James' Pick-Up Trip - Day 2

Wednesday morning, James work up around 6 am, when things outside were just starting to wake kup. It wasn't even quite light outside yet. He just sat with me for quite a while, then started getting antsy. He had filled his pants, so I laid him down to change him and then realized it'd gone all the way up his back, and a little out the leg holes of his diaper, so I scrubbed out the bedding and found my changing pad. I got him all cleaned up, lotioned, and dressed before breakfast.

I also gave James some more Tylenol, which he doesn't like (it was dissolvable tablets instead of liquid - silly me!) The night before I had dissolved them in his water, but since they didn't completely dissolve, I thought it'd be better if I just broke them into pieces and put them in his mouth. He clamped his teeth shut, but I somehow got them in his cheeks.

Breakfast was toast and bagels with PB&J, cereal and milk, and juice. James ate nearly a whole slice of bread with PB, and a few bites of Jock's bagel. The milk was gone before we got to it, so i got him some juice, which he guzzled down pretty quickly and begged for more. I was glad he ate, because he hadn't eaten much for supper.

After breakfast, Jock got a couple smiles out of James. :)

I took a quick shower, and then while Jock showered, James and I found a rocking chair on the balcony and enjoyed the beautiful morning - but James proceeded to sleep for about an hour.

When he woke up, he sat on Jock's lap the rest of the morning - didn't want to play much either, despite my best efforts with any books/toys I got out. I read a couple books to him anyway, but he just looked away. Probably a combination of him not feeling well and also being out-of-sorts with strange new people taking care of him in a strange new place.

Nikki warmed up some of the left-over chicken/noodle casserole for lunch, and also made some ramen noodles for James. He ate the ramen noodles really well, and had some juice to go with it.

After lunch, James was in a playful mood, and his fever hadn't come back when the Tylenol wore off, so we stayed downstairs and played in the living room a while, coloring, playing ball, and James walking around just checking things out (looking for more juice). I was glad to see him playing, and since he'd taken a nap in the morning, we decided to keep playing instead of making after-lunch into nap-time.

After an hour or so, James started getting bored, so I took him up to the balcony to rest. He probably slept another 45 minutes, but it was interrupted by school kids and neighbors coming and going a couple times.

Around 3:00, we left with Brandon to head over to the main house. James was happy to "an ale" in the car, although he had not been pleased to have to change his shirt right before we left.

James seemed to know the way around and seemed pleased to see a few people he knew - a volunteer who worked with him the previous week, a few staff, and his nanny who he recognized right away with a great big smile. She was coming downstairs for the staff devotions and enjoyed seeing him as well. She picked him up and gave him a quick hug but then went on her way. James liked that, and hollered her name, kind of giggling - so cute!

Jock and I talked to the office staff a bit and then went upstairs to the 3rd floor balcony. I paused at the second floor because Jock wasn't right behind me, and James started getting very nervous, like he was worried that we were going to stop there.

After being on the balcony for a bit we went back downstairs. We thought we would try to stop in his nursery and see his little friends for a bit, but he panicked and started screaming when Jock opened the door. This makes me think he remembers back to May when we left him. We scratched that idea and came back down to the main floor to get wifi passwords and check emails (which didn't work out since the internet was choppy - no email checking - just posted one quick status on Facebook, without a photo because they wouldn't load either).

James was very anxious the rest of the time we were at the main house. his fever had come back by then, so that didn't help either. He screamed when we changed his diaper, tried to give him more Tylenol (until we got the great idea to dissolve it in his juice!), or when Jock walked away to throw his diaper in the trash, etc. He wouldn't eat anything for supper. I thought sure he'd eat a banana, but no luck. I held him for a bit while I ate until I took away the spoon and butter knife he was jabbing into the table and the guy sitting next to me. Then he wanted Jock but started being a little stinker (and smiling/laughing about it). Hmmmm... maybe that's a little bit of the fiestiness that we've been told about him! ;)

I took him back when I finished supper so Jock could eat the rest of his food. He wasn't happy about it, so I took him outside. When I tried to come back inside for something, he panicked again, so I just forgot about it and went back outside to not disturb everyone's dinner. He didn't really stop crying outside, until Dixie's grandaughter started talking to us. I was happy for the distraction she provided both of us until it was time to go back to the guest house. I didn't even realize we'd missed the regular Wednesday staff devotion - which Jock said was awesome.

Back at the guest house, they were VERY low on water (of course with 20 people in the house, but apparently their power/pump had been out so they apparently had water just couldn't pump it up to the roof) - so the rule of the night for us and the team was no showers, and try to save flushes as well. Nikki did bring up a gallon or so of water for us to bathe James though. James again screamed when we took off his clothes, through the bath and lotioning, until after his PJs were on.

When he'd calmed down, it was only about 6:30 pm, so we went out on the porch for a bit to visit with the mission team and a little rocking. Jock started playing a game of hearts and a few played Skip-Bo. I just visited for a while.

Around 7:45, I took James to bed. He just laid there for a long time while I played a game on my phone. I scolded him a bit when he started pulling on the curtain, and again when he started pulling on his diaper (I'd heard the kids in his nursery take their PJs and diapers off when they don't want to go to bed, and I didn't want him to start that with us!) He then cried for a bit, but not his high-pitch scream - more just a tired wail. I stood up and held him for about a minute until he stopped, then laid him down and he was out!

I was glad to see James starting to test a little bit, as it told me he was maybe starting to get comfortable with us. But yet, there were times when he still seemed so scared! My prayers that night were that things would go well on Thursday, more of his fears would subside before we headed for home on Friday, and the testing didn't come on strong until after we got home. Don't get me wrong, a little testing is good though, as he learns to trust and obey us.