April Numbers and April Life

• #69 on the girl’s list (last month #70)
• #55 on the boy’s list (last month #57)
• #22 on the sibling’s list (last month #23)

Bear likes to sleep with two little stuffed animal lambs every night. Lately he's been carefully laying them side by side on the pillow next to him, tucking them in with his favorite blankie and calling them his sisters. Hmmm. 

As for life around here, Spring came early to Wisconsin this year. The month of April was beautiful with life; early grass, early flowers, early leaves on the trees. April also ushered in 3 big firsts for Bear. 


Flying Solo. Occasionally I have to travel for work. Through trial and much error, I've learned how to manage the travel to keep our family healthy. I basically limit the number of nights away to two and try not to travel more than once every couple months. This month I had to be gone 5 nights for some work in a location just 2 hours away from where my parents live.  So Bear took his first business trip with Mama and stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's while Mama worked. Traveling on the plane together without Dada was interesting. His new Thomas backpack, oodles of snacks, and 29 trips to the airplane restroom got us through the 4 hour flight. Barely! This was the first time he stayed overnight with someone other than Mom or Dad. I think it went well. He even got to spend time with Auntie and Uncle who came up to see him. He was happy as a clam tho I think Grandma and Grandpa were thoroughly worn out! Thanks you guys!


Easter Bunny: The Easter Bunny made his first appearance ever at Bear's house this month. Bear was pretty excited to find the eggs he left and Mama thought it was really fun to be "behind the scenes" with the Easter Bunny for the first time. I tried to snap some pictures of how a 2-1/2 year old experiences Easter. The photo below does not do justice to the full blown chaos that came to our home. I'm not sure if Bear enjoyed the hunting or the dumping of eggs more. There was stuff everywhere!

Underpants: We've been so not deliberate with potty training and I was beginning to feel a little bit negligent. Lots of Bear's friends at school have been potty trained for many months but I was just not that anxious to jump in. I finally realized that Bear was more ready than I was. My issue? I had to get over my dread of the public restroom. I think it was being locked in an airplane restroom with him earlier in the month, with both of us coming into contact with more of that tiny vile space than I could have ever dreamed in my worst nightmare that forced me to turn off those filters finally. So we took the plunge last week and he's doing GREAT! His teacher said that he pulled down his pants in excitement to show each teacher in the center his underpants. So now we are working on "Tell, Don't Show." And now look what Mom's doing. Showing on the blog! I just think this is one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

That's it for the April post....posted in May!

March Numbers

#70 on the girl’s list (last month #76)

#57 on the boy’s list (last month #61)

#23 on the sibling’s list (last month #26)


March marks nine months on the waitlist. The significance of 9 months has not escaped me. There is no due date in sight. However, we knew this was going to be a long haul when we signed up and so the waiting has not been bad. Something has shifted in my thinking this month though. Maybe I am allowing myself to think a little bit more about the realness of our next child. Something just feels different.

This little shift makes me wonder if there might be something significant going on in Ethiopia this month. Something significant in the life of the child who will one day be our son or daughter. Some would call it superstition, but I have come to know adoption well enough to think twice and pay attention to little feelings, little promptings, little signs. I've also come to know adoption well enough to realize this would also mean there is pain which then burdens me to pray.

Bear seems to be feeling more ready too. He told me this week that Almaz called him on his cell phone all the way from Hannah's Hope in Ethiopia to tell him about baby sister. Then he yelled "woo hoo" and jumped in my arms for a celebration. The weight of waiting is greatly lifted from us this time by our Bear. This fact too has not escaped me.

Little Boyfriend

When Bear first came home, someone I didn't know very well said to me, "Just wait til he's a little older. Little boys are like little boyfriends."

At first I didn't quite know how to respond. I wasn't sure where the comment was leading, but the conversation shifted to something else and I didn't think too much more about it.

Until recently.

Now I think am beginning to understand what she was talking about. Oh man, Bear charms my socks off sometimes. At 2-1/2, he frequently doesn't know how charming he is. Which makes it really fun because it's so innocent.

I want to share some of our little conversations that illustrate what I'm talking about. These sweet little love notes just keep coming out of his mouth. I can't figure out where they are coming from since he does not hear talk like this from his Dada! Here's a sampling.

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Bear says to me as I am walking down the stairs after getting ready for work:
Oh mama, pretty necklace! I LOVE it!
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Last Saturday morning as he crawled into bed with me:
Me:    Good Morning Bub, did you have sweet dreams?
Bear:  Yeah.
Me:    What did you dream about?
Bear's eyes sparkle as he whispers:  Mama! Then he breaks out the sweetest uncontainable smile.
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He slayed me with this one. After going pee pee on the potty (we're sort of potty training) I was having a hard time putting his diaper back on while he was standing up. I stood over him and put my arms around him to try to keep him from wiggling and get it fastened again.
Bear looked up at me, gently stroked my face, and said, "Beauuutifal."
[I had to explain afterwards that it wasn't his going pee pee that made mama cry.]
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We finally transitioned him to a big boy bed over the weekend. It's Dodd's old futon from grad school with a new mattress. I slept with Bear most of the night that first night so he wouldn't be afraid. I woke up around 2am sensing a little hand squeezing my cheeks together. Next thing I knew, my face was being gently turned. Without my suspecting anything, he planted a kiss on my lips. Then without a word, he fell back to sleep.
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Bear and I have dinner each night just the two of us because Dodd is usually not home from work yet. These dinner conversations have turned into, well, actual little conversations.

Wednesday's conversation:
Bear:  You have good day work mom? Shovels some food in his mouth.
Me, a little bit startled that he initiated the question: Why yes Bub, I did.
Bear: You see you friends?
Me, even more startled he hit the conversational ping pong back a second time: Why yes, I did see my friends.
Bear: Ohhhh, that's good. Keeps eating.

Friday night's conversation. This one troubles me a little bit because I wasn't aware I was communicating an emotion to him. My busy boy is usually more tuned into me than I realize, even when he was a baby:
Bear:   You sad mama?
Me:     You know, I guess I am a little sad kiddo.
Bear:   Don't be sad mama! I give you hug?
Me:     Yeah, Mom would like that.
Bear reaches over the dinner table to give me a hug and pat my arm.
Bear:   You happy?
Me:     Wow, now I am kiddo.
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I often play the "Do you know how much I love you?" game with him. If he says no, I always start with "I love you more than all the stars in the sky." Then if he still wants to play I go to "Higher than the moon." Each time I try to tack on a new one. "Brighter than the sun, deeper than the ocean, more than all the fishies in the sea."

When I asked him a few weeks ago in the car if he knew how much I loved him, I got a very matter of fact reply:   All da starrrs, mooon, sky, sunshine, fishies.......[long pause]........ocean, and......ALL DA CROCODILES, chomp chomp!"

His custom, all boy addition to the liturgy had me laughing. Then he turned his head as if he was talking to someone else and said the following. He shook his arm with each word for emphasis, much like a preacher would.

Bear:  My sweet mama loves me much much!
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When Dodd squeezed my knees while we were all on the sofa watching The Jungle Book, I laughed and mock sternly asked him to STOP tickling me. Bear looked over at Dodd and very firmly said, "No Dada, Mama noan like." Then Bear covered my knees with his body, looked at me and said "I keep you safe Mom."
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My little boyfriend even gets jealous. If another child sits on my lap, holds my hand, or wants to read a story, he puts one hand on me and puts his other hand out in front of the child and says, "No, MY Mama!" I have decided Bear is allowed to be possessive in the name of attachment but we are going to have to work on this a little bit to prepare for little brother or sister. Fortunately we have some time.
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Like I said, he is coming up with this on his own. Dodd does NOT say this stuff to me and I don't say it to Dodd. I don't know how long this little stage will last but I unashamedly admit I am enjoying it. It makes up for his other 2-1/2 year old moments that involve fits and "No" and temper tantrums.

I figure if I don't document these things now, I might forget there was a time he thought I was all that. If I don't forget I'm pretty sure he will. When he does, I will have no problem pulling out this blog post to remind him.

My boy. Sigh. I can't help it. It doesn't help that he seems to get more handsome every day!

Snowy Day

I started this post last weekend when there were a couple inches of snow on the ground and we went sledding down the hill in our front yard. This weekend is sunny, all the snow has melted and it might get to 60 degrees. The sun kind of kills the fun of a snow post but that's ok, I will take the sun in March. I don't really expect to complete anything on time these days anyway!

I bought the book Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats for Bear this past November in anticipation of our winter ahead. It quickly became his favorite book. For a little stretch there we were reading it 2 to 3 times a day. I love that the little boy in the story is dark chocolate like Bear.

I've been looking forward to this winter since last winter, knowing this year at 2-1/2 years old, Bear would be able to run and play and really get into the fun of it.  I am a kid who grew up in California, so even though I've lived in the Midwest for many years, snow still has a mystique. As kids, we only played in the snow on the occasional family trip to Tahoe. I used to think it would be soooooo cool to have snow right outside your door to play in. Yes, I've been very excited to share this with Bear.

So we've been reading about snow angels and snowball fights for months. I've been telling Bear that as soon as it snows we will go out for our very own Snowy Day. We've had the snowpants hanging in the mudroom, ready. He's been thrilled to clomp around in his ginormous (size 10) snow boots all through January and February. But as luck would have it, Wisconsin has been unusually snow free this winter. And on the days we have had snow it's been bitter and dark and not very friendly for frolicking outdoors.

We finally got our break a couple weekends ago. There was only an inch or so on the ground but the sun came out, the wind died down, and out into the wonderland we went. Mama and Bear. We did it all!

We made our first snow angels

We had our first snowball fight.

(I may have created a monster. He loved throwing snowballs at mama a little too much.)

And when our fingers and toes finally got too cold, we came back inside to warm up and....ate our first bowl of snow ice cream.

We both think snow ice cream is yummy!

Dodd and I are finding Bear's toddler stage a blast. It has its challenges for sure but there is so much joy in watching him engage in his world. Maybe I will write more about this in the future. Of course it will probably take another year to get it done.

Happy Snowy Day!

February Numbers

Leap Day brought new numbers. Here they are....

  #76 on the girl’s list (last month #80)

  #61 on the boy’s list (last month #66)

  #26 on the sibling’s list (last month #27)


US Embassy clearances flooded in this week for several families who have been stuck waiting for many months. So all those families are heading to Ethiopia this weekend to bring their kids home at last. Four new referrals went out last week, including the referral of a beautiful little girl who was considered waiting. Much joy the past couple weeks within the AGCI community!

January Numbers

January numbers came in just as January was closing.

#80 on the girl’s list (last month #83)
#66 on the boy’s list (last month #69)
#27 on the sibling’s list (last month #26)

We are a few steps closer to our next child. Just a simple calculation, if we were to continue moving 3 spots a month, we have another 2 years of waiting for referral day. Ugh. Trying not to think about that.

With so many things changing in Ethiopian adoption, it's hard to keep up with even when you're in the middle of the process with much at stake. From the orphanage closures in the South, to additional scrutiny from the US embassy, we are constantly reminded this is a perilous journey. Surprisingly, the court process has been relatively smooth considering the concern last spring about MOWA greatly reducing the number of cases it reviews. However, there is news now that the courts are going to close for a month this winter. Not sure the impact this will have. On a happy note, all 6 of the AGCI babies who were in danger of being returned to the South are finally home and, I imagine blissfully unaware of all it took to get them there!

We will continue to wait and watch and pray.

New Numbers!

Stealing a quick minute to post our December numbers.
#83 on the girl list
#66 on the boy list
#26 on the sibling list

We moved 3 spots in the right direction on all 3 lists!

Life has been nutty around here. So nutty we almost didn't celebrate the 2nd anniversary of meeting our Bear! Last night we fired up the gotcha videos on the laptop and watched them together as a family until he got bored and asked for "Gabba Gabba."

More posting to come in 2012.....I hope!