Bonding with Evan

Pull us around FASTER Daddy! This is FUN!

We all are bonding well with Evan this past week and we have seen some improvements with Evan bonding to us. Andrew is learning to be the big brother to Evan by sharing his toys and his Mama and Papa with Evan. Robert and I have learned to share our attention with both Evan and Andrew so we keep the peace within the family. Andrew is learning that having brothers to play with can be a lot of fun. Today, Evan and Andrew were being pulled around the sunroom (not heated, that’s why we have our coats and hats on) by Papa. Robert was having just as much fun as the boys were having and neither Andrew or Evan wanted to end the play session today. They both were crying and putting up a fuss when it came time to return Evan to his groupa.

Brothers Having fun.

Thumbs up from Daddy

Yesterday and the day before the weather was nice enough (sunny & 45-50 degrees F)to take Evan and Andrew outside for a walk and for some fun in the orphanage playground.
As I pushed Andrew and Evan on the swings it was so sweet to see Evan laugh and smile as I was pushing him from the front of the swings.


Swing me higher Mama!


WEEEEEE! Mama and Evan Bonding.


COO COOO!!

They also had a little wooden playhouse in the playground and we pretended that I was the customer and Andrew and Evan were the ice cream parlor workers. Evan was so cute how his face lit up with a smile when I surprised him on the other side of the window curtain and said “Coo, Coo.”


My Boys.


Mama and Evan.



I really feel like I broke through a barrier today and bonded so well with Evan and he with me. In the adoption books that we have read, it tells how a mother when she gives birth to her baby the bonding starts immediately when they look into each others eyes as the mother is holding them and feeding them. In an adoption in order to bond with the child, no matter how old he or she is, it’s best to do some eye contact games where the child and parent look into each others eyes while they are playing and when the parent feeds them.

Daddy you are so funny!

Brothers bonding.


Over the past couple of weeks Evan gets real temperamental when I take a toy away to return him to his groupa, or pick him up when he doesn’t want me to. Afterwards he’ll cop an attitude and give me the cold shoulder and walk away from me because I corrected him or did something he didn’t want me to do. Alla says that he is testing me. That could be but when you are trying to bond with the child and deal with toddlerhood it’s a bit disheartening. The Italian couple is going through the same challenges with the child they are adopting.

This week, however, I’ve been focusing on doing eye contact games and activities whenever possible. When we played ice cream parlor in the playhouse I made sure I was at Evan’s eye level to make good eye contact with him as well as when I was pushing him on the swings. That is why I was pushing him from the front more so than pushing him from behind. We also brought stickers with us and would put the stickers on each others noses so Evan would have to look at us in order to take the sticker off of our noses and visa versa. These games have certainly helped and I feel we all have connected with Evan on a deeper level.