Three tries and finally a BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Three strikes and we're a success! We decided a full blown birthday celebration might but too overwhelming for our little guy so we planned to have a small party for him at school with children he sees every day. The first attempt was on his birthday 2/15. He got sick and had to stay home.

The second attempt was 2/21 and we actually got the cupcakes baked, Ammon in his Chinese silks and on the bus at to class. While I was at Staples copying new family packets, the school called to say Ammon had just thrown up all over the swing during physcial therapy time and was lying on the floor wanting to sleep. He had experienced a small, light seizure early that morning and we are guessing that seizure and swing do NOT mix. So I picked up Ammon and took him home where he slept and refreshed his brain and body.

The third and successful attempt was 2/22 and he saw me come to school and decided it must be time to go, so instead of being involved he wanted to stand by the door and be ready for us to leave. The frosting on the cupcakes finally held the attention that the party hats certainly did not. He helped me pass them out and was such a selfless, sharing boy until he got to the last cupcake in the box and he still didn't have one at his place. He gave the cupcake to his little friend and then when he realized it was the last one, grabbed it back and took a quick bite out of the top so ownership could not be debated! I took out another box he was able to share once again.

The blowers he thought were so much fun but he could he couldn't figure out how to get it to blow and make a sound so he made the sound with his own voice and manually tried to roll the blower in and out.

He completely enjoyed blowing out the candles and since yesterday has been humming the Happy Birthday song.

All in all, a success for a little boy's first birthday party. And of course there were plenty of smiles beaming from Ammon although he has now started doing a winking pose for his pictures. What a charmer!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMMON!!

Yes, it is our joy filled boy's joy filled day, well, should be anyway. Today our little Ammon turns FOUR YEARS OLD! In all reality he really missed all of 3 year old development so his developmental age is more like turning 3 today. But its his special day none the less but we had to cancel his party at school and our family dinner, cake and festivities at the McDonald's playplace tonight. Our boy is sick. He has a barking cough and and continually dripping nose. He has finally gone to sleep for a much needed nap. His birthday is rescheduled for Tuesday. We still plan to attend the CNY party so keep fingers crossed we can.

Our Ammon is the greatest kid! He is not even 10% the same child we brought home. I was talking with Connie Er, our guide in Guangzhou over the weekend and she about choked when I ended the call and told her that Ammon had been in my lap the whole phone conversation as she hadn't heard a peep out of him. He was drawing circles on page after page of paper and as content as a clam in rich warm mud. The change in his behavior since the change in his medication has been astounding. Ammon is such a GOOD BOY! We have been tremendously blessed to have him part of our family.

He has developed a very special bond with his 18 year old sister Makayla and she him. She runs through the door after school calling for him and he breaks out into a huge grin when he sees his Lala. He constantly has bright lipstick all over his face where his sister can't keep from kissing him. It has been really good for Makayla to have this little brother. She adores him and I'm so glad we have given her this blessing too.

There are still many, many things that Ammon can't do that he "should" be doing. Of hand these are some of the things:
He cannot:
Put on socks, even get them past his toes
Take a shirt off or on if his life depended on it
Talk....while he has learned about 10 new words in the 2 months since coming home, my other children his age adopted from China had about 200 words by now.
Play appropriately with little friends his age or play with toys. He is clueless about both but making progress.

But these are the things that he can now do that he couldn't do two months ago when we got home. He can:
Ride a trike
Jump with two feet off the ground
Hold a fork (still can't eat with it but can now hold it)
Put on snow boots by himself!
Focus
Let us know what he would like to eat by pointing in the fridge to exactly what he wants. Hot dogs and eggs are his current favorites
Put his toothbrush in his mouth and try to brush
Sit in his carseat and allow us to buckle it without trying to get out
Give kisses!
Refrain from standing/climbing on mom
Keep spit in his mouth instead of spewing it on others
Clean up his toys
SIT IN HIS CHAIR FOR ALL OF CIRCLE TIME AT SCHOOL (This is like a miracle to me if only you had seen him two months ago!)

He has always been able to light up the room with his grin and his giggle and he can still do this. He can fold washcloths perfectly and feed a baby a bottle like a pro.

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our boy and can't imagine living life without him. HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY OUR BEAUTIFUL BOY!