Then and Now

One year ago we saw this cute little guy's face for the first time. At that moment, he began working his way into our hearts. Seven months later, he was in our hearts and our arms. And now, five months after that, he's in our hearts, our arms, and everything else.

What a blessing Alex has been for our family. He's growing and changing so fast, and this year has gone so fast. What will this next year bring?

Thank Heaven for Little Girls

I am so excited that two more little girls will soon be with their families. It's been almost a year since Jackie's family saw their first picture of Lucy. And now, Lucy is coming home. She'll be in her parents' arms on September 8. Gracyn has been in foster care in PingTung (the same place that Alex's birthmother lives). Her family saw a picture of her for the first time in November, but they'll meet her in person on September 1st. It seemed like forever that we had to wait to bring Alex home, but these two families have been waiting so much longer. Thank heavens their wait is nearly over. And thank Heaven for little girls!

Boys and Girls

From the moment we brought Alex home, people began asking me if we noticed a big difference between boys and girls. Most said, in their experience, boys are "more into everything." Well, I didn't notice a difference at first. My girls were pretty busy as toddlers. I remember thinking it was easier to just carry Amy around all the time than have to clean up after her when she had freedom to move around. I have pictures of Callie sitting in an empty cupboard with all the former contents spilled on the floor. She made a spiderweb of yarn all through the house. I remember Laura constantly climbing on a chair to play with the knobs on the stove. Amy listened for the bathroom door to open, and ran in there to play. Laura and Amy did a lot of climbing. Could a boy really be more active than my girls?

The last two weeks I've decided the answer is a resounding YES! Alex gets into so much trouble that you would think he was unsupervised all day. We watch him closely and carefully, but it only takes him a few seconds to create havoc. And even if I see him approaching "trouble," he's into it before I can grab him.

Turn your back, and he's climbed up on the table. He's dumping a whole box of cereal out. He's in the bathroom pulling every yard of dental floss out of the case. He's climbed on a chair and is sticking his whole hand down into the jar of honey. He's grabbed a pitcher of water and poured it on the carpet. He's emptied two scoops of dishwasher detergent on the floor. The whole roll of toilet paper is in a pile on the linoleum. He's pulled all the Tupperware out of the cupboard. He's banging with a wooden spoon on the china closet. He's poured a whole cup of someone else's milk down his front. He's throwing the peaches like they are balls. He's eating rocks. He's managed to open the dishwasher and is standing on the door removing the dirty contents. He's banging on the computer keyboard...

By the time I put this little boy into bed at night, I am totally exhausted from chasing him all day. A friend of mine, whose son is now 20 years old, said they took pictures of all of his messes, and they can look back and laugh. Hey, I have to admit that, even now, it is pretty funny--in an exasperating sort of way.

And then you know what he does? He lies in my arms drinking his bottle, and suddenly pushes the bottle away so he can give me kisses. There's a lot of sugar and spice mixed in with those snakes and snails and puppy dog tails.

All-American Boy

We got a call from the courthouse yesterday. The judge has signed off on our readoption! That means that Alex is now officially "Alex," and he is an official U.S. citizen. Hooray!

Oh, I wish that the judges in Taiwan worked so quickly.

Milestones

I have photos on my camera for this week's milestones, but if I waited to post until I go the pictures downloaded, it just wouldn't happen. But it's been a good week!

Alex is noticeably more "secure." He is more content to play, and doesn't need to be held quite so often, though yesterday he spent about 3 hours (spread over the day) in the backpack.
He has on several occasions sat on the floor and stacked Duplos to make a tower. I think his record is 5 high.
He has created his own sign for "bottle," made by tapping his face with his index finger and saying "baba." That's the only word he says now, and he says it a lot. He will now sit in his high chair without screaming as long as we set food on his tray and don't try to spoon anything in his mouth. He eats a little, but I've seen him putting most of the food between the high chair frame and cushion. Clean-up is lots of fun.

Laura lost her first baby tooth on Monday. Later that day, she took off on her friend's two-wheeled bike. We've been talking about needing to take her training wheels off and work with her. I guess she got tired of waiting and decided to teach herself. She has amazing balance.

Laura's success prompted Amy to beg me to get down the smaller bike and put on the training wheels, and she rode it for the first time. Eventually, we'll put new tubes in the tires, because the tires are flat every time she goes out. For now, we just do a quick pump job each time.

Callie is taking a sewing class at her friend's house, and just completed a pair of pajama pants. She loves them so much that she wears them day and night. She did a great job.

Onward and UPWARD

Alex enjoyed swimming with his cousin Dillon at Grandma's house. This was the first time they've been together. Alex wanted to be around Dillon a lot more than Dillon wanted to be around Alex. I suspect it is because Alex is used to being around lots of babies, or maybe it is just a personality thing. They are just 3 months apart, so I hope they will grow up being friends.

Alex has now learned to climb. This has really broadened his horizons, and severely limited the places I can put things to get them out of his reach. So far, he hasn't learned to move the chairs and stools, so his access is limited to wherever the stool happens to be. The other day I did find him in a "rainbow" position, standing on a chair trying to reach the computer. I don't know why toys are not nearly as attractive to him as the computer, stereo, phone, shampoo, pencils, and my make-up .

He is still a great devotee of his bottle. In fact, I think his eating of solid food is getting worse instead of better. What a waste of that beautiful set of teeth!

Time

Time is an interesting thing, because I think most people feel pretty busy no matter how much they have going on. I felt really busy before Alex joined our family, and I wouldn't have thought it would be possible to add more to my days, and yet...

We left Taiwan two months ago today. A lot has happened in our little family during that time. We are all adjusting, and overall, things are going well.

I have noticed a little communication problem. Hearing that others have had success teaching their babies sign language, I began showing Alex a few signs, saying the word and showing him what happened when that sign was used. Usually, my lessons were associated with food--eat, drink, more, cookie. I didn't expect him to really understand right away, and he didn't. But he did copy the sign for "more" at all sorts of unexpected times--like when the dog walked by outside, and first thing in the morning when I lifted him from his crib. I'm thinking "more" to him just means "I want," but figuring out what he wants is a big problem. What would Anne Sullivan do now?

His speech is coming along slowly. I was delighted when he began to say "Mama," until we visited my inlaws. Alex promptly went over to my mother-in-law, reached up his arms and said, "Mama!" My mother-in-law quipped that he thinks mama means "pick me up and let's get moving." In truth, that's the only time he says mama--in connection with a demand to be picked up (And he doesn't mean he wants to be held on your lap on the couch or played with on the floor. He wants to be carried on the left hip, and you better not stop in one place too long). Yesterday, my arms got so tired that I kept sitting down with him. He kept wriggling off my lap and repeating the demand for "up." Finally, he walked off to where the Snuggli was lying on the floor (pretty much everything at my house is on the floor these days) and brought it to me. I asked if he wanted to get in, and he actually nodded his head. Perhaps a coincidence, but I think he is starting to understand a lot more than we realize.

He has a few words he tries to say, and if you concentrate really hard, you can almost recognize them in context: hat, cookie, Daddy, and amen (he also folds his arms when we bless the food).

But speaking of food, he isn't too big on it. He spends far more time screaming than eating while seated in his high chair. He does somewhat better when we give him all finger foods and let him feed himself, but he is definitely far from a balanced diet. I keep remembering what my aunt used to say when a parent complained she couldn't get her child to eat anything: "Well, have you tried candy?"

He still loves his bottle, but he is becoming less attached to it during the day. His favorite bottle time is the middle of the night, which reminds me that I'd better stop writing and get to bed so I can get some sleep before he pages me.