"Adoption is like........."

Thursday, Sept. 18th
The last 2 days have gone well.  I haven't written because by the time he goes to bed, I'm exhausted myself.  And I usually hit the bed soon after he does.
It seems to be sinking in the challenges ahead of us.  Another adoptive family made this comment, "Adoption is like opening a book in the middle and starting to read from there."  I so agree.  We don't really know why he's crying, what he wants or when he wants it.  We're having to figure it out slowly.  And at times, it's just hard.  And since he can't tell us, that makes it harder.
Robert is doing great with him the last few days.  He can tell when it's my breaking point and he'll take over.  We've already grown so much closer thru this.  It's going to take the both of us especially thru this adjustment period.
Before we came to get Arouna, we were told he never cried.  He would sit alone for hours with no stimulation.  And the first 2-3 days, that's what he did with us.  Then we started noticing when we put him down,  he would cry.  In 1 week and 2 days, he's decided that he wants to be held and he gets excited when we go places.  I guess for 2 and half years sitting in the same room, he's finally being stimulated and he likes it.  He's beginning to show signs of letting us soothe him.  A week ago, he would self-soothe by rolling his head from 1 side to the other, but I haven't noticed that for days.  So we are seeing very small improvements, but it's tough at times.
Today we visited the sacred crocodiles at Bazouli.  We got some pictures but it was very hot and Arouna was hungry.  So out of about 186 crocodiles in the lake, we saw about 6 or 7 and then walked back to feed Arouna.  We ate dinner tonight with Ruth and Linda.