Six months

Yesterday was six months since we walked out of Belovodsk orphanage with Asa in our arms.  It seems like much longer than that, but still, the months have flown by. 

One of our most constant prayers during the four year wait to bring him home was, "God please protect his heart.  Keep it soft.  Please let him be loved and cared for!"

After spending six months with that little boy, we can say that those prayers were answered.  He is indeed a very soft hearted little boy.  He was loved well and so he knows how to receive love.  He was well cared for, so he is easy to care for now.  Those things are not to be taken lightly, and certainly not to be taken for granted when talking about children who spend years in an institution.  We are so thankful to God for hearing our prayers and guarding Asa's little heart!

Some fun things about Asa...

His English is wonderful!  He only uses one Russian word, "malinky".  It means "small" and we're not sure why he's holding on to that one.  He says new things in English every single day.

It has been such an amazing thing to watch.  He came to us with no English, much like a very young toddler, able to understand what is said to them, but not able to communicate back.  We have seen him go through every stage of language acquisition as a very accelerated pace! 

Repeating things, saying one word, putting two words together, using pronouns and contractions, speaking in 1st, 2nd and 3rd person, stringing three and four words together, and most recently, speaking in past and future tense.  I would put his expressive speech at about a 3 year old level.  The vocabulary is still coming along, but the complexity of his language is about at the young 3 year old level. 

His receptive language is probably close to 4 years old, at least.  He understands most of what we say to him and if he does not, we can usually rephrase it and he'll get it.  He can follow two and three step instructions and figure things out by contextual clues.

His favorite things are still cars and trucks.  His favorite thing to do is to point out cars and vans that look like Daddy and Mommy's car and van.  Yes, it was cute for about one day.  And now it is hard to hide the annoyance as you are told for the fourteenth time in ten minutes, "Look, look like Mommy car!"  I drive a minivan, every other car looks like mine...

The boy loves music and can sing the words with almost any song that comes on the radio!  The other day he took the melody of one song and made up words to a new song.  And it worked!  The words made sense, they matched the melody, and what he was singing was actually very funny!  He is very smart and has a great sense of humor.  He will speak in funny voices and just does things to tease that make me smile and laugh out loud.

He says things in a funny way sometimes.  When he is finished eating, instead of saying, "May I be excused please?"  He will ask, "May I have 'scoos please?"  He still has an accent, but I have noticed that it is not as apparent in some words.  And his articulation has improved.  There are still a few words he struggles with: lemolade, helihopter, elebance (ambulance).  He used to say "beyoken" but now he can say "broken" and our dogs are no longer Bustoolah (Buster) and Luthy (Luther).  He calls Ezra, "Eh'va" but he can say everyone else's names perfectly.

We moved his toddler bed into the boys' room a couple of months ago and things are going great.  He sleeps all night and is not bothered by the other boys. We had a few incidences of him wetting himself, but he has seemed to get over that. 

He and Ezra love each other so much.  I know that a huge part of Asa's smooth transition into our family and home has been having Ezra here.  They are constant companions, best of friends.  It is not unusual to see them hugging each other, sharing toys and offering drinks or food.  They told me the other day that they want to have one birthday party together.  They also said, "We want a Mickey Mouse party!"  And then they went on to discuss between them which Mickey Mouse characters will be at the party!

Physically Asa has grown!  He has grown almost 2 inches in these six months.  He has not gained any weight, but his little body has tranformed from a very soft and "doughy" mass to a thinned out healthy looking child.  He is so much stronger and has so much more endurance than when we got him.  He has not been sick a single time in six months. (yeah, I just jinxed myself...)  Amazing.

One thing we have noticed is that he breathes very loudly.  And the poor thing cannot eat with his mouth closed because he cannot breathe through his nose.  We have an appointment with our ENT next month.  I would not be surprised if she wants to take out his tonsils and adenoids just to help with his breathing!

Eating.  Everyone looks at his fat squishable cheeks and just assumes that the boy can eat.  He really does not eat much more than Ezra.  And when he is full, he will push his plate away, leaving food uneaten.  (another huge blessing for an institutionalized child).  He is not a naturally brave eater, but he is very compliant, so if I tell him to try something, he will try it and most of the time he ends up liking it.  So far the only foods that bother him is too much milk can make it hard for him to go potty, but other than that, he has tolerated the change in diet very well. 

One thing I have noticed is that he will not ask for food.  If someone else is eating, he wants in on the action.  But if there is no food present and it has not been offered, he will not ask to eat, say he is hungry, or even ask for a drink.  When he had his MRI, he could not have food or liquids by mouth.  The procedure was not until 1 pm, and that whole morning he never asked for any food or drink.  I am not quite sure what to make of this, if he truly does not feel hunger, or if, in the orphanage, food was so scheduled and regimented that asking was pointless.  I am sure there was no "Hey, nanny, can I have a snack?" 

The past six months have been amazing, challenging, stretching, and full of moments of joy and some moments of frustration.  I was walking yesterday and his hand was in mine and it hit me, "He is really here.  And I am really holding his little hand."  So many times in the last four years I wondered if that would ever happen.  Thank you Lord for bringing Asa to us!