Mid January

Well, it's the middle of January and I think we're starting to get used to our new routine of me being at school a couple days a week.  TongJie is also slowly getting better at sleeping again.  Most days it doesn't take quite as long to get him to sleep and he usually hasn't been freaking out as much about us leaving him alone.  He's slept through the night all by himself for the last two nights, but most of the time I've been going into his room in the middle of the night, sometime between 12:30 and 3:45 most nights, to sleep on the floor with him for the remainder of the night.  So it's been very nice to be able to get a normal night's sleep for the past two nights.  We're just taking the sleeping thing a day at a time.  We keep reminding ourselves that TongJie had a really hard time right after we came back from China, but he got over it and got to be a good little sleeper, then he had another setback with sleeping after his surgery, but he also got over that.  So these new changes are just a little bump in the road and he'll get back into his sleeping routine sooner or later.  We have figured out that it helps if Jeff is the one to finish tucking him in and to say the final "good night" to him while I slip away, because he doesn't get so upset about Jeff being the one to leave him.

Aside from TongJie's sleeping woes, everything is going really well.  He's been having so much fun at Grandma's on the days when Jeff and I are both working, and apparently he's been napping just fine for Grandma!  Last week it was snowing really hard one morning, so TongJie, Albert, and I went for a walk in the gigantic snowflakes that were falling.

This week, however, it has been sunny and clear and makes me wish for spring, but the temperatures are still in the 20's and low 30's.  But we've still been going outside, even though it is really cold.  This morning TongJie wanted to swing.  It's been a few months since he's been in the swing, so he had a great time!

The other morning I filled up the sink with warm soapy water and put in some measuring cups and funnels and let TongJie stand on a chair and pour to his heart's content.  He loved it, and it kept him busy for almost an hour and a half!  He probably would have kept going for who knows how long if I wouldn't have stopped him so we could get ready for church.

TongJie has been playing with his musical instruments a lot.  He got a xylophone from my sister and her family, and he's had his little electronic guitar/keyboard since his birthday and he loves playing with both of them.

TongJie has also been really into the "Five Little Monkeys" song (yes, it is actually a song too and not just a chant, something we learned while watching videos on YouTube when TongJie was recovering from his surgery) and he wants us to play the tune on various instruments so he can dance.  He likes to shake his little finger on the "no more monkeys jumping on the bed" part.

Let's see . . . what else is new?  I got a new haircut.

And TongJie continues to grow!  Here he is standing at his growth chart.  Isn't he getting big?  We used to see him standing with other kids his age and he looked so tiny compared to them, but now he looks like he pretty much fits in.  He's certainly not tall by any means, and still wearing mostly 18 month clothing, but he no longer looks like a baby compared to other kids his age.