Day to Day

We are still waiting on an appointment to Texas Children's Hospital. We thought we would get in pretty soon, but have not received an official date yet. We have some people working to get it as soon as possible but as of now we are still in standby mode. In the meantime, we continue to do what we can to try to get Stasik up to speed. He is continuing to gain weight even though he has now had three straight days of vomiting after feedings. He seems to keep solids down pretty well, but the formula just keeps coming back up. We are trying to base his diet on the assumption that he will lose some of it. We are able to maintain a high calorie count and it is definitely making a difference in his energy level and everyday activity. He is sleeping well at night and during the day and is starting to fill out physically. He has better color overall and he has lost the dark areas under his eyes.
With increased energy comes a lot of redirection. Sometimes, he is not very delicate when playing with us or Carter. He likes to grab hair, ears, noses, and really anything he can get his hands on. A couple of times he tried to nibble on my ears and I had to correct him. I think he is so excited about his whole new world and exploring it that he just doesn't know how to go about it yet. He is dong things that he has never done before. You can see the excitement in his eyes when he pushes up to get his face closer to ours. He tries to kiss us, but doesn't quite know how. We usually wind up with some slobber in our hair or licks on our face, but that is ok with us. Sometimes he grabs Carter or crawls on top of him and he is not quite sure how to deal with that yet. Carter is so sweet and docile that he just usually moves to another location or just pushes him away. If Carter initiates the contact it is usually ok unless Stasik just wants more attention and that is usually when Carter uses evasive action. We knew that there would be an adjustment period and the two boys are still just trying to get to know each other right now while also sharing the same space.
Today Stasik fed himself with a spoon. After he showed me his ability to put food in his mouth I decided it was time to move to phase two. The last couple of days I have been trying to show him how to use a spoon. He still is not patient enough to get food on it by himself, but if I get something on there for him he will take the spoon directly to his mouth and eat. It is amazing how quickly he picks things up and it seems that every learned skill is starting to build off of the one before. He is doing a lot better at sitting up by himself and I do not think it will be long before he does so without any help. His core strength continues to improve and he does not want to just lay back all of the time now. He is standing with assistance for longer periods of time and now does this on his own without any pronpting. His leg muscles are getting stronger and and he just likes to push up and down until he wears himself out. It is obvious he just wants to start doing things and as he accomplishes more I think it fuels his drive to continue.
We weighed him today and he now weighs 15.6 pounds. Not a huge gain from Monday, but it is still a gain. With the amount of food he throws up we consider every pound a major accomplishment over where he was. I can not even imagine the amount of weight he will gain when we work out all of his gastric issues.
We feel very blessed for a lot of reasons. There are many other parents that we met while adopting in the Ukraine that have not had the success story we have had. We pray for them everyday; for patience and knowledge to help them through whatever difficulties they may be having. Some have adopted older children and they face additional challenges trying to help those children learn or relearn skills while also dealing with some more serious emotional and physical issues. We all have to remember that these kids are resilient; they are in a better place and over time will truly be able to live up to their full potential.

Hope to have more info in a few days!!