Two Months a Seabolt

Two months.  That's how long Charlie has been ours.  The last couple of days have been pretty hard and exhausting and I have thought, "Goodness gracious, how long will he act like this?" And then I remember, we've only had him TWO months.  Kate, exasperated the other day said, "Ugh!  MOM! How long will he be 'traumatized'!?!?" (And used her little air quotes.)  For us, and especially for our kids, it has seemed like a long time that we have had him.  Our time in China seems like an eternity ago.  And when I think about how he acted then, we really have come a long way in a relatively short amount of time.  Two months is not that long, even though it feels like it.  I do remind myself of that often, but we all tend to forget.  One thing that has definitely improved is his hair!

His first 2 days of school went pretty well.  The second day was better than the first.  He is getting used to the routine and schedule.  They said at most of the activities he was fine until about 10 minutes before it should be over and he was already ready to move on, but that should improve this week.  On Thursday he was ready to go home by 12:00, and on Friday he lasted until 1:30 or so.  He learned to write Charlie, Sam, and Kate on the Braille writer.  He sang along with the class songs and participated when he was able to.  He ate a good lunch, which he bought from the cafeteria, and discovered that he likes strawberry milk.  After the first day, his teacher said he was probably really worn out and would be tired when he got home, but she doesn't really know him that well yet.  He does not get tired.  Ever.

Friday night we went to one of our favorite Chinese Restaurants and Charlie had a whole plate of dumplings.  Other than that (or because of that), he didn't eat that much else.  I know he is still deciding and figuring out what he likes, and is picky for many reasons, but I think it is so funny what he does like.  His favorite foods right now, other than dumplings, are hamburgers, chicken nuggets, pizza, hot dogs and tacos.  I guess that's why he likes the school lunches so much!

This weekend, Sam and Kate were gone for 2 nights camping with my parents.  Charlie doesn't like to sleep alone, so I told him he could sleep with us.  I remembered that he was not a good bed-buddy, but I felt sorry for him.  Oh, wow.  I cannot believe that I ever slept in the same bed with that child. For a month!  It is amazing that he gets any rest at all, because he is restless all night long.  The second night I gave him Melatonin (which he hasn't had in several weeks) just to see if it helped him. It didn't.  We have a weighted blanket, but he just kicks it off.  I hope one day, his brain can calm down enough for him to truly rest.

He does sleep though, usually all night, and wakes up at reasonable times.  About a week ago, I stopped paying him to sleep. I noticed about half of the money out of my change jar was missing and his minion piggy-bank felt heavier than usual.  When I asked him about it, he made something up.  I don't remember what it was, but this was the first time he had lied to me.  I told him that taking money from someone was stealing, and it was wrong.  And if he took all my money, then I wouldn't have money to buy him a birthday present.  He immediately returned the money and said, "This for mommy."  The next morning, I went to give him his quarter (payment for sleeping all night) and he said, "No, Mommy keep it.  For buy Stuart minion for birthday."  And we were both off the hook!

For a while he wanted the Stuart minion that does flips.  He called it the "up-down-Stuart."  But then one day he was playing with it at Target and he realized it passed gas.  And he said, "Oh no!  Stuart pooting!  Mommy no like pooting!  Charlie will get banana-eating-Kevin for birthday.  He no pooting. Mommy no like pooting."  Thank you for being so considerate, Charlie.

Gabe came over to play today.  Sam played much better with him than Charlie did.  Charlie was not very nice and just fussed at him mostly.  He was not his sweet self much the past 2 days, and Stephen and I were pretty worn out by the end of the day today.  But then tonight, he asked to go on a bike ride, and rode for about 30 minutes and despite a pretty bad crash, came home much calmer, and a whole lot sweeter.

Today I was painting Kate's toenails and he begged me to paint his.  I told him it was for girls and all that, but he didn't care.  He would not drop it.  So I painted each big toe the color of his choice.  He was very excited and proud.  He said he'll wear his tennis shoes to school tomorrow so no one will see.

At bedtime he wanted to talk about school and he can't wait to see the class hamster, Peanut, who he calls "The Peanut".  All weekend he asked me what The Peanut was doing.  Was it dark at school? Was the door locked?  Was she hungry?  I am so thankful for Charlie's sweet class, his thoughtful teacher, and The Peanut, who makes Charlie want to go back.