Bejigo's progress and signs of attachment

Just wanted to give an update of Bejigo's progress and how he is doing.  All in all he is doing wonderful.  I took him to the Columbus International Children's clinic last week and he was seen by an international pediatrician, nutritionist, physical therapist, speech therapist, audiologist, clinical psychologist (to discuss his attachment with us).  It was a wonderful visit.  He is transitioning well with food.  So far there is nothing that this boy won't eat.  At first, not so much of a fan of yogurt, but likes it now.  He is so different from Kate and Drew since he actually eats!  It's fun to feed a baby who just sits there with his mouth wide open waiting for the next bite!!!  He is growing well, 23 lbs, and in the 75% for height and weight.

Developmentally, from a physical therapy stand point, he is a little delayed.  He is crawling and pulls himself up to kneeling but not to standing yet.  He does not initiate any steps when you hold his hands.  But I have already seen great progress in him since we first saw him at the care center in Addis.  Then, he would crawl a few steps and then stop.  He did not want to put much weight through his legs.  Now he likes to stand holding onto the furniture.  So, I have no doubts that he will catch up with some love and practice.

He is only babbling right now, probably talking fluent in Amharic and I just don't know it....  But saying da da, which we were told was crawl in Amharic, (his native language.)

He loves Kate and Drew and they are loving him as well.  They love to help and Drew even basically changed Bejigo's wet diaper yesterday with some assist.  This week I have seen some good signs of attachment.  He has actually cried for me and reached for me when someone else was holding him.  In terms of attachment this was very good.  When he first came home from Ethiopia, he was so used to having multiple caregivers and did not seem overly attached to anyone, but would happily go to everyone.  This is in reality not good.  You want him to be soothed by Mommy and Daddy and know when someone other than Mommy and Daddy are holding him.  So we are making progress.

As for sleeping, he was sleeping most of the night after first coming home, but now he is working on cutting some teeth so has been waking up more often with a painful cry.  Thank God for Tylenol.
So this is one of my favorite things about him.  When I am putting him to sleep, I lay him down in his own bed on his belly and rub his back, like the nannies at the care center did.  If you even stop for a second before he is asleep, he looks up at you with those big brown eyes to see if you are still there, smiles a big smile at you, lays his head back down and tightly closes his eyes as if pretending to go to sleep.  Then we rub his back again.  This happens probably 25 times over and over before he actually falls asleep.  It's s game we play.  he is just making sure Mommy and Daddy are still there.  Again a good thing!

Getting ready to swim!!!