Whew...it was a morning

This morning did not start off well. Peter did not want to get out of bed. He rolled around for about 20 minutes then finally stirred. He was then instructed to take his sheets off his bed with Andrew's help. No go. We have been having him shadow the kids on their chores (only feeding the animals) so he will not be scared of the animals and he will learn how to do it so he can help with this one day. Once he was asked to help Abi, he proclaimed very loudly that he would not. I tried very calmly to get him to go but he sat in a chair and refused. Eric stepped in and told him not to treat mommy that way (he was acting very ugly towards me) and he finally got up. As he got up, he made a point to push Abi. We then told him he could not push his sister and he needed to be nice. He "hmmphhd" (his way of expressing intense displeasure) his way through 'helping'. I use that term very loosely because he then tried to take it over and got angry at Abi again. At this point, we all wanted to admit defeat but we knew this was not the route to take. You can be grumpy but you cannot act ugly when you are grumpy. We have always had this rule and it will apply to Peter also. We may have to handle it differently since he has not grown up with this rule but it will apply. We both calmly reminded Peter to please be nice and then sat down for breakfast. He didn't say one word the entire meal. I read our mission book which of course he has no interest in because it's in English and then on to our Bible. He has a Chinese/English Bible so he can follow along. He loves to get his Bible but rarely follows along. That's ok. I'm thrilled that he wants to get his Bible and knows what it is and can say the word! After that, he went and laid down on the couch and slept for an hour and a half. During this, I stayed right by his feet in case he woke up. I folded laundry, wrote thank you notes, etc. but I wanted my face to be the first he saw if he woke up. He sleep was very restless so I would rub his leg when he tossed around. When he woke up, he said his head hurt so we put some peppermint oil on. After that, he was back to normal Peter. So Eric and I have concluded that he will need to be in bed by 7:30 on school nights. This will not be easy because he likes Andrew to be in there. This is a hurdle we will face on Sunday so I am not going to think about it right now! I'm just thankful for a better afternoon. He was hamming it up and we have some great videos of what he thinks mom and dad act like. So funny!!! All the kids enjoyed the beautiful weather outside. Peter and Abi made a scooter course and enjoyed that for a long time. We left to go buy Peter some things for his room and to get Andrew's hair cut. But first we stopped to see big sister at her work! She had bought the kids a red velvet cupcake so Peter enjoyed his first cupcake. We visited with Ms. Sherri (Chelsea's boss. LOVE HER!) and Chelsea then headed to Hobby Lobby. Peter loved Hobby Lobby!He found a car hood ornament for his wall that he was very excited about. We also purchased a basket to put the snacks that Peter is allowed to grab when he wants them. We've had a few issues with hiding/sneaking food and we want him to know that he does not have to do that. By having it out in the open, it's available when he wants it. And since we picked out what goes in there, he's free to any of it. While there we ran into one of Abi's castmates from 'Annie' and her mom. Her mom and I had become friends so it was neat to introduce her to Peter. She is also a dental hygenist and offered to look at Peter's teeth right there to determine his age. Yay for that! She said she calculated around 10. Just what we thought! We headed to Sports Clips then Target. We've been to Target before but it was quick. We let him look around more this time and he loved the toy section. We bought a bin to put all his toys in (since we thought he was 12 we weren't expecting needing a bin for toys!) and came home. We ate whatever everyone found and watched 'Tangled' with Chinese subtitles. The kids enjoyed a small bowl of ice cream (Peter's new favorite snack) and we had to keep watching to make sure he didn't take more. ;-) Bedtime went smoothly and he finally understood why Sissy wants to sleep with him and loved the idea. Then Abi came and took Sissy since it was her turn. sigh...I tried to talk to her about it but she didn't understand. We will all talk again tomorrow. He was ok with it but I think his feelings were a bit hurt. Tomorrow Aunt Brandy and fam are coming to visit then the Sutton's will be here for our first attempt at small group. We are horribly rude and told them a time limit. But we do not want grumpy Peter on Sunday and I especially do not want grumpy Peter because I am on my own all month while Eric opens the church! Love you all! Thanks for praying for us! We feel it!

Day ???- Yeah I lost count

Thursdays are a low key days. For some reason, we have no energy. We all slept until 9 which was very needed. Peter did ok with getting ready for school. He's not a morning person. We tried to read and that did not go well so we did some household chores together. He did very well after that as you can see!

We are working hard on making sure he knows the entire alphabet and can recognize each letter and number before we even tackle reading. Since he's 10 (and he's 10!) we can take it a bit slower. That afternoon he and Andrew built his soccer goal that he received as a Christmas gift and played outside most of the afternoon and early evening.

Day 5-First Day of ELO & Food Palooza!

On Tuesday evening we began to prepare Peter for ELO. The only thing he could understand from what I was translating to him was that mommy was not going to be with him. We finally called Eric Hood and he explained it to him. Peter walked away with a smile. Once we got his backpack out and started packing his school supplies, he wanted to call Eric again. He wanted to make sure that he would not have homework! LOL Wednesday morning dawned and we began to get ready. I knew that Peter would need extra time but this mom did not allow enough extra time. Because of his nervousness, his OCD was in full gear. He decided to rearrange his drawers. This mom didn't have the patience but I think I did a good job of not showing it. We finally got out the door and made it just in time to say the pledge and prayer. Peter happily went with Abi to her classes and I checked on him periodically. He would always smile and wave at me when he saw me but was always happy. Jaiden and Daniel Hood told me he looked sad but when I checked on him, he seemed ok. So sweet that they were worried about him! I went outside with him at break time and went to give him a hug. In typical 10 yr. old boy fashion, he went to hug me, remembered his friends were there and shook my hand!! WHAT?! My cuddly child shook my hand? I guess even adopted children do not want to be embarrassed by their uncool mom. Peter had a great time playing soccer with his friends at break. He would hold back at times then go full force. Abi said he made lots of friends and several of my friends let me know their sons were very excited about Peter. YAY! When we left Peter "told" me that he really enjoyed soccer and the game 7-up, Thumbs Up. Abi said he laughed the entire time in there. I am so glad that he seemed to enjoy himself! I thought he would exhausted when we returned home but nope. The exact opposite. He was wired up! Our Wednesdays after ELO are very low key so he learned what 'normal' looked like here. He and Abi played outside, they watched Tom & Jerry, and played some DS. Andrew slept. ;-) That evening while Andrew was at Youth, Abi and I went shopping. We left daddy and Peter here so we could have some one on one time. After a mini breakdown over a cookie, we had a great time! It was nice to have some time with Abi, even at the grocery store. When we came home, you would have thought we had won the lottery when you saw Peter's reaction. And maybe in his mind, this was way better. He could not get over the amount of food and kept saying 'wow!' I love watching his reactions. In other news, Peter has been requesting to pray at night. We love that! He also now knows what his Bible is.

All ready for his first day of ELO! He looks a bit nervous!or maybe he is sick of pictures...

Playing soccer with Sam

Day 4- Poor Baby

I think all the excitement caught up with Peter today. He woke up crying that he was hungry but I could tell it was something else. He tried to eat then started crying. I asked him if he felt sick and he said yes. The poor thing got sick then (made it to the bathroom) and then slept for an hour. The American food has caught up with him along with jet lag. He just laid down on me and rested. (Do not freak ELO people. He does NOT have a stomach bug. His stomach is getting used to America!) During this time the Curfman's showed up so Andrew and Caroline could work on science and Colin and Abi could work on their ELO work. When Peter woke up, he was back to Peter again. We bought several historical figure books in China that are in English and Chinese. Because of this, we are able to "read" them together. He loved reading about the Wright brothers today. I was so excited! Aunt Jessi had bought him an airplane for Christmas so all the kids (who were mostly done with their work) headed out to play with it. It was nice to see them all get along so well. Abi came in and worked for awhile by herself and Caroline left to get braces. Peter and Colin played outside for awhile. They got along well but Peter did keep looking for Abi. ;-) Everyone came in and had lunch while watching Tom and Jerry. We found out that Peter does not like Mac and Cheese. :-( We tried a bit of school this afternoon and did the best we could. Andrew went to the ortho and all the kids slept on the way there and the way home. They are all still so tired! I spent the afternoon downloading pictures and Peter wanted to be right beside me building Legos. He was finally able to talk to my dad, who has not met him, and it was cute. Peter could play Legos for hours. He has a great imagination. We had dinner and Peter was so excited to eat. He does not like mashed potatoes though. He loved the broccoli and meat. He asked us for a bowl at one point and pointed to the butter. We were all confused but gave him some anyways. He tried and almost spit it out. LOL He thought it was ice cream! So after dinner, we rewarded him with ice cream. Well, his daddy did after he begged. ;-) We tried to prepare Peter for ELO but all he could focus on was mommy was not teaching him. I could not get him to understand that I would be there. We finally called Eric Hood who told him all about it. He was all smiles after that. We started preparing his backpack and he indicated he wanted to call Eric again. He talked to him quiet awhile and when (daddy) Eric asked him what Peter had asked, Eric told us that he wanted to know if he would have homework! That boy!!! No pictures today but I'm sure I will tomorrow. First day of ELO!

Day 3- The first day of .... ??? grade!

School...the day we have been working toward just almost as long as gotcha day! Since I had no idea what grade Peter would actually be in and what he would know, I have had many different ideas in my head. Of course, those were ideas in my head. LOL A & A have not done school in a couple of months due to many different reasons so it was a big day. We started out simple with numbers and letters. Peter does well for about 30 minutes. We had a rough 30 minutes after he was "done" and he figured out quickly that mommy was tired of that. We couldn't get the Rosetta Stone to download so we stopped for the day. Enough was enough! He went outside and played and I was fine with that. It's only Day 3! That evening Peter was invited to his first birthday party. It was a very small, low key party for Blue, the Raffray's new son. Peter was so excited about seeing his friends again! It was refreshing to visit with 2 other families who have adopted older boys and encouraging to see two boys who have been here for 10 months and how far they have come.

Day 2-Let's go praise the Lord!

On Sunday we took Peter to church for the first time on Sunday! It was a big day for all of us. Our church was so supportive during our adoption and so many of them went above and beyond to help us. (as did many others!) We couldn't wait to show him off. Eric had to be there early to learn how to open the building since he opens next month so that left me getting the kids ready. I knew Peter would be very hungry so I made sure to get up and cook breakfast. That is so not me! But I did it. Go me! We made it right on time and the kids were thrilled about seeing their friends in class. Peter and I went and visited some of our friends who were headed into 1st service then I introduced him to his class that he will be joining next week. He will be going with Abi because he will be more comfortable. After that we just visited with other stragglers around the church while waiting for second service to start. I know I talked to people but I don't remember much of the conversations. Silly jet lag!Peter did very well in church. He did get a bit bored but did well with it. We were very proud of him.

Peter all dressed for church

Abi in her beautiful dress from China Chelsea joined us in church as did my brother Christopher. Christopher came down to help my dad and stepmom because my dad has really hurt his back. We were excited to see him, despite the circumstances. After lunch we came home and a family lunch together. Leftovers!! Yummy! Then we took our first family pictures! So exciting!

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While I love Awana and I was very bummed that youth was cancelled on Sunday nights, I must say I am enjoying not getting out the rest of the day. There is no rushing around and we can really enjoy our day. We lounged around the rest of the day. The kids played legos, Eric and I took turns napping and we just enjoyed being together. We also introduced Peter to Blue Bell ice cream. He loved it!

First full day in America

We were all exhausted and slept until 9:30. We would have done more but Sears felt it was important to call us multiple times around 9:15. :-/ Raegan, let Nathan know he slept with the Angry Bird pillow! Peter, Abi and Sissy the dog came and crawled into bed with me for awhile. It was a sweet moment. :-) Andrew rolled out of bed eventually and we all dressed. Peter tried cereal and I'm not sure he cared for it. We lazed around while alternating playing with Peter. Andrew and Eric were both starting to feel better which was nice. Jet lag really hit all of us today. Well, except Peter. ;-) So we all took turns playing and introducing Peter to new things. Abi and Peter took turns showing him what they do for chores. Not all their chores, just feeding animals. I kept doing laundry and cleaning house so I could stay awake. We finished unpacking everything which was a great feeling. We gave Peter his scooter and he was so excited.

He and Abi played outside for a long time. Peter has warmed up to Sophie (our bigger outside dog) and loves the fact she will "hug" him if he pats his chest. This is a big improvement from yesterday. He played with his remote control car then "built" his lego car that Nathan bought him. I use the term built loosely because he kept handing it to Andrew to do. Finally at the end he gained more confidence.

Peter also talked with Uncle Franklin, Aunt Jessi, Lewis and Penny on Skype while he built. Well, as much as Peter talks. He told them he was hungry, money, money, money, and repeated everything that they said, especially Lewis. ;-) During this time D showed up! Peter did very well with him and warmed up to him quickly. I wanted to start cooking tonight so Peter could see that is what mommy does. We all made personal pan pizzas and then sat down and enjoyed it. I am sure that many adopting parents would be shocked to know that we allowed a non-family member to sit down with us for our first family meal. But Taisha (who was at work) and D are our family. We want Peter to understand how important they are to us. We do not think he has any confusion of who his immediate family is. He recognizes it from pictures and will only say all five of our names. D taught Peter a new phrase, "Come on! Come on!" while Andrew and D were playing. D and I danced around the kitchen for awhile which Peter found very funny. Everyone is now getting ready for bed. I think we are all very tired. Andrew and Abi continue to do well with Peter. He calls for them constantly and they get exhausted but keep good attitudes about it. Peter likes to slap Abi and we have been addressing it since day 1. Today Eric let him know he meant business and used his sternest voice and then used the translator to make sure he understood. I think he finally got it. Peter knows its wrong because he will tell her he's sorry as soon as he hits her. Peter loves Sissy and follows her everywhere. She is not warming up to him as quickly but we have let her know that she may not act like that or she will be outside. I think she got the message. ;-)