a year of firsts

Charlie

A year ago we bought tickets. We knew a date we would go to the embassy to bring you home. It has almost been a year since you were placed back into our arms. Almost a year. Crazy.

{Charlie, at Hannah's Hope, March 3, 2012}

 
I have loved this year of firsts with you. There are the obvious ones:

diaper; plane ride; air port restaurant; doctor's appointment; car seat experience; meeting the rest of the fam; solid food; sippy cup; sleeping through the night; steps; drop off at the sitter; trip to the ER; walking; running

You get the picture. There have been a lot of first this year. Here are some of my favorites:

The first time. . .

-we heard your voice, outside of screaming. You began babbling on the way back to the hotel from our Embassy appointment.
-we went a day without screaming in fear/terror/despair/unknown
-your hug was real. You put pressure into wrapping your arms around me.
-your body didn't stiffen in anger as I held you.
-you called me Mama. Followed by the first time you called me Mama and knew I was your Mama.
-you woke up in the night and you were not searching, wondering where you were.
-you gave a kiss.
-you felt safe enough to sleep through the night.
-your face lit up when you heard Dada coming home from work.
-you smiled when you saw Dada or myself in your room in the morning.
-you reached for one of us for comfort.

Charlie, there have been so many sweet, as well as bittersweet, firsts this year. I cherish these firsts. I cannot wait for all of the firsts yet to come.

Love
Mama

first mini-vacation

Charlie

So since you have come home, we have stuck pretty close to home. We have done some day trips, but you have slept in your bed every night since we first put you into it almost a year ago. (Yes, you have been home almost a year. We have less than a month until March 4!!! Yes, for some reason in my head the year mark is a SUPER big deal.)

So, last month your Dada and I bought tickets for a Justin Roberts concert. As we talked, we realized this would be a great opportunity to have you spend the night somewhere else. (Yes, we could have stayed with family for the first time away, but then Joey would have been super sad about not getting to go. He doesn't do well away from home. This way Joey spent time at the spa and didn't have to hear about all the fun you had at some member of the fam's house without him.) Plus, we booked our vacation last month/end of December and knew we would need to practice staying away from home a couple of times. (For some reason we have airline miles. We thought we should use them.)

So back to your first mini-vacation. We went to see Justin Roberts perform at the Old Town School of Folk Music. Here's what the trip looked like.

Riding the in car to Chicago.

Yoda used the force. . .

The view from our first seats. . . We were about 6 or 7 rows back.

Waiting for the concert to begin. We rocked this.

Where we actually saw the concert. The balcony, last row, standing. You might have started screaming during the first song. You didn't like others singing with Justin. It was A LOT to take in. We moved. We did better in the last row possible.

Meeting Justin afterwards.

So on the way to the hotel, we stopped and got some books. (We needed to kill time before check-in.) After checking-in, we left for an early dinner (you hadn't napped, so we knew the window before melt-down was getting smaller.) Well, you fell asleep in the car and Mama and Dada went through Portillo's and took food back to the hotel.

One of your favorite ways to sleep. 

Getting ready for the pool.

You slept the whole way home. Here we are getting back into town and you were just starting to wake-up.

Love
Mama

snow

Charlie

So it snowed last night. I know it has snowed a couple of times already, but you haven't actually played in the snow. It has been too cold, too dark, or just crazy when we have previously had snow. Well today, you finally got to play in snow for the first time.

You were not a fan of getting into your snow pants, but once they were on you were asking for your coat, hat, and shoes. (BTW- You really don't like gloves. We have only gotten them on you, where they have stayed on three times.)

Dada carried you out into the yard and this is what you looked like when he put you down. . . I call this your "Why is the ground white? I can't move in all of this stuff." look.

 The "Okay, this isn't so bad smile."

 "I can throw this stuff?!?!?!?!?"

The "Why do I have to go inside?" look.

I am so glad you got to play in snow Charlie!!!!

Love
Mama

a BIG victory for our Charlie

Charlie

Today you had a BIG victory. HUGE! It is one we have been working on since the beginning of May. So what was your victory?

Yep. Your victory was this puzzle. When we got it in May (it could have been April, it was during a time sleep wasn't happening in the house for many) all you could do was dump the pieces out of the board. It got the job done of getting them out. As Miss Kathi, your Developmental Therapist, would say, "That's partial credit." Since getting the puzzle we have worked on:

-getting the pieces out of the board
-getting them out using the pegs
-signing the names of the animals
-making the animal noises associated with them (The giraffe was easy, we didn't make a noise for it. You loved the elephant noise.)
-saying the names of the animals
-getting you to focus on the puzzle and not crawl/walk off with pieces (You LOVED crawling off with the giraffe for most of the summer.)
-identifying the animal when we said the animal (We started with a field of one, "Charlie where is the giraffe?" with only the giraffe as an option. You can do it from a field of three now.)
-putting the puzzle pieces on the board
-putting the puzzle pieces near where they were supposed to go

Today? Getting the puzzle pieces into their proper spot and in the cutout!!!!!!! Yep. You put together your first puzzle.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO proud of you!

Love
Mama

our first Gena as a family

Melkam Gena Charlie!

Today is Christmas in Ethiopia, also known as Gena. Last year was a bittersweet Gena for Mama and Dada. We were waiting to hear from the Embassy and were thinking we would hear from them any day. HA! 

Last year on Gena, it had been one month since we had last held you. We needed a little bit of Ethiopia, so we celebrated at Ethiopian Diamond with a picture of you sitting on the table. 

This year was so much better since we got to celebrate it with you. We celebrated early, on Saturday, but it is now a tradition. We drove up to Ethiopian Diamond with you munching on crackers along the way. You have great taste in crackers. . .

 Once we got to Ethiopian Diamond, you were greeted by the staff. Our favorite waiter remembered you. We had the tibs tour (you know your Dada and Mama LOVE zilzil tibs) and shiro. Here you are munching on some sambussa.

So you ate most of your sambussa and some of the the peas, but that was about it. You had eaten A LOT of crackers on the way. . . Because of this, you didn't want to sit. We tried holding you and then were told by our waiter to let you walk around and play. So we did. (You made some friends. . .)

So what did we eat? Well. . . This is a picture of some of the food about 10 minutes into eating. 

 

 Following Ethiopian Diamond, we stopped by Buy Buy Baby. I know you are not a baby, but they do sell toddler baseball jerseys. We might have picked one up. At this point it had started to snow and you were singing, "Snow, snow," over and over. 

 

We found you a Beckham jersey and then drove so you could play with your friend A. I know, you want to know if we stopped at Portillo's. We did. You ate about half of a cheeseburger and then fell asleep in the car.

Melkam Gena!

Love

Mama 

  

PT

Charlie

So Mama got to take you to PT today for the first time. I, of course, took some pictures of your time with Miss Stephanie.

Love
Mama

The Ball Pit

Walking up the ramp and going down it

 

 Bouncing on the trampoline

Looking super serious climbing the ladder

 

Loving the mat ramp

 

"thank you" and "son"

Charlie

You continue to add new words to your vocabulary. This week the term as been "thank you." We had you something, we hear, "Thank you." Give you milk, "Thank you!" You say it and it is cute. When Miss Kathi (developmental therapy) was here yesterday you told her, "Thank you, bye," as she was leaving. My favorite was today you asked, "Cuddle?" then as I picked you up, "Thank you." So polite. 

Today you added, "son" to the mix. For some reason instead of telling you, "I love you, Charlie," I said, "I love you son." You got the biggest smile on your face and shouted, "Son!" Currently you are singing "son" over and over.

I love you, son!
Mama