Short and sweet!

We are in Bulgaria, having a great time when we're with him and a less than fabulous time recovering from leaving him. We'll do a more in-depth post soon. (we hope!)

He is amazing! A lot like Tam... and a bunch different too. He'll fit in really well!

We dealt with our first 'ne' (no) today - not as smooth as being just the awesome people who played with him yesterday. But most of the day was still incredible - playing, drawing, running, beginning to trust being in our arms, etc. Leaving at lunch time was rough - he puts so much expression into his face since his speech is lagging. But that was NOTHING compared to the cataclysm of leaving tonight. He wailed and cried loud enough for us to hear outside, at the street, with the doors closed. They are even new doors; they seal well. The director of the orphanage came with us to show our translator where the other two local orphanages are in this area and told us that Nikolas hadn't shown any emotion since he'd been there - 5 months +. We are still pretty emotionally fragile about it - as Donna sniffles proofreading this...

Okay, more than sniffles! :( But it's great that we're making such strides!

And he said "Thank you" today, not in Bulgarian, in ENGLISH! This is absolutely HUGE - size of the Earth HUGE! since everyone has a hard time understanding the 2-3 word phrases he uses in Bulgarian. He still does a fair bit of "goo goo ga ga" vocalizing (Bulgarian version). He knows quite a few words in BG, but says very little. Donna made the breakthrough by exchanging 8 jars of Play Do with him, each time saying "Thank you". They just kept going, and he started to murmur it, and it got stronger and stronger until our translator heard him clearly from across the room. The orphanage's nurse came in and told him to say it for her, and he wouldn't. Once she stopped talking, and Donna started in again, he said it several times, each time super clear.

This has enormous ramifications for his ability to adapt to his new life - with Tam and the rest of us talkers.

He eats very steadily - not fast, but he is very thorough - no bit of apple went to waste - we had to take the stem away early on and eventually the center. He is going to push it though - he tries to get us to do things that he knows he should do - take his bowl and cup to the kitchen, throw out his used kleenex, etc. And he loves to make us laugh - sound like anyone else? I can see the dueling comedic sons now...

He is still working on the potty - no accidents while we are around - and a diaper at nap and at night.

I'll stop here. More later- probably much more...