How is Luke doing?

It has been remarkable getting to know Luke. I can't believe we have only had him for six days. It feels like he has always been with us.

He is adjusting really well. He is as cute as they come, and we are also learning that he is very strong-willed. :) When we saw his pictures before coming to get him, we thought he'd be easy-going, and a "go with the flow" type of personality. Ummmmm, not so much. Of course, he has gone through A LOT in his little life, and especially this last week, so some of his behavior is grief, some is his age, and I'm pretty sure some is just him. :) We have another fiesty child, who is also very cheeky, on our hands. I told Andrew today, I think he is the cheekiest of us all. Andrew agreed. :)

But here is the greatest part: He is now calling me Mama, and laying his sweet little head on my chest. This is huge. The first few days, he did not want to put his skin on me. He would let me hold him, but he didn't want our skin to touch. He is now leaning in to me, putting his little hand on mine, gazing into my eyes, and wanting me to hold him. He cries if I walk away from him, and he definitely cries if anyone else holds him or touches him. He says "Baba" about 100 times a day (more than he says Mama), but he doesn't want Andrew to hold him that much yet. Today, he patted Abi on the back and is starting to play with her again. We are making progress.

Our cheeky little fellow... taking a break and having a snack before naptime.

There is so much to tell you about this little guy. One of the things that has become so precious to me is the way he looks at me. He will stare at me until I look into his eyes, then he'll look away and be at peace. When he is working on something like putting a lid on a bottle, and he figures it out, he'll get my attention so I can see that he did it. Then he'll get Baba's attention so Baba can see that he did it. Then he smiles with his whole face as if to say, "I am so proud of myself!" Priceless. When I am feeding his bottle to him at naptime and bedtime, he stares into my eyes the entire time. I call it "gazing." We lock eyes and he stares into mine until he falls asleep. When we are out and about, and he is either on my lap or in the Boba, he is always taking moments to look into my eyes. It is really precious!!

Luke is a great sleeper. He loves his bottle, his naps, and his crib! When I give him his bottle, he loves it when I rub the side of his face. It is the sweetest thing. He wakes up a few times at night with a few cries, but goes back to sleep on his own or when I gently rub his little face and say, "Shhhh." A couple of times, he has woken up around 4 or 5 a.m. crying and couldn't go back to sleep. We put him in bed with us, and he falls back asleep for a couple of hours.

Sleeping on Baba at 5 in the morning.

Let's talk about eating. Luke not only doesn't eat very much, but he is a pain to feed! For the first 5-10 minutes all he wants to do is play with his food, or his chopsticks, or virtually anything he can get his hands on, and throw it all on the floor. Then he'll decide he's hungry and let me feed him a few things. But not much. He loves yogurt, so that is always a big hit. But good luck getting anything else down the hatch!

"Hi, everyone! Here I am at breakfast and I'm supposed to be eating. It doesn't matter if I'm in my own chair, or a high chair, or on my Mama or Baba's lap, I'm not really interested in eating. It's just a big game to me! But I sure am cute!"

"But here I am with my yogurt! I can guarantee you that I'll eat yogurt!"

Luke is very busy. When we first got him on Monday, he would not walk on his own, if at all. He was very unsure of himself. So I decided I would get him walking! I knew he had it in him, and I knew it would also boost his confidence. So I started walking with him by holding both of his hands. Then I started doing just one hand. Then I would stand him up, and walk a few feet away from him and call him to me. When he walked to me, I praised him, and then we'd do it again and again, increasing the distance each time. Now, he is totally walking on his own, and all he wants to do is walk!

He also loves the Boba, and loves looking around at everything. On our drive last night to the hotel, even though it was 10:30 p.m., he was wide awake staring out the front window from the middle of the back seat, so excited to see all the lights and hear whatever it was we were talking about! Such a little cutie. He wants to be in on the action.

My little Boba buddy

He isn't sure yet if he wants to smile for the camera or not!

Luke loves sucking his thumb. He doesn't have a favorite right or left thumb, he trades off between both of them. It is really cute!

Luke doesn't say any words in Chinese except "Mama" and "Baba." He has some "Luke words" that he says, one of which is "Vava!" So far, "Vava!" (which is said with great vigor) means, "Do it again, that made me laugh!" or "I want your attention!" or "Come over here!" or "You're not doing what I want you to do!" It is his catch-all phrase. Otherwise, he just has super-cute baby babble.

Luke has the cutest giggle ever! It's very baby-like and quite deep. Sometimes he laughs so much that there isn't any sound though! then it breaks out in his belly laugh.

This little guy is also really intense. Everything he does is to the extreme -- he laughs hard, cries hard, screams hard, plays hard, sleeps hard. If he is talking, he is talking a lot. If he doesn't want to talk, there is nothing you can do to get him to talk. So far, there is no grey area. I guess it's nice to know where he stands! You certainly don't have to guess.

This little guy is really special. While he is intense, I can tell there is a deep part of him that needs a lot of tender love. Andrew and I are being very intentional in touching him all the time--holding his hands, rubbing his arms or back or legs, touching his cheeks, kissing him, looking into his eyes, cuddling him, talking to him, telling him "I love you" in Chinese many times a day, tickling him, and always playing with him. We want him to know that he has a very special place in this family, and in this world. I feel God saying over him, "You are wanted. You are needed. You have a place in this world." and that is what we are trying to communicate to him in everything we do. Even when he was throwing his temper tantums yesterday, I held him close and said, "Wo ai ni" many times over, which is "I love you" in Chinese, and put my cheek on his cheek, even when he was pushing me away. We are falling in love with each other. He is our son, and we want him to know that. Most of all, we hope that Luke is discovering the unconditional love of the Father who calls him son!!