Before & After

Our adoption agency, Chinese Children Adoption International, recentely asked for us to send a newer photo of Henry to be part of their Before & After collection. It's all part of CCAI's attempt to show the difference that a loving home can make in the face of a child. I often go back to the photos from Henry's Gotcha-Day to remind myself how far he's come. It makes me sad to look at his face and know that he was experiencing real fear and uncertainty.I feel as though it has just been in the past week that he's been behaving like the little Gates brother with regard to his relationship with the other kids and with us in the home and not like the adopted kid still trying to figure out his role. There have been a couple of times when I've arrived home from work and he hasn't rushed to me with a whining grunt. There have been a number of times where he's initiated play on his own with Lincoln and Lydia. He's quite comfortable in the big bath tub now as well as walking in the grass in his bare feet. He's not taking "no" very well at all, just like another boy and girl in our home. As far as his communication, he's nodding his head "yes" much more reliably, and he's repeating consonant sounds after me and adding a couple of new sounds every couple of days (today he said "fa fa fa" and "ssssss sssssss," which I was very happy about because in the past few days when I made those sounds, he'd try but just get frustrated and start crying).

Lydia is stringing lots of words together very well now. Tonight she told Jenn, "Read pirate story again. No read other stories. Just pirate story." Then after Jenn read to her a second time and then laid her in the crib, Lydia said, "Read pirate story three times." Understanding what Lydia wants will make things much easier with her.

Lincoln starts preschool in less than a week. Holy. Cow.