Is 3 1/2 the perfect age for Christmas?

I haven't posted for a while because we've been having too darn much fun! Quinn is LOVING Christmas, and seeing him enjoy it is a total joy. He loves the lights and Christmas trees most of all, and gets quite perturbed if he sees a tree without a star on top (all pine trees should have stars, he believes). He also digs Santa - the big guy came to visit his school, and Quinn was one of the first to jump right up in his lap - as well as "Frosty Snowman" and "Ru-fall" (the red-nosed guy you might know as Rudolph.

The awesome part is, he has no understanding yet that presents are part of the equation. I'm sure that will change by next year, so I'm enjoying it while I can!

Raindrops keep falling on my tongue

It doesn't rain much in Tucson, which is maybe why Quinn got so darn excited last time it happened. He ran outside, screamed with glee and opened his mouth wide.

But the pictures say it better than I can:

A stranger in town

Recently we were in San Francisco and spent an afternoon in Chinatown. We took Quinn to a park to play, and we loved how much it felt like China. Grandparents were sitting on benches chatting as kids played. We were the only parents hovering over our kid, and it was obvious the old folks thought we were pretty ridiculous.

Eventually a father arrived with a remote-controlled helicopter. That's right up Mr. Things That Go's alley, so he bopped over with the other kids to have a look. What happened next was so interesting. Quinn looked at the helicopter, and the kids - all Chinese-speaking - looked at Quinn. It was like they knew he was like them, but different.

I happened to have my camera ready and captured the moment. 

Pumpkin patch!

On a small lot on a very busy city street, a couple that runs an annual Christmas tree lot expanded into an October and November pumpkin patch. Brilliant idea. We took Quinn when Auntie Bonny was visiting, and you'd think we had taken the boy to Disneyland. He LOVED this place. He found a little red wagon to haul around - it may have been intended strictly as a decoration; I was scared to ask - and he filled it up with the pumpkins that caught his fancy. He also loved the little, fenced-off pond, as well as the goat and pot-bellied pig pens.

What an awesome, cheap form of entertainment this was. We spent about $10 on the pumpkins, which are now happily decorating our house. And every day since, when we drive down that busy street, Quinn says, hopefully, "Pumpkin patch?" I suspect we'll be going back soon...

With Auntie Bonny

Happy Fall, from our family to yours!!!!!!!

Happy (eventually) Halloween

Granted, poor Quinn has a sinus infection and does not feel great. He sobbed when I pulled out his Halloween outfit, one of many outfits we brought back from China.

I offered him several choices of other outfits, and he didn't like those either, so I started trolling around for alternate costume ideas. I pulled out his hospital gown and tried to sell him on the idea of being a patient, but he wasn't digging that either.

Baba said let's either pick and outfit and rush out the door or bag it. So we quickly got him dressed and out we all went. He cried for as long as it took us to walk a few yard to "the Halloween house," which is draped in lights and scary scenes that may one day terrify him but for now just enchant him. We go there every night and usually just get to look from the street. Tonight we got to go ALL THE WAY UP TO THE DOOR. And wouldn't you know, suddenly Halloween went from bust to boom. Quinn started running down the street asking to "Go door?" at each house, and quickly mastered both "Trick or treat" and "Thank you."

We only went to a few houses, but Quinn came home with a quality haul (which Mama and Baba enjoyed after he went to bed... Yes, yes, stealing candy from a baby, blah, blah, blah...)

Family Day No. 2!

Today marks two years since we became a family. I echo the words of a mom in our travel group: In some ways it seems like we've been together forever, in others it feels like it's been about two weeks since Beijing.

When I think about the changes in Quinn, it's really nothing short of astonishing. Two years ago, at 16 months, he could sit up with assistance but couldn't stand or walk. He had little interest in toys or games, other than stacking cups. He avoided eye contact.

A year ago, he was walking and running, but hardly talking at all. He had a few single words here and there, but that was it.

Today, just try and stop the kid. In the past few months his single words became two-word phrases, then three words, and now sentences. He is fun-loving and affectionate and has a sense of humor that never ceases to floor me.

I can't imagine a more perfect fit for our family. And I cannot believe how much I love this kid, and how that love just seems to keep growing every day.

Happy family day, Quinny! Wo Ai Ni! (That's I Love You in Mandarin!!)

Off the charts!

I saw some Chinese growth charts on one of my Yahoo! groups, and after recently pulling them out to send to the mom of a little girl adopted the same day as Quinn, I decided to chart my little cherub. Before he came to us he was at about the 30th percentile by Chinese standards. Now he is at the 97th percentile for height and is OFF THE CHARTS for weight.

It's amazing what love and chocolate chip cookies can do for a boy...

Sentences!!

Quinn is getting pretty good at two- and three-word statements without adjectives, adverbs or pronouns. And then all of a sudden today he has uttered THREE full sentences.

While driving: "Mama, yellow car on top wall." Sure enough, we were passing a car dealership with a yellow car on the roof.

While walking past the bookstore with the beloved spinning ball fountain near the front door: "Go see ball in wa (water)?

After lunch, when Baba and Mama were getting into separate cars: "Baba, get in Mama car."

Fluke or breakthrough? Time will tell. But boy am I a proud mama today!

My kid is the smartest kid

Oh my goodness, is he smart. Just 3 years old and already he can ... Oh wait ... Never mind.

Future fashionista (fashionisto?)

About a month ago Quinn went from not liking the feel of anything soft to loving the feel of coats and blankets draped over him. He often pulls my coats out the closet to try on, and also likes to pull blankets off the bed and drapes off the wall, both of which make fine capes (and stangulation risks, I know!).

It's a little bit funny, a little bit odd, and very Quinn. The upside, beyond the amusing live performance: If he ends up becoming a fashion designer and/or auditioning for Project Runway, I have the perfect photos for his audition tape/book jacket/press kit. All he'll have to do is add a heartfelt, "I've been draping fabrics since I was a toddler," and he's good to go!

The surgery was a success

Before his surgery, Quinn could barely reach his mouth, and that was only if he used his left hand to push up his right hand. Check him out now. Thank you, Dr. Waters!!

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First day of school

Quinn headed off for his first day at pre-school today. Let's just say any tears shed were not shed by the little student...






I'd taken him for a couple of visits to the school so when we pulled up this morning he said, "School!" We took some pictures, took him in and disappeared pretty quickly. Two hours later, BaBa and NaNa picked him up and he was as happy as when we dropped him off. Play Dough, playground, snack time and story time today - what's not to love?

And now Quinn is officially a Wheeler Wildcat.

Boy in motion

Multiply these few seconds by seven full hours and you'll get a sense of our day at the Boston Children's Museum. This was the day after Quinn got his giant cast off and he was ready to RUN!

All that money wasn't wasted after all....

Suddenly Quinn can't get enough of all those outfits I snapped up in China. Until now he pretty much hated them. Now, we have daily fashion shows!

One awesome Nana

Just have to say that I'm so proud of Quinn's Nana (formerly known as my mom), who is handling her macular degeneration with such grace that she was invited to speak today to a class of the newly vision-impaired at a local non-profit for the visually impaired.

Here she is getting off the bus after her first ride on the handi-van. Freedom is hers once again!

The cast is OFF!

It's hard to believe it's been 4 1/2 weeks since Quinn's surgery, but I guess it has, because here we are back at the hospital. Our first stop was the cast tech lab, where Quinn climbed up on one of many beds and screamed in terror as a guy sawed at him with a little, but LOUD, round saw. I was pretty terrified, too, honestly.

Next up we saw Dr. Waters, who declared the surgery a great success. He said the transferred muscles are "firing" already, meaning they're attached and working.

Final stop on our Children's Hospital tour was physical therapist Megan, who took us through the exercises Quinn needs to do 2-3 times a day for the next six months. We took video so we can make sure we got it right and so we can show his new physcial therapist once we get home. She also showed us lots of things to do in day-to-day life to get him using that right arm, which he has spent three years learning not to use.

Already, we can see that he can do things he couldn't do before, like reach up higher and twist his wrist. But he is more reluctant than ever to use it - it probably feels weird to have the cast gone - so I can see that PT will be very, very important.

The cutest little fireman

A local fire station had an open house today, and we had to take our little fire-truck-loving boy. He had a grand time getting in and out of the fire trucks and running around them in big, excited circles. He even wore a fire hat - and he almost never will wear a hat!

Home again

Quinn did astonishingly well on the plane trip home. That was the part of this whole ordeal I was most dreading, and it really was no big deal.

To be honest, I think codeine may have been a factor. At my mom's wise suggestion, we gave him a dose of his pain meds shortly before each flight. The first takeoff was really tough - he could not get comfortable in the seat and was squirming, pulling off his seat belt and crying pretty hard. After takeoff I managed to get him to lay down with his feet in my lap and he went almost immediately to sleep. Miraculously, he stayed that way for the entire four-hour flight. I even got to read a book and drink a hot tea.

In Dallas he had a nice dinner of his beloved vegetable lo mein, and on the flight home he laid with his head in my lap and watched Baby Beethoven (known to Quinn as "teh bear vi" after the violin-playing teddy bear that makes a couple of appearances near the beginning of the video.

He's pooped and we're pooped, but we're all glad to be home.

Choo-choo!

Quinn is a train fanatic, and loves nothing more than going to the small train station near the hospital and watching the choo-choo's come and go.

Today we went for an actual ride on a train, to Faneuil Hall. He LOVED it.

Already walking!

Amazingly, Quinn is walking on his own. None of us can figure out how he's doing it, but he's doing it. He gets tired really fast, not surprisingly, and wants to be carried, which is a mighty challenge.


He falls quite a bit, which is scary - tonight in the room he went straight backwards and bonked his head on the floor. Ouch. It's also very difficult for him to sit up straight because his cast goes down to his hips. That makes high chairs, booster seats, regular chairs and sofas all very tricky.

We're a bit nervous about the plane ride home tomorrow. But if the past few days are any indication, he'll find a way to get through it.

Share my pain

This is the Wiggles song and video Quinn requested at least 100 times, all night long, in the hospital. Every time they woke him up for some procedure or another, he'd point at the TV and ask, "More more quack quack?"

I was horrified the next morning to learn Quinn's roommate Zack and his dad heard it every single time - I thought hospital speakers could only be heard from one bed at a time. I guess not...

I challenge you: Watch it and see if you can get it out of your head!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4dmelafrvk

Out of the hospital

Quinn has been discharged and we're back at the Yawkey Family House. We were told he'd be weepy and cranky for 2-3 days, and then realize the cast isn't going away and start to adapt to it. Instead, he started trying to walk while still in the hospital, which is extremely difficult because the cast is very heavy - I'd estimate about 10 pounds - and holds his right arm straight up and straight out. He's both top heavy and side heavy.

In the hospital he had a really tough time putting one foot in front of the other and couldn't hold up his upper body at all. Back here, though, he is doing much better. He immediately wanted to go to the awesome play room ("Play toys? Play toys?"). And there he moved from his stroller to a chair, with assistance. After a while he wanted an "eh-bayter" ride so Tom helped him down the hall by duck-waddling behind him with his arms around Quinn's waist and cast. By the time they emerged Quinn was walking with Tom holding his hand. He's not walking unassisted yet, but I don't think it will be long. He can even sit in a restaurant high chair and eat with us, which is terrific.

We had been told to bring button-down shirts two sizes two big to fit over the cast, but they're WAY too small. Turns out that when Dr. Waters got a view of Quinn in action pre-surgery, he decided a little redesign was in order. He built a double-thick cast and attached not one but two bars to hold Quinn's arm up in the right-turn position. The thing is HUGE. Quinn wears a 3T and we brought size 5s. Nana and I went to The Gap today and picked up four size 8s at a great price - buy one, get the second for $5. So Q now has a styling summer wardrobe.

I wonder how much of Quinn's amazing adaptability is due to his personality and how much is due to his special need and his time in the orphanage. In China, he learned to make due with what he was given. and because of his bracial plexus injury, sustained at birth, he invented ways to compensate for an only partially useful right arm. I know all kids are highly adaptable, but this kid is pretty remarkable. I am in awe of him.

Bad night, better day (updated with photos)

Quinn had a tough night. He repeatedly stopped breathing when he cried ("I will hold my breath until this cast is OFF!") and then the heart monitor indicated an irregularity. That meant an EKG - challenging with only a small chest hole for monitoring stickers. Then blood work - even more challenging because of his very deep veins. It took two teams of nurses and two needle sticks to get it right. So neither of us got much sleep.

The only thing that kept Quinn calm was back to back to back playing of the very annoying, "Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, cock-a-doodle-doo" by The Wiggles. Quinn found it at the beginning of a fairly ancient Barney VHS tape from the hospital library and it was love at first listen. So listen we did, and did, and did, and did.

Today things are a little better. A cardiologist said Quinn likely has a very common early heartbeat in the upper chamber that 9 out of 10 kids grow out of. He's being fitted with a monitor today and will wear it for the next 24 hours. We also had visits from a car seat specialist, and a physical therapist who helped us figure out how to lift Quinn and get him in and out of his stroller. A cast tech cut some off the bottom of his cast because he couldn't sit up straight, and cut some out of the arm pit because it was sticking into him. And that was all before lunch!



We went down to the cafeteria for lunch and Quinn watched the giant ball maze for a long time, and the fish tank for a long time, both of which he loves.


After lunch he played in the activity room with BaBa and NaNa while I filled prescriptions, got travel letters, got release instructions and filled out release paperwork.

He's back to saying he wants to go on a train ride and directing which Barney songs he wants to hear, so he's definitely getting back to normal.

Out of surgery and mad as hell (updated with photos)

Quinn's surgery wasn't until 2:45 p.m., which really worried us because this kid does not like to skip meals. Our strategy was to keep him busy, busy, busy and filled up with apple juice, which was allowed until two hours before surgery.


At 12:30, a bit nervous, we left the Yawkey Family House Here it is - a former frat house that was completely renovated and reopened about 9 months ago in its current form.)



At the hospital, he walked happily into the OR. He had a great time operating the mechanical bed with directions from the awesomely cool anesthesiologist, and played a fun game blowing into a mask, which he didn't realize was the fumes that would knock him out. The nurses were very patient and took their time with him, but when he tried to convince them to put the mask on his toe ("On toe! On toe!"), the anesthesiologist popped the mask on his mouth and off to dreamland he went.

While he was in surgery, we waited in this very nice family area. The surgery lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes, followed by an hour to put on the cast and an hour in the recovery room before we were ushered in. The poor kid woke up immobile, with his arm in a horribly awkward position.



Understandably, he is MAD! Between tears and begging to put his arm down, he did ask for some apple juice (his new passion, discovered this morning when he was on a clear-liquids diet until our noon arrival at the hospital).



He is doing well, all things considered. A nurse was able to scare up a master key to the locked video room, so Barney is making things better, as Barney always does for Quinn. After two doses of morphine, he is finally sleeping and I'm in the fold-out bed beside him.

Dr. Waters said kids who wake up with a "spike" cast are typically mad, mad, mad for a day or two and then adjust quite well once they realize it's not going away. Let's hope that's the case for Quinn!

Surgery tomorrow (updated with pictures)

We're in Boston for Quinn's long-awaited shoulder surgery. We flew in yesterday and Quinn did shockingly good on the plane - then made up for it by waking up at 4:30 a.m. and refusing to go back to sleep. We were even treated to a very nice call from the front desk telling us other guests were complaining about the racket.

We've made it to Boston for Quinn's long-awaited shoulder surgery. The trip went well despite my fears, and Quinn loved pulling his new big-boy back pack.

This morning, thought, he woke up at 4:30 a.m. and refused to go back to sleep. We were even treated to a very nice call from the front desk telling us other guests were complaining about the racket.

Today was pre-op madness. We visited the orthopedic clinic and pre-op clinics. Jess, Dr. Waters' nurse practitioner, explained the procedure and how everything will happen.


She also showed us, and Quinn, a doll wearing the cast Quinn will get. Yikes, it's much worse than I had pictured. Full upper body, and it can't get wet. That's going to be a challenge. He's an active sweaty boy who gets hot on the coolest of days.

In pre-op, Quinn was examined to make sure he was healthy for surgery. Then we met with the anesthesiologist and went through the hospital admissions process.



His favorite part of the day was watching the ball maze in the lobby, which he just can't get enough of.


He had so many appointments, and no nap, that he was just pooped. He slept right through his last two appointments.

Tonight we enjoyed a great dinner with other families staying here at the fabulous Yawkey Family Inn, which is affiliated with Boston Children's. Volunteers come and cook several nights a week, which is so nice. It's great to meet with other families, and we even met a little girl who got double arm casts off today, and got some survival tips from her mom. It's a beautiful old house that's all updated and gorgeous - and rooms cost $30 a night. Amazing.

Surgery tomorrow, so early bath and bed tonight. Please send your prayers, thoughts or good vibes at 2:15 p.m. eastern on May 20 - that's when Quinn's surgery begins.




Today was pre-op madness. We visited the orthopedic clinic and saw the cast Quinn will get - yikes, it's much worse than I had pictured. Full upper body, and it can't get wet. That's going to be a challenge. Then he got examined to make sure he was healthy for surgery, met with the anesthesiologist and went through the admissions process.

Tonight we enjoyed a great dinner with other families staying here at the fabulous Yawkey Family Inn, which is affiliated with Boston Children's. Volunteers come and cook several nights a week, which is so nice. It's great to meet with other families, and we even met a little girl who got double arm casts off today, and got some survival tips from her mom. It's a beautiful old house that's all updated and gorgeous - and rooms cost $30 a night. Amazing.

Surgery tomorrow, so early bath and bed tonight. Please send your prayers, thoughts or good vibes at 2:15 p.m. eastern on May 20 - that's when Quinn's surgery begins.