Rex - Five Weeks Home

Yesterday marked five weeks home and seven weeks out of the orphanage for Rex. Oh, how much has happened! First of all, the biggest change is that the rages are gone. He may throw a good tantrum once in a while, but there is no more crazy, auto-aggressive raging. The improvement was brought about by us using a new strategy based on the book Holding Time which I recommend as reading for everyone. We now hold Rex several times a day, sometimes just a few minutes, sometimes closer to an hour. It has made our bond so much stronger and the difference in his outlook overall is so incredible.

We also had a couple of firsts these last two weeks: Rex is beginning to climb the bottom stairs, he occasionally sits in a shopping cart, he can squat without support now, and he stands in the bathtub unassisted and endures the soap and rinse down. Today he climbed onto the couch by himself for the first time. He is also beginning to put things in rather than just take them out. He is trying his hands, literally, at waving and clapping and we think he says hi which sounds very Southern, more like “haaahhh.” We are so thrilled to see him gain new skills. Rex attended his first picnic and his first wedding reception and did well at both. His self-regulating mechanisms are definitely improving.

Rex has also become more picky with his eating. If we'd let him, I think he would live off bread, cheese and yogurt. He also is increasingly rejecting mashed foods and wants to eat solids from our plates. It’ll be hard to keep him fed for two weeks after his surgery as he will have to be basically on soupy liquids. As I mentioned before, Rex is not very interested in fresh fruit, but he will eat it pureed and preferably stirred into another food, such as yogurt or oatmeal. When we first got him, Rex was eating sliced banana because he knew it from the orphanage, but it appears now that he actually doesn’t like it very much or has just had enough of it. He will not even eat the oatmeal with banana chunks anymore. He will not go near fresh watermelon (even though it is an Armenian summer staple) or grapes or diced apples yet.

Rex’s bloodwork from the International Adoption Center has come back and it looks really good. We found out he already had the chicken pox, but has no blood diseases and has never had any. His thyroid function may by a teensy bit low, so they want to re-test just to make sure the reading wasn’t off. He doesn’t have lead poisoning either. He has some great immunizations from Armenia, but will need a few boosters and also some initial shots that are not part of the Armenian immunization schedule. We will take our time and do these immunizations as we see fit. It doesn’t all have to happen in the same day. Unfortunately, Rex’s genetic test results have revealed that he suffers from a rare chromosomal abnormality (about 1 in 20,000 births) which will likely result in pervasive developmental effects on him as well as impact the possibilities for his entire life. We continue to be committed to ensuring his health and happiness as well as to helping him achieve his fullest potential. He is our pride and joy and we were meant for each other.