one month

Judd has been home for one month. Countless people have asked how he is doing, so I wanted to update everyone. I could inform you about his sleeping schedule, his blood panel results, and the frequency of his bowel movements. That may be what people mean when they ask us how he is. But it’s no fun to read about or to write. So I’ll write about a few things that stand out.

Judd eats like a killer whale. Yesterday for breakfast he ate roughly 2 eggs, 2 muffins, a banana, a bowl of yogurt, and milk. Wyatt, who is almost twice as tall, ate half as much. Little dude is hungry. We have yet to find a food he won’t gorge himself on. And when it’s time to eat, he freaks out. He stands next to Anne yelling at her, weeping, gnashing teeth, and doing this high-pitched sound that sounds like an orangutan’s mating call... AH ah AH ah AH ah. We feel bad for him. I doubt he was fed much more than the bare basics in the orphanage. But it also gets old being yelled at for an hour a day. He’ll learn that he’ll be fed and not to spaz out. Hopefully soon.

Judder doesn’t like baths. We’ve since learned that in the Hohhot orphanage he got a shower once a month, so it must be a shock for him. While in China, I used to get in the tub with him, and he had a good time. But here, I made a big mistake. We have this lobster toy that I showed him. He liked it. I wound it up. He liked it. I put it in the water. He did NOT like it. He's cried every bath since. Now we give him baths with no toys or just his stacking cups. If Judd is 25 years old and runs when someone orders lobster, it’ll be my fault.

He sweats like a Sumo wrestler in a sauna. The kid is super busy and never stops moving, but I’ve never seen anyone sweat like him. He sweats while he sleeps. Sweats in the car. Sweats in the cold lobby at church. He’s going to have to hit the Right Guard a little earlier than his buddies. Maybe by age 8.

He’s not saying much. 1) He’s Chinese, so he doesn’t know English. I’ve sat on the other side of the table, being in China with no idea what a room of people were rattling on about. It’s hard for me, let alone a one year old. 2) He has a hole in the roof of his mouth. Not helpful. 3) We’ve found out he has fluid in his ears, so he probably can’t hear me well as I say “Judd… Judd… JUDD… JUDDDD!” Basically he has three words: “ma ma” when he hands us something he found, “muh” when he wants more, and “a la la” when he crapped his pants. That’s the sum total of it, but he’s learning. And he is picking up baby sign language well. Next week he is due for tubes in his ears, and that may help a lot.

I think the biggest surprise for us has been how different he is than our boys were at the same age. Basically, Judd doesn’t know us that well yet, he doesn’t trust us, and he has no idea if we’ll leave him when we are going somewhere, if I’ll catch him when I toss him in the air, or if we’ll come when he cries. He eats well and plays and loves his brothers, that much we can see. But what is going on in there that we can’t see? What’s going on that will take years to work through or forget or heal? He’s been through a lot in 21 months. It stands to reason it will take at least that long for him to realize he is now a son, a son in the truest sense of the word.

In a word, Juddster is doing great. He loves his brothers, loves to play, and really loves ice cream. And meat. And bananas. And whatever else you can find. If you were a fly on the wall, you’d hear him squealing with joy, see him moving non-stop, and think he is adjusting well. And he is. We all are.

So far, so good. Things are going as well as can be expected. It is good to be healthy, happy, and home.
-chris