It is so amazing how much Nick has grown and changed in the last three years! We told him yesterday the story of the day we met him. We were both so excited and nervous as we headed to the Civil Affairs office. We sat on an old couch and did paperwork while we waited for the nannies and kids to get there. I don't think we will ever forget the moment when Nick walked into the room holding onto his caretakers hand. The look he had on his face that day is so familiar to us now. We know that is how he looks and acts when he is going into a new situation! We fell in love with him at first sight. It took him a little longer to adjust to us but I have to say by that afternoon, he was acting so happy and wanting me to carry him and hold him all the time.
Here is what I wrote after we got back to our hotel with Nick:
"We are trying to calm Nicholas down. He was very attached to his orphange nannies. It breaks our heart to see him so upset. We are trying to lay him down for a nap. He knows we are his mom and dad, but it might take some time for him to get used to us. We showed him a learning Chinese DVD. He is very independent and can do many tasks on his own. We showed him some pictures from the album that we brought from home. He is constantly carrying around to picture from his orphanage. His primary care taker also was so upset when she had to leave him. Please pray for us for Nicholas to be able to adjust to his new surroundings. We are so happy to have him! He knows how to count to five in English. We will try to put some more videos and pictures as the day progresses."
After Nick took his nap, he woke up and called my parents. He repeated after us "I love you, Grandma." He caught onto the language so quickly which made things much easier! Later that night, I wrote:
"We went back to the Civil Affairs office and Nicholas did great. His nanny was there but he stayed in my arms and didn't cry at all. He was very quiet.
We made it offical that he was ours. We put a red fingerprint on the documents and now we have our offical adoption decree. Nicholas is ours forever.
When we got back to the hotel, we went to an Italian restuarant and he had so much fun eating his noodles and a lot of my noodles also. Oh, and quite a bit of bread. He seemed really hungry, but he hadn't hardly eaten all day.
He is sitting on my lap now while I type and being quiet. He really acts older than I expected. He doesn't seem to be behind at all. He is even repeating our english and he can already count to three.
Tomorrow, more paperwork. Yuck! Pray that Nicholas sleeps good tonight and is able to communicate with us. Thank you for the prayers. You are right, Gina and Paul, all of the stuff was worth it. He is a wonderful gift from God. Now if we can just get through one more week of China."
This week at school in Nick's class they are going to talk about what makes each of them special and unique. Of course, when I told Nick this, he said his hands make him special. I guess we talk a lot about his special hands! So I tried to explain to him that there are lots of things that make him special, unique, and wonderful. Here are some of the wonderful things about Nick:
He has a great sense of humor and can make people laugh.
He tells really good stories and his dramatic nature helps with this.
He uses big words which is funny coming from a six year old. He also understands very deep concepts.
He asks a lot of questions which means he is always thinking and using his brain!
He has a beautiful singing voice and can be very expressive with music.
He is very kind and sensitive toward other people.
He is a very caring big brother and good at sharing with Alex and enduring Alex's constant need to tease.
He has a great imagination!
He listens so well to us and obeys us and is such a fun kid to have around.
So every parent should have a blog so you can brag on your kid like that, huh? I never knew how much you could love a child until we got Nick. And I realized pretty quick that my kid was the most intelligent, most handsome, the funniest, etc... :)
Nicholas Ryan Jian Pruett gave us a great gift three years ago when he became our son and we got to experience the great joy of being a mom and a dad. I guess I should give credit where due and say God gave us the great gift of Nick. We know that He worked everything out according to His plans and blessed us beyond what we could have ever imagined. Thank you Lord for the gift of this child!
Alex found this whole box of animals and spent a long time sorting them all and playing with them. He was very busy. He also spent a lot of time playing with the water table.
Did I mention we had the discovery room to ourselves? Usually, they let a certain amount of kids in for the alloted time, but we were the only ones in the room.
St. Louis is a great city to live so close to. I'm thankful there are so many fun things I can take the boys to do.
Of course, we had to get brand new backpacks to start the year. Alex picked out a Lightening McQueen backpack at the Disney store, and Nick picked out a new green backpack at Old Navy that has dragons. It also happens to have skulls which I didn't notice until we got home!
We also bought new lunchboxes because both boys wanted to be "brought from homes". I let them pick out danimals and a lunchable for their first day. I also stuck a little picture in their lunchbox.
The parking lot was crazy when we got to school. I think this is because everyone is going to drive their primary kids this year. Our school district is only running one bus for K-12 this year and so the little kids would have to catch the bus really early in the morning and ride for a long time. Alex was ready to go and told me not to walk him to class!
Nick wanted me to walk him to class. We put his backpack outside the door and then he headed out for a few minutes of morning recess until the bell rings. Unstructed things like that kind-of freak Nick out, so I was a little worried about him. I'm sure once his teacher came to get them, he was fine.
Right now, Nick should be finishing up spelling and Alex should be finishing up music class. I can't wait to hear about their first day!
Science Center. This is another one of Nick's favorite places and we had such a great time. It worked out so good because it was not crowded at all. The boys loved the Discovery Zone. There is so much to do and play with in that room and they can go anywhere they want. 
Alex found a friend while we were waiting to go to the Real Pirates Exhibit. He reminded me of my Dad and was very patient and let Alex do every puzzle and tanagram he had. He was very impressed with Alex's ability to put things together.
Nick really enjoyed the Real Pirates exhibit. It was pretty amazing to see all of the items they had rescued from the bottom of the ocean that showed what pirate life was like.
