His Special Book

I've known for a while that I wanted to create a book for LB that showed all the photos of our journey to each other and also told the story of his adoption. I thought a book would be a good way to start talking to him about his adoption so that his story was something we could talk about from an early age. Obviously when he gets older we will have to expand on certain parts of his story and our discussions will get more advanced but I figure we have to start somewhere. D gets all the credit for putting together most of the book. He organized all the photos and put them in chronological order. That took the bulk of the time. I just came in at the end and added added some text to each page so that it read more like a children's book. The photos I took of the book don't really do it justice but you get the idea. Here are a few of them.

The Front Cover:

Referral Photos:

Family Day:

Airport Homecoming:

Professional Photos:

It is a pretty heavy duty book and the cover is leather bound. We bought it from Picaboo because we had a gift certificate but I am sure all of the major online photo sites do something similar. The icing on the cake is that LB loves it. We call it "LB's special book" and he requests to read it frequently. There was a recent article in my Adoptive Families magazine about creating a storybook for your toddler. The author said, "One way to make the telling more special is to chronicle your child's tale in a personalized storybook. Our kids benefit from tangible "proof" of their connections to us and to their family; your child will giggle with delight when he hears his name and sees things he recognizes about his life in a real book."

I would say this is absolutely true for LB. He will point at me when there is a photo of us or he'll see toys he recognizes and will have to go get them before we can go on to the next page. He seems to like seeing the younger photos of himself and loves to point out the people he recognizes, like us and his grandparents. We tell him about his nannies at the foster home and there are some photos of hometown as well. It's been a good way to start telling him about Ethiopia and for him to see photos of his birth country. Some of the pages in the book tell more personal aspects of his story so it isn't something we'll be sharing with everyone. It was made to be something special for LB.

I am so happy with how the book turned out and that LB has fun reading it. Hopefully, this will be something we can read together for a long time.

For the Baby Book

LB did something yesterday that I don't ever want to forget. The day had been somewhat challenging since he has started this new thing where he wants to throw everything. Puzzle pieces, books, blocks, food, etc. You name it. He throws it. I am having a hard time teaching him that when we are outside he can throw his ball but when we are inside he can't throw things at other people (Ex: I do not enjoy getting puzzle pieces thrown towards my face.) As I was giving him his bottle he looked up at me and pointed to his eye, then to his heart and then at me. That is how we taught him to say, "I love you." He will do it if you prompt him but had never done it just out of the blue like that. Needless to say, in that moment I forgot about my fat lip and told him over and over again that I love him too.

Wordless Wednesday

Noises

We noticed in our very first week with LB that he seemed to have very good hearing. He didn't miss a beat and was very aware of his surroundings for someone his age. We went to our first appointment at the adoption clinic after we had been home for a week and one of the things they wanted to do was check his hearing. The audiologist came into the room and I remember telling D that this was a test I wasn't nervous about at all and knew he would pass with flying colors. After the test was over, she told us LB's hearing was great and she had no concerns. Yep, that was a no-brainer. My mom refers to LB's hearing as "super-sonic." It is a pretty accurate description. However, this also means that he is very sensitive to noise and is easily bothered by it. What's ironic is that he is quite noisy himself. I do think LB has made major improvements in dealing with his noise sensitivities so I thought I would share some of what has worked for us in case there are others out there working through similar issues. I am also open to suggestions others might have!

We have noticed that when LB is familiar with a noise then he is less bothered by it. He likes to see where the noise is coming from and know what it is. The coffee bean grinder is something that used to make LB cry. I would take him upstairs or outside when D ground coffee. Eventually we started showing him the grinder and I would make a funny noise that was similar to the grinding sound. These days he isn't afraid of it and doesn't cry but still likes to watch D as he is using it. LB will also make the funny noise when he sees the grinder. D will smile or make silly faces while the machine is on and that helps too. We do the same thing with the blender and the disposal for the sink. Those are all noises that used to upset him and now that he is familiar and has his funny noise to make for them he is okay with it.

Sirens have always been scary for LB as well. Part of me wonders if he sensed the distress in the noise sirens make. There were a few times when it was just the two of us driving somewhere and an ambulance would go by and LB would just sob in the back seat. I felt terribly because there was little I could do from the front seat besides try to talk in a calming voice and reach one hand to the backseat to try and touch him. We have some books with pictures of fire trucks and ambulances so every time we read those books I point to the picture and make the siren noise. I would also tell him "that's a fire truck" or "that's an ambulance" so he would learn the word so I could use it when it actually happened. We heard one in the car about a month ago and I told him what it was and reached my hand towards his car seat. He just grabbed my hand and held it tight but didn't cry. I took that as a sign of progress. We did make the big mistake of taking him to a Memorial Day parade and he did well at first and loved the marching bands. But towards the end there were police cars with sirens and other cars with loud horns and D had to walk him away and calm him down. Please do not ask why we chose to take our noise sensitive child to a parade. I am not sure what we were thinking or if we were even thinking at all.

A book that has been great to help explain noises in a funny way is the Dr Seuss book, "Mr. Brown Can Moo." In the book Mr. Brown makes all sorts of popping, knocking and booming noises. We have used that book to describe rain and thunder and LB doesn't seem bothered by either. I had planned to use that book around the 4th of July in case he woke up and was scared by fireworks but thankfully he slept through all of it!

We are still working on the sounds that other kids make. He is especially bothered when younger kids scream or cry. He loves older kids and isn't afraid of their shrieking noises but baby cries and screams always make LB scream. I will admit that I had some days when I thought we were never going to be able to take him anywhere and that this sensitivity was going to be very debilitating. Clearly, I was letting my imagination get the best of me and was jumping to a worst case scenario. Why I always do this is a mystery. Maybe someday I will learn this lesson. Probably not, though. This past weekend we took LB to a family reunion for D's side of the family and there was loud music and lots of people and it was definitely noisy. But LB did great and seemingly enjoyed himself. He didn't meltdown that night from all the stimulation either. I have taken him to the library recently when the room was super crowded and I thought for sure LB would hate it. But he didn't. So he is making improvements and I am hopeful that as his language skills improve we can continue to explain noises and make them less scary.

Family Day!

Happy LB Day! This is the day that LB was placed in our arms forever and we started our life together. It is hard to believe that one year ago we were in Ethiopia becoming parents.

It was hard then to see how scared he was to be with people that he didn't know at all. In a lot of ways it is harder now to look at those photos and see that fear in his eyes. Obviously, I loved him like crazy that day one year ago but there is something different and deeper about my love for him today. That is why it hurts more now to know how scared he really was. I didn't know much about him then except what we observed from our short visits a few weeks prior and from the updates we received from our agency. These days he calls me "mama" and runs to my arms when he falls or is scared or unsure. When he wakes up from his nap and is still a little sleepy he nestles his head into my chest and takes deep, slow breaths rather than look around for something familiar like he did last year. He gives the best hugs and kisses and has the loudest scream you have ever heard.

I wrote a few letters to LB while we were in Ethiopia that week and here is some of what I wrote about our first day and night together:

We discovered that you know how to blow raspberries and you think it is very funny. You like it when we do it to you too. You love having your diaper changed and get all giggly and squirmy. I didn't sleep at all the first night. I kept anticipating you waking up. I also kept listening for sounds that you were breathing since you have a respiratory infection. I think I am a pretty paranoid first time mama. You woke up twice during the night and wanted to be fed. You are extremely fierce about your feedings. All in all I think we did pretty well on on our first night together. Your dad and I were a good team. I can't wait to get to learn more about you.

It's been quite a year getting to know our sweet, strong willed and smart boy!
We love you, Our Little Buster!

Pizza and Hummus

I continue to be really proud of LB's progress with chewing food. Last week he had very little appetite, due to teething, and didn't eat much at all, including his beloved baby food. The worrier in me fretted that he had taken some steps backwards. But this weekend he got back on track and did some great chewing. I never thought I would be clapping for my kid while he chewed but that's what we do. LB has long been a fan of garlic hummus. He will even eat it for breakfast. Saturday night he was chowing down on his hummus and I gave him a few pieces of my pizza to see if he would take some bites. He took some bites of the pizza and then started dipping it in his hummus. He thought it was delish and I think he was very pleased with himself and his new creation. It was one of his best eating moments to date.

It is just so wonderful to see him happy in his highchair. We still have days when it seems like food is this torturous thing for him but it is so encouraging to see him smiling while eating. And he even chilled at the table for a while so that D and I could finish. Who knew this was possible?!

And is it just me or does he look so grown up in these photos?

Vote 4 EOR!

LB and Tesfa have a serious favor to ask of you. Ethiopian Orphan Relief, an organization close to my heart for obvious reasons, is up for a Stay Classy award and the opportunity to win $15,000 to help serve orphans and vulnerable children in Ethiopia. They need lots of votes! The boys were hoping you would kindly click over to the website and submit your vote. EOR is under the category for Most Innovative Use of Social Media By a Charity. Click HERE to vote! When EOR wins we'll be sure to get a shot of the boys smiling!

Thank you!

Dishwasher Entertainment

D posted this video of LB on FB last week but I thought it was worth sharing here too. He took this video while I went out to work with some of my former co-workers. LB had been pretty crabby all day so I was glad I had a night out planned for that evening. When I got home and asked D how LB was he informed that LB was in a super good and goofy mood all night. Of course he was. I was a little mad at D but got over it quickly when he showed me this video. What a nut!

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