Cheeky Little Fellow

We have almost been home 2 weeks and it finally seems like we are adjusting more to our new normal. Matthew finally started sleeping through the night - YAAAYYY! We figured out he really doesn't like blankets and he really needs to have the room of the crib to roll around. He must have steam rollered his cribmate in China. We raised our thermostat and placed him in multiple layers of pjs which now equals up 9-10 hours of sleep at night for Matthew and a momma who doesn't look like a zombie.

Matthew's "steam rollered" crib mate

Matthew and I really have a lot of fun together during the day. He loves to be on the climber and play with his Mickey Mouse band set. He is very silly and loves to give us kisses - quite the player! He knows everyone's names now, but when he was frustrated with us, he did call us "ayi" which is what he called his caregivers in china. I did forget what it was like to load a washing machine with a toddler stuck to your hip, but the my back sure is remembering! The other day ago, all three kids and I sat on the floor and played together. I think it was the first time that Matthew realized he was going to have to share me with Shel and Ro. He was rather sad after that and clung to me more than ever. Overall, Matthew is still not as trusting of females right off the bat. He is also very shy with new people, but I seriously see this kid as a comedian when he is older - what a funny combination.

 

 

 All that speech and hearing stuff filed away in the back of my head is having me notice that his cheek is sometimes affecting his speech though, but I am not sure how much of that is purely cheek and how much is garbled "chinglish".  Matthew also bites his tongue a lot too.   He does say a few single words very clearly, but phrases come out very mushy sounding. Receptively he understands 90% of what we say to him which astounds us after just 3 1/2 weeks with us.

We have our first appointment for his cheek at the end of March. It looks like Matthew's cheek is more likely a vascular malformation that is supplied by an enlarged group of veins - this is Dr Kelly's version of it.   His cheek does change color and size slightly during the day. It doesn't seem to hurt from what we can tell, but it is a possibility. He will need to have an MRI sometime soon to give us a better idea of its exact location and make up.   We are not very sure which procedures lay ahead for Matthew.  Surgery and or schlerotherapy (kind of like how they treat varicose veins) have been thrown out there - again I only play a doctor on this blog...  The ultimate goal is to get both sides of his face symmetrical.  I honestly forget about his cheek and oh is it so very sweet and mushy to kiss. 

Shelby and I hit asian market today and I was able to find several of Matthew's favorite foods and snacks from China. I was so excited!!! It was so funny to read the food labels for the snacks now in available in English to see what he was actually eating. Nothing too terrible or too nutritional for that matter. He was very excited too, to have a little bit of China here at home.