Over the river and through the woods

David and I left for South Carolina on Tuesday, but before we flew out, David had his three month follow up assessment with Illinois' early intervention program. As we suspected, he is doing very well with both his language and motor now testing as age appropriate or very close to it. Because of both his cleft and his relatively short exposure to English, we'll follow up again in 6 months to make sure he's still on track.
After the therapists left, I threw David, Pete and Snoopy in the car. We dropped the dogs off to be boarded and headed for O'Hare. (I could make an entire post about what an ordeal it is to drive downtown with those two insane mutts and a toddler and then get the three of them out of the car and the dogs safely deposited inside.) We got to O'Hare in plenty of time to enjoy all that it has to offer--McDonald's, large crowds and huge windows with lots of planes and trucks to view--and our flight actually arrived early in Columbia.
We had a very special visitor on Wednesday morning: Mason-Kate (who is even cuter in person) and her mom Beth. MK is just two weeks older than David and from the same orphanage in China. It took a few minutes for both kids to warm up, but they eventually shared some (an entire container) of sweet potato puffs and a nice hug. It was great to finally meet them, and hopefully next time we can get everyone in both families together. Here are a few pictures of David and MK's reunion.


David playing in a tunnel originally intended for canine use.


Thursday brought tough times for David. We took him to visit Cedric, who has cut all the LaBordes' hair including mine from the time I was 3 until I moved to Chicago. David was not pleased that I decided to incorporate a haircut into his vacation. Later that night, I left him in the capable hands of my parents to go out with 4 of my girlfriends. I am embarassed to say that we drove up to Charlotte for the New Kids on the Block (who are apparently now calling themselves "The Block" as if that's going to fool anyone) concert. We had a fantastic time. The concert was straight out of 1989--no new clothes, no new dance moves. One of my friends described it as awesomely bad, and I think that sums it up.
David getting his hair chopped. Me with my friends Leila, Alexa, Jennifer and Elizabeth.


Friday morning we went to the state museum where David got to crawl through tunnels, play with giant Legos, explore a fire truck and, his personal favorite, going shopping in a mini-grocery store. We went to a park in the afternoon where David ignored the equipment to spend an hour rearranging sand with a stick.


David made it to one house on Halloween before he fell asleep. He was out by the time we were at the bottom of Aunt Judy's driveway, and he stayed that way through our other two stops and for an hour or so after we got home.


Finally on Saturday, we spent the morning with Jennifer, Kevin and their two girls then returned to help granddaddy with some chores around the house before we had to leave. As always, highlights of our trip included playing with the grandparents and eating a lot.
David testing Haley's patience by not playing correctly. Putting a license plate on granddaddy's truck.


Playing with the grandparents and stuffing his face with their delicious food.


David had a 30 minute meltdown on the flight back to Chicago which I believe to be related to minimal napping and the pilot's refusal to turn the seatbelt sign off for the entire flight. Kevin was waiting at the baggage claim when we got there, and David was so happy to see him, he actually got a tear in his little eye.