Day 7 and 8

Friday, one week, wow so much has changed in this boy in such a short time! After Perry taught him how to hug, he really enjoys trying out his new skill with our family.

We took it a lighter day and went to the library and HOPE Thrift.

At the thrift store, he held up 2 toy cars. Our goal is not to spoil him, but to parent him like we would our own. So I looked at the cars and held up 1 finger, "pick one" and he quickly set the truck down. Bummer he picked the police car that made 3 different siren noises.

At home, I found a little Spiderman Lego set that I had picked up at clearance one day. I handed him the box. He jumped up and down and said, "sank you!". He opened the box, laid out the parts, and put it together while N watched in about 6 minutes.

I got him a little pencil box to keep his Legos in and he has played with it (as in Spiderman attacks the bad guy with his web) taken it apart and reassembled at least 4 times, I saw Spiderman lift off the hood to check the car, and he drives the car around. At night, he disassembles it, puts us in his pencil box and then tucks it in his backpack. Last night we babysat at my sister's house. My nephew said, "I really like having Jude around. He makes things interesting."

This morning my sister and her husband called and invited us to a spontaneous Water Country Trip.

Despite the large crowds we had a great time. Midway, Jude was trying to tell me something. I didn't have my phone, so I started my "Excuse me, do you speak Mandarin?" to anyone who looked like they may. It was embarrassing, but the boy needed to tell me something. I needed to advocate. I finally found a lovely lady who was happy to help. He wanted a hamburger.

No hamburgers, but I got him some lunch. Although as it was getting hotter and he would complain, my brother in law pointed out, "Well it is nice to not understand his complaining". It was. I figured he was hot or tired because of his body language, and he only mumbled his complaints, never a tantrum or refusal, but it was actually nice to hear one fewer complainers.

Observations:

He does not like sweet potato chips.

One of his favorite things is to just hang out at home and play with toys.

He is much more comfortable showing us affection.

He has a great sense of humor.