Creche
ZiXuan went to the creche for a full day yesterday. From 8 to 17.15, for the first time a full day. Nina brought him and she told me, that when they went in ZiXuan went to a crate of toys, immediately. When Nina was about to go away, ZiXuan noticed and started to crawl in her direction. When Nina went away he started to cry, which made Nina feel horrible.
We know from 4 trial runs at the creche that he takes well to being there. He loves to play by himself. When they go outside, weather permitting, he enjoys walking a lot. Up the little hill, down the little hill and up again. He also likes to play in the sand and with the water. The only "issue" we had so far is the fact that he doesn't want to sleep much at the creche. So all in all we think he likes it there.
Bonding (hechting)
To explain about bonding read this article in English, or here in Dutch. You can see that the bonding is very important between all children and parents, but especially so for adopted children. If you read about it on the internet, you can only find the horror stories of how it can go (awfully) wrong. So we were well prepared for the worst situation, we thought.
Well we were not prepared for the worst, we find out now having been with ZiXuan for over 3 months. Not that it goes wrong with him or the relationship between him and us, but to get it right is hard work. We didn't take things for granted and we are really trying hard to give him all the love we can and give him the space, tools and freedom to develop our relationship.
We think we are on the right track and we do get confirmation from all kinds of people; from our families (offcourse), from the doctors we see and from the people at the creche. This is very nice to hear and gives us even more spirit to keep working hard on the bonding.
Medical stuff
In the Netherlands there is an option, which enables you to have your adopted child medically screened. It is not mandatory (but it should be) to do so, but we decided that we would have ZiXuan screened. Fortunately our Medical Insurance covers everything, so we don't have to worry about the finances.
I have written before about this ordeal in previous chapter and even wrote about the first results coming in. But now all results are back. Everything is fine, no problems discovered. The only thing is that his shots against mumps (Bof) and Dyfteria (Dyfterie) need to be done again. Unfortunately that means that ZiXuan will have to get two shots and maybe even blood drawn again to see if it worked out fine. This is something we don't look forward to.
Now there are three organisations involved in getting those two shots. The hospital, which did the medical screening, the Child Care Center and the Ministry of Health (RIVM). As it is not clear to us how things are organised we asked the doctor to get in touch with the ministry and involve the Child Care Center (CCC).
At the CCC the doctor said that she is amazed about what she heared from me. She thinks ZiXuan is developing in a rapid speed and she can clearly see the bonding between my son and I is on the right track. She said, that she figures, that I should be proud of him, which I am offcourse. She decided that he will not follow the special program for children and that we only have to go back, when he is 2 and 3 and 4. She even said, that considering his background, ZiXuan is developing normally like an avarage Dutch child !!!
Walking
Today another milestone has been achieved by our little champion. When you see the olympics and look carefully at the 100 meter sprint, you see something unbelievable. Such speed, such souplesse, such power. Well let me tell you, that is nothing compared to what ZiXuan achieved today........ His first two steps on his own, without help of his parents. He stood up by himself and walked two steps by himself. Incredible, especially when you figure he did this on our bed, of which the surface is not as steady as the floor. We are so proud of him.
And Nina and I
Well all this rapid developments, all this medical mumbojumbo and the fact that we have to leave ZiXuan 3x a week at a creche gives us mixed emotions and feelings. We both know it is the best we can do in our situation, but that does not mean we are 100% comfortable with the situation. But like ZiXuan is learning, we are learning as well to deal with this new situation and deal with the new emotions going with it.
