75 days home!

Life is really good right now here at the Hilldale household!  Morelson has been home for 75 days after waiting 750 days for him to join us!  Morelson's transition into our family is nothing short of a miracle.  I feel I should call the local news, police station, etc., and tell them that there is a real life hero right here in our town that deserves a huge gold star, a street named after him, heck maybe a key to the city!

In just 75 days we have a English speaking, T-ball playing, hot dog eating, country song singing Haitian American boy!  Talk about gusto, you haven't seen anything like the drive in this 42 lb. ball of energy!  To say that Morelson is happy go lucky would be a gross understatement, he's like every clown in the circus rolled into one!  We honestly have a one man comedy show at our house 24/7.  The kid is F-U-N-N-Y!  Now are there times I would like to tone down the funny, YES!  But Morelson's personality is HUGE, and I'll take that loving, happy, smiling, crazy, all over the place boy over a wall flower any day of the week!

After our first trip to Haiti and our first meeting w/ Morelson, Rob and I always say that we will learn much more from Morelson and Haiti then they will from us!  We have been completely humbled by the strength and courage that Morelson has shown over this past couple of months.  Do we have a long ways to go YES!  His transition has not been perfect but any means.  It has however been much easier than many other families are experiencing and for that we feel very fortunate.  Full attachment takes a very long time, but he is attaching beautifully and we see no red flags in that area at all.  Academically he continues to amaze us.  His desire to learn and challenge himself continually is simply remarkable.  His social interactions are completely on par w/ his peers and there have been no issues acclimating him to school in America.  He is always appropriate around other adults, he doesn't cling or go to others for assistance that should come from us.  He is cautiously trusting, I am thankful for this trait.  Considering he is SO outgoing and social I was worried that he would open up to anyone and everyone, he does not do this.  He has built a good relationship w/ his teachers and let's go with them, but can simply wave or smile to other adults at school and leave it at that.  He doesn't need to engage w/ every adult that pays any attention to him, and believe me he gets LOTS of attention!

Bedtime was a HUGE issue for many weeks, I honestly didn't think we would see a night where he went to sleep w/o us for a long time.  I am happy to report that we have now had a full week of "normal" bedtime behavior.  We play a game, brush our teeth, read a book, give good night kisses and wishes and leave the room.  YAHOO!!  This is  B-I-G!  I am so happy for him that he now trusts enough to fall asleep alone, and I am SO happy for us that we can now have a small amount of down time before we fall to exhaustion at the end of the day!

Like I mentioned before we still have many hills to climb.  Discipline is a challenge as Morelson can push buttons you didn't know you had.  Emotionally he is not 6, yet cognitively he is all of that and some!  This makes disciplining very tricky.  We find ourselves flip flopping between treating him as a four year old w/ many things and then having to raise the bar w/ others and treat him as a 6+ year old!  It's a good thing that Rob and I are a strong team, I don't see how you could do this any other way.

I'm excited and hopeful for what the future holds, it looks VERY bright around here!!!