Been awhile

I have been re-reading my blog posts from China, as we have approached and passed the 6 month mark as a family of 4. Jude seems so little in those pictures, now. And that seems so long ago. He told me that "China told him" that we were coming for him, and showed him our picture, one day before we got there. They told him "you like-a me, and take me home."

We have fallen into a routine here, that is pretty much working for us. Home school in the mornings and some physical activity in the afternoon, most days. The boys started art classes on Thursdays, for the month of November

Somewhere in the process of getting out of the tub and getting into their pjs, a game of tug of war ensued, in which Jude had the towel in his teeth, while Owen pulled on the other end. Not surprisingly, given the mouthful of loose teeth Jude has, he lost the tug of war and just about yanked another baby tooth out of his head, to boot. He is already anticipating another visit from the Tooth Fairy. :)

We are going to see a speech therapist for Jude. Now that he has hearing aids, and they have been set at their appropriate volume, I feel like his speech sounds less like an accent and more like he can not hear the last Half of words. We will see what the therapist says.

Sometimes our Saxon math requires geometric shapes to do the work. Jude is normally very good in math, at least when it entails numbers. But when it involves geometric shapes, especially in the assignment pictured, which was to use shapes to fill in a pre-printed pattern, you can really see the  lack of pre-school type skills.

On another front, we have seen a lot more emotion out of Jude. He has pretty consistently shown us a lot of energy and enthusiasm when he was in a good mood, and a flat, aphasic demeanor when he was upset or angry. Well, that is changing, let me tell you.  I don't know if this is progress or not, but it's different. The changes we are seeing don't feel like good change, but only time will tell, I guess. 

The boys raked leaves, in an attempt to make a pile to jump in. Just as it assumed enough mass to be called a pile, Zeke came over and hiked a leg, peeing all over it. 

The same pile, after Abby decided pee didn't bother her. It made a good bed, regardless. :)