Been a long time....

Sorry it has been such a long time since my last post. Merveille is home! He came home on September 3 and he is adjusting really well. We have decided to keep Merveille as his middle name (like we kept Eli and Nevaeh's Ethiopian names as their middle names) and we have named him Canaan Merveille P------. 
This past month has just been a whirlwind. Canaan came home on a Saturday. On the next Tuesday Eli started first grade and Nevaeh started kindergarten. I homeschooled Nevaeh for preschool so this was her first experience being away from me for several hours every day. She was very nervous about going, but she is doing great and loves school. She has the same teacher that Eli had last year.

Damen was able to take two weeks off from work when Canaan came home. This was great because it gave them time to bond, and I had strep throat so it was a big help to me to have him home.

Canaan seems to be adjusting really well. The first three weeks that he was home nap time and night time were just a mess. He hated to go to sleep and would cry for up to two hours before he would fall asleep. It did not seem to matter what we did-rock him, lay down with him, lay him down and rub his back. None of it worked. We never left him alone to cry it out, but nothing seemed to work. We really think that sleep time was when he would miss the people at the orphanage and that he was afraid that we would be gone when he woke up. It was definately a fearful/grieving cry when he was going to sleep. Thankfully he has been able to feel more secure and now we are in the routine of rocking in the rocking chair for a few minutes while I sing a couple of songs to him. I lay him down and give him a kiss and walk out and close the door.  He whimpers for a minute, but it is a normal toddler whimper of "if I make noise will she let me out of my crib" whimper rather than the frantic screaming that he was doing. Then he either goes right to sleep or throws the stuffed animals and pillow out of his crib and talks to himself until he falls asleep. A lot of prgress has been made when it come to bedtime!

We had a bit of a healthscare with Canaan. The skin test for TB came back positive but further testing , x-rays, and multiple doctors concluded that it was (thankfully!) a false positive. He is still congested and cannot breathe through his nose. The doctor thinks it is a strong possibility that he may need surgery to remove his adnoids in the next couple of months.

We celebrated Nevaeh turning five and six days later we celebrated Eli turning six.

Canaan enjoyed cake and ice cream..

Nevaeh earned her high white belt in Taekwondo and Eli earned his green belt.

Eli doing his form...

He broke the board doing a front kick!


Canaan discovered the dress-up trunk...


Jedi training starts young around here...

We also went to the Berlin Fair. Eli tried to walk in a giant bubble on water...

And all three kids enjoyed dancing to the band that was there...

This past month has been busy!  We've also gone to the aquarium and brought Canaan to the park.  He loved the slide and swings!  Some days are harder than others but we are adjusting to being a family of 5.  Canaan seems to really like us and each day the bond is growing stronger.  We are not sure if he understands yet that we are "Mommy" and "Daddy" forever, but we are very hopeful that day of understanding comes soon for him.  He does not seem to have much stranger anxiety and will walk off without looking back to make sure we are there. An acquaintance of mine has picked him up a couple of times (without permission!) and he goes to her without a problem. When I took him back from her he got upset. 

We believe that his attachment to us will be secured as time goes on and he realizes that he is here with us forever.  We are so happy that he is finally home with us and really cannot imagine our life without him.  It has been one month since we picked him up at the airport.  It's funny because on the one hand it feels like he has been here so much longer than that, but on the other hand we are learning more and more about his personality each day as he becomes more comfortable.

 He amazes me with the amount of courage he must have to be able to adapt to all of the gigantic changes in his life and still be able to smile and laugh...and to open his heart to us.  His affection towards us and the affection that he seeks from us is the most courageous.  It shows that he is starting to trust us and starting to realize that this is permanent.  Instead of just sitting there and crying, he now looks for us when he falls down or bumps his head on the table.  He kisses us now and runs up to us and gives a hug without any prompting.  He lays down on my shoulder when I am holding him and he is tired.  Most parents just take these "small" things for granted, but for parents that have adopted all of those things are huge steps in the bonding and attachment process.  Some friends and family members have not really understood why we have not let them hold Canaan or interact with him for long periods of time, but it's because of those things that most parents take for granted that we cannot let them.  He needs to fully understand that Mommy and Daddy will kiss the boo-boos and will lay down with him after a bad dream.  Mommy and Daddy will feed him when he is hungry and will still hug and kiss him after the tenth time he knocked over the garbage can or bites his sister. Mommy and Daddy will keep him safe.  When he fully understands what it means to have a mother and father and when he fully trusts that we will always be here, then we can let other people be more involved.  Until then, I guess people will just have to deal with it.