Oh, Charlie!

Our Charlie may be exhausting, he may be the busiest kid I've ever met.  He may wear us out and stretch us more than we ever wanted to be stretched.  But he is hilarious.  And it's a good thing.  When Stephen is stressed, he works out.  When I am stressed, I eat and sleep.  He is getting very skinny and I keep getting fatter and fatter.  I have days when I am enjoying this season, and I have days when I want to go to bed at 6:00pm.  But Charlie can still make me laugh-- multiple times a day.  And he acts like he likes me now, which is quite nice.  He only tells me he doesn't like me once or twice a week (when he's really mad about not getting his way).  There was a time he told me that once or twice an hour.  And sometimes he even just blurts out, "I like you, Mom!"



He still almost never stops, from wake-up to bedtime.  Last week we went to my parents' house for 2 nights for Thanksgiving and that was a much-needed "break" for us.  It wasn't a complete break, but having two sets of extra hands with the kids was very nice.  And Charlie loved riding his riding toys, playing with their dog, toy guns, and skinny dipping in their hot tub.



He continues to do well in school and falls more in love with his teachers and para-pro every day. He is so smart and catches on to things very quickly. He flawlessly delivered a line in his class's Thanksgiving performance.  He is very confident in school and is catching up quicker than we expected him to.  Last week he had his first play date with a friend from his class!

First Turkey & Dressing!

We have started attending a church close to our house.  It is very small and they have been very accommodating with Charlie.  We have been 4 weeks in a row, and he finally looks forward to it, and says he wants to go.  Yay!  Recently on a drive, he had to pee and we stopped in a church parking lot for him to go in a bottle. When he was finished he said, "Bye, church!  I love you, Jesus!"  No disrespect, Lord.






His obsession with vending machines is unwavering.  He told me the other day, "Mom, when I get big, I will try not to talk about vending machines so much.  I know it get on your nerbs."  He asked Santa for a vending machine.  Stephen took him to the zoo and instead of the animals, he wanted to find all of the vending machines.  One day at the grocery, I was in line close to the door and I told him he could go out and look at the vending machines.  When I came out,  he was there talking to a worker about the new vending machine.  And how could it only be 50 cents?  And why were certain drinks sold out?  And when was she going to fill it back up?  Stephen asked him recently where he wanted to work when he grows up and he said Walmart.  Stephen said, "What do you want to do at Walmart?"  Charlie's answer: "Fill the vending machines."  Last night I changed the words to Silent Night for him, and sang:

Vending machines, vending machines
Charlie loves vending machines
He puts paper money in
Coins come out, with a soda
Charlie LOVES vending machines
Charlie loves vending machines

He asked me to sing it twice.  It was that good.
He is super excited about Christmas and in his enthusiasm has restrung all of the Christmas lights and broken multiple ornaments.  He loves to sing and knows quite a few Christmas songs.  He doesn't really know or care much about Santa, but we did take him to see The Caring Santa (which is for kids with special needs) and he was sweet and polite.  He loves snow globes that play music and Stephen reminds me everyday that he is going to break them, but oh well.  Worse things have happened.



As I've mentioned before, I have been concerned with Charlie's lack of weight gain.  After over 4 months home and not a pound gained, I finally talked our pediatrician into ordering a test for parasites.  I mean what do we have to lose?  I'm a nurse.  I kind of obsess about poop.  Charlie comes from institutional care in China.  It is extremely likely that he comes with a parasite.  I went immediately to pick up the kit from the doctor.  When Charlie got home I told him the next time he had to go poo-poo I needed to collect a little bit of it.  Um, WHAAAAT??????  No way.  He said that was "disgusting."  He would not, absolutely not, give me his poop.  I tried to explain the reason, but for a kid who hopes one day that animals will grow in his belly I didn't think telling him a tiny worm might be in there would go over too well.  I just said the doctor needed to see it to see if it was healthy poop.  He said it wasn't happening.  He would only poop at school if he had to.

Two days went by and I was ready to test that poop.  That night at dinner I told him I really needed him to poop at home.  If he did, I would give him a sticker.  He IMMEDIATELY ran to the bathroom and yelled, "It's coming!  My poo-poo is coming!!!"  It wasn't.  He went back and forth 4 times (during dinner, remember?) until I said Whatever, just go in the toilet and I'll figure something out.  I would believe it when I when I saw it.  At that point, Sam decided this could possibly be fun, and said he could "collect it" for me.  The next time they went in there, it happened.  Sam started screaming like a girl.  I went in there, and Sam said Never mind, I could do it.  He was "freaked out."

The next day, I took it in and guess what?  He had Giardia.  After 7 days of Flagyl three times a day, he immediately started gaining weight.  He has already gained 2 pounds.  Mamas keep it up. Sometimes we are right.  When we are, it feels good.

Charlie claims he no longer knows Chinese.  I am certain that when he hears Chinese he still understands, and he enjoys listening to Chinese Nursery Songs.  But recently we Skyped with his teacher from Bethel and he spoke to her completely in English.  That makes me a little sad.  It is amazing how quickly he is learning English, but it seems like his brain has shut off Chinese.



Here are some of Charlie's versions for English words, for your entertainment (and ours in the future, when he no longer says things this way):
Scabetti = Spagetti
Old Maybe = Old Navy
Big Wheel = Goodwill
I forget you = I forgive you
Dunklings = Dumplings
Yesternight = last night
Flesh You = Bless You
Toylah = toilet



We are looking forward to making more memories this holiday season!