His Favorite

I've neglected to post about LB's other big obsession these days. Airplanes. He has always loved spotting airplanes in the sky and talking about how they go "up up up and down down down." When the plane is taxing down the runway he says it is "running fast." But lately this like for airplanes has grown into a love for airplanes. My mom got him a little airplane and so did my dad's stepsister. He carries those two planes almost everywhere. One for each hand. If we leave the house and forget his airplanes then it is not a pretty scene. He likes to have them just in case we see an airplane so that he can hold his little one up and say "two airplanes!" It's pretty darn cute. If we see anyone while we are out and he has his airplanes he will tell them "airplanes me's favorite." If you know him or you're a complete stranger, he will let you know that they're "me's favorite." We were at the park a few weeks ago and LB was making sure everyone around us knew about the airplane up in the sky. There happened to be a man walking by and he told me that I should take LB to the Ohio State airport. He said there was a restaurant, an observation tower and that you could pull right up to the runway and watch planes take off and land. I knew we had to do it. So the following Saturday we met friends there for breakfast and plane watching and LB was in heaven! Thank goodness for that stranger at the park. (Not a sentence I thought I would ever say.) We spent two and a half hours there that morning. A young man working there noticed LB and his buddy at the fence and would wave every time he drove by, which they loved. At one point he came over to the fence and let LB and his friend hold those orange sticks they use to guide the planes to the gate. He then took us into one of the hangars where they store a lot of planes and LB got to touch them and look inside at the cockpit. So amazing! When we had to leave the hangar, LB insisted on kissing one of the airplanes goodbye. So sweet. I think the guy who was working there saw himself in LB and really wanted to make it special.

I love that he is clinging to his airplane in this photo. It seems like such a quintessential boy moment. The only bummer of the morning is that he DID NOT want to leave. He basically sobbed the whole way home and kept saying, "one more time airplane" through his heaving sobs. It was heartbreaking. He finally stopped crying when we were about 5 minutes from home and exclaimed, "So fun. Airplanes me's favorite." Totally worth it.

I was telling my friend about this and that I wished he hadn't sobbed the whole way home because it made me nervous about taking him back. She then taught me one of the greatest parenting lines ever. I will now pass it along to you. "If you leave happy then we can come back." You are welcome. I have used this line on several occasions over the past few weeks and it works like a charm. We were leaving a park with a huge, awesome sandbox and LB didn't want to go home. He started to get whiny and I told him, "If we leave happy then we can come back again to play in the sand." He repeated back to me, "Leave happy. Come back." I affirmed that he was right and he stopped with the whining. It's like magic! 

This morning I thought it was the perfect day to go back to the OSU airport. The weather was in the 70s and it was sunny so I figured it would be ideal conditions for lots of airplane action. I told him we could go to the airport but he had to promise to leave happy. He got super excited because he has been begging to go back. Thankfully, I was right about the conditions and it was a steady stream of take offs and landings all morning. The second time around did not disappoint. And then it was time to go and I told him again that we needed to leave happy so we could come back. What did he do? He said, "Bye bye airplanes. See you later. Have a good sleep." And we left without a tear. Success.

Two Years Six Months

The Little Buster will be two and a half tomorrow! He has started telling people that he is two and a half. I am not sure he understands what the half means but he smiles when he says it. Here is a little snapshot of LB's favorite things halfway to three.

My mom and dad got LB a tee ball set when they were here in June and we play it several times a day.  I remember one morning soon after my parents left he woke up around 6:30am and per his usual he first asked about his dad. I told him dad was downstairs and then he asked, "tee ball?" I had to pull out all the stops that morning to get him to wait until 8am to go outside and play tee ball. When it is time for me to update my resume, I think I will consider including "Professional Ball Girl" as one of my qualifications. I know I am biased but I think he is pretty good at tee ball considering his age and size. 

The game of tee ball often turns into a game of golf. He is weirdly obsessed with golf. I recently got him a little golf set but it's been so bloody hot around here that I've been waiting for the right moment to give it to him. I know it will just increase my ball chasing duties and I am hoping for cooler weather.

LB's other favorite thing to do is play musical instruments or to watch other people do it. We try and go to the farmer's market every Saturday morning so he can see some live music. Sadly, neither D or I play an instrument. 

LB also has some favorite youtube videos where they do a lot of close ups of the instruments and the people playing them. He LOVES this one and this one. He'll prop the ipad up on the couch and pretend to play along and he'll switch between playing the guitar, the violin and the drums. We risked melting at the 4th of July parade so that LB could see the marching bands. Thankfully, there were three bands and LB was beyond pleased. Totally worth it! I took him to check out the preschool where he will be going one morning a week in the fall and we walked in the classroom filled with all sorts of toys and he immediately spotted some drums that were packed away in a bin. The preschool received his stamp of approval.

He's also getting pretty good at his harmonica. That was another present from my mom. She's gifted at encouraging LB's obsessions. He took the harmonica with him when we get to pizza one day and sat and played while we waited. I was kinda hoping someone would drop money into his harmonica case but that didn't happen. Maybe next time.

It's crazy to think that two years ago we were busy packing our bags for our first trip to Ethiopia to hold and kiss our tiny six month old baby. And now he's a happy, talkative, opinionated, smart and goofy two and a half year old boy. We love you so much, LB!!

Sunday Snapshot

Watching a movie with "friends."

A Big Step

I took a big step today. I should clarify that the step was big for me. I contacted a babysitter. Feel free to laugh at me for being so dramatic. But it's been something I have been wanting to do but have been fearful of doing for a long time. I realize that I am incredibly grateful to even have this fear because I've been able to stay at home with LB. I know the majority of moms after a period of time have to go back to work. That fact is not lost on me. I'm not sure if my fear of leaving him with a sitter is at all connected to the fact that he joined our family at 7 months old instead of 1 day old. My only experience as a mom is the one I've had with him. It's impossible for me to know if I would be this cautious if we had brought him home from the hospital. I knew that in his first year home D and I would have limited opportunity to go out on dates. Not only because we felt he wouldn't be ready in terms of attachment but because we don't have family in town. D's parents are only an hour away but it isn't like they live around the corner. And my parents are 13 hours away. We've been lucky in that whenever my mom visits she always encourages us to go out. LB is extremely comfortable with her and I could leave without a single worry and know that he would feel safe and comfortable. But we are coming up on LB's two year adoption day anniversary and I could probably count on my hands the number of times D and I have been out just the two of us. I don't want to come off like a complete mommy martyr because I've certainly had my fair share of girl's night out evenings and other opportunities like yoga classes to have some time to myself or with girlfriends. D has done guy's night outs as well but there is something to be said for time away as a couple.

One thing that I think has helped lessen the blow of not going out has been LB's early bedtime. The information we got from the nannies at LB's foster home was that he went to bed at 7pm. So when we brought him home we stuck with that early bedtime. After he was asleep then D and I would have dinner just the two of us and it felt a lot like our life pre-LB. It gave us time to talk about our day and relax. We continued that early bed time for quite some time and just recently did he start transitioning to an 8pm bedtime. My mom was in town the past couple of days so D and I went out Saturday night. We had a gift certificate to a fancy restaurant and we had such a wonderful time eating our food at a leisurely pace and just enjoying each other's company. LB will be two and a half in a week and his language skills are exploding. We are at a point where I can tell him that "we are leaving for a little bit but will be back soon" and I'm confident that he understands. That ability to communicate gives me peace of mind. The other thing that gives me peace of mind is LB's love of teenage girls. No joke. He develops crushes pretty quickly. About 2 months ago there was a 13 year old girl at the park who was really great with the little kids. LB just followed her around with the biggest grin on his face and he is still talking about her even though we only met her once. The babysitter that I am hoping to use is a very mature 16 year old girl. We know her dad really well as he finished our basement and they live just a few blocks away. There is a ten year age difference between her and her younger sister so she has first hand experience with all things toddler. The first time LB met her it was clear he was smitten. Yes, we know we are in deep trouble considering he is already girl crazy at the tender age of two. I know she will be wonderful with LB and that he'll love spending time with her.

D has a birthday coming up and we've been invited to a few weddings later this summer and truthfully it would be nice to have the ability to go have a beer or two with D on a random Saturday night. I also have been thinking about signing LB up for a mom's day out program at a nearby pre-school, which would be one morning a week, this fall. So it's time to start testing the waters of leaving him with someone other than mom, dad or a grandparent. He's a social kid so I think I need to give him a little more credit.

Wish me luck. I'll need it.

Sunday Snapshot

Feeling Sappy

*Update: I wrote this post on Friday afternoon but still needed to add some photos so I didn't publish it. Then that night around dinner time we had severe weather and lost power. Then the power came back on. And then it went off again. We got power restored on Monday night and hopefully it's now on for good. Needless to say the stress of the power situation made me feel not so sappy. More like hot and sticky and annoyed. But I don't want to diminish how I was feeling in that moment so I am publishing it anyway. I know that today I should be feeling sappy for my freedom but truthfully I am feeling sappy about the air conditioning and a working fridge and long naps. Just keeping it real.

I'm not entirely sure what triggered this but I have been feeling especially sappy about my boy this week. Of course, I am always amazed by how much joy he brings me but I have been stopped in my tracks on several occasions this week with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. We've had a fun week together and it's worth noting that bunny did not have to spend any time on the fridge for 5 days in a row. That's a record! I am sure since I am mentioning it bunny will spend all day tomorrow on the fridge. Naturally there have been moments when his behavior has started to go down hill but the idea of bunny going bye bye has really helped him. And don't get me started on how trying bedtime has been recently but overall it's been an exceptionally great week.

Sunday night we met several other adoptive families at one of the local Ethiopian restaurants and I think LB sat in his seat at the table for at least an hour. Another record! He even ate a lot of food, which he doesn't often do when there are a lot of distractions. I posted a photo of my meal on facebook and another adoptive mom commented that she couldn't believe just a few years ago she and her husband had no idea what they were missing. That comment struck a chord with me. I am not sure I would have ever tried Ethiopian food or had the opportunity to experience the hospitality of the Ethiopians who work there if we had never decided to adopt. The owner of the restaurant reserved a section of the restaurant for several of us and arranged for a buffet. He let the kids run all over the place after the meal and one of the waitresses told me how much she loves having the kids and our families there.  They even did a coffee ceremony for us. It's nice to have little moments when you can drink the same beer that we did in Ethiopia and smell the same smells and just soak in the nostalgia of a place that you love and miss. Perhaps it was then that the sappiness set in?

As I mentioned above, we've had some bedtime sleeping issues. We've been lucky in that LB has always been relatively easy to put to bed but the past couple of weeks he's been fighting it. Not sure if it is because it is still really light until 9:30 or his room has been a little warm or a stage or what. But one night he had been tossing and turning for a while and then eventually got frustrated and he called out for us. I went into his room and asked him if he would like me to rock for him a little bit and sing songs. He did so we cuddled up in his rocking chair and he made song requests. At one point I was singing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" and he had his cheek on my chest and I was so happy to have that moment of skin to skin closeness. He looked up at me and we just stared and smiled at each other while I sang. It was a brief moment but I relished it. Of course, I also really wanted him to fall asleep so I could go back to watching the Olympic Trials but I also recognized that those moments of rocking together are dwindling as he gets older. Perhaps it was then that the sappiness set in?

We had two great play dates with LB's buddy, T, this week. T came home a few weeks after LB and his mom and I relied on each other a lot during the wait, in our first few months as moms and even now as we are raising active, two year old boys. Monday we went to the conservatory where they have a butterfly exhibit. We took the boys last year on Earth Day but they were both just starting to walk and were probably a bit young to really enjoy what they were seeing. But this year they were really into it. At one point I managed to get a butterfly to chill on my finger and I wish I could have captured the initial look on LB's face. I am pretty sure I scored some cool mom points. 

The conservatory also has a really great fish pond and some other great things for little kids. LB had a blast. Perhaps it was then that the sappiness set in?

On Thursday, T's mom had a photo shoot so I watched T for her. The boys did awesome together! I love that they are starting to move away from parallel play and actually interact with each other. They were both very concerned about the other boy's comfort item. For LB it is his bunny and blankey and T has a small blankey that he calls "bear yaya." LB was always keeping an eye out for "bear yaya" and any time T dropped it LB would go get it for him. At one point we had a potential for a fight over matchbox cars but I told the boys that the blue car should always be T's and LB would get the orange one. They were both agreeable to this arrangement and at one point LB forgot about it and T picked up the orange one and said, "LB need this." It was super cute. 

They danced to Hoya Hoye,

pretended to be centipedes,

and shared matchbox cars.

Perhaps it was then that the sappiness set in?

All I know is that it doesn't get much cuter than this.