Thanksgiving '08

Well.... it has been an exciting few days around the house. We have had two Thanksgiving meals, countless leftovers, and I go back to work on Monday. My parents and Andrea came down Wednesday evening and stayed through Thursday afternoon. David enjoyed having the company over and spent a lot of time showing off his toys and learning names. He loved his meal (of course!) and kept asking for more. After Thanksgiving lunch we bought a new Christmas tree and put it up in the living room. David seemed fairly impressed with the spectacle of it all, but he definitely enjoyed the box a lot more. The rest of the day was spent following the usual Thanksgiving routine: eat, sleep, and repeat!



Friday was spent recovering from all the food and getting ready to go over to Emily's grandparents for Thanksgiving with her family.  After all of the greetings and meeting more family, we took David down to the pond to play.  He loved the bridge and looking out over the water.  He also had his first real opportunity to play with his cousins, McKenna (5) and Annie (20 mths).  While McKenna was a great help and David mimicked most of what she did, I think he only saw Annie as a rival for the toys.  Eventually we had to separate him from the toys for a while as he was getting a little too stingy.  David also had the chance to play in the leaves (an American classic).  It was a good day.

The rest of the weekend was spent getting ready to go back to work and going to church.  David did extremely well and only got wiggly towards the end of the service.  The last few weeks have gone by really fast, and while I am ready to see my students again, I am not ready to miss all of the little moments with David that we have had.  Talk to you guys later.

Kyle

To Michael....

Thanks for letting me know how things are going at school. I will be back at Cooper on Monday. See you soon.

Mr. Farnham

Am I Being Tested by the Government?

After purchasing several toys for David over the last week, I have just a quick question, especially for those of you who are parents.

Why must toy packaging be like rocket science? How many times must a toy be screwed tightly by microscopic, invisible screws to 3 sheets of cardboard (that are adhered by supernatural glue)?

Sincerely,
A mother who just wants to free the toys from their boxes

Days of Fun...

I must say that the last few days we have cleared huge hurdles and accomplished small victories into normal stability. 

Bath time is no longer scary or filled with David's tears. We've convinced him that sitting in the tub is a good thing. We simply hold him in a seated position and then place him in the water. Now, when we pour water over his head, we have him cover his eyes, and it seems to be working. (It probably doesn't eliminate water in the eyes, but like many things in life, it's human nature to view things as okay only when we feel we have some form of control.)

The dogs are becoming David's friends. Not only is he no longer panicking when they walk by him, but he constantly asks for them when they're not around. Today, I took them to the groomer's, and he looked out the window or would point throughout the house, asking, "Puppy?" Also, the cutest thing happened tonight, and I must be honest that my heart absolutely melted. In fact, I came very close to shedding a tear! David was on the floor playing with his new toy, a 3-tiered race track, and Gunther, our oldest child, quietly walked over to David and plopped himself down between David's legs. David then leaned down and began petting and kissing on Gunther!!! Oh, my Mama heart melts to think my children are getting along. So precious!

Additionally, David is improving his English with each new word. To date, David now says, good job, socks, shoes, pillow, puppy, ears, nose, eyes, mouth, eat, please, easy, tortilla, more, and several others. He's our little sponge. We went on an outing to Barnes & Noble and purchased several small books to help him learn his numbers, alphabet, etc.

We discovered David not only likes fajitas, but Kyle fixes amazingly fresh homemade tortillas! Very authentic! Kyle is so cute! He has to constantly battle the urge to buy David toys and other items he might enjoy.

Today, we also had our first of three home study interviews. Kimberly, our case worker, was extremely nice and taken by David, and it was great to know that her two children were adopted, so we have/will experience some of the same issues. Her advice was also very sound.

The weather's been uncommonly warm for this time of year, and we've taken advantage of every opportunity. David's enjoyed riding his big car up and down the driveway, and belly laughs occur from all the Farnhams when David tumbles off his car or wrestles with Kyle. He is ALL BOY, by the way.

It's been a great week! Emily

Slowly, but surely...

Another good day filled with ups and downs in the Farnham household. David went on another road trip, this time to Target to get a few supplies and to the grocery store to get more of his favorite foods, milk and bananas! David also managed to get another truck for his collection. (It just jumped into the basket!)

In the afternoon, Emily and David used some sidewalk chalk to decorate the driveway. David was able to meet the neighbor boy from across the street, and the three of them "tagged' my concrete while I went to a meeting. There have been a lot less tears and "no's" as we continue to figure out how we are going to work as a family. David is increasingly getting more accustomed to the dogs as we frequently see him hugging and giving them kisses. We have also been helping him play fetch and feed them snacks. Things are going well.

David has also started the "Farnham Language Immersion School." This consists of me saying words in English and him either saying them back, pointing to it, or a combination of both. After a few words, he is then rewarded with a mini M&M. Too bad my classes could not be this easy. As I said before, it was a good day.

Q&A - Do you know what the best thing about bedtime is? That is when Emily and I get to eat the candy and cookies we do not let him have yet. We call it "Adult Time."

Special Update - As some of you may know from previous posts, bath time is not the quietest time in our home. David has insisted on standing during bath time and this has worried me as I was concerned about him falling down or hitting his head. Emily and I tried a rubberized bathtub mat, but he was still wobbly as ever. So tonight Emily and I both helped with bath time (a united front) and just sat him down in the tub for his bath. There were a few tears (his, not ours), but soon he realized that he was okay and started playing with his toys again. A small hurdle cleared.

And let me tell you, it was stressful!!! I knew there would be tears and I did not want to scare him, but this was something that needed to be fixed. I felt so tired after we finished drying him off and getting him into his pajamas.

Kyle