Brothers

Although the boys still spend a big chunk of the day fighting, I am starting to see some improvements in their relationship.  They are spending more and more time playing together and Jordan is starting to enjoy helping his little brother do things.  He helps Aiden get his blanket out of his crib, helps him carry things up and down the steps, and helps him fix his toys.

 Here is Jordan helping Aiden put on his shoes.  One day Aiden was being a bit of a stinker about putting on his shoes and kept running away from me when I tried to put them on.  Jordan saw my predicament and offered to help.  Aiden loved having his big brother put his shoes on for him!

Whenever Jordan does something nice for Aiden I tell Aiden to tell Jordan thank you.  Since he can't say thank you yet, he always gives Jordan a hug instead.  Jordan is always pulling back a little bit as Aiden can be just as aggressive with his affection as he can be with his anger.  Watching the boys hug always makes me smile.

Here are the boys playing together in the living room.  Aiden follows Jordan wherever he goes.  Jordan gets annoyed with this sometimes, but he does seem to enjoy having Aiden as a playmate more and more.  Having a 2 year old and a 3 year old in the house makes for a chaotic but joyful life!

Jordan

These past 3 months have been a time of adjustment for Aiden, but they have also been a time of major adjustment for Jordan.  Bringing an instant toddler into the home is very difficult on a sensitive little 3 1/2 year old.  Before Aiden, Jordan was used to a fairly quiet home where he was surrounded by adults.   His little world has been totally shaken now that Aiden is home.  Aiden can be a lot of fun but he is also very loud, aggressive, and extremely possessive of anything he has his hands on.  Jordan is not a loud kid by nature, so I think that Aiden's loud screaming and rough play has been really hard on him.  I've seen a lot of behaviors from Jordan that I never saw before.  He has a lot more meltdowns and is way more hesitant to share with other kids than he used to be.  Luke and I have said that we think Jordan has cried more in the last 3 months than he cried in the previous 2 1/2 years.  That's probably an exaggeration, but not by much.

Despite all these difficulties, Jordan surprises me with how kind he can be to his little brother.  The other day Aiden was struggling to carry a truck down the steps and I couldn't help him because I was carrying laundry down.  Jordan said, "I can help him!" and quick ran up the steps and carried the truck down for him.  The other day Aiden was being a stinker about putting on his shoes and kept running away when I would try to put them on.   Jordan noticed this and offered to put Aiden's shoes on for me.  It was so cute watching him kneel down and fasten Aiden's shoes.  Then today Aiden was playing with a garbage truck and was constantly pulling a piece of it apart and then whining for me to put it back together.  After a few times of that I was sick of it and didn't want to keep putting the truck back together.  Jordan said, "I can do it for him!" and patiently put it back together for him.  Jordan must have started to get sick of it as well though because a few minutes later I heard him say, "Okay, Aiden.  I am only going to put this together one more time because then I want to go and play."  Aiden seemed to understand because he didn't pull it apart again after that.

Jordan continues to delight us with all of the interesting things that he says.  Whenever he says something cute, I always think I'm going to write it down, but I always forget.  This is one conversation I remember that I want to make sure I write down.  The other day my parents brought over a toy kitchen set they bought for the boys.  Jordan just loves that kitchen set.  He plays with it all the time.  At bedtime that night I was saying a prayer and when I was finished Jordan asked, "Does God build things for us?"  I didn't know what to say so I just said yes.  Then Jordan asked me to thank God for his new kitchen set.  After I did Jordan said, "Did God say you're welcome?"  When I explained that we can't hear God he asked where God lived.  I said that God lives everywhere and that if you want him to, he will even live in your heart.  Jordan looked at me very seriously and said, "How could he get into my heart?  Would he come in through my toes?"  I couldn't contain my laughter after that comment and Jordan looked at me with such a bewildered look like he wondered what was so funny. 

Everyone in the family is trying to adjust to Aiden in their own way.  Each day continues to present new challenges with him, but we have seen a lot of progress in the past 3 months.  My biggest goals for him now are that his tantrums and whining start to diminish, he starts to be able to communicate more in English, and my biggest wish is that he will sleep more consistently through the night.  Hopefully 3 months from now we will be able to look back and see even more progress that he has made! 

Aiden's 2nd Birthday

We  had a wonderful time celebrating Aiden's 2nd birthday!  Last June I baked a cake to celebrate his 1st birthday, but I remember feeling more sadness than joy as he wasn't home with us.  Last winter it seemed like a very real possibility that I would miss his second birthday as well, so I was thankful to have him home with us.  Luke's parents came out for a few days to meet Aiden and to spend some time with us.  The boys loved all the extra attention they received and Aiden warmed right up to Grandpa Tim.  He liked nothing better than to be sitting in his lap.

 Jordan was so proud when he thought of this idea of pulling his little wagon with his trike. 

 Jordan is holding on to a toy ambulance while taking a ride in the swing.  He has been talking about this ambulance ever since our last visit to Minnesota last August.  I can't believe he remembered it.  He asked Grandpa and Grandma to bring it with them when they came to visit.  They decided to keep it here, much to Jordan's delight.

 The weather has been hot over here, so the boys have spent a lot of time in their suits in the backyard.  Jordan loves to run through the sprinkler and play in the little kiddie pool.

 Here's a picture of Aiden riding on Luke's back at our neighborhood pool.  Both boys love the water although Jordan is a lot braver than Aiden.  Aiden can float independently with his puddle jumper on, but he becomes very fearful if we let go of him for a second.

 We went to my parent's house to celebrate Aiden's birthday.  The highlight of the night was opening presents.  Aiden became super excited about every present he opened.  Aiden is one of the most sprited children I have ever met.  When he is upset, he is really upset.  But when he is excited, boy does he show it!

 I love this picture because of how interested Jordan is in this present.  Aiden was pretty much clueless about the whole concept of presents, but Jordan was asking all day when it would be time for Aiden to open his presents.  He figured out pretty quickly that any gift Aiden received would be a new toy brought into the house that Jordan would have a chance to play with too.

 Aiden loved his new bulldozer!  Jordan was very eager to have a turn with it, but I was very proud of his patience as he waited until Aiden was ready to give Jordan a turn.

 Aiden loves trucks just as much as Jordan, so a truck cake was an obvious choice.

Aiden loved the birthday cake!  I wish I could have been with him when he ate his first piece of cake on his first birthday, but his was fun to see him enjoy this cake so much.

Aiden continues to adjust to our family and we are growing in our enjoyment of him.  He still has some challenging behaviors we are dealing with, but things are improving.  The biggest issue continues to be sleep.  I thought we had almost mastered that one as Aiden had been pretty much sleeping through the night for about 3-4 weeks straight.  But these past few nights he has been up several times and even woke up crying 3 different times during his nap today.  It can be very difficult to get him to go to sleep in the first place, so when he wakes up crying it can get pretty frustrating.  We are hoping that this is just a short phase and he goes back to his better sleeping habits soon!

Finished Basement

 As of last Friday, our basement is finally finished!  Toys have been rapidly overtaking the house, so we are thrilled to have this additional living space.  Here are some pictures I took on Friday right after the carpet was laid down.  Just a few days later this space is literally filled with toys.  The boys are loving it because there is so much room for them to play.  Luke and I are loving it because we feel like we have our main floor back again!

 Aiden and Jordan love the basement!  If you look carefully you can catch a glimpse of Jordan rolling around in the background of this picture.  They both went wild when I brought them downstairs for the first time.



Here's our happy family enjoying an evening in the backyard.









Memorial Day

On the Sunday before Memorial Day we went to a friend's house for a cookout.  Jordan had fun playing in the little pool in the backyard. 

 Aiden wanted his bathing suit on so I thought he wanted to go into the pool.  He laughed and laughed as he watched Jordan play, but whenever I would try to put him into the pool he would cry. 

 When we came home on Sunday night Jordan came down with a little stomach bug.  After a good night's sleep on Sunday night, we thought he was better so we drove out to Zeeland for the Memorial Day parade.

 Jordan loved all the tractors and trucks in the parade, but he did not like the loud noises.  He had his ears covered pretty much the whole parade.  That part of him reminds me so much of me when I was little.  I was terrified of loud noises too!

 When we came back from the parade my parents put on their sprinkler.  Jordan had so much fun running through it. 

 Of course Aiden wanted to go out in his suit too!  His sunscreen isn't rubbed into his face because he is so quick!  Whenever I put sunscreen on him, he squirms around so much that I'm lucky just to get a little smear on his face.  Thank goodness he is like Jordan and doesn't burn. 

 Aiden loved watching Jordan run through the sprinkler but he was pretty leery about joining in the fun.  Eventually he reached out his hand to touch the water, but he didn't want to run all the way through it.

Aiden was a lot more content to sit by Daddy than to run through the sprinkler!  Later on in the day we realized that poor Jordan wasn't over his little stomach bug after all. Poor kid.  We thought he was fine because he was having so much fun.  After a couple days of extra rest, he is back to his normal, energetic self.

Summer Weather

We've been enjoying some beautiful summer weather over here the past several days.  It is wonderful that the boys can play outside.  I am now grateful we brought Aiden home in the spring.  I can't imagine how difficult it would be to keep him happy if we had come home in the winter!  Being outside has definitely helped his mood/adjustment as he loves being outdoors.

 Here are the boys enjoying an afternoon snack of seaweed on the driveway.  I had to laugh as they both sat there devouring that seaweed.  What other 2 and 3 year old would you see loving seaweed for a snack? 

 I had a hard time getting a good picture of Aiden looking out the window because whenever he hears my camera turn on he turns around to pose.  He loves looking out this window just like Jordan did at his age.  Whenever it is quiet and I can't find Aiden, I almost always will find him on the chair staring out the window.

 Aiden is also similar to Jordan in that he is always very interested in what Daddy is eating.  Here are the boys sharing a bowl of kimchi soup.  The boys could only eat the noodles because the broth is too spicy.

 Notice Jordan's broken monster truck on the table.  Sadly many of Jordan's toys have been broken these past few weeks because Aiden is so rough on them.  He throws toys really hard whenever he is angry.  Jordan has handled it pretty well but he now has a hard time sharing certain toys because he is worried Aiden will break them.

 Here are the boys playing in the little pool in the backyard.  They both love the water!

 On Mother's Day we brought Aiden to my parent's house for the first time.  He took his afternoon nap there.  But just like at home, he woke up part way through his nap and fell alseep on Luke.  Almost every afternoon Aiden wakes up crying about an hour into his nap.  I then bring him downstairs to the couch where he sleeps for the remainder of his nap.  Sleep continues to be one of the biggest issues we are still dealing with as he continues to wake up several times during the night.  I was back to sleeping in my own room, but have recently been sleeping at least part of the night in Aiden's room. 

3 Weeks

Today marks three weeks since Aiden was placed with us.  Although each day brings more challenges, overall things are improving.  One big improvement is that I am back to sleeping in my own bed!  That is huge for me as I am not a great sleeper to begin with, and don't function well when sleep deprived.  After a few nights in a row of very little sleep on my part, I decided just to try sleeping in my own room to see how Aiden would do and he did great!  He is not sleeping through the night by any means, but when he wakes up crying I just go in his room, rub his back for a couple minutes and then he is usually back asleep.  At night I put him in his crib awake and just sit in his room and read a book until he falls asleep.  The past couple nights he was even babbling a bit in his crib while he was waiting to fall asleep which was a good sign to me that he is really feeling comfortable in the crib.

The other big improvement is that he is starting to learn English.  That's huge as well because it is hard to interact with a 22 month old when they have no idea what you are saying.  He has learned three baby signs- eat, all done, and please.  He even has a few English words already.  I can hardly believe it, but it's true. He says eat, all done, dada, apple, bottle, and yeah.  Most people probably wouldn't know that was what he was saying, but by the context it is clear that those are the words.  I'm amazed.  Today we had our first post placement visit and I was listing the English words he could say to our social worker.  When I said all done, Aiden looked at me, said "all done" and walked to the door and tried to open it. 

Due to the busyness and craziness of the adjustment, I haven't taken many pictures, but here are a few.  Right now it seems like Aiden has two emotions:  really happy and really upset.  We are hoping that over time he has more really happy moments and fewer really upset moments!

 Aiden loves to sit in this rocking chair.  He often grabs a book from his bookshelf, but doesn't spend much time looking at it.  I've tried reading to him several times, but it hasn't been too successful yet.

 Whenever I prepare a meal Aiden clings to my leg crying.  I've tried putting him in his high chair with some toys while I cook as an alternative to crying.  This works for about 5 minutes before he can't stand the wait anymore!

Jordan and Aiden continue to work on figuring out how to interact with each other.  Needless to say, there is A LOT of fighting. Even so, whenever Aiden is out of the room, Jordan is always asking where Aiden is and tries to find him. And Aiden always seems to seek out Jordan as well.  Hopefully the day will come when they are good buddies!