July 24th 2006....

On Tuesday of this past week, we celebrated Sawyer's Adoption Day. Over the past year, we have seen Sawyer blossom from the scared little boy in Kunming wondering who these people were and why they were taking him away from the only world he had ever known:

to an out going, handsome little man who loves to play with Mama, Baba and his dogs:

So, since I haven't done one of these in awhile, I thought I would do a top ten list of things I thought I would never know after having a child:

10. I can sing every line to the Wiggles Big Red Car: "Toot, toot, chugga, chugga, Big Red Car..."

9. Unless you want your kitchen walls painted by a two year artist, sit close by your child when he eats.

8. Elmo loves to be tickled.

7. Pop beads can entertain a child for hours on a long road trip. I never thought putting beads together then breaking them apart was so much fun.

6. The Doodlebops.

5. Stacking blocks are not only for stacking, they can be used as a throwing toys for the dogs, clothes softener (if you put them in the washing machine, your clothes will be beaten to a pulp by the blocks) or a Daddy ankle twisting tool (this is a sure fire way to get me to the floor where Sawyer can look me in the eye and say "let's play horsey"). Disclaimer: Sawyer is not talking yet, he says it in the only way he know how; by jumping up and down on my back as I am screaming in pain, holding my ankle.

4. Dogs love to be fed by a laughing little boy in a high chair.

3. Toilets are not only for going to the bathroom, they are also a poor kids swimming pool with many little water falls and a fresh water refill button.

2. Your bed must be able to fit Mom, Dad, Sawyer and the dogs when there is a thunder storm.

And Finally...

1. No matter what the boy does (ie: stick his building blocks behind the refrigerator; play in the dogs' water bowl as if it where his own personal water basin; takes his beach ball, puts it under Daddy's feet as he is carrying a load of laundry up the stairs and laughs as he watches Daddy fall down the stairs and crash through the safety gate), he is always going to be one of the two cutest boys in whole world.

BRING ON SAXTON!!!!

Happy Birthday Saxton!!!

Today is Saxton's Second Birthday. My only wish is that we could have spent it with him, but we all will be together soon. So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAXTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We will be there before you know it!!!

On a side note, exactly one year ago today, we received our TA (Travel Authorization) for Sawyer). Today we are on day 66 of our wait for Saxton's.

Day 51...

We are on Day 51 of out wait for our LOA for Saxton. So what has been going on this last couple of weeks to keep us busy? Well...A LOT!!

I have been finishing up the master bedroom and getting ready to redo the boys' room. Hopefully, I can get it done before we have to leave for Saxton.

Last week, we had our first appointment with the Cranial Facial team Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). To be honest, we miss the team in Seattle. They tended to be more progressive then the team at CHOP.

Furthermore, on Monday of last week, we took Sawyer to a Developmental Neurologist. She found that Sawyer tested on the spectrum for Autism. This will open a lot of doors for treatment for Sawyer.

While his developmental skills are progressing at a fast pace, his speech has not. We can not tell him to come here and sit down, or to go pick up a ball and bring it to daddy. He will, on occasion, listen to us and do what we ask, but it is not a consistent basis. I would point out that it has taken us 11 months and numerous visits with multiple doctors to get Sawyer officially diagnosed. This is not something that can be diagnosed in one visit or over the phone (as has happened on numerous occasions within the adoptive community). And even after all the work that led up to Sawyer's diagnosis, the doctors are still not convinced that Sawyer does indeed have "organic autism" and that he may just be significantly delayed due to "institutional autism." Regardless, Sawyer has been progressing and thriving with his increased level of therapy. And we hope that within the next few years, he will be at a point where he can enter mainstream kindergarten/elementary school. Although I don't want to gloss this over, I do have to say that Sawyer is resilient and with effort on our part, will most likely lead a"normal" and "productive" life.

We knew in China that Sawyer was not where he was supposed to be developmentally and that he had behaviors that have been discussed with some frequency on other blogs discussing autism, PDD and disruption. However, we made a commitment to Sawyer and although we were scared with what life might hold for us all, we chose the only "choice" we had - to bring Sawyer home as our son. Neither one of us is perfect and we would never expect our child to live up to expectations we (or anyone else for that matter) could not ever meet. More importantly, Sawyer has been a blessing beyond words - he is truly an amazing individual with the most generous and loving spirit I have ever encountered. His life would have been tough had we chose to disrupt in China, but our lives would have been hollow and unfulfilled without him. I can not even imagine not waking up to see his smile everyday. And although both Shelby and I sometimes long to hear him call us Mama and Baba, we have been rewarded instead with a child who makes us laugh, gives us hugs and kisses, and loves us each in his own way.

In summary, adoption is not always rainbows and lady bugs. Although most children do adjust quickly to their new parents and new life, some children take months; it took Sawyer six months to even look me in the eyes or trust me when he had a boo boo. From my research and from talking to other parents in the adoption community, my story is NOT unusual. Many children have had the same behaviors and responses that Sawyer has or had while in China and at home . We are getting help through the county we live in via Early Intervention (EI) and through CHOP. Most of them DO NOT cost anything extra than what we would have had to pay if we had a perfectly health boy. Instead of taking him to the doctor for a bumped knee, we take him to the doctor or therapist for speech therapy and PT/OT.

Now, if only he would stop playing kissy face with the little red-headed cutie at daycare...I swear Shelby is going to have a breakdown if we get one more report that "her baby boy" has a girlfriend. I keep telling her that Sawyer can't help it - he's just too darn cute!!!!!!

By the way: