The Busy Boys

We've had a busy and exciting month! Ewan and Milo certainly keep us on our toes. Ewan is SUCH a fun addition to our family! He enjoys each moment and experience like it's the best he's ever had, and he is a true joy to be with.

Trying on life jackets before we head to the lake.

We went boating for Jie Jie's birthday, and Ewan had a blast on the Wave Runner! He seriously LOVED it!

 

He also is the real-life Curious George. He gets into EVERYTHING and makes the biggest messes imaginable, but he's always genuinely trying to help or is simply curious and leaves a wake of destruction behind. One example is when he dumped four boxes of cereal into the dog's bowl. It covered the floor of the kitchen and down the stairs. He was so proud that he'd given the dog food, though. Stinker! We also do a lot of grunting and gesturing to get our point across, much like George does. Curious George is friendly and kind and enjoys every activity he does. Ewan again! Every morning at the crack of dawn, Ewan climbs into our bed and exclaims, "George!" I keep thinking I should say no to him watching, because heaven knows he doesn't need ideas on how to be a curious little monkey, but YOU try saying no to his big brown eyes! Impossible! So I just repeat the Man in the Yellow Hat's mantra of, "Be a good little monkey!" and hope for the best! The theme song always reminds me that good things come to those who are curious:
You never do know what's around the bend
A big adventure or a brand new friend
When you're curious, like Curious George

When everyday is so glorious, then everything is so wondrous
There's more to explore
When you open your door
And meet friends like this
You just can't miss

Get curious and that's marvelous! And that's your reward
You'll never be bored
If you ask yourself, what is this?
Like curious, like curious, like Curious George.

Even though I joke about the lack of English, Ewan's actually he's learning at lighting pace. We've finished the whole first series of Signing Time (you can quiz him. He knows every sign) and have started the second series. He understands a lot of phrases now and is starting to say them. My favorite thing he does is say (as enthusiastically as possible) Good Morning! No, not just in the morning. He doesn't quite understand the whole morning part. He says it to anyone he hasn't seen for a few minutes. It makes us giggle every single time.

Another think Ewan is really into right now is Toy Story. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES Woody and Buzz. Loves them. He's going to be Woody for Halloween...if the costume lasts that long. I finally had to hide it because he was wearing it 24/7!

Ewan sure has a friend in Woody! Best buddies! Here's a video of them playing together. 

Ewan insists on sleeping with Woody. He won't even attempt to lay down if Woody's not there with him. I think it's the cutest ever! There's nothing like little boys and Toy Story! This Woody has a pull string, and Ewan has every phrase memorized. Yee Haw! is heard around our house a lot!

Ewan finally had his appointment with the Ophthalmologist at the end of August. He, not surprisingly, needs glasses.

I ordered him some Miraflex frames, but they don't fit his face very well. I'm working to buy another pair called Tomato. They are made in Korea and fit Asian kids much better. The only problem is they don't carry them at a retail store in Salt Lake, so I will be ordering them online soon. 

He doesn't love wearing them because they either press against his eyes or slip down. He sure looks cute, though! When they put the glasses on his the first time, his reaction was amazing. I sure wish I would have recorded it! He kept saying, "Woah!" over and over again. It was SO cute! He was seeing clearly for probably the first time in his life! 

Another thing Ewan is obsessed with is animals. He goes over all their names, signs, and sounds about 500 times a day. We went to the state fair this past Friday and I knew it would be a hit for this animal-loving boy!

 

 Here is his first look at the cows. Cows! He couldn't even believe he was seeing cows!

 He started yelling hello to them from quite the distance.

 I just had to include these two pictures because he looks so dang handsome in his glasses!

 

 Sheep!

Milo loved the sheep as well! 

 

  Next up were the goats. Goats are always a favorite with our family. They're so funny!

 I wish these pictures had sound. Ewan kept saying, "Hi, goat!"

 He was showing us the baby goats. If there's anything cuter than a goat, it's a baby goat!

 The sound on this picture would be, "Baby! Baby! Baby! Baby!"

 Getting brave and petting the goat!

 We asked Ewan several times if he wanted to ride a pony. He was VERY excited about the idea!

 So we bought tickets and waited in line...

 But Ewan quickly decided the idea of riding ponies was much better than actually riding the ponies. Haha! Luckily Quin grabbed him off as soon as he set him on. Ewan gleefully watched his siblings ride from a safe distance.

 

 Milo, however, enjoyed the pony ride!

 Ewan was adamant that he be able to ride every ride he saw. As soon as we'd get close, he'd want nothing to do with the rides, though. Luckily he agreed to ride on this little train with Mei Mei (who is just as big of a wimp as Ewan is when it comes to rides.)

 I say luckily because he had the time of his life! He was adorable!

 He yelled, "WAHOO!!!" through the entire ride. I just love this kid!!

 He was so proud of himself!

 And I was, too. He's hard to see in this picture, but he has his arms up whooping out a victory call. He's just the best.

  And this guy's favorite things at the fair were all the lights and...the food. Haha!

 Ewan insisted on going in this little fun house type thing. I made Geh Geh go with him to help him out. Ewan was SO excited!

 

 High fives all around!

 And then it was time for the Big Yellow Slide. He rode with my dad, or Pops as he's known around here. Ewan had SO much fun!!

 

 

 I know these pictures are awful, but I had to include them because the look of pride, joy, and excitement on his face is just too much!

 And then, because he literally is not physically capable of hearing music and not moving his body, he broke out into a victory dance.

 Including lip syncing to a song he had never before heard.

 Oh, Ewan. You certainly take the party with you! 

 And for one final event before bedtime, Ewan played a duck game where you pick a rubber ducky out of a pond to win a prize. 

 He won this stuffed animal duck...

 then threw it back into the water. Because all the other ducks were in the water. Whoops. Ewan got to take a soggy stuffed duck home. Winner winner! 

All in all it was a marvelous adventure at the fair!

A few weeks ago Ewan started a Dancers with Disabilities class at Tanner Dance. Tanner Dance is amazing, and this class is even more amazing. I am kind of obsessed. 

It's a creative dance class with a live pianist, an incredible teacher, and lots of assistants. Several of the assistants are adults with special needs. Melt my heart. Seriously, I cry every time I watch them. Given Ewan's love of dance and mother who is with him nearly 24/7, he relishes in his hour at dance every week. I let him go in by himself and then I sit near the door. He cried for a minute in the second lesson because the music stopped and a helper told him to stop dancing as well. It upset him and he was yelling for me. I ran in and scooped him up and thought, "YES! That is exactly how you should be reacting!" Other than that, he has loved every single second of dance class. In fact, he signs "dance" to me every day to ask me if he has dance that day. We get to drive his friend with us as well, so it's a double dose of fun!

It has been so long since I've done a Milo update! Milo is doing well with Ewan. It's interesting to watch, because Milo tries to copy what Ewan does every once in a while. This is a major accomplishment and makes me so happy!

 Milo is the most laid back, easy, smiley, happy baby on planet Earth. He is a gem!

 He is by far the easiest child to parent, even though I have to physically take care of him (feed, dress, change diapers, etc.) He is generally happy and entertains himself easily.

 He loves big and has a ready smile. He gives the BEST kisses and hugs and is my little snuggle bug.

 I just love him! On July 6th, it was Milo's "Plus One Day". This means as of July 6th, he's officially been with us longer than he was in the orphanage. SO awesome!!

Milo is getting pretty darn close to walking! He's kind of a chicken, though, so he has to be in the right mood to try. Here he is the other night.

I didn't catch his best attempt on video, but you get the idea. He'll be running around here before we know it! Milo only has about a month and a half of Early Intervention left, then he'll be in the special needs preschool. Aaaahhh! I have my first real IEP meeting for him in a few weeks and I'm SO nervous! I can't believe my little baby is growing up so fast! We love this squishy little guy!

Ewan's open heart surgery is scheduled for one week from today, which is September 24th. He will go in the day before for some more tests and we will go to a class to prepare him for the surgery. We requested a Mandarin translator be present for the preparation class. Who knows how much he'll understand, but we owe it to him to try. He will be hospitalized for a minimum of four days after surgery. It could be longer depending how his heart pressures react after the surgery. Please keep our little guy in your prayers! We feel blessed that the surgery is possible, but it's scary at the same time!

Our sister-in-law is 40 weeks pregnant, so Ewan thought he'd copy her at Sunday dinner ;) I have a feeling the greatest challenge of heart surgery is going to be keeping this boy low-key for 6 weeks. Heaven help us!