and makes him giggle all the time.

- How to stack things. He loves to stack his cars, plastic cups, anything he can get his hands on. He is quite good at it too.

-How to drink out of a sippee cup. He thought it was a toy at first but now loves it.

It's so amazing to see his confidence now as he explores his new home and the world. His eyes are brighter, he is much stronger, and he laughs even more now (maybe cries a little more now too but that's okay). He has really opened up and adjusted very well to all this change. Better than I could have ever imagine. We are so lucky to have him.