Six Months Home

Wow, it's been six months since we brought Kai home from Korea!  I think we can honestly say that he is now truly comfortable and happy in our home.  We've come so far, and the past six months have been both trying and wonderful.  And a lot of hard work!  But Kai really seems to be thriving now -- sleeping well, eating well, talking more and more, laughing a lot, and enjoying life.  And we feel very good about where we are with attachment at this point.  We had our final post-placement visit with our social worker two weeks ago and now can move forward with finalizing the adoption through the court system, which means more paperwork, but of course we are experts at that by now! 

Here is an update on what Kai is into these days, at six months home and almost 20 months old:

• Words!  His English vocabulary is growing and he loves saying new words.  His favorites are the body parts such as eye, nose, mouth, ear, arm.  He will point out body parts all day long.  Some of his other favorites are banana (uh-na), cereal (yul), kitty cat (dee-da), beaver (bee-ber), and hockey (ha-ee). 
• He likes school a lot.  He loves to explore his classroom and try new things.  He likes to observe things and figure out how things work.  He does really well with sorting and matching lessons.  His teacher thinks he'll be an engineer when he grows up.  But Mark & I think he might make a good actor because he puts a lot of drama into his tantrums.  Speaking of tantrums, these are getting better but still occur -- he is a toddler after all!
• He likes Sesame Street and will now actually sit still and watch it for an extended period of time.
• Current favorite foods:  pancakes, pasta & tomato sauce (I sneak all kinds of veggies into this), anything dipped in ketchup, fruit, yogurt, cottage cheese, veggie sticks (unfortunately here I am referring to the puffy snack sticks, not actual slices of raw vegetables), scrambled eggs (with spinach sneaked in), chicken, rice, pop tarts. 
• He loves, loves, loves to be outside.  In the backyard, walking on the sidewalk up & down our street, or at the playground.  Soon we'll be taking him out in his super deluxe mega wagon (thanks again to Grams and Maw-Maw!).  And I can't wait to start planting flowers and vegetables and letting him help.  I have a feeling he might like gardening, as it involves two of his favorite things to play with:  dirt and water.  And it'll be neat for him to see things grow.  Maybe he'll acquire a new appreciation for vegetables!
• He loves music and dancing, especially to 80's music -- just like his Daddy! 
• When we take him up to bed at night, he gives us each a kiss goodnight, and then asks to get into his crib by saying "bees" (please). 
• He is starting to do pucker kisses instead of open-mouth kisses.  And he loves to give big hugs.

Happy six months home to our sweet little boy!

Some things never change -- he still loves to read with Dad

Funky dance moves during dinner

Growing up too fast -- he looks like a little man!