Three Month "Gotcha-versary!"

Well, another month has passed already. Three months ago today we met Asher James for the first time. Although this update won't be quite as full as the previous two (since the Miami Children's Hospital one kind of came in the middle of the month), I thought I'd catch you up anyway on what's new and what's progressed.

On Friday, Asher got tubes in his ears. The ENT who performed the procedure said there was lots of pus and gunk in there. So, I am glad that we were able to get it done and over with so quickly. I am interested to see how things progress for him from here on out, in regards to speech, sleep patterns, etc.  

In pre-op with Elmo.  He's bonded with Elmo, and likes to chew on the poor muppet's eyeballs... evidenced by the fact that Elmo no longer really has pupils...

The procedure went well, and I don't even think they "put him under" completely, as he was fully awake and alert when we came into the recovery room, just 20 minutes after they took him from us to get started.  I'm not sure what I was expecting as far as instantaneous results, whether I expected him to walk out of the ER and say "Well hello, Mother! I can hear fully now and all of my speech/language/developmental issues are no longer relevant and I can converse with you like a grown up now" or what, but I don't see a whole lot of noticeable difference yet.  I'm sure he's got to be more comfortable though.  I find myself sneaking up behind him and calling his name in a very quiet, low voice to see if he hears it , but usually he knows I'm there and he turns around and looks at me like I'm crazy... which apparently I am anyway. At least he realizes it!

He has pretty much given up on the sign language in favor of trying to say actual words. The speech therapist in Miami wasn't particularly thrilled with this, as most of his sounds are still the same and from the back of the throat, but that's what he wants to do. We'll see if, now that he can in theory, hear better, if he has any more success with the front of the mouth sounds (like P, T, D, etc).

On Sunday, which was the actual three month Gotcha-versary, we had Asher's dedication at church.  

We'd tried to do it a couple times before, but someone was always sick or Pastor John was out of town or something. Anyway, it was great to formally present him to God in front of our church family, even though he's already His, and most of them have already seen us around with Asher by now. Just a good reminder that all of our children are a gift from God, and they're just on loan for a while. However He chooses to work out their lives, we will do the best we can with the time that they are in our care.  

A friend from church with a really fancy-pants camera also took some family shots, but I don't have them yet.  Hoping at least one of them came out nice, as we don't actually have a family picture of all of us yet.  I'll post them when I do get them.

Bonding-wise, things still seem to be going well.  Asher clearly knows the routine around here, and is usually fairly ok with following along. He and Benjamin still act like minions, playing together and wailing on each other at the same time. 

They love riding in the red wagon outside. They LOVE the Wiggles, and could happily dance around all day to their songs.  

Asher still eats anything and everything.  I think he's getting taller by the day.  He looks like a little kid, and not quite as much like the chunky little baby-man with jowls that I first saw in his match file pictures... I guess that's how it works with kids, huh?

He still does not appreciate naptime or bedtime, but does sleep through the night.  He's still the alarm clock to a reluctant Benjamin, but the time change has actually helped, as the darker mornings have made him sleep about an hour extra.  So, instead of waking up at 6:15-ish now, I'm in there waking him up at 7:15, which is good. We'll see how long it lasts.

Grandma and Papa have been up visiting for a few days, and he does say "Nama" for Grandma, which a couple of the other grandbabies actually called her before learning to say Grandma.  He also spent the whole baby dedication saying "Mama?" but not meaning me... he was calling Papa... just everything still comes out like Mama or Elmo.  

So, I think I'm beginning to stretch my brain a little to think of any other interesting tidbits.  All in all, we're doing well. We're pretty much settled into a crazy normal, and learning how to work with it.