This week we were able to send an update package to Isaac's foster mother in China! I am so unbelievably blessed to have been able to look into the eyes of the woman who cared for our son for nearly 15months. I had been told multiple times that there was no way I would meet anyone who had cared for Isaac, in fact, protocol was that he would have been moved to a group orphanage setting to lessen his attachment to his foster family in the weeks prior to my arrival. It broke my heart to think that Isaac and the only family he had known would be torn away from each other like that. BUT, our Heavenly Father took care of it! There was China Momma sitting and holding Isaac as I entered that upper room in south-central China. She had cared for him while I yearned for him; nurtured him while he grew; protected him from harm; and smiled over him as he slept, all with the full knowledge that her time with him was temporary. I have such great respect for this lovely woman (and for all foster parents!) Her picture hangs in Isaac's nursery and she will always be apart of our family. I pray that she receives our package with joy and comfort.
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| Isaac's Forever Momma and China Momma |
This week was also the first time I had to have the "Excuse me, but my son is NOT disabled" conversation. I knew that it would come at some point, but I had assumed it would be when he was closer to school age, or maybe when he was 80, but not in the innocence of toddler hood. The comment was said without malice, I know that. I think in her own way, the woman was trying to protect Isaac; as if somehow his extra chromosome had jumped on him when we weren't looking. In the nanosecond I had to chose how to respond, I prayed quickly for grace & wisdom. The conversation went well and I appreciated her appropriate & loving response to Isaac afterwards, but I was surprised how it shook me. I seriously wanted to scream "He's not broken!"...it's probably good that I didn't, but someday Isaac's little heart will understand words that can hurt him and I so desperately want to protect him from that day!
What he DOES understand right now is a couple more signs! 'Car' is a particularly fun one (imagine hands moving a steering wheel) and 'cracker' has taken on it's own translation (waving his elbow in the air!). 'Bear' has been a favorite for a couple of weeks, but what makes it funny is that he signs it when he hears the word 'bear' (that's correct), 'pear' (makes sense)...or when someone burps. ??? (I won't say who he has heard burp. It doesn't help the story at all, but lets just say he has heard an isolated & totally non-bear-like burp, or two.) Like any two year old, he babbles with his communication, only it's with his hands...waving them in the air, touching particular fingers together in an attempt to make a word or sentence ( I think). And like any parent of a toddler, I have to figure out what is being communicated: "Bubbles music" = "Let's watch the Praise Baby video with the bubbles in it". "Cracker bath" = "I can have my special Chinese cracker while you are taking a shower, right Momma?". Sometimes it's like playing Wheel of Fortune without any vowels! I went out on a limb this week and asked Isaac's speech therapist when she thought he would be speaking and she thinks definitely within a year. Whoa!
A couple photos from our week:
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| Watching our signing video together |
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| Sometimes picking the sippy cup UP is just too much work! |
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| Taking his task of stacking the bowls VERY seriously. |
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This is a surgical sponge used in the operating room...apparently, it's perfect for teething.
Who knew?! |
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| All the cool kids can tum themselves around in the cart, Mom! |
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| Akkk...teething! |
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