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.