A Shot of Energy

Picture 1- playing trucks in the snow

Picture 2- learning to love each other

Picture 3- Family game night

Picture 4- Ben with the snowman he made

Picture 5- Jonathan as Ultraman!

Only 2 more days till Christmas! The closer it gets to Christmas the harder it is to decipher if the craziness in our house is from adding a 3 yr. old, experiencing our first big snowstorm in years, or Christmas day approaching. We have so much to be thankful for this year.

Everyday we are amazed as Jonathan is picking up more and more English. Thanks to our Leap Frog Word Whammer- he can sing his version of the ABC song.

There are a few things that truly excite Jonathan.

They are when Daddy comes home from work- it is like he hasn't seen him in years, he jumps up and down, goes running and yells Daddy, Daddy!

Jonathan also enjoys looking at pictures of himself and his family. He points to each person in the picture and says their name. This can keep him busy for quite awhile.

This week especially we have watched him experience true joy over food. Yes, food. Food he recognizes, food he must have had in China. A little over a week ago we had fish sticks and he loved them and proceeded to give his brothers more fish sticks- telling them in Chinese how good they were. Then we had tilapia- that also was a huge hit. I struck gold, when I took him to the super market and we walked past the seafood display. He about jumped out of the cart, yelling and trying to jump into the shrimp display. I am not exaggerating - his level of excitement was like he had just won a million dollars. Needless to say we bought and ate shrimp for lunch! Last night for dinner I made a chicken and vegetable dumpling (ok it was already made, but I heated it up :). I set them on a plate on the table and turned around. Next thing I know I hear "yummy, yummy in my tummy tummy" and I turn around to see Jonathan shoving them into his mouth and his plate full of them. I got a huge "Thank you Mommy!" He definitely had had these before and I guess we will be having them again. He ate so many that I had to quickly make more so that there were some for the rest of us. When Jeremy got home, Jonathan proceeded to tell him that those were "yummy, yummy" and that he should eat more.

Some days, it seems like we just got home with Jonathan and other days it seems like he has always been a part of our family. It is easy to forget that he has lost so much in his short lifetime. He is adjusting so well it is easy to forget that everything is still new to him. Food is such a little thing to us, but food that Jonathan recognizes and loves is a shot of energy for him. It comforts him.

My favorite part of the day is when I put him to bed. (He goes to bed easier then any of my other children ever did) We read books. Last night we found all the cow pictures in Good Night, Moon. He is very good at picking at things that are the same. We rock and he cuddles in my lap. He then points to his bed and I lay him down and he goes to sleep till morning. If he can handle all of the change that has occurred in his little life in the last month with such grace, so can we.