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

SPRING AT LAST

Well we are in the first days of spring and it could not have come sooner. I know we still have some cold days ahead of us but we do have definite signs of spring. Dave put the trampoline together and all 3 kids have been having fun on it. We have also discovered Max can ride a two wheel bike. We did have to give him a couple pushes at first to get him going but it didn't take long and he was off on his own. I am not sure if he knew how to ride before or not but he likes it.
Max is learning more and more English. We pretty much can figure out his needs and wants. If he has a long story to tell it's much harder. The other day I was in the bathroom and I hear a knock at the door. I said "who is it" and a deep voice answers me back "it's baba" I then say "o.k baba I will be out in a minute." He then says "what you doing" I say "I am in the shower" to which he replies "come on come on." He is so funny, I can not wait until we can really understand all of his humor. He does crack himself up sometimes and we have no idea what he has just said.
Max still likes to play his video games and watch movies. I really think it is his way of escaping. Now that the weather has been nicer he has spent much more time outside. He sat for awhile just watching an ant hill. It was so cute.
Every once in awhile he still will show his temper and stubbornness but it is getting less and less. I just love when he gets up in the morning and comes over to me to get snuggles and says "I love you mama your so cute." I guess I must have said that to him just about a million times.....well it's true. I am also so proud of Kim and Kasey for helping out with and loving Max like they do. It brought tears to my eyes seeing all three of them jumping on the trampoline together laughing and having fun.

Love is what binds us together...Col, 3:14

11 weeks home!!

Wow, I can not believe we have been home 11 weeks. We are all doing great! Max is learning new words everyday. I love hearing him speak English. I love hearing him speak Chinese also just don't understand it. A couple weeks ago Dave and I were sitting on the couch with Max and he said "Mama loves Baba, Baba loves Mama, Mama and Baba loves me." It did bring tears to my eyes, I thought wow he really gets that. He also says "come on come on" apple, orange, egg roll, hungry he says no a lot what 7 year old doesn't. Egg roll really, really, really, good. Mrs. Monahan (his teacher) is also really, really, good. He says, what you doing? Who did that? He says, I love you Mama a lot followed by, you ok. I am sure I am missing a lot of things he says.
On Tuesday we are going to start him in full day kindergarten. I know he will have fun with the other kids. He has had a boy from his class over and they have had fun playing. He is also taking a Karate class put on by the park district. I am not sure he likes it because he kept looking back at me and giving me the thumbs down. We also took a trip to Wis. Dells a couple weeks ago. He did o.k in the car but still says it makes him not feel well. He loved the water park and slides, no fear. Right now Max is mama's boy he wants mama to do everything for him. It's o.k with me I love it. He is always giving me hugs and kisses.
I know I probably do to much for him but I was giving him a bath the other night and washing his hair and his back and thought to myself I wonder if anyone had ever done this for him before. At that moment I thought well I am gonna I don't care if he can do it himself.
Well gonna go for now. I just can not tell you how blessed we feel to have Max a part of our family.

Angie Maue

One month in the US

Well we have been home a month and we are adjusting well. Max is doing great!! He started school on Wednesday of this week went Thursday and then we had a day off Friday because of the windchill. I don't think he realized it was a bonus day off and not just how it was suppose to be. We were so worried about him going to school he always said he didn't want to go. We went into the school on Friday to meet his teacher and see his classroom. The school supplied a translator to be there on Friday and also his first day of school to explain things to him. She was wonderful and I don't think it would have went as well if she wasn't there. He did tell her that he was afraid that if we left we would never come back. She was able to convince him that everyone goes home every night and nobody stays. By the time we were ready to leave he did say he would come back.

Dave has been around the house quite a bit so him and Max have had some good bonding time. They have gone out in Daves wood shop and done a couple of small projects. They built a spaceship for Max's Buzz lightyear. The girls are also having a lot of fun with him. He loves to challenge them in the WII games. I hope to make Max a bears fan by making him watch the bears vs the packers on Sunday. He has a Hester jersey he will be wearing.