Mr. Independent

What two or three year old doesn't live with the attitude: "I do it myself!" This, of course, refers only to the things you wish they would let you do. They still want you to do all the things you think they ought to do themselves.

Alex has definitely entered the "independent stage." He's so good at it that I'm thinking he's about ready to move out on his own--not bad for a child who won't be three for another two months! A year ago we bought him a crib tent, because he was forever climbing out of his crib, and since he was also able to open doors-including locked ones with dead bolts-we needed a way to make sure he'd still be in his bed in the morning. Well, he quickly grew to love that crib tent. Now he even climbs in his crib and zips the thing up himself by reaching his hand around (Of course, that also means he can unzip it himself, but the worst thing that's happened is that he comes into our room at 2:00 AM demanding hot chocolate).

I don't know why he demands hot chocolate from me at 2:00 AM. Usually, he wants to make it himself. He'll get a cup out of the dishwasher (doesn't much care if it's clean or dirty) and fill it with water. When the microwave goes off, he announces, "It's ready," and wants to empty the packet into the cup and stir it up himself.

A few weeks ago I walked into the kitchen to find him standing on a stool taking hot chicken nuggets out of the microwave. He had gotten the nuggets out of the freezer, climbed up and found 2 plates, evenly divided the 10 nuggets between the plates, thrown away the empty package, and pushed the right button on the microwave to cook the first plate of nuggets. He informed me that he was making the other plate for his 6-year-old sister Amy.

When finished eating, he races over to the garbage, scrapes his own plate, and puts it in the dishwasher. He says, "I put in washing machine myself." Don't ask me how many times I've washed paper plates that I didn't know he'd put in there.

He also likes to think he goes potty by himself. What actually happens is that he disappears into the bathroom and sits on the toilet with his diaper on. After 1/2 second, he jumps off, throws in a few squares of tissue, and flushes.

When I tell him I'm going to brush his teeth, he announces, "I done." Sure enough, when I go to the bathroom to check, he has squirted toothpaste all over the counter, and his toothbrush is wet. I've watched him brush by himself before, and I see why the toothpaste package says to supervise children under 6 to minimize swallowing.

He gets himself dressed too, complete with shoes on the wrong feet. He still likes to find his sisters' dresses (after all, I tell him it's time to get "dressed").

I never cease to be amazed at what an incredible little boy he is. But for all his independence, I guess he won't want to be rid of his parents too soon. Who else would answer his demands for a "chest rubbin?'"

Some things change

Alex has been a trooper through all the changes that have been happening around him lately. Three weeks ago we finally moved into our new home after renting for 3 months. In our first 2 weeks of being here, we had two birthday parties and Thanksgiving dinner with 15 people, and now we are rushing to get ready for Christmas (we have such great timing). Needless to say, we have been running around like crazy, and not succeeding very well in getting settled. And I'm still driving the girls to their old schools and their lessons, which means about 3-4 hours of commuting and waiting time every weekday. Alex spends far too much time in his carseat, but he's pretty patient with that. Sometimes he'll tell me "Want buckle" which means he wants to get out of his seat. Sometimes he'll tell me "Want go home" which needs no translation. But he doesn't question that this is home, even though that word has meant 3 different places in the last 4 months.

Alex is like Linus on Peanuts--he's very attached to his blanket. He also loves his bear and his pillow, and wants to drag all three out of his crib each morning when he gets up. He says, "Wrap blankie 'round you" because, like his sisters, he likes to wear his blanket like a robe and drag it all over the house. He also likes anything to do with trains. He calls them all Thomas, and he usually has one train car in one hand and two in the other, which he manages to do while still holding his blanket. He likes to begin each morning with a cup of hot chocolate.

Alex's new favorite game is "Scary Monsters." I don't know if he thought of it from reading Go Away Big Green Monster, which he has memorized, or from watching the Disney Monsters movie. But the game mostly involves a lot of screaming and chasing with his sisters. I'm personally not a big fan of the game.

Yesterday Alex discovered the place in our unheated basement where I have stacked all the boxes of toys we have had in storage. He doesn't need Christmas; he has tons of "new" toys. One of the things he discovered is Laura's GeoTrax train. She hasn't seen it for 4 months either, so she isn't too interested in sharing it (though she only thinks about it when he is trying to play with it) But joy of joys, right at this very moment, they're actually playing with it TOGETHER. Alex might not unpack the boxes in as neat and orderly a fashion as I would like, but hey, someone has to do it, and he is sure getting to it faster than I would. And he's the only child in the family who isn't afraid to go in the basement!

I love you too

For all his rough and tumble boyish energy, Alex has continued to be a sweet and loving child. He has learned to say, "I love you too" when we tell him we love him. He will often walk up to one of his sisters and demand, "Hug!" He also wants us to hug his teddy bear.
Last week we found his train set (since we are still looking for the right house, we have kept most of our belongings stored away). He can set up the track by himself, but needs help with the bridge. Every so often, he'll holler, "Help, please," because the bridge has fallen down again. The first thing he does in the morning, and the last he does at night is take his little train for a ride along the tracks. He even sleeps with the little train cars. The other day I heard him talking in his crib and went to check on him. He was carrying on a little conversation with his train. You might think we have this child "well-trained!" But the truth is he is training us pretty well instead. How blessed we are to have him.

Growing and Changing

We've been MIA this last while, because of getting our house ready to sell, selling it, and moving to temporary quarters, then getting the kids in school. Because we don't know where we'll end up, I've kept the kids in the same schools, which means I have to drive them 7 miles each way to school every day. Callie goes from 8:00 to 2:40. Laura and Amy start at 9:00, but Amy ends at 11:30, and Laura doesn't finish until 3:15. Then there's soccer and dance. The fact that Alex has started coming up to me several times a day to ask, "Where we goin?" lets me know we're spending far too much time in the car!

But Alex is holding his own. Last week I sent some photos to our agency for them to send on to his orphanage and birthmother. I looked at the pictures and couldn't help wondering what the recipients will think when they see how big he has gotten. For a moment I felt sad that they did not get to share in watching him grow. He is not at all a baby anymore, and he is so smart.

He says a lot of words, though it's hard to understand him. But he sings whole songs, and he says the words of familiar books. He knows many of the letters of the alphabet by name, and he can count to 13. He sits and watches how others do things, then he figures out how to do them himself (not always a good thing, since he especially likes to do things a 2 year old shouldn't be doing). It's amazing how much he knows. We have the They Might Be Giants videos of Here Come the 1,2, 3's and Here Come the A,B,C's. They are going in the car during our multiple trips throughout the day, and he loves to sing along.

I love to hear him laugh. He'll do or say something, then ask, "I funny?" Of course, I always respond: "Yes, you're funny."
What a sweet boy we have.

What will he be?

My girls frequently say "I wonder what Alex is going to look like when he grows up." Then they wish he would hurry and grow up so they can find out.
I wonder what he'll be when he grows up.

Perhaps he will be a mathematician--he can already count by rote to 11.
Or a teacher--he's learning his letters by reading "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" several times a day.
Or an artist--you should see how the "artwork" he put all over the family room walls with a dry-erase marker.
Maybe he'll go into auto detailing--great pinstriping with pink sidewalk chalk all over the van.
Possibly landscape architecture--he rearranges the rocks and plants for us.
Motorcycle racer--he really moves on his Big Wheel.
Baker--you can see from the photo that he likes having his hands in the flour.
Escape artist (future Houdini)--he can maneuver the child-proofing better than some adults.
Fashion Model--unfortunately it's his sisters' dresses he wants to model.
Machine Operator--loves pushing buttons.
Track Star--he runs away quite quickly when he knows he has something someone else wants.
Gymnast--Climbing, twisting, rolling, swinging. Bring it on.
Hmm, so many more possiblities.

He has developed a very endearing habit: Whenever I hand him something, he will say, "Thank you, mom. " And if I tell him thank you, he'll respond, "Welcome." My little boy really is growing up fast.

Happy Gotcha-Day Anniversary

It's been a year--a whole year since we held Alex in our arms for the first time. We were all a little scared and shy then. Now, we are definitely a family. He has lived with us almost as long as he lived at St. Lucy's now, and all of our lives have changed so much. I wonder what his birthmother, "Lisa" is thinking about today. I hope she is happy and well. I hope she's been able to continue her schooling and do all the things a girl her age should be able to do. And I hope when she thinks about 'Yueh-Hsiang' and about us that she feels at peace with her decision to allow our family to adopt Alex.

What a year it has been!

Two Two Train

Happy Birthday to Alex. He turned 2 last Tuesday. I was going to say we had a quiet celebration at home, but with 4 kids, things are NEVER quiet around here. We are also not incredibly organized, and have resorted to doing things at the last moment. Laura and Callie helped decorate the train cake. It was only that morning that we decided to make the train cake, and we rushed to the grocery store to buy the necessary items. The night before, I was at Walmart at 10:00, instead of in bed where I should have been, buying his birthday gift--a Fisher Price Action Sounds Trike (he loves anything that makes noise). I put it together while he was taking his nap on Tuesday. I still haven't quite finished, but I got it good enough that he can ride it, and he was so thrilled when we wheeled it into the room. He can't reach the pedals yet, but he can scoot himself around, and he has fun. Amy keeps complaining that Alex gets all the fun stuff, and she wants a trike just like it, only blue, for her birthday. She likes to take an occasional ride around the couches herself. This video is Alex experiencing some of the sounds of his new toy.

So how about those Terrible Twos? It was terrible when, the week before he sneaked off while I was paying for my purchases at the Book Fair at Laura's school. Laura had taken him to the drinking fountain 10 feet away, and he ran off. Twenty minutes and a huge uproar later, I found him outside calmly walking toward the playground. I'm guessing he let himself out the kindergarten doors.
It is terrible when he throws himself on the ground and performs a screaming fit because he doesn't get what he wants.
It is terribly embarrassing when he hits the other children in the nursery at church, because he wants their toys.
The amount of mess he can create in 30 seconds or less is pretty terrible.

But there are lots of things that are pretty nice about our two year old:

It's nice how his vocabulary is up to around 100 words, and he tries to tell us what he wants rather than screeching most of the time.
It's nice how he loves to hum little songs, even when he doesn't know any of the words. Since his birthday, I've caught him humming "Happy Birthday to You" several times.
It's nice how he still has a routine of walking around to everyone in the family at bedtime to get kisses.
It's nice how he climbs onto my back while I'm sitting on the floor just to give me a hug.
It's nice how he's learned to play with toys like trucks and trains, and can entertain himself for several minutes.
It's nice how he's developing a love of books already, and brings book after book for us to read to him.
It's nice to hear him giggle.
It's nice to see him climbing at the playground. His balance has improved so much.
It's nice that we got to celebrate his birthday with him this year.

How blessed we are to have this sweet little boy.