Quinn Comes Home

A very meaningful day (for 2/3 of us...)

2011-11-01T22:50:00.001-07:00

Today is our third Family Day. I can't believe it's been three years, and yet it seems like we've always been together. We let Quinn take the lead, so we went out for a bagel breakfast, and after preschool we went to the zoo and out for "Chinese noodles."

It was a lovely day, marred only by the grownups' repeated attempts to get a nice family photo. Quinn thought this was a terrible, boring idea that was sucking important fun time out of his day. He did a bit of whining and trotted out the fake cry he has just about retired, but all in all he put up with us pretty well. We didn't get the perfect Christmas card photo we had envisioned, but we did get some photos that made us laugh (especially the one at the bottom of this post, which is the most perfect image ever of his goofy personality). And that's probably better in the long run anyway.

To Quinn's BCWI cousins Malia and Anna, Happy Family Day and lots and lots of love. To everyone waiting for a Family Day of their own, I hope your wait is short and sweet. And to Quinn Jianrong, we love you more than all the love in the world, times 27 million.

Trunk or treat!

2011-10-31T23:23:00.001-07:00

I zipped home from work early today and we carved a couple of pumpkins. Quinn drew on the faces, I did the carving. He tried to convince me to trade jobs, but I didn't fall for that one...

We all went trick-or-treating as the royal family. Tom made us crowns (Quinn chose one from his massive collection, and Nana found one that fit her, too) but Quinn also wore a cape. He is always very serious when he puts on a cape...

Here we go!

Our little dog Baxter is having some severe fainting spells due to a leaky heart value, so we're not supposed to get him too excited. A constantly ringing doorbell seemed like a bad idea, so we handed out candy from the back of one of our cars. It turned out to be a really fun thing to do and we got to talk to the neighbors a lot more than we do just opening the door and tossing out some candy while the dogs go nutty. This (and Quinn, of course) made for a really fun Halloween!

Who is scarier?

2011-10-08T22:54:00.000-07:00

I love this photo of Tom and Quinn at Panda Club today. We combined Autumn Moon Festival and Halloween, and the girls of the Asian sorority at the University of Arizona helped the kids make paper lanterns, decorate foam pumpkins and masks, and decorate some seriously delicious sugar cookies from a local bakery. Once everyone was hyped up on sugar we went outside for a rousing game of "red-light, green-light" and "duck, duck, goose." Ah, the classics. And the kids LOVED it!

A new best day ever: Day Out With Thomas

2011-08-10T22:15:00.001-07:00

Last week we went to a preschool spectacle called "Day Out With Thomas." The kids get to ride in a train pulled by Thomas and also have access to a boatload of related activities: Thomas face painting, coloring pages, jumping castles, train tables, temporary tattoos - and, of course, an entire airplane hangar packed with Thomas merchandise for sale.

Quinn loved every little thing about this event. Tom snapped this photo after we boarded the open-air train and just before it took off. His expression shows the joy and wonder that was on his sweet face the whole day long.

Well, at least someone is enjoying this heat...

2011-07-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

"Gotta go poo-poo on the potty, get Lightning McQueen!"

2011-07-11T21:40:00.001-07:00

Yes, friends, we have resorted to full-scale bribery to get Quinn to poop on the potty. Why? Because he's 4 years old and fully capable of using the potty. Because his sensory-seeking tendencies make him unusually nonplussed about sitting around in a stinky diaper. And mostly because, well, it works.

Yes, indeed. On Wednesday I told him that if he went poo-poo on the potty he could go to Target and pick out a toy. "Blue Star?" he negotiated. That's what he calls Toys R Us, whose logo is, yup, a blue star. In other words, the kid won't poop for a trip to Target, but if we up the ante to Toys R Us, he's in. And he was. On Friday, bingo. He was VERY proud of himself and we got off fairly easy with a $16.99 Lightning McQueen car. Of course, now each time he heads to the bathroom, we hear a very excited boy tell himself, "Gotta go poo-poo on the potty, get Lightning McQueen!"

A (fleeting) wish for a sis

2011-07-05T22:10:00.001-07:00

We have pretty much decided that Quinn will be an only child. So of course, when I told him this morning that his friend Nate was going to have a baby sister soon, he said, "We gotta go get a baby sister! Quinn want a baby sister." Just how deep is his desire? This afternoon, I was looking at a blog by the mom of a boy from Quinn's orphanage - they're in China now and welcomed a beautiful, smiling baby girl just yesterday. "Look!" I showed Quinn when he came to see what I was doing. "Matthew got a baby sister!" He leaned in close, squinted at the screen and proclaimed, "All done baby sister!" Then he went to play with his toy garbage truck. And that - at least for today... - was that.

The boy and the arm

2011-07-03T21:05:00.001-07:00

This month has been so busy - and so blisteringly hot - that I totally neglected to post a report from the doctor who operated on Quinn's brachial plexus injury last year.

The good news is that Dr. Waters is very happy with Quinn's progress. He has almost complete "passive" use of his right arm - if someone moves it around for him - which is a good indication he'll have good "active" use as he gets stronger and stronger. We have to have him checked every year (a good excuse for an annual trip to Boston!) and there is always a chance he'll have problems when he has a growth spurt. The biggest challenge is that he continues to favor the right arm quite strongly, so we need to work on that. We worked with Dr. Waters' physical therapist to tweak his twice-daily exercises, and we learned that he'll probably never be able to reach behind his back with his right arm because the tendon that does that is one of the tendons they transferred to give him the ability to lift and rotate his arm. A good trade-off, I think.

So the news was good. But the visit itself? Not so much. We had a longish wait, during which Quinn was quite angelic, playing games happily in the waiting room. But the minute we went into the examination room - the same one he was in that horribly traumatic day last year that his cast was sawed off - he pretty much freaked out. The physical therapist came in right away, and he cried every time she looked at him. He wouldn't let her touch him, he wouldn't do anything she asked and he kept either hiding behind the curtain separating the room into half or hurling himself on the floor. Then he started spinning uncontrollably. Not a good scene. Eventually, the PT gave up and left the room. It wasn't until then that it hit me: Pull out the puzzles. Thankfully, that worked as well as it always does and Quinn sat on the floor happily doing his puzzles, even after Dr. Waters came in. In fact, when he wanted Quinn to lift his arm or reach in a particular direction, he just held up a puzzle piece. Worked like a charm.

In short, the visit got better, we learned what we wanted to learn, and we left and had a good rest of the day. But the next morning as were eating breakfast, I noticed that Quinn - who is NEVER cold - was shivering. And he was not eating, which is equally odd for him. I thought maybe he was sick, and then it hit me what was wrong. I bent down, looked right in his eyes and told him he didn't have any doctor's visits that day. Boom. New kid. He started chattering away, ate his breakfast, put on his shoes and announced he was ready to get on with the day. I just felt horrible. I knew that we were finished, but it didn't even dawn on me that he didn't know that. Poor little guy was just plain terrified. Definitely not one of my best moments in parenting...

Quinn is 4!

2011-06-08T19:41:00.001-07:00

Today is Quinn's "Happy Birthday," as he calls it. We're still in Boston, so we had a fun and relaxing day with no medical appointments and lots of stuff Quinn likes to do.

We brought him a couple little presents and Nana sent a recordable story book that he loved (but he kept looking at it when he heard her voice and asking, "Nana? NANA?") We also took him to a local toy store we've been to on previous visits and let him pick out a toy. He picked a small dump truck - no shock for the Things That Go kid - but the surprise is that this kid who has never liked stuff animals and is not what you would call the nurturing type took to this new friend like it was a doll.

First came the greeting - "Hi, Rocky!" - and then came the hugs. Then he started showing Rocky the ropes - when the waitress delivered our food and removed the number from our table, Quinn shared his concern with his new charge. "Oh no, Rocky, she took our sign!"

Best of all came after dinner, when he held up Rocky and asked me, "Go change diaper?" I took him into the bathroom, where he pulled down the changing table, put Rocky on it and asked for a paper towel. We wiped the truck down good, and then Quinn directed me to lay the truck on its back and put on a new diaper (made from paper towels). Quinn gave Rocky a once-over and proclaimed, "Okay, he's all clean!"

Tonight Quinn let Rocky watch us do a puzzle and brush our teeth, and now the two are now sleeping side by side. Many a therapist has tried to get this child to engage in pretend play with dolls and action figures. Turns out that all he needed was a yellow dump truck!

Catching up with Cousin Anna

2011-06-07T05:51:00.000-07:00

While in Boston to see Quinn's surgeon, our wonderful friends and China travel companions Susan and Russ drove in with their three kids, including Quinn's Cousin Anna, who joined her family approximately five seconds before Quinn joined ours. (Cousin Malia was the other child adopted in our trio, and we were lucky enough to catch up with her and her sister Cousin Ari at a reunion of kids from the Beijing CWI last year.)

It was so incredibly wonderful to see the kids together again. Anna, nine months older than Quinn, tried her darndest to get him to interact with her. Quinn, being nine months younger and a boy and generally unwilling to make eye contact unless forced, was less interactive but enjoyed himself in his own way. He also dug the "big boys," Cousin Spencer (during a visit to the aquarium he kept hollering, "Cousin Speeeeeeeeen-sur!") and Cousin Kent.

It's amazing how far these kids have come. They went through so much we'll never know about before they came to us, and they've been through so much since. But here they are, growing, smiling, thriving. Anna charmingly sang us a Justin Beiber song during dinner Saturday with the sweetest smile on her beautiful face, and Quinn ran joyfully around every square inch of the New England Aquarium, exhausting him and all of us.

It was a beautiful reunion, and a fabulous weekend. And it made me realize how incredibly blessed we were to be thrown together with two really wonderful families in China who we immediately liked and quickly grew to love. Sometimes you end up with your family, sometimes you get to choose. We chose to bring Quinn into our family, and now - for his sake but also because we just plain want to - we choose the families we traveled with to be part of our own patchworked, embroidered, crazy quilt of a forever family.

We are peeing on the potty! (but not pooping...)

2011-05-30T22:40:00.001-07:00

It was no small feat for a kid who is quite content to spend the day in a dirty or wet diaper, but we are doing it! Quinn is peeing on the potty! No poop yet, and honestly, no real reason to hope that's going to change any time soon.

Me: "Quinn, where do we go poo-poo?"
Quinn: "On. The. Potty!" (You wouldn't believe the enthusiasm!)
Me: "That's right! And where did you just go poo-poo?"
Quinn: "In. The. Underpants!" (Equal enthusiasm.)

No remorse from this kid. I guess this is the downside to taking the potty training thing nice and easy...

Still, we'll take our successes where we can find them. After all, QUINN IS PEEING ON THE POTTY! After an appalling lack of success with regular reminders, and after discovering the impracticalities of letting him run around naked (it worked, but ONLY when he was naked) we jumped on the prize bandwagon. Oh, my. We had a little basket with some cheap stickers and freebie toys, plus a few toy cars. Within hours the kid had the system licked, and was fishing about for the toy cars. That eventually morphed into demands for toy cars upon peeing, and eventually into determined but not very convincing fake tears when one was not produced. Oops.

So we have moved on to the "prize chart," which was greeted with wailing and desperate cries of "Basket? Toy car?" But finally, a week in, he is on board. He gets a sticker for each time he goes, and works toward prizes - a trip to the "car washer" or the little train ride at the zoo or "Old McDonald's" playland - that was his first choice.

So we're progressing, and we're wearing big boy underpants right out in public. Which is darned inconvenient. It means having to pull over when he says he has to go, spending way too much time in dirty public restrooms and trying to remember to take him to the potty at regular intervals. He's shockingly good about it, and sometimes funny to boot. Yesterday he was trying to pull down his underpants at lunch and was stymied by the drawstring. "Mama," he finally said, quite exasperated. "These pants are locked!"

One year (!) post surgery

2011-05-28T22:35:00.001-07:00

Incredibly, it's been an entire year since Quinn's tendon transfer surgery to repair his brachial plexus injury - the "SN" that brought us together. He has almost complete use of his right arm - before the surgery he had almost no use of it - but he still has to be reminded, constantly, to use it.

His one remaining challenge is reaching behind his back, which makes dressing himself quite a challenge. In fact, one reason we decided to go ahead with surgery was meeting an 8-year-old girl with brachial plexus injury who was begging her parents for surgery because she couldn't dress herself, put on her backpack or hang on the monkey bars at school. Anyway, his PT suggested some exercises that didn't really work and I've tried some other things that didn't really work. So not much progress, until about a month ago when I ran into his former feeding therapist, who is the easily most brilliant person I've ever met when it comes to children. "Hmmm," she said, "What could we do?" And on the spot she plopped down on the floor and came up about three exercises THAT ARE WORKING. Incredible. Quinn had no strength to sustain them when we started, but I already see that changing. Score (another) one for the feeding therapist!

We head back to Boston in a couple of weeks for his one-year check up with Dr. Waters. I'll be eager to hear his report, and eager for our strange little family vacation that has become our medical trips to Boston!

The best day ever

2011-04-25T21:45:00.001-07:00

If we search the world over for the rest of our lives we probably will never find anything Quinn loves more than the "Keep On Truckin'" show held each year at a local synagogue. All kinds of working vehicles gather in the huge parking lot and kids get to climb aboard.

Operating the lever to lift a garbage can was a BIG hit - and this guy was so nice.

This tour bus driver about had a heart attack when Quinn grabbed his expensive microphone and started talking into it.

Start this baby up!

Guess who came out of here with a black bottom?

Fire truck!

Oh. My. Lord. Quinn was in true nirvana from the moment we arrived until the moment we left. While he loved it all, we quickly established a pattern: garbage truck, skid steer, fire truck, skid steer, police car, skid steer, front-end loader, skid steer. Luckily, he and the skid steer guy bonded so he patiently lifted him into the cab and lowered the safety bar around him time after time and after after time after...

The biggest smiles were reserved for the skid steer.

More skid steer smiles.

All done wif no?

2011-04-22T22:16:00.001-07:00

Quinn has developed a clever little pair of techniques for getting out of trouble as soon as he gets into it: distraction and charm.

When he first started speaking sentences, any time he was corrected - and I mean the tiniest little redirection, like, "Here, Sweetheart, try it this way" or "Let's do that after we put our shoes on" - he would immediately ask, "Go outside?" We kept remarking on how much he loves being outdoors, until - slow parents that we are - we finally noticed that he was trying to distract us so we'd forget the correction. Crafty little kid, this one. In the last week or so, with his language skills expanding, he added an even more effective technique. When corrected, he gets a very sad look on his face, lowers his high-pitched voice and asks very sweetly, "All done wif no?" As predicted, the answer is pretty much always yes.

Are you the little king?

2011-04-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

Quinn has become quite obsessed with Old King Cole, which he discovered on TWO different Barney videos. First, he started using my company-issued blue fleece blanket as a cape. Then, one Friday - boy's day - he and Tom (actually, just Tom) spent most of the day making crowns out of manilla envelopes and aluminum foil.

Quinn still mixes up his pronouns, calling himself "you" and everyone else "me," which kinda makes sense since that's how he hears everyone referred to. Anyway, most mornings I get up to find him in his cape and crown in the living room, and when he sees me he looks up and asks, "Are you the little king?" I tell him he's the king of my heart, and he nods, very seriously. Mind you, the picture at the top of this post is an anomaly. When he is in his regal regalia he is VERY serious.

Life, narrated

2011-03-05T21:00:00.001-08:00

Now that Quinn is attempting full sentences, we're having a blast hearing what's going on in that head of his. Mostly what we hear is narration. The moment he wakes up in the morning, he starts talking to himself, narrating each and every move he, the dogs or either of us make. "Go see Rosie? Eat? Go for walk? Look! Mama getting out of bed. Mama is putting coat on. Baba is walking up the hill."

Just this week, after MUCH work, he is starting to answer our questions about things that have already happened. What did you do in school today? What game did you and Nana play? What did you do while you were outside?

And just today, he started expanding on those answers, turning them into actual conversations. At dinner tonight he told me that he and Baba watched the sun go down. Now it is dark, he said, but he wanted the sun to go back up in the sky. I told him that the sun would go up, but not until he woke up in the morning. "Sun go up now," he said. Not yet, I told him. Just like you need sleep, the sun is sleeping. We went round and round about that and you could really see him trying to wrap his head around the concept. After dinner, while he was playing with my cell phone, he hit some feature that activated the voice control and the phone invited him to "Say a command." "Tell it to do something," I told him. He looked at the phone and commanded, "Wake up the sun!"

Pee pee on the potty!

2011-02-28T21:57:00.001-08:00

Every day since last July when I bought this "Cars" potty seat, I have dutifully sat Quinn on top of it. And every time he has dutifully sat there, looked at toy catalogs or played with an envelope of potpourri, and then smiled sweetly at me and announced, "All done potty." Never has he deposited anything in there, mind you. Until now! One night I noticed a drip or two and made a BIG deal out of it. A couple nights later we got a tiny little squirt - bigger deal - and the third night an actual, bonafide pee pee. "Look!" he announced, pointing. "Pee pee come out the penis!" BIG PARTY. All the excitement prompted him to put the potty on his head and christen it a "potty hat." This kid is immature in many ways, but his sense of humor is crazy sophisticated.

Since then he has been doing his thing almost daily -- If I get him to the potty at the right time, he'll go; if not, he'll just use his Pullup (now known as "underpants."). One day he even added a bonus feature: "Poo poo come out the bootie!"

So we're getting there. Finally.

Oh, Thomas, I love you so...

2011-02-09T19:45:00.001-08:00

My little "helper"

2011-01-06T17:56:00.003-08:00

Christmas with Quinn was a true joy. He loved lights and Santa and Frosty and "Ru-fall" (Rudolph). And after watching "Barney's Christmas Star" he came to believe that every tree should have a star on top.

We had a really nice visit with Tom's parents, and while there we took Quinn to see the lights at his beloved Candy Cane Lane TWO times. Tom set up a string of lights in our room and hung the star that was too heavy for the tree but looked very nice on top of the curtain rod. (Every day when Quinn would see his grandparents' tree he'd suggest to them, "Star on top tree? Angel down?")

This picture has nothing to do with Christmas, but it's my fave of the season. A few days after Christmas we went shopping to spend our Macy's gift cards from Obaachan (Japanese for grandmother). I was shopping for a coat and Tom was corralling Quinn. Suddenly he called me to come quick, and I happened to have my camera in hand. Here is what I saw:

Is 3 1/2 the perfect age for Christmas?

2010-12-19T21:46:00.001-08:00

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

2010-12-04T20:53:00.001-08:00

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

2010-11-13T21:21:00.001-08:00

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!

2010-11-07T15:30:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-03T00:26:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-11-01T23:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-10-23T23:12:00.001-07:00

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!!

2010-10-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

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

2010-10-16T22:30:00.001-07:00

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

Future fashionista (fashionisto?)

2010-10-13T15:56:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-28T09:09:00.000-07:00

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!!

b

First day of school

2010-08-23T22:08:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-22T16:14:00.001-07:00

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....

2010-08-20T22:34:00.001-07:00

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

2010-07-13T17:56:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-06-22T07:16:00.001-07:00

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

2010-06-19T22:29:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-25T21:39:00.001-07:00

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!

2010-05-23T20:49:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-23T20:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-23T14:52:00.001-07:00

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

2010-05-22T13:11:00.001-07:00

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)

2010-05-21T12:15:00.001-07:00

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)

2010-05-20T18:39:00.001-07:00

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)

2010-05-19T18:16:00.000-07:00

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.

Winning by failing

2010-05-14T16:07:00.000-07:00

Quinn's tests for public special-ed preschool were a classic example of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

The way these tests work, if a child fails three consecutive challenges in a given area, that test is over. Quinn typically hit that threshold very early, indicating very serious delays. He is missing many of the basic, basic building blocks - not surprising for a child who spent his first 16 months in an orphanage with little stimulation. BUT, if you skip over the baby stuff, Quinn has many skills of a child his age or older. He knows his letters and numbers, can figure out how most anything works, knows which key goes into which lock and has memorized countless books and songs.

So how to score him? If the test results take into account his more advanced skills, he would not qualify. If they focus on his lack of basic skills, he would certainly qualify.

His therapists all agree that he will benefit from this program, and want him in it. So after much discussion we decided to follow the rules to the letter: When he failed three consecutive challenges, test over. They all agree this is fully ethical, and best for Quinn.

So that's what we did. And he qualified. He will attend preschool for two hours four days a week, and will get 30 minutes of speech therapy every week and 30 minutes of occupational therapy every other week.

We visited his assigned school yesterday, still unsure if this is the route we wanted to go. We were convinced in about two seconds. The atmosphere was fabulous. We arrived during "free choice" time. A little girl in a smock was painting a picture. An occupational therapist was playing a game with a few kids. The teacher was filling the kids' backpacks with goodies while chatting with each one. One aide was helping kids build a tower while another aide played "snack time," helping kids cut and serve a plastic pizza cooked in a toy microwave. Quinn headed straight for the train table and stayed there - sometimes playing on his own, sometimes with other kids - until it was time for clean up and circle time. He knew just what to do when the Barney "clean up" song came on - and when it was over he headed over the CD player and started it up again (Mrs. Schreiber is going to have to move that CD player!). Much to our amazement, he plopped down in a chair for circle time and participated in the song and hand movements.

We are SO excited about this school and the opportunities it holds for Quinn. Aug. 23 can't come soon enough!

Mother's Day

2010-05-14T16:05:00.002-07:00

We had a really wonderful Mother's Day despite that fact that I have pneumonia! We started the day with a spectacular brunch with my parents, brothers and sister-in-law at a spectacular resort. Everyone else paid $52 per person (!!) but we ate for free because Tom wisely shot an ad for them last year and took trade-out instead of money. Smart man.

Quinn loves to do "cheers," so we started brunch with a mimosa toast. This was Quinn's first taste of orange juice, and he loved it!

After brunch Quinn took a long nap and MaMa read a book (ahhhhhh). Then we played in the back yard and BaBa pulled out the professional camera.

This shot is my favorite Mother's Day present. Love it, love it, love it.

We ended the day with what has become my Mother's Day tradition: a mound of fried food from my favorite local greasy-spoon, followed by a big slice of lemon diner cake. Yum! From start to finish, it was a pretty perfect day.

Grandma Day

2010-05-14T16:05:00.001-07:00

This is how Quinn and Nana spend their Mondays. Quinn tells Nana what to do, and Nana does it. Is that a perfect way for a toddler to spend a day, or what?

Impish cuteness

2010-05-14T16:04:00.001-07:00

Surgery postponed

2010-04-28T17:24:00.001-07:00

What was supposed to be our travel day to Boston instead started with a 5 a.m. phone call from Boston saying Quinn's doctor had a family emergency and had to leave town, so he needed to reschedule our surgery. Great sadness for the doctor, of course, but honestly we were relieved for the delay. My bronchitis has ramped up to a pretty nasty level and Quinn continues to cough in his sleep, making us fear he's getting it, too. Now even Tom is feeling sick.

Traveling the way I felt would have been nightmarish and I seriously doubt I would have been allowed in the hospital with this cough. I am on antibiotics, but still...

So we have a new date of May 20, and a new set of plane tickets with less convenient times, including a 2:15 a.m. arrival back home after surgery. But at least we didn't have to travel sick.

Third time's a charm!

2010-04-22T14:37:00.001-07:00

At last, we have a successful hearing test!

After two nightmarish failures, I got a good recommendation of an audiologist who deals with a lot of kids and is very patient. I called for an appointment and was told the first one was in June, but as I was booking it someone canceled and we were invited in immediately! As advertised, the woman -- an adoptive mom from way back, by the way -- was awesome. She let Quinn play with puzzles in the sound booth, did the test without closing the doors (which freaked him out last time) and really, really took her time.

He cried a little and was clearly scared during the test, but didn't lose it. He sat on my lap and would look one way if the bunny in one corner of the booth made a noise, and look the other way if the kitty in the other corner made a noise. He responded appropriately when she asked over the microphone (veeerrrrry softly), "Quinn, where is your nose?" etc.

So he passed!

Next up is the entrance exam for public pre-school for kids with developmental delays and disabilities. I'm not entirely sure I want him to go (a topic for another post), but at least we'll have the option.

Hooray for brave little Quinn!

Ballooooooon boy

2010-04-18T15:28:00.001-07:00

Can you guess what word Quinn is saying??

NOW you tell me...

2010-04-14T17:14:00.001-07:00

Quinn is being tested to see if he qualifies for a public pre-school program for kids with developmental delays and disabilities. First he has to get his hearing tested so today we traipsed down to see an audiologist at our local school district. The minute I saw the probe she wanted to stick in Quinn's ear I knew this was going to be a bad scene. And it was. He started crying the second she touched it to his ear and grew increasingly upset until he hit a state of full-on hysteria. I tried distracting him, holding him during the test, taking a break, and nothing helped.

When the sweetest-keeled kid I've ever met looked over from his happy play break and let out a blood-curdling scream when he spotted the probe in the waiting audiologist's hand, she sighed and said she was just going to have to refer him to a local hospital. I asked why - did they intend to sedate him? "No," she said. "They have a fun sound booth over there where kids can hear sounds bounce off the walls rather than have to hear them inside their ear." Whaaaaaat? Why did no one even mention that was an option? We could have saved the poor child a truly traumatic experience.

I'm new to the public school thing, but this sure taught me a lesson. I need to ask questions before submitting Quinn to these mandatory tests. What are our options? Is there a gentler version of this test available? I know almost nothing about his early months but I do know something in his makeup or something in his past makes him easy to scare in instances like this. It's up to me to sniff those out in advance and try to prevent them. Lesson learned.

Suddenly afraid of the dark

2010-04-10T16:20:00.001-07:00

Since coming home in November 2008, Quinn has insisted on total darkness to sleep. His two worst nights were at the White Swan, until we realized that a little lamp under the bedside table was keeping him awake, and out first night in Tucson, until we turned off the night light in his room.

But suddenly, inexplicably, he's scared of the dark. He was crying after I put him down the other night, which is HIGHLY unusual for him, and when I went into his room he was pointing at the tiny light on his baby monitor camera. After a few minutes I plugged in the old, abandoned night light and he laid right down and went to sleep. Every night since, if I turn on the night light he goes right to sleep; if I forget he cries.

Has anyone else seen anything like this? Any ideas on what might cause such a sudden switch?

Renaming the 'rents

2010-04-03T23:29:00.001-07:00

First Quinn renamed the dogs, then he moved on to all four grandparents. Now it's our turn. At least for this phase, the grown-ups formerly known as Mama and Baba are called Mimi and Bobby.

Surgery is scheduled

2010-03-13T20:50:00.001-08:00

It's time.

Dr. Waters wanted us to wait to do the surgery until Quinn's mobility and range of motion stopped improving. He still is showing some very gradual improvement, but in the meantime he's developing a series of work-arounds that result in him using his right arm less and less.

We shared the latest range measurements and these details with Dr. Waters' staff, and they decided it's time to go ahead. April 29 is the first opening, and of course we couldn't get tickets with our frequent flier miles that week. We didn' want to push it much later and subject Quinn to a summer of hell in a cast and brace. So I called American Airlines hoping to get a mom I could appeal to, and lucked out! She agreed to appeal on our behalf, and her supervisor agreed, and that guy's supervisor agreed, so we got the tickets.

I'm relieved, but nervous.

The joys of ice cream

2010-03-13T20:40:00.000-08:00

I ordered some ice cream the other day because it's something I can eat despite my broken jaw. Quinn has shown very little interest in hard-packed ice cream (he does like soft-serve) so I didn't think he'd take too much. Ha! He took a bite, then slid the whole parfait glass in front of him and wouldn't give it back.

I thought he'd give up when he ate through the vanilla and got to the green tea ice cream. Ha! He loved that, too. He did finally stop when he hit the cut-up roll cake at the very, very bottom of the glass. Finally I got some!

One stupid move after another

2010-02-06T15:10:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, we really are our own worst enemy. I took an overnight biz trip to Phoenix last week, and my stomach started feeling weird by mid-afternoon. I picked at a small salad for dinner, watched some TV, started shivering and went to bed. When it was pretty clear I was going to throw up, I got up, went into the bathroom, and, bam, passed out cold. I woke up in a puddle of blood, and THEN threw up.

A smart girl would have called 911. Or at least called her husband. Not me. I did think about calling 911, but I decided there was no way I could get to my cell phone WAY across the big room - and even if I could, there was no way I could then get back to the door, which I had bolted, to let in the paramedics. So, bleeding, hurting and with a potential head injury, what did I do? Crawled to bed with a pile of towels to sop up the blood coming from my mouth, ear, nose and a huge gash on my chin, and WENT TO SLEEP. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

I bled the night away, then got up, took a shower and decided it really was time to get some help. Did I go to the closest emergency room? Of course not. I wasn't sure what my insurance would cover and I didn't want to be stuck in Phoenix for another night away from Tom and Quinn, so I DROVE TWO HOURS home and called my regular doctor - who saw me and sent me straight to the emergency room. Again, stupid, stupid, stupid.

The diagnosis? I fractured my jaw in one place and broke it badly in another - and the bone from that break ruptured my ear canal. Got a CT scan and stitches in my chin, followed up by surgery yesterday to reset my jaw. Thankfully, I'm only wired shut at night, as the doc wants me moving my jaw during the day in hopes of working the jaw joint back into place.

Of course, this happened during Tom's busiest work week of the year. So my sainted mother - God, how I love that woman! - has come over every day, all day, to help. Tom was out of town the day of the surgery, so she came over and stayed. Her job was to play with and care for Quinn and my job was to rest - and avoid doing anything else stupid!

I seriously could not have made it through this week without her. Thank you, Mom!!!! I love you!

A little man of letters

2010-01-20T21:56:00.001-08:00

Giving Quinn a bath a few nights ago, Tom pulled out the foam letters and numbers Grandma Marj gave him for Christmas. Much to Tom's astonishment, the child who just scored a full year behind on his speech assessment started picking up letters, saying what they were and sticking them to the wall. He got through maybe 10 letters and 3-4 numbers before he got bored and went on to something else.

Neither of us has tried to teach him his ABCs, thinking he's not nearly ready for that. I guess all those ABC books are sinking in!

Toddler at sea

2010-01-14T20:56:00.001-08:00

We went on a cruise to the Mexican Rivera to celebrate Tom's parents 50th anniversary. It was actually their 51st anniversary since we were in China on the actual 50th, but no one was counting.

Quinn had a fantastic time. He loved the looooooong halls and would "unnnn" down one after another. He may be the first person ever to lose weight on a cruise.

In between "unnnns" and meals, Quinn got to know his California grandparents, Tom's mom and dad. It was great for all of them to have a nice, long block of time together.

The highlight of the trip was Quinn's discovery of classical music. We walked by a lounge after dinner the first night and I noticed he was really interested in the string quartet playing. So we grabbed an empty seat in the back of the room. The music stopped and Quinn hollered, "More? More?" After that, we went to hear the "moo-azoo" every afternoon and every night. One night they played late, so i took Quinn down in his jammies. The musicians loved him, and said he was the first groupie they ever had. Valentina, the cellist, let Quinn play with her cello on breaks, teaching him to bow and pluck the strings.

A good time was had by all, and we all really enjoyed the time together.

Isn't this supposed to be a treasured memory?

2010-01-06T23:10:00.001-08:00

Quinn has gone from bald to shaggy, so we trucked him down to see George, who does our hair, and who said that, sure, he can do kids' hair.

Well.

Quinn started crying the minute the water bottle came out.

Eventually he got so hysterical that poor George gave up after doing half of Quinn's head. I'm not sure which of them was more upset.

We took Quinn out for his favorite grilled cheese sandwich after the dreaded event, and within about 30 seconds he was beaming like it was Christmas morning.

Hopefully next time will go better...

Surprising medical news: A doctor who DOESN'T want to cut

2010-01-04T23:34:00.000-08:00

Quinn's SN is brachial plexus injury, a birth injury to the nerves in his neck that affects the use of his right arm. After much research, we chose Dr. Peter Waters at Boston Children's Hospital to do his surgery and Quinn, Tom and I made a trip to meet Quinn's new doc.

Here we go:

Here's Quinn and me on the plane, checking our e-mails:

Quinn had an MRI on Wednesday. We chose to do it in Boston because an ultrasound he had in grown-up hospital in Tucson was a thoroughly traumatic experience I didn't care to repeat. It was a good decision: The staff was SO nice to him, giving him a kid-themed gown to wear, explaining everything, taking it very slowly and letting him play with things that interested him along the way, like the stethoscope:

It was a little terrifying seeing him unconscious and rolled into the giant white machine but he did just fine. He was SO groggy afterwards, poor little guy.

They told us he wouldn't want to eat dinner, so of course he ate a HUGE plate of pasta within an hour.

Thursday morning we met with Susan, Dr. Waters' physical therapist. Then we met with Dr. Waters. To our surprise, his recommendation was to WAIT to have the surgery. He said Quinn's MRI showed a totally normal shoulder, very unusual for his injury, and that he is still improving on his own. He wants us to step up the physical therapy and have our PT consult with his PT. When they decide he has progressed as much as possible on his own, THEN it's time for surgery. Wow, not what we expected - and so different than another doctor who said we were already late to the surgery party and we absolutely had to do it ASAP.

The hospital is amazing, with stuff for kids to look at and play with everywhere.

Volunteers hand out stickers in the hallways, and we saw a doctor and nurse dressed like clowns. There are several playgrounds around, including this one, where we spent the better part of two days:

Outside the hospital one day, Tom was taking a picture of Quinn and me and a woman walked up and asked if she could take a picture of all of us. She snapped four and walked off. They were ALL really good - and I take terrible pictures. We loved this one so much we put it on our Christmas cards:

Since we had flown all the way to Boston, we took a little time to enjoy the city. Boston Common was gorgeous, and Quinn loved stomping in the fallen leaves - something he doesn't get to do much of in the desert!

We walked and took the subway all over the place. One of our favorite stops was Boston's small but friendly little Chinatown. We found an awesome dumpling restaurant and had a great lunch.

After that we took Quinn to Harvard to get a taste of the Ivy League. We bought him some books at the Harvard bookstore and walked so much that he fell asleep before dinner. Luckily, our table had bench seating so he just laid down and snoozed the meal away. I believe this is the first and only time since he started eating that this kid has missed a meal!

Just some more random cuteness

2009-11-21T20:00:00.001-08:00

Before I move on to new pictures, I have to post a few leftovers.

The day after his birthday, Quinn was still so pooped he fell asleep on the hard floor while playing with the leftover streamers.

A fun toy, a glass of cold milk and a nice warm day. You'd be smiling, too!

Quinn's first meal with his super-cool, three-section, big-boy plate. The days of chopping up everything and mixing it all together officially ended this day.

A boy and his BaBa

2009-11-20T21:57:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite recent photos of the boys:

One year ago today

2009-11-01T14:49:00.001-08:00

A year ago this morning, Tom and I were excitedly meeting the families in our travel group and getting ready to head to the Beijing Children's Welfare Institute. A year ago this morning, Quinn was going about his business, with probably no idea that his entire world was about to change. And then we met. Overwhelming joy on our end. Total shutdown on his end.

This is our first family photo:

This is what Quinn looked like then:

And this is what he looks like now:

It's astonishing to consider how far Quinn has come 365 days. We've seen him learn to sit up, to eat solid foods, to use a sippy cup and then a straw, to pull himself to a stand, to cruise around holding onto furniture, to walk, to babble, to run, to talk.

More importantly, we've seen his fun-loving, hilarious, sweet personality peek out from behind his protective armor and then leave it behind all together. The kid who wouldn't look us in the eye for nearly a week now jumps across the room into our arm, squeals with delight when he sees one of us after a separation and barks "MaMa" or "BaBa" when he wants something because he knows we'll come running.

I can't even put into words how much we love this child. We were blessed beyond imagination the day we became a family one year ago, and we can't wait to see what the next year will bring.

Snuggle buddies

2009-10-26T21:41:00.001-07:00

Quinn really loves human contact, and we love to oblige. One of his favorite activities is to lie on the floor and play "snuggle buddies" with BaBa.

Language explosion

2009-10-24T21:52:00.001-07:00

Quinn's speech therapist long ago told us that multi-tone, multi-syllabic babble immediately proceeds a language explosion. Well, here we go. For the last three weeks or so Quinn has been picking up roughly a new word a day. He'll repeat anything we ask him to, but we only count words he says unprompted and then only if he gets the context right. He's up to 31, but he only says them individually rather than stringing them together.

For the past few days he has added only one word total. But he is babbling up a storm. All sorts of sounds, all sounds of pitches, all of it chatty and motor-mouthy.

So before the language explosion begins, I'd like to pause to memorialize my favorite Quinny words so far:

Moo-azoo (music - his very favorite thing)
Buh-weh (bread, said with a vocal upturn on the highly emphasized second syllable)
Teee (a very high-pitched 'please')
Chi-chi (cookie, usually said hopefully at the end of every meal, including breakfast)
Uhnnnnnn (run, BaBa, run!)

Paging Doctor Quinn Jianrong, stat!

2009-10-22T10:16:00.001-07:00

Quinn shows a strong preference for toys that involve putting stuff together. This Dora the Explorer playset from Obaachan (Grandma Tokie) is the perfect blend of scientific and imaginative for him. He uses the stethescope to check baby cougar's pulse, he puts the cast on and off of baby cougar and when he's done playing he puts all the pieces inside the backpack. We love this toy!

By the way, check out the great Old Navy t-shirt. It's from "Camp Runamuck."

Imitation nation

2009-10-17T22:30:00.001-07:00

Quinn is suddenly all about imitating MaMa and BaBa. He loves to hold the phone to his ear, use the keys to open the door, and on and on. Tonight at dinner he was pushing a lime half into his straw and we finally figured out he was making like Uncle Bruce squeezing a lime into his Corona. After rubbing the lime all over the straw opening he tipped his bottle back, took a sip and made the most hilarious grimace!

Quinn created the little scene above while "helping" me cook dinner the other night. He watches me make a salad just about every night. So this night he very carefully took all the big bowls out of his cupboard and lined them up, then took the salad servers out of the utensil drawer and tossed his imaginary salads, all in a row. He'd toss one, move on to the next, then the next, then the next, and then back again.

It's so cool to see their little minds at work!

My grandma, my servant

2009-10-10T23:20:00.001-07:00

Quinn and Grandma Marj have quite the bond. They each think the other is pretty perfect and they can't seem to get enough of each other's company.

But if there were a competition for who gets the most out of the relationship, I give the edge to Quinn. He may be only 2, but he can get his grandma to do pretty much anything he wants her to do on Mondays, Grandma Day. During meals, he'll shove a bare foot at her for some "This Little Piggy" action, which is what's happening in the upper photo. In the photo just above, he convinced her to pull him around the house in his wagon for a full 30 minutes. That's nothing compared to the hour-plus of Peekaboo, with Grandma expected to repeatedly hide wherever Quinn directs her to hide and jump out - again and again and again - to "scare" him.

All this and unconditional love, too.

It's good to be the first grandchild!

Why it's cool having a kid (according to the dog)

2009-10-06T22:03:00.001-07:00

Baxter, our insecure and needy pickapoo, was the family member we thought would have the hardest time with Quinn's arrival. Wrong. He thinks the kid is the coolest thing ever. And this seals it: On hot mornings, when Baxter gets tired on our walks, he gets to ride on the foot rest of Quinn's stroller. Now that's a dog's life!

Decision made

2009-10-03T20:30:00.001-07:00

After much Internet research, many phone calls to doctor's offices and many conversations with parents, we have decided that Quinn's surgery will be done by Dr. Peter Waters at Boston Children's Hospital. When I initially e-mailed asking if he did the kind of surgery Quinn needs, he personally e-mailed me back the same day. That impressed me. I've also talked with many families whose children were treated by him and heard many positive stories.

Quinn has an MRI and initial visit with Dr. Waters in early November, with surgery in early December.

So Boston, here we come!

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles

2009-09-24T22:28:00.001-07:00

We brought home some bubbles from Quinn's Gymboree class. My goodness, they are the best. After a couple minutes, Quinn and his god brother Jack were in a bubble cave.

Easy, cheap and fun entertainment!

I knew this day was coming but...

2009-09-15T21:49:00.001-07:00

Last week I had to go to New York for a board meeting of an organization I'm deeply involved with. The best part was I got to visit a family we traveled to China with and witness the amazing transformation of their beautiful daughter, who is so changed in 10 months it's just incredible. The worst part is we had to use the nanny service for the first time. Two half days, two different nannies. My goal was to have him in family care only for six months and we made to to 10, so I should be happy, but still.

Quinn, little soldier that he is, did well with both women. I was slightly panicked from afar and kept hoping everything was going okay.

Does this get easier? Will we ever think date night is a good idea??

Chinese food!

2009-09-05T20:59:00.001-07:00

I'm learning to cook Chinese food, with a goal of having at least one Chinese meal a week. This was my first success: rice noodles with tofu and vegetables (and lots of rice vinegar). Quinn, a true Beijing noodle boy, dug right in!

Graduation day nears

2009-09-04T16:10:00.001-07:00

Since arriving home, Quinn has been in various types of therapy for his various developmental delays. Now home 10 months, he is starting to catch up to his chronological age.

First to go was occupational therapy, when the state-provided therapist said she didn't feel like she was needed anymore. Now we're looking at the end of speech therapy and physical therapy. The speech therapist said Quinn is approaching normal for a late talker, and she may start cutting back from weekly to twice-monthly sessions. The physical therapist said Quinn's shoulder is as good as it's going to get without surgery (we're still waiting to hear what the insurance company is willing to pay for) and she's happy with his physical development except that he stands with his feet too far apart, making his ankles roll inward. So she's going away for a month, during which we're supposed to put him in a tight little skirt made of an ace bandage for a while each day to force his legs together. He loves putting on MaMa's shoes and sunglasses, let's see how he feels about skirts!

It's hot!

2009-08-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

This summer has been one of the worst ever. It's been over 100 almost every day in August, with none of our usual summer rains to cool us down. Even so, Quinn LOVES to be outside. He spends a good deal of his inside time standing at the back door in hopes someone will take him outside. Then when he's outside his entire head and face are soaked in sweat within seconds. Poor kid.

Quinn seriously can't get enough of this sandbox. Unfortunately, the same goes for Buttons the dog. Sometimes they have a stare-down to determine who gets to play in it first!

This is one of my favorite recent pictures of Quinn. It's so horribly hot outside, and look how contented he looks!

The three-legged race

2009-08-27T21:59:00.001-07:00

This picture is hard to see, but I was so proud of Quinn this day. If you look way in the back on the right side of the frame you'll see Quinn and me holding hands. We're running the three-legged race at my company picnic. This child actually let me tie his leg to mine and ran the entire race with me, including picking himself up when he fell and getting right back to it. We did not win, but I could not have been prouder of this spunky, sweet, fabulous little guy.

Red Egg and Ginger Party

2009-08-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

Our local chapter of Families with Children from China hosted an awesome Red Egg and Ginger party for children who have arrived in China in the past year.

Here is an explanation, from about.com:

"In Chinese culture, a baby's first month birthday calls for a celebration. Proud parents introduce their latest addition to friends and relatives by holding a red egg and ginger party. Traditionally, the baby's name is also announced at this time.

"Guests attending red egg and ginger parties bring gifts. Lysee or "lucky money" in red envelopes is often given to baby boys, while girls may receive expensive jewelry. The guests don't leave empty handed, either. The parents hand out red-dyed eggs, symbolizing happiness and the renewal of life.

"Red egg and ginger parties have their origins in ancient Chinese culture. As in other countries, infant mortality rates in China were quite high prior to the medical advances of the twentieth century. A baby who reached one month of age was likely to survive, and so the event was celebrated."

At our event there were eight kids, and after a delicious banquet dinner at a Chinese restaurant each family was invited to make a short presentation, and then we each got a beautiful laquered red egg carved with our child's name in Chinese.

Some families showed slides or talked about their adoption experience. All the stories were great to hear, and so different - the kids ranged from babies to 14! All of them had special needs of some sort, or were older.

Rather than do a presentation, we decided to read the kids our favorite adoption book: "A Mother for Choco." If you haven't read it, check it out. Quinn sat in my lap and all the kids gathered around us, which was fun.

It was a really special night. If you ever get invited to a Red Egg and Ginger party, go!

The setting was beautiful and the food was yummy.

Grandma Marj came with us. Check out Quinn's cool summer outfit, bought at Michael's in Guanghzou.

In typical Chinese banquet style, the food kept coming and coming. Quinn LOVED the ginger noodles.

Quite shockingly, the kid who will not eat anything cold went quite nutty for the ginger ice cream. He ate his entire bowl, and went for mine, too!

Here's a sign of the times: Of the eight kids who came from this year in our chapter, four of them are boys!

It looks like surgery - times two

2009-07-22T15:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the amazing parents on the various adoption-related Yahoo groups I follow, we learned of a doctor in Houston who specializes in treating brachial plexus injury, a nerve injury that can occur at birth if the baby gets stuck and is yanked out. Even better, we learned that he occasionally holds free clinics around the country, so we took a short flight to San Diego last Sunday and met him. Our intention was simply to get a second opinion on whether Quinn needed surgery, but we were so impressed by him that we decided we'd really like him to do the surgery.

The good news is that while the orthopedic surgeon we have been visiting said we'd need to choose between a surgery that would allow him to reach up to the sky and one that would allow him to rotate him arm outward, Dr. Nath does both. He said Quinn's level of injury is on the not-so-serious side (he ranked it at 40 percent, with 100 percent being the most serious), which makes him a good candidate for surgery and gives him a good chance of a full or near-full recovery. However, that means two surgeries — and two trips to Houston. We're negotiating now with our insurance company to see whether they'll cover it.

So keep Quinn in your thoughts!

An amazing gift

2009-07-14T13:44:00.001-07:00

I'm starting to think about (not yet work on...) Quinn's baby album. In getting organized, I came across these photos, which I had not posted before.

In Beijing we visited Quinn's finding place, a subway station, and had the amazing good fortune of finding a security guard who was on duty the day he was found and told us which police sub-station he had been taken to. We went there, and were able to meet the man who picked Quinn up from the subway and brought him to the police station. Thanks to the generous staff and our wonderfully tenacious Holt representative, Leah, we left with a copy of his file - and pictures from the day he was found, at six days old.

The bed Quinn is laying on is still at the police station, and that blue-and-white-checked blanket is still on it! I plopped Quinn right down and got a picture of him on the very same bed where his journey began.

And here he is, Baby Jianrong, on June 14, 2007:

Our new American

2009-07-11T22:40:00.001-07:00

The Fourth of July was special for us this year, since it was Quinn's first Independence Day as an American. So we got all decked out and got my brother to take our photo, then we ate sloppy joes, pasta salad and corn on the cob. Doesn't get more American than that!

About that shirt...

2009-06-27T23:10:00.000-07:00

Several people have asked why Quinn is wearing a shirt to go swimming. It's a swim shirt! Made of swimsuit material with an spf of 50. We got his at Gymboree but have seen them at Target and other places, too.

Who knew???

2009-06-18T21:33:00.001-07:00

To celebrate Quinn's birthday, we took an overnight trip to Phoenix (nice resorts there are CHEAP in the summertime) and went swimming. To our great shock, Quinn knew how to swim! He walked in the water up to his waist and then leaned forward, let his feet float, arched his back and started paddling. We couldn't believe it. We know he received physical therapy for his brachial plexus injury at the orphanage, and our best guess is that they did some water therapy.

Quinn and Ba-Ba head into the pool:

Hey, this is fun!

Here's how it's done:

Quinn kept trying to push Tom's hand away so he could swim on his own, but Tom wouldn't budge:

Whee!

Whew, swimming makes us thirsty!

And happy:

My favorite picture of the day. This is Quinn's cow impression, but here he looks just like a little monkey:

Happy Birthday, Quinn!

2009-06-13T23:56:00.001-07:00

Quinn is 2!!!

We didn't feel he was ready for a birthday party just yet, so we had a family dinner with some presents.

Grandma Marj and I collaborated on a cake. She baked her famous angel food cake with chocolate chip frosting and I decorated with some of Quinn's favorite wheeled toys (we had sort of a fireman theme):

I bought some party hats, knowing my goofball family would actually wear them. I was right:

As you can see, Quinn LOVED his special birthday cake hat. Just look at the joy on that face:

Quinn got a swingset from Grandma and Granddad. He LOVES it.

Just some random cuteness

2009-06-05T17:16:00.001-07:00

Trying to prevent surgery

2009-05-30T21:35:00.001-07:00

We're closing in on decision time for Quinn's possible surgery to correct his brachial plexus injury. We're working with a new physical therapist who had an interesting idea to try to immobilize Quinn's good arm to force him to use his injured arm. Her thinking is that either he would start using the injured arm and we'd see he's making progress or we'd see pretty quickly that he couldn't use it and he needed the surgery.

So we tried it. Marge the PT warned us that kids typically get quite angry and sometimes hysterical when the temporary cast goes on, but then adapt. I was very nervous about Quinn, home just seven months and just now totally trusting us, feeling we had betrayed him.

Here's what happened: The PT put on the cast, which prevented Quin from bending his arm. He looked at it the cast briefly and then the little stinker went right back to the game he had been playing by backing up from the coffee table and using his fully extended, immobilized arm with absolutely no problem. Um, so much for that!

We discussed also putting a mitt on his hand, but the PT said he's using his two hands so well together - which is a new thing for him - that she doesn't want to take a step backward in that regard.

So in short, it didn't work!!

Grandad Bill's 80th birthday

2009-05-20T07:30:00.001-07:00

We had a family dinner for my dad's 80th birthday at El Corral, a Southwestern steakhouse we all love. You never know how something like that is going to go over with a baby, but Quinn did so good. He sat there for TWO HOURS and behaved the entire time, thanks to a whole lot of food and a whole lot of Grandma Marj's hard work. She played 10 million rounds of pat-a-cake with him and let him play with her dangly earrings, which he LOVES to do (he never pulls, only flicks them with his fingers to make them swing). Thanks, Mom!

Big brave boy

2009-05-14T14:07:00.001-07:00

The first time we put on a swing, at Christmastime in California, it was big tears and a terrified expression. So when his occupational therapy Emily wanted to take him to the park to swing, I was a little nervous. As further proof that the Quinn we knew is not the Quinn we know now, he defied expectations and LOVED it. He laughed and squealed and each time we stopped the swinging he screamed for more. He's getting so brave!

Quinn's baptism

2009-05-12T12:15:00.001-07:00

In addition to the egg hunt, Easter was Quinn's baptism day. Godmother Susan suggested he should dress in white, and Grandma Marj scored with an adorable white suit - complete with pants, jacket, shirt, vest, tie - for $18 at Sam's Club.

The day was spectacular and the church was beautiful. Besides Grandma Marj getting to see her beloved boy baptized in her beloved church, Tom's family came from California for the big day. So it was extra special all around.

Here's the honoree with Obaachan and Auntie Bonny.

Here's Godmother Susan and Godcousin Kimberly, who Quinny LOVES to kiss!

The whole crowd, including Uncle Steve and Aunt Marie, who came down from Show Low, and Great Aunt Jan (better known as Gaj).

Quinn filled the time before the service with one of his favorite activities: playing with Grandma Marj's earrings. (He likes to dangle them, but he never pulls!)

I love this picture. Doesn't Grandma Marj just look so happy?

We took this picture pretty much the minute I got him dressed because I was convinced he'd be covered in dirt and dog food within minutes. Shockingly, he kept the whole ensemble on until nap time hours later!
Just before we traded the suit for a nap and some blue jeans.

A sweet moment with Obaachan.

Laughing with Aunt Susan.

It's (okay, it WAS) Easter!

2009-05-09T23:20:00.001-07:00

Yes, I'm a little late in posting these. But I am determined to get back on track organizationally, so here goes.

On Easter Quinn was baptized (those photos coming soon). After church we had a big open house, which pooped him out so much he took a big long nap right in the middle of the party. When we woke up my mom pulled out the eggs she had boiled and colored just for him and they had a private little Easter egg hunt. Here are some photos:

Learning a new language

2009-05-02T13:36:00.001-07:00

I mentioned before that Quinn is starting to talk. He also is building up a good list of words of phrases he understands and does an action to:

Clap, clap, clap
Kiss kiss
Open, close (with the fists)
Twinkle, twinkle (identical to open close, but hey, he's just a baby - give him a break!)
Twist, twist, twist (full body action with this one)
Chew
How big is Quinn? (arms out wide - So big!)
Knock knock

These are my two favorites:
1. Peekaboo - Say it and he'll put one hand on each side of his mouth, index finger against his face, his pinky sticking out. In no way is his face covered up, but it sure is cute.
2. Ta da! First the hands go on the tummy, palms down and fingers wide. Then up go the hands. But because of his brachial plexus injury, the left hand goes all the way up but the right hand sort of sticks out in front of him. It's beyond adorable. Come to think of it, I'd better get a picture!

Quinn speaks!

2009-04-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

Quinn's first "word," uttered a couple weeks ago just shy of 22 months, was hi. Mind you, it's silent - he just opens his mouth VERY WIDELY in the shape of the word. But it's always consistent and it always means hello, so I think it counts. Since then he added "up" and "uh oh,' which sound suspiciously similar but he uses them in the proper context ("uh oh" always comes after heaving his spoon onto the floor signaling the end of the meal). He also says "Mama" quite a bit, to a group that includes me, Tom, my mom, his OT and today his speech therapist. She said kids often use a word for an entire group of people and mama is frequently used for anyone doing care giving, so that makes sense. But still!

But today - today! - he started mimicking our words. During speech therapy this morning it was "push" - the sound of a dog bark (not sure why...) followed by a series of "pah" "pah" sounds. At lunch we moved onto "yum yum." He was very proud of himself when he got that one. And then after dinner tonight I asked him if he wanted a cracker and he pointed and said "ack."

The speech therapist said that by 24 months a child should have 50 words and the ability to string two of them together. Umm, I don't think so. Not by June 8. But we are moving!!

Guess it's time to babyproof!

2009-04-16T20:48:00.000-07:00

Honestly, one benefit of Quinn's eating issues is that we didn't bother to baby proof the house very well since he didn't put ANYTHING in this mouth - initially no food and until now no toys, no nothing. Well, well, well. Yesterday Mr. Baby threw up two pieces of dog kibble. And after I let him crawl across the freshly mowed grass he had an unmistakable potting soil mustache. He's been eating food for a couple months now, but I guess this means he's officially putting stuff in his mouth!

Quinn's first steps!

2009-04-10T11:53:00.001-07:00

Boys' night

2009-03-24T17:59:00.001-07:00

I work on Saturday evenings, so Tom and Quinn have boys' nights, which are usually rowdy and messy. They also involve lots of videos and self-portraits like these:

Learning new skills

2009-03-12T21:12:00.000-07:00

Some things Quinn has learned in the last few weeks:

- To hold his arms out wide when someone asks, "How big is Quinn?"
- To pull himself up into a stand and - much harder - down into a kneel.
- To walk beside me, holding my hand.
- To grunt, whenever he thinks something is really funny, "Ha!"

One of his favorite new skills is drinking from a straw. It's makes him big like Baba, and he loves that!

Skype vs. Quinn

2009-03-09T15:56:00.001-07:00

We love the idea of Skype, and we're trying hard to use it so Quinn can stay in touch with Auntie Bonny in California.

But every time we try to use it Quinn just wants to pound away at the computer keyboard and doesn't seem to see his Aunt right there on the screen.

Any ideas??

An eating machine

2009-03-08T16:16:00.001-07:00

Quinn is making great progress with his eating. He now scoops quite skillfully with his spoon (I said skillfully, not neatly...) and is starting to show some preferences for what he likes and doesn't like, which we're happy to see. We're still working on getting him to pick up food - or anything else - and put it in his mouth with his fingers, and he still won't let us do much in the way of brushing his teeth. But we're making headway!

One sick boy

2009-03-08T16:03:00.000-07:00

Quinn has pneumonia!

On Tuesday morning he choked on a piece of mashed banana. Tom slapped his back and got it out and we thought nothing more of it it.

But on Wednesday he woke up with a nasty cough and a slight fever. I didn't worry too much until I got him up from his afternoon nap and found a different boy: bright red cheeks, very lethargic demeanor and too weak to even make much of a coughing sound. Off we went to Dr. Duperret, then to Radiology Ltd., and found it was pneumonia.

He is on the mend with the help of strong antibiotics, but still pretty sick, poor little guy.

This is his first time sick since we met him on Nov. 1, and it's a doozy!

My work here is done

2009-02-12T11:37:00.001-08:00

We redid our kitchen last year, and one thing I wanted was an open cabinet where Quinn was free to play with his stuff. It has sat undisturbed - until now.

Suddenly, he discovered it, discovered it was all for him, and now he can't get enough.

Here is one play session, ending with him abandoning a tiny area that he has transformed into something that looks suspiciously like a baby crime scene...