Gentle Years

First, I don't think I mentioned that we got Aidan's green card just after Christmas.  The letter we first received from CIS congratulating us on our new son said to expect the card in about six months.  Instead it came in less than two.

Second, we had our second social worker visit today.  She said that her visit to our house is a social worker's dream.  She said that Aidan was obviously at home here and that this is definitely his home.  When I said we had no problems that were any different from any 4-1/2 year old and mentioned climbing in to bed with us in the middle of the night and one bad day at daycare (the first day), she really couldn't stop smiling.  It helped that he was playing memory game with me when she arrived, then sitting there jabbering away, then hanging all over his father while she visited.

It took several days to finish putting my various videos on YouTube (they were scattered in different folders) but here they are.  The first are in China:

And then here we are at home:

We had three days off which was good, since G and I both had flu bugs of different sorts, and Aidan enjoyed the rest.  LB is the only one who wasn't really hit over the last couple of weeks with anything.  Running the wood stove probably didn't help us any, but you can't beat the price of our wood (free).

We weren't too sick to be contagious, so on Sunday I watched BB while our son went to sign papers for a new (newer used, that is) car, and on Monday RB spent the day with us since his mother did have to work.

I am working on hooking videos up to my site, but here are some photos for now:

So here is how our week went:
Monday-I got Aidan up and got him ready to go with PB to daycare, but he didn't really understand.  I called mid-day and he had sobbed most of the morning.  I spoke with him on the phone and in a very trembly voice he said, "Mommy, I go home".  So I left work half an hour later and picked him up.  He had been better because they went outside, which he loves, and he got to play with RB out there, and he then made his family mural with pictures I sent.  He had just laid down for naptime with the other kids but wasn't asleep, so in his mind Mommy comes after night-night.
Tuesday-I got Aidan up and had him watch and help me as I packed his bag for the day.  We talked about how Mommy would come after night night.  I called midday and they said he was having a much better day, though PB said he had told her four times-twice in the car and twice at daycare-that Mommy would come after night-night.  So I left work as soon as I could and picked him up.  He was very excited to show me everything he had done and every place that his picture was (on his chair, in the mural, on the attendance chart), and though he had laid down during naptime, he hadn't slept.
Wednesday-Snow day.  He and RB stayed home with me.
Thursday-Delayed opening for me, but Aidan had already gone to "school".  I then got stuck in a snowbank and didn't make it in to work.  When I picked him up, he didn't want to leave.  We went from there to see the doctor who determined that he had an ear infection and we then got some amoxicillin.  Aidan is so smart that on Wednesday he told me "ear hurt, eat food" at the same time that he pushed his lunch away and pointed to those body parts.
Friday-Had my sister with me (the kindergarten teacher) so Aidan ignored me in favor of her, showed her everything in the place, and then was happy to go home. 

The two boys with their milk jugs and clothes pins

Aidan decided that instead of trying to get the clothes pins into the milk bottle, he should use his to decorate it.  (RB has the solid wood pins, so he couldn't do this)

Proud of his new PJs

Aidan's most recent words have been "excuse me" after burping, "you're welcome" (he used to say thank you, too after hearing thank you) and then with his usual humor, "no hug daddy" or "no hug mommy" which means that he wants to get a hug.  His vocabulary is really very extensive, so the list is long.  It includes whole sentences like, "Mommy, come here, sit next to Aidan", and "I want to go work with Daddy", and then it includes short sentences and negatives like "no go night-night".

We went to visit our travel mate (the grandmother, not the mother and child) at the fire station where she works, he got all excited about having ham for lunch, he checked out every tool in my brother's furniture making shop, he went to his aunt and uncle's 25th wedding anniversary party, visited my brother's garage where one of the caterpillars was inside being worked on (he calls every yellow earth mover a caterpillar), and has generally been very busy.