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WOW!!!! Family of 5 for 14 months

I know it has been a long time sense I have posted anything. Life just kinda takes over and the have to do's out weigh the want to do's. Posting is defiantly is a want to do. Max is doing really well. He no longer knows any Chinese. He speaks English fairly well. You really can have a conversation with him and he will understand what you are saying (most of the time) and can answer back. We still have a long way to go. His teacher sent home a little 10 page book of vegetables and he only knew the carrot. I think we need to eat more veggies.
Christmas was very fun. Max was very glad to have the time off of school. Kasey, Max and I took a trip to Florida to visit Grandma and Grandpa. We spent a lot of time on the beach. The weather was perfect. I have to say we are still having a hard time with food. We are making him at least try new things but most of the time he says yuk. I really don't know if he truly does not like the food or if it is a control issue. We will just keep trying.
Max is mostly attached to me. Mama can do no wrong, but everyone else sure can. He has no trouble telling others what he wants or does not want them to do. I feel he may have been rather spoiled by his foster family in China. We have been in contact with his foster family and know now how much he was loved and cared for. When Max came to us he had the disposable camera I had sent him and in the pictures was a picture of him holding a sign with the foster families QQ address (like our e-mail) and there phone #. We waited about 9 months before contacting them. We have a friend who is Chinese and she was able to set up a Skype visit with the family and act as our translator. Max by this time had no idea what they were saying and he really did not have much interest in trying to communicate. It was really kinda of sad. His China grandma was the caretaker and was so happy to see him and to know that he is very much loved. He talks about his China family now, mostly his mei mei (little sister) and his grandma. His foster sister was just adopted into the US in November. I have tried to find her but have not been able to. Max's foster family were considered to be a little more well off than most. They raised chickens, thousands of chickens. We have sense gotten pictures from them of when he was younger and some of the chicken farm. We feel so blessed to have been able to connect with them and receive some answers to the first 7 years of his life. His foster family wanted to Skype with us on the Chinese New Year so we had our friend set it up for before school. It was early morning for us and late night for the family. They had a cousin visiting who could speak some English so he did the translating. I had to bribe Max to sit and talk this time. Some of Max's friends were over and he would ask who they were. I don't know if the picture wasn't clear or if he has blocked some of China out. I had told them that Max likes to listen to some Chinese songs and asked if they sang to him and the grandma and older sister started to sing to him. It was so sweet.
We are looking forward to a fun summer and warmer weather.

Summer Fun!!

Well it has now been 7 months since we arrived home. Max is doing great!! We have found him to be part fish. He loves the water. In June we went to Florida to visit grandma and grandpa they have a pool and he really loved to swim. We were there a week and his swimming skills improved each day. He also loves to fish. He liked the fact that he usually caught more fish than baba. We also went camping in our camper for the first time. We were with some friends and their families. Max had a great time. He had fun riding his bike around the campground. One day I decided to go for a ride with him so I hopped on our friends bike. When Max saw I could ride he said " mama how you know?" "You gooood I like riding with you." It was so cute. Another quick story. We have a quick set up pool that is about 12ft. around and 2ft. high. One day he wanted to go, as he says jwimmin he asked me if I could go. Reluctantly I went in and put on my suit. When I walked out of the door he said "Oh mama you BEAUTIFUL!" It was just so cute, I love that he thinks his mama is beautiful even in her swimsuit. His English is coming along, most of the time he gets his message across. He likes to say "oh man" , "a lil lil bit" "what the...." he doesn't finish that. He also likes to tease me. He will say "I'm teasing you". I think he is losing his Chinese language. He tells me he doesn't remember how to say things. I think the food is still our biggest challenge. He is very picky. He loves popcorn right now apples, chicken, McDonalds chicken nuggets and french fries. We do have to work on his patients, he has none. When he wants something or wants to do something it has to be right now. He really has improved he still has no patients but he doesn't act like he did 3 months ago when he has to wait a few minutes.

Summer is almost here!!

Wow! I can't believe we have been home almost 5 months. Max is doing great! We have had a few dental issue's but other than that he has been very healthy. He is doing well in school and is learning a lot. I am amazed at how well we can communicate. Our weather has still not been the best so the time we can spend outside is limited. He loves to jump on the trampoline and play with the dogs. A couple of weeks ago Max's friend T.J and his family came through town and we were able to spend some time with them. T.J was in the same orphanage and went to the same school when they were in foster care. It was really interesting when the two of them got together. It took awhile for them to warm up to each other. When they finally started to talk it was all in English. Neither of them tried to speak in Chinese to one another. I felt a little sad to think they may be losing that part of them so quickly. We were able to see T.J two days, the first day we went into Chicago and met them at the hotel they were staying in. For dinner we went to Gino's East for pizza (real Chicago pizza). Too bad most Chinese do not like cheese. The next day T.J and his family came to our house on the way to see T.J's grandma in Indiana. The boys had fun playing video games and jumping on the trampoline. I think Max liked to show T.J where he lives.
We had a nice Easter I don't think I was able to communicate the holiday to Max. From the Resurrection of Jesus to the Easter bunny, how do you explain all that? Next year things will be much clearer to him. I am loving all the springtime flowers. The tulips and daffodils are in full bloom along with the dandelions. I got a bouquet of dandelions from Max yesterday. The only problem was they had already gone to seed and didn't fair very well once he handed them over to me. I have to say Max does love his mama. He is so good and loving to me. He loves to play with his baba but is not as loving to him. I think it may be a cultural thing. I am sure as time goes by he will become more loving to him.
We went to an animal swap meet the other day and we ended up bringing home to ducklings that the girls picked out and Max picked out a little turtle the size of a quarter. He is really liking it. We asked him what his name is and he said "turtle" so we have turtle the turtle.
My mom is coming for a visit in a couple of weeks so she will get to meet Max for the first time. She and my Dad live in Florida. We have plans to go to Florida in June so he will meet my dad then. Just recently Max has been talking a little about China. If I give him a certain food he will point to it and say "this in China, really really good." He also told us that he did not have dogs in China but he had fish.
We are all still adjusting and I do have times of feeling overwhelmed and stressed out by certain things. I just really have to keep putting the things that stress me out into perspective. I am really looking forward to spending time this summer with my family and really having some bonding time for us all.

Having fun on the trampoline