After fighting some monstrous jet lag, I had to call in the big guns and take a prescription sleep aid. Seriously, it was bad. After taking some medication, I got a full nights sleep last night and feel awesome today.
Yesterday, the kids went back to school. Poor Little M went to school with 1 hour of sleep but she wanted to go to school so badly. Little C did a little better with 3 hours. Big C slept most of the night. I know Big M, at college, struggled to sleep cause she was messaging me at 2am!
I woke Kai up with the kids and he showered. In China, I had our guide explain to him that he was going to school at home with me but he started packing his backpack right before we left. I used google translate to tell him we were just taking the kids to school and he was staying with me. A big smile came on his face when he understood. I think he was really relieved.
Big C is in the 10th grade.
Little C is in the 7th grade.
Little M is in the 6th grade.
And Madison is now at college and this is her saying goodbye to her mother the day after we got home from China. I still haven't processed that she is gone.
It was strange for me to have Kai around yesterday while the other kids were gone. Being exhausted certainly didn't help. We took the kids to school and he chose to remain in the car while I ran them in to check them into the office.
On the way to get the oil changed on the car after, Kai threw up in the car. I called K who was on his way home from taking Big C to high school and he met me at the dealership to take Kai home. Kai threw up once more at home. I had an unsettled stomach as well so I think we caught a little something. Otherwise, he felt fine and is doing well today.
I kept him home the remainder of the day to be sure. He spent time working on the computer learning the ABC's and playing Chinese games on QQ. I had him watch some cartoons in english as well. This boy loves technology! I had to start taking his ipod away at night in order for him to sleep and not play games in bed! I took M and C's as well so he wouldn't feel singled out.
I need to establish some sort of routine with him and I am figuring that out. The kids go off on the bus at 7am and then I will wake him up. I don't think it's a good idea to let him sleep past that. He is used to structure and routine and I need to provide that. We then took the dogs out for a walk. I wasn't sure how this was going to go because he hasn't been too fond of the dogs. I gave him Sammie on the leash because she is the calm one. Sounder is crazy. Kai actually really enjoyed it and it made him less nervous around them. I think he felt some control.
I think this is going at least a 3 morning a week occurance. Exercise certainly needs to be in the routine for both of us. I made an interesting observation during our walk this morning. Kai still has a limp but it isn't as pronounced as it used to be. I think all the walking we have done over the last 2 weeks has been really good for him.
Over the weekend, I asked Kai if he would like to help me cook and he said yes. He help me egg and bread the pork to make tonkatsu. It's Japanese but, hey, it's Asian! It's a favorite in our household and he liked it. This morning I showed him our breakfast foods and he then pointed to a can of potato soup. Okay, then. I showed him how to heat up potato soup and that's what he had for breakfast!
Everyday he has been practicing writing his name. Yesterday, I had him copy down all of our first and last names. I wanted him to associate his last name with each of our names to show he is part of us. I don't know if that connection happened nor do I know what I am really doing...just flying by the seat of pants here and doing what feels right.
Also, that evening, I had to go pick up Little C from open gym and Kai wanted to go with me. We walked up to the gymnasium door and Kai looked through the windows and didn't want to go in. I walked him back to the car and he stayed there while I picked C up.
On Sunday, we were out at S and R's house looked across the river toward where we live and saw this huge dust storm approaching. Not 10 minutes later, we were in it and his was a big storm with whipping wind and rain. I was a little concerned that Kai would be scared, after all, he didn't want to come to America because of tornadoes.
He was the last one to come in! He was remaining outside video taping being in it with his ipod! We did make him come in when the rain and wind really kicked in. He didn't seem afraid or nervous about it at all.
A good start!
