I am still so amazed that we are home. All five of us. Home. It is such a tremendous feeling. I am an adventurer -- I like going new places and trying new things and meeting new people -- but maybe now as more years pass or the fact that I am a mother of three or that Noah's adoption was so long in the making, I don't know, but it just feels so good to be here altogether under one roof at last.
I remember thinking, when Noah and I were still in Honduras but after Jerry and the big boys had left, that maybe part of the reason that the little one and I were still there was so that he could have some one-on-one time with mommy. I do think that is part of it, and I certainly enjoyed having extra time to bond with him. But I think there was also another reason at play. It was to sear Honduras permanently to my heart. I cannot believe how much I fell in love with the place and the people, and I really didn't expect that would happen. Sure, I thought I would like it ok. But as much as I was happy to be flying back to the States with my new young son, I also felt a tinge of sadness to be leaving such a beautiful and warm place, and I am not (just) referring to the weather. I am missing the people that I met and the wonderful memories that we made there. I will always remember our trip there fondly.
So now we are home a week! Noah is doing very well. Because we were together three weeks in Honduras, I think he is very attached now to our family. Even though there was some difficulty for us in being away from home for that length of time (school for the boys, work for Jerry, etc), I do think it helped Noah quite a bit in his attachment process. Even though the Humuya Inn wasn't exactly where he had been living before, it was more similar than it is here, and the people there were Honduran, and they spoke Spanish, and the climate was the same, and the food was similar, that it enabled him to primarily work on his attachment to us without all those other things changing at the same time as well. Then after he had developed a strong attachment to us, he was much more able to figure out his new environment here. The first two or three days that he and I were here, he would quite often grab my hand, want me to pick up my bag, and point to the door as if he was ready to go back. This was similar behavior to what he had done when he was first with us at the hotel, so we were prepared for it, and in fact were rather expecting it. We just held him and comforted him and tried to distract him, and now we don't see that behavior anymore.
He is eating very well. No problems there. We are making food available to him whenever he wants it, which sometimes is less than an hour after he has eaten something, but at this point we are not going to deny him food.
He is sleeping well too. It was very helpful that Jerry was home a few days before me and Noah, as he could disassemble the crib. We already had a bed in his room, so Noah has been sleeping in it just fine. Given our experience with the other two boys, we thought that sleep might be the area where there would be longer remaining problems, so it hasn't surprised us that Noah will wake up at some point in the night and call for me. It is generally around 4 or 5, maybe a little earlier, and I have just gone into his room and lay down with him, and he is out like a light within a minute. He will go down for a nap, but at 45 minutes will wake up and cry. His eyes are usually still closed, so I try to get him to go back to sleep, and that generally works. We tried one day over the weekend without a nap, and that was a mistake. He definitely still needs one.
In terms of communication, I do think he has picked up another word or two. It's not completely clear, but is consistent. I talk to him all day long, and he probably wonders, "when will this lady stop talking?" but I just keep it up as a way to help him get used to his surroundings and acquire English words, at least receptive words. He understands a lot already.
We play all day long, and it has been so fun to introduce him to new toys. We're taking that gradually, but it is so fun to see him "get it" when it comes to a new toy.
We are not without challenges. I don't deny that. But I am confident that with time, those things will work out too and it will be even more amazing around here.