Here He is!

I know what you're here for, so quick scroll down to the pictures then come back to the top to read!

Our first task this morning was the meeting at the ministry. Here we went over all of B's medical and social history. His social history breaks my heart. The first thing the social worker did was hand me a picture of B, and right away I recognized him as a boy I met 3 years ago.

Then it was off the the institution to meet him!!! We got to his floor and were waiting for the other staff to join us when I turned and saw him sitting in the break room with ALL of the caregivers from that floor. LOL "There he is!" I said. I was told we could go ahead and go in. Of course, as I went to say hello to him tears came to my eyes and I got choked up. He was sitting in a child-size chair and I knelt down in front of him. He immediately wrapped his arms around my neck for a big hug. Then Papa got a hug.

B is a very active little boy! 10 seconds of hugging was enough for him. He wanted to know what was in my little bag. We played with a toy phone for about...oh...2 seconds.

Let me tell you, he is one very smart little boy! It took approximately 30 seconds to teach him the sign "please".  Dean caught it on camera when he was signing "please" for me to swing him...again....

And swinging is what we did A LOT of. I mean, us picking him up and swinging him. Dean and I were both very sweaty by the time the visit was done! LOL

B is amazing at getting his point across. Although he is unable to talk, he has made up his own system of gestures that have specific meaning. He has a sign for eat/drink, up, etc. It was truly fascinating to watch him communicate! In the course of the one hour visit he learned the signs for "please", "more," "all done", and "bubble", and was doing them without prompting! Oh, and he tried to SAY bubble, with a "Buh Buh". I didn't think it was possible, but I'm going to say I think he's going to learn sign even FASTER than Axel did!  I sure hope our speech therapist and school is ready for that. ;-)

When we adopted Axel, he was like a feral child, very wild and needed a very quick crash course in acceptable behavior so I could get him home through the airports. However, he was very accepting if I told him not to touch things. Asher?  He was a very passive little boy who has been slowly coming out of his shell. From day one we could take him anywhere. So where is B? Ummmmm....to our sitter who is reading now, please start removing all breakable items and just put them in a box somewhere!!! There is no discipline in the institution. B is very quick to cry when he doesn't get his way (this is a GOOD THING, and I'm happy to see he expresses displeasure. He has a wide range of emotions.) And when you tell him "no" he can't have something he drops his arms and gives a "humph" type of noise. He has a thinking motion he does when he's trying to figure something out. And when he doesn't want something? He is LIGHTNING QUICK to throw it!!!  He's a very afraid to try new things, but I have already figured out how to go about it. It just takes him a bit to warm up to the idea, or the adult just goes ahead to do it and let him watch to see how it's done, then he's more willing to give it a try on his own.

Have I mentioned he is very busy? That sensory room we're creating in the basement is going to be 100% necessary for B. Pretty sure he'll be spending a lot of time on the swings, climbing and jumping and climbing and climbing and jumping. HA!

B is going to give Axel and Asher (and Dean and I) a run for our money. But, I'm very excited. He is a VERY smart little boy who just needs consistency and communication, and I have no doubt we'll see big changes just as we did with Axel and Asher.