Our return flights home went fairly well, although with lots of turbulence from Beijing to Chicago and Chicago to Tulsa. Our flight from Chicago to Tulsa ended up being delayed for about an hour due to weather surrounding Chicago. However, we didn’t really know it would be delayed…..until it was actually delayed. So…..we were nearly an hour late arriving to Tulsa but were unable to alert our well-wishers at that point. However, they were all troopers about it and still awaited our arrival…..a bigger contingent of family and friends than we were expecting. Many thanks to all who met us including 2 other adoptive families who we have befriended (Burnett’s and Peak’s), friends (Cohea clan, Delk’s) and family (Angie’s parents and sister/family). There was a nice welcome home sign and balloons. We greatly appreciated their warm welcome. Cammo was very shy upon our arrival (totally not like him, except when around unique people or situations) and I don’t think he said a thing between our arrival and when we left the parking lot. Angie, one of the two adoptive daughters of the Peak’s, walked up to Cammo and exclaimed, “I’m from China too!” Very cute. Cammo is great around other kids, both older and younger, so we look forward to spending time in the future with both of these wonderful families with whom we share the international adoption experience. You guys are awesome and we cherish all you have done for us.
Cammo is doing remarkably well so far. One of our big concerns was getting him acclimated (and vice versa) to our two German Shepherds. He was terrified of them at first, but by the end of the weekend was their best buddy. This took quite a bit of effort on our part…….they spent quite a bit of time in their outside kennel and behind closed doors in the house before he slowly began to warm to them. Now he enjoys giving them treats, taking them to potty and helping Angie groom them. We continue to supervise this closely, though, to ensure the safety of both Cammo and the dogs.
We are slowly working into normal family routines…..bathing and hygiene, meals, bedtime, etc. When we first met Cameron he was used to showering ~2x per week and was fairly resistant to any change to this. He now takes a shower every 1-2 days depending on our activities, and is agreeable to doing so without resistance. He continues to turn the shower on and off during the process……get wet, turn off shower and soap up, turn on shower and rinse, turn off shower and wash hair, etc. Once out of the shower, he makes sure to have us smell his hair to show us that he did a good job. He has also started using a kids mouthwash….saw dad using mouthwash so he had to try it, but didn’t care for the apparently strong “taste”. We got him some kids mouthwash and now he’s great about using it. However, the first time he tried it he ended up having an overflowing mouthful of bubbles that were going everywhere. After a few belly laughs at this sight he has since mastered the process. He has also gotten better about changing his underclothes…..very resistant at first (and we didn’t push the issue too much) but is now much better. He tends to wear mostly size 7 clothes, but some 8’s are okay.
We have kept his bedtime about what it seemed to be in Beijing, and he readily goes to bed without protest. We got a set of nightlights for him, but he prefers to have the bedside light on. We turn it off when he goes to sleep and, between the two nightlights in his room and one each in the hallway and bathroom, he has no problem waking up to this. The first night he was home he slept with us. The following night we gave him the option, and he chose to sleep alone in his bedroom. We told him it was fine if he awoke and wanted to come in with us, but he has done just fine on his own, and has not felt the need to do so, apparently. He readily sleeps throughout the night…..no waking that we are aware of. He does tend to grind his teeth a lot when sleeping, and is also prone to talk in his sleep a bit.
Cammo’s eating habits are evolving. He continues to prefer lots of fruit for breakfast, but has yet to develop an affinity for our yogurt (which tastes a good bit different than what we got in China). We initially kept to foods that we knew he liked in China but have begun to branch out. Believe it or not, he doesn’t really care for rice! He is beginning to like certain foods that, when he looked at them before trying them, he rejected. For example, we had some frozen seasoned fries that he said he did not want. However, after they were cooked, he tried one, liked it, and proceeded to have a small plateful. We also grilled some Italian sausages last night with sautéed onions and green peppers, and he had three of these in buns! Quite an appetite! He does not like mustard yet, though. We also keep a ready stock of Ramen noodles on hand, and we will put some shrimp or chicken chunks in with it to make more of a meal of it. Needless to say, I don’t think finding foods he likes will be a problem, although I’m sure we will have both hits and misses. We also have plenty of snacks for him available…..lots of fruit, trail mix, hard-boiled eggs, etc. He has quite an affinity for ice, now, and is mesmerized by the icemaker built into our refrigerator. Of course, he also likes to get small pieces of ice to give to the dogs, which has made him a big hit with them!
He has been spending some time playing with his cousins, and we also went to a family friend’s birthday party on Sunday and he had a great time playing with all the other kids, especially on the monkey bars. He is quite helpful with the other kids and there was no hitting, outbursts, etc. for the nearly 2 hours we were there. He is very enjoyable to be around. He is very happy most of the time, and on those rare occasions when something is bothering him (usually with something around the house or with us as he gets acclimated), he gets over it quickly and moves on…..no lingering resentment. Having said that, Angie and I have spent tons of time going back over all we learned through both Dillon International and Christian World Adoption, as well as through the Social Worker’s and support staff to make sure we are approaching each issue with sensitivity to his background and what will work best for both he and us. Needless to say, we “pick our battles” carefully, and Cammo has been awesome in adapting to his new environment (and us as well). Many thanks to those who have helped us prepare for this over the past 18 months…..Julie and Rebecca with Dillon, Mei and Jane with CWA, the Peaks and Burnetts, and the many books and courses we took…..we have needed all of it. Even as I write this, he is helping Angie with cleaning around the house…..vacuuming, dusting, etc. He loves to help out with things like this.
Communicating is still quite fragmented. We use the translator to communicate to him, but this is one-sided. Nevertheless, we have a system of gestures and words that allow for fairly effective, albeit crude, communication until he learns more language. Frustration on his part with this appears to be at a minimum.
We were able to call and get him his first dentist appointment for tomorrow morning. We also have his first doctor’s appointment for next Wednesday. We took him by the doctor’s office yesterday to get the paperwork we would need to fill out, but also to give him a chance to more gradually get comfortable with going to the doctor. This gradual acclimation is also how we’re approaching swimming…..he was quite scared of the water at first and would not go near a pool unless in the kiddie area (since he cannot swim yet, this is a good thing). I took him by where I work to show him the YMCA pool and youth area so he could visualize this. Then yesterday we took him to the Y’s splashpad and he had a great time. We stopped by the youth area in the indoor pool again, and he was much more agreeable to going in, and has even asked to go back. We think that after a couple sessions there he will be asking to take (or at least agreeable to) swim lessons.
As you can see, we could go on and on in this message about all that is going on in our family right now. Suffice it to say that Cammo is proving to be an even bigger blessing than we had ever envisioned, and we feel truly honored and humbled to be given the opportunity to be called his parents. We simply cannot imagine our lives without him now.
This will be the last post I will be sending out to this distribution list. As mentioned previously, we have created a blog which I will plan to update at least on a weekly basis, and anyone interested in following our ongoing journey can bookmark, subscribe to it, or otherwise check it on a regular basis. The address is okie-ramblins.blogspot.com Please note that it has not been updated in a couple months, but this will change over the next few days and weeks.
Over the next week or so I will attempt to go back over the emails I sent while in China and add them to the blog as well. We hope you all have enjoyed following our journey and, seeing as how a number of our followers are in the process of adopting themselves (most from the Hope Project), we look forward to following your own journeys. If we can help you in any way as you prepare for your trips, stay in China or whatever, do not hesitate to email me/us. May your lives be as blessed and enriched through this process as ours have been.
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