First Days with Drew

After a 1.5 year process from seeing his face, that involved getting his older brother to healthier therapeutic place, and moving, and writing his entire paperwork and clearance process.. THIS FINALLY HAPPENED.

Presenting Andrew Jose Sibley! 3 years of awesomeness in a small package.



And here are a few from the pre-bed wrestling match




**** Excitement aside, read on for reality*****

Everything is going really well. Better than expected, when it comes to Drew. He reminds us a lot of how Sammy handled his grief of leaving Fana back in 2013. On the surface, everything looks great. A little too great, but part of this is his personality.

Things would be going even better if the altitude wasn't completely kicking my butt. I have slept more in the last 36 hours than in the last year I think. I was still healing up from a major injury when we left USA, and the altitude along with no sleep in the first night kid of added to it. Daddy is having to do a lot of parenting until I start feeling better. It is ridiculously annoying.

But Drew is extremely resilient! So moving on.

One of my favorite things about him so far, is that he has all sorts of strategies to get his needs met. You can tell he is used to safe caregivers that he trusts to get his stuff done. We don't have any food scarcity issues and he lets us do what needs to be done keeping him clean etc. He is happy to play with a variety of things and interacts with almost everyone happily. This time around, it's a great plan to have Lucas and Sam here because they look like his friends from Fana and they are always happy to play.

Just like Sam, he prefers Dad. Dad is fun. This guy is good times. He doesn't remind him of all of the ladies that are not here right now.. so I might be the bad guy for the next few weeks until Dad goes home. I had forgotten that Samuel didn't care for me much until Ted left last time around. That's fine actually, because it means he had strong bonds with his ladies and I am not yet one of them.

So my first totally-not-a-therapist assessment is "Avoidant attachment strategy" with a side of "more easy going personality". All of that grief is going to come out eventually, but in the meantime he is going to pretend it isn't there and chase around his soccer ball.

We got one night of sleep for the first night, and that is awesome. No idea if that will continue (and it probably won't).

We spent today doing some sightseeing where in downpoured on us the entire time. This afternoon, Drew had to go to the Dr to get his first round of TB shot test so that we will be ready for the embassy in later weeks.

Tomorrow, the plan is for Lucas to go back to Fana for a tour, visiting the Hogar, and general soul searching while we keep up the bonding with Drew.

For now, Bienstar interview is set for Monday, so we are making good time!