My Little Genius, The Energizer Bunny

I'm not quite sure how much more blogging I'm going to get done on this trip.  It seems that Gregg and I have adopted the Energizer Bunny.  (He keeps going, and going, and going....). Francis is up by 5:30 am, and though we have quiet afternoon activities like coloring and books for him, he won't do a nap.  Fortunately he is in bed at his regular time, 8:00 pm, because that's when we're ready to crash.  Gregg and I also have wicked cases of sunburn right now from taking him to the pool on Tuesday for a little over an hour, so we're not feeling the greatest.

Francis truly is a little genius, though.  He colors beautifully, and when he got a hold of Daddy's phone and the tablet, he typed out his full first and last name with middle initial.  He also showed Lolo where every letter of the alphabet was.  Then he got my phone and started pushing numbers and us he was "Texting Boots," our cat, who he seems to remember from the video of the house we made for him.  After he "texted Boots" a few times, he "texted Lola." Gregg tried to Face.Time with him yesterday to prepare him for Skyping with his great-grandma today, but when he finally let the call go through, he grabbed the tablet, laughed hysterically and ran into the next room calling "Daddy! Daddy!". He knew where Daddy was and thought it was so funny that daddy was in his computer, too!

Some other things:  this boy is a GREAT eater.  He loves his food.  We typically eat at a buffet and he will show us just what he wants and then eats all of it.  He loves his fruit, as well!  Too bad watermelon is going out of season back home, because he loves that and mangoes (which we are not getting a lot of, to my chagrin).  Fortunately, he loves apples and oranges, too, so we'll have plenty of those back home.

Unfortunately, we also have at least one meltdown every day, usually around the same time, when the grief starts to come out.  He is quite a fighter for us to hold onto him, but we are working on it and I think he does realize we're not going anywhere.  More than anything, I think he misses the good people who took care of him and all of his friends.  He wont tell us.  We have been playing Jim Brickman's version of "I See the Moon" over and over to him and it really seems to calm him.

More than anything, we adore this funny, smart, happy and loving little boy.  I have wonderful stories, but they may have to wait until it's not 3 am and I'm not hiding in the bathroom to tell them.  In the meantime, here are some pictures from the first day, until I get more from mr parents camera.