Three months later

It is sometimes hard to believe that "I" has only been in our family for three months. It seems like this is how chaotic things have always been. The other night John and I took the time to look back through all of our pictures from when we first met him. It was amazing to see how far he has come. So here is my working list from the last two months.

1. Eating and gorging: What can I say, the kid has a huge appetite. He regularly out eats John and usually cleans E's plate after dinner. He does not have to always have food with him anymore and he does not beg for food at each new location. He will still tell me he is hungry after a huge meal, but I am sure it is a power thing.

2. Digestion Issues: We now know with out a doubt that he is allergic to dairy. One small bit = big time stomach upset. Now that we have cut it out 100% he has gained 7 lbs in 3 months.

3. Drugs: He came off all the drugs they had him on in August. We had him take melatonin for a while to help with sleep but now he does not even need that. We are also not seeing the wild behavior we did when he first came off the medicine.



3. Behavior: I am happy to say that this is the area we have come the furthest in. When "I" came to us he did not have any consistency in regards to behavior and when he was drugged he didn't have to try because he was so out of it. He now gets it. When I give him a choice of "sit down in the bath tub" or "go strait to bed." He sits down. He realizes he has a choice and that we have rules. Sure he messes up but it is more like 30% of the time rather than 95%. This process has not been fun or for the faint of heart and I am sure we will still have new challenges and backwards steps. But for now I feel like we are closing the 3.5 year gap that we started with.

4. Potty: Isaac is mostly potty trained in the day.He is very good about asking and even asked at school the other day. He can't stand and Pee, but one step at a time. We are still working on the night time thing, but that is much slower going.

5. Brothers: This is probably our biggest struggle right now. E communicates with his hands and "I" reacts by screaming, crying and melting down. Words Boys! Words! "E" has done a lot of regressing throughout the process so we are making sure he gets a lot of one on one time. The good news is that E has not asked to take him back to his old home recently.

6. Attachment: I can truly say that I love both my boys unconditionally now. "I" has many qualities I am growing to love and he gives wonderful hugs. There are moments when we find our selves wondering why we ever embarked on the parenthood journey. Fortunately they are very few, and we remember that this has been better than any of our adventures in our previous life.

7. Coordination: I would venture to say that he has leveled out with his peers in this area. He runs, jumps, climbs like the rest of them. We haven't had a major incident in weeks. We are still always cautious with him because he still is weak in the area of cause and effect. The other day he just let go of a swing instead of asking to get down. Oops.

8. Self Play: I would say he is right where he should be, but he still needs to be watched closely with Emerson.

9. Language: He has come miles in this area. This alone is one of the major reasons he is doing better in the other areas of life. He can put together sentences, ask for help, tell me if his tummy hurts or what he wants to eat. He understands what I am asking or telling him. Yes, it is hard to understand him and he has many sounds he can not make yet, but at least we have words to work with.