Today was a really busy day at Casa Kelly. As I’ve mentioned a few times in recent posts, we spend a lot of time in the car traveling to and from Comer Children’s Hospital, a part of the University of Chicago Hospital. Aside from the parking deck elevators, which are large enough for approximately 1.5 people, I have zero complaints. (I think our record was us, our stroller with Alexander, a gentleman in a wheelchair, and three other people. We all got friendly REALLY fast). But back to the hospital and adoption clinic team– they are fantastic! I truly feel like they care about our family, Alexander’s progress, and looked sad to see us have our last visit with them today.

The things a mom does out of love– this time it involved me spinning myself silly on a stool just to make Alexander laugh while we waited.

We progressed through a series of four visits– the first of which was getting basic vitals, the second being the big blood draw, the third discussing the results of his labs, and the fourth being getting him on track for surgery, speech therapy, and easing us into “normal” life with a pediatrician closer to home. Today was our final visit at the adoption clinic, and it felt a little bittersweet. Our medical team was thrilled with Alexander’s overall progress, and our little man was chipper even through his set of vaccine updates.  He gained close to 2 pounds since we brought him home, which is pretty impressive for his pre-op condition. We also met with a speech therapist, who worked with Alexander and us on ways to increase communication and verbalization, along with eating development.

Our man showed off for the therapist and even was able to drink from a cup. We tried a few signs with him, and he signed back “mine” once to us. Alexander has already been exposed to some signing from us, including mom, dad, cat, and his least favorite “all gone.” Several of you have asked us how his English is coming along– he definitely knows his name, which is a huge relief to us. We were concerned for the first week or so that he thought his name was “Benny.” Every time we’d call for Benny, one of our cats, Alexander would squeal, smile, and clap– total parent failure if your new child thinks their name is actually that of the family pet!

We return to the hospital super early on Thursday morning for a 4+ hour appointment with the surgical team; we knew this would be long and daunting, but the trips into the city do make for long days.  Most likely, we’ll have a better feel for when we’ll be scheduling surgery, which we hope is soon!

Our day ended with a visit from our social worker for our first post-placement visit almost as soon as we got home from the hospital. It was so great to see her, and she seemed to really enjoy meeting Alexander in person for the first time.  We’ll continue having our social worker visit us throughout the next five years (yes, 5!) where reports will be generated and mailed to the Chinese government. Overall first placement report? Two thumbs up for our little man!