Encouragement and Setbacks

This morning we were able to Skype my parents, Chase and Aubrey. I had Abram wearing a John Deere sweatshirt for Chase to see. For those of you that don’t know Chase that well, he’s our John Deere-aholic. It was good to talk to them and to catch up on life back at home. We were also able to Skype Jeremy & Tammy, which was a lot of fun.

There wasn’t much on the agenda today, as we waited at the hotel until Abram’s passport was ready. We walked the hallway and went down to the Lobby and walked a lot. Through the course of the morning, we started seeing more aggression in Abram.(i.e. he’d hit our faces while we were holding him and laugh) A stern “no, no”, wasn’t fazing him at all.
On a positive note, Abram seems to be picking up on some sign language….hopefully that will help lessen his whining for everything.

Shortly after noon, I tried to put Abram down for a nap…before we would be taking off for the airport. The nap never happened. ARRR. But of course, on the way to the airport he took a short 20 minute nap.

After we were checked in, we still had another 2 hours. Abram had no desire to sleep more, but wanted to walk….Which is fine, except he would walk up to any given stranger (always a male) and reach up for him. As Jeff would bend down to pick Abram up, he would hit him and push Jeff away. I could tell it bothered him and it bothered me, too. I felt like those two had really “hit it off”, and now Abram was rejecting him.

To be truthful, the plane ride was stressful and miserable. Abram was so tired and any of you that have lots of experience with an overly tired two year old would understand. He was so tired that he didn’t know what he wanted….on his seat, on Jeff’s lap, then my lap…we could not wait to get the trip over with. The Whales crackers ran out way too quick, he ate the last of the cheerios before we even got on the plane, he didn’t want anything to do with the fruit snacks that I brought (I’ll eat them, I love them) , the books hardly held his attention (oh, couldn’t this kids fall asleep, I know he’s tired)…Then he would hit us, as we were holding him (this happened once to me, and once to Jeff), so we would set him in his seat and buckle him in….and he didn’t like that! That’s when the screaming and thrashing came in. (oh, Lord, how am I going to make a 13 hour flight back to the US next week and then still have 2 connecting flights?!) Finally after the second round of thrashing/screaming/crying (yes the second round!) his body gave way to sleep and he slept soundly in my arms for the next 50 minutes.

Arriving in Guanzghau was like heaven! The White Swan Hotel is very nice and everything seems much more like the US. Just being with other Americans is a change of pace…we were the only Americans at the last hotel. We were able to find a small café with good food at a cheap price and there we devoured our meal and ice cream! Yum!

Abram’s been a different boy since we got off the plane ride. Tonight, I sang to him and rocked him before bed time. He didn’t fall asleep in my arms, but he laid there very still for awhile. He allowed himself to be held close and to be loved on. I set him in bed, he didn’t cry (still awake) and eventually fell asleep (usually he fights going to bed).

Jeff and I have been discussing and we wonder if his behavior this afternoon was a combo of tiredness, the fear of the unknown (from his point of view), and grieving. We still have so much to learn about him. We love him so much and I know we have to be patient.

We are exhausted and tomorrow Abram has his medical exam done (generic…every adoptive child from China has one). Sorry for no pictures, but we’re shot from an emotionally and physically exhausting day.

Thanks so much for your comments!

Love,

Jeff, Chelby & Abram