Forty-Six Weeks Together: SUMMERTIME!

     A rare heat wave has settled over the homestead. The thermometer screamed 93degrees as I laid Isaac down for sleep tonight...in his diaper only...with a fan on him. Wowzers!  Figuring out how to stay cool and enjoy this week of Seattle summer has been the goal. I think we are doing a good job so far...

 

Pool time!

Yes, that is a water-breathing dragon behind my Asian son.
It was a gift from Uncle Thad last spring before Isaac even came home.
He wanted his nephew to have a reminder of his homeland.
It's OK...you can laugh...I think it's hysterical!

 

      Today we spent the afternoon in the coolness of the beach with Uncle Kris, Auntie Jessie, Cousin Noah & Cousin Elli. I was so thankful that the breeze was blowing, the tide was out and we were with our favorite people, the Johanson Clan!

Nice warm ocean water and a low tide...perfect.

 

 

Jumping the waves

Splashing like his cousins!

 

He'd crawl right up me anytime he fell face first into the water.
No crying. Not upset, just clearly ready to be ABOVE the ocean floor.

 

FLYING with Uncle Kris

Yummo...crunchy desert.

 

Uncle Kris is one of Isaac's favorite people right now (hopefully for a very long time!)

 

 

      He ate sand...a lot of sand...salt water got up his nose and seaweed wrapped around his toes but boy did he have a good time. And so did I. We have to wait through a lot of rainy days, but Seattle summers are TOTALLY worth it.  Here is to summertime!

 

Dancing King!

 

My boy has MOVES!

 

 

Sweet Home Alabama ala Isaac

(you may need to turn down the volume a little)

 

**Can I just give props to this Momma who was able to grab the phone, flip the video on, hold it over her shoulder, keep it focused on the action AND drive down Peasley Canyon Road into Auburn without killing anyone!**

Forty-Five Weeks Together: Chromosome Buddies

     Somewhere early in our adoption process, my Bethany Christian Services social worker asked if she could connect me with another single mom who adopted her son from Hong Kong also with Down syndrome.  Sure, I said, the more connections the better, but really not thinking much of it past that.

     I believe Greta contacted me first. She lives nearly six hours away in central Oregon, but was quick to send congratulatory emails, respond to email & blog posts, and send much needed encouraging words while we were in the depths of The Wait. Just before we traveled to China, I finally gave her a call. The conversation was a delight. She was lighthearted & witty and as an experienced adoptive mother of two she provided wonderful insight & tips for travel and transitioning home, especially with a two year with designer genes. When I asked for her experience on being a working mom and 'sharing custody' with daycare, she offered this: "God has chosen YOU to be Isaac's mom, no one else. YOU will know what is best for him because the Holy Spirit will tell YOU how to raise him. Everyone else in the picture is there to support YOU raising Isaac." I can't tell you what a comfort that was to my heart! 

     So, fast forward 11 months...it was finally time to get our families together and meet face to face!  Greta & her boys drove North approximately two hours to Portland, and Isaac & I took our first road trip three hours south to meet up at the Oregon Zoo (with 350,000 of our closest Portlandian friends who apparently also had the same idea we did.  Wowzers there was a lot of people there!). 

 

Snoozing right on schedule during our first road trip.
We listened to Psalty songs and despite the strategically placed toys, he opted for grabbing his favorite Tupperware just as we left the house and playing with those.

 

We unknowingly parked in the same lot and were able to meet up right away like old friends, finagling strollers, feed bags and chromosomally enhanced Asian toddlers. Greta's oldest son Mikey was a super helper carrying backpacks and manning the map.

The chromosome buddies getting to know each other.
Gentle touching is a lost art between these two. Jack had just smacked Isaac in the face, for which Isaac bit Jack on the finger...then they stared each other down.

Jack won.  :)
(Mostly because Isaac had Pirates booty in his tray)

For five hours we wondered around the zoo, chasing boys & chatting it up. I can only image what the people around us thought of our conversations!  Think of the verbal concoction that two Christian, single, adoptive mothers of Asian boys with Down syndrome that are both nurses can come up with! Sorry folks if we got a little loud & gross in your space.  :)

 

 

On a quest to find the most perfect piece of bark EVER

He was so excited to get up on the stone hippo!

I was super excited that he now has the core strength to stay up there!

Guess who learned the sign for Giraffe yesterday?

Isaac teaching Jack some new signs.
Jack is not impressed.
Greta is laughing.

Jack is teaching Isaac some new kung fu moves.
Isaac is not impressed.
I'm laughing.

 

Greta and her handsome boys.

My handsome boy

Before we all went home a kind lady attempted to take a photo of our two families together. Let me paint you a verbal picture...cuz there ain't no way this photo is going public:

Mikey is straddling a goat sculpture, looking handsome.

Jack is licking the goat sculpture's behind, not looking at the camera.

Isaac has his fingers up the goat sculpture's nose, not looking at the camera.

A sun flare is right over Greta's left eye making her look like a pirate, but she has a delightful smile.

Somehow my butt looks bigger than the entire goat sculpture and I do not have a delightful smile.

Let your imaginations go to work, folks.

Grabbing some dinner in the middle of our three hour drive home.
It occurred to me that this was the first time he & I had been out to dinner by ourselves. :)

My content little traveler

It was a good day. I'm thankful for my boy, his ease with traveling and our friends who love Jesus, zoos and extra chromosomes like we do. Only the Lord could have put our two families together (through an awesome BCS social worker!) and I'm looking forward to many more Chromosome Buddies Adventures in Portland-trips!

Forty-Four Weeks Together

     We are in the midst of just living life and enjoying it. Going to the park, playing outside, working in the house, learning new songs, visiting friends. It's what living life is about. 

     Isaac now has specific tasks that he is in charge of; chores of you will.  He is two & a half...time for him to start pulling his weight around here!  Every evening after pjs, Isaac is in charge of putting his dirty clothes in the laundry basket in the bathroom. With the opening of the basket, putting the clothes all the way in, closing the top, and congratulatory self clapping, this is THE super fun game of every evening. It also means going into the bathroom and if Momma isn't watching close enough, it means quick access to the toilet paper. Yippeeee!!!!!!  Isaac is also in charge of moving the clothes from the washer to the dryer (God bless front loaders!). This is a big event with getting to open and clothes the doors, carrying the 'heavy' clothes (insert appropriate grunting here) and finding the little socks, then pushing the buttons...oh my! Heaven for my little boy.  :)  I won't lie...my ultimate goal is getting him this excited about emptying the dishwasher!

     In between ear infections, Isaac has made some good progress in speech therapy too. He has about 60-75 signs that he uses regularly which is really quite impressive. But it wasn't until the last couple of weeks that he's been assigning noises to those signs (previously hes been either squawking or signing, never the both together). Now he has associated sounds to the sign for 'cat', 'duck', 'bird', and...wait for it...momma!  That's right, he signs momma and says 'bop-bop'. It's BEYOND cute.  He had said "momma" two or three times before, but only when super pathetically sick. I've kept waiting for him to say it again, but he would only sign 'momma' and not speak.  But now...I'm BOP-BOP...and I love it!  When I ask him 'who's your bop-bop?" he gives me a big grin and snuggles into my neck. Perfection.

 

     Today is Father's Day.  We think warmly of Isaac's birth father, where ever you are. I imagine Isaac inherited his ability to lift one eyebrow from you. :) We love you and pray your safety & for you too to know the Lord, if you don't already. We look forward to meeting you face to face in Heaven. Maybe you can show me how to do the eyebrow thing!

     To Isaac's many uncles: you are AWESOME. You speak into my son's life in a way that I'll never be able to and are showing him how to be a Godly man. THANK YOU.

 

My boy enjoying the swing! 

(you may need to turn down the volume a smidge, there is a lot of background noise)

Ten Month Update--An Interview With Isaac Himself

Happy Family Day, Isaac!!!

We've been a family for TEN MONTHS!

 

 

June 2013

 The sun is finally out & you've been playing outside a lot. Do you like that?

I do! Just going in and out of the door is FUN...the rest is icing on the cake. I like to walk & run at the park, mostly because there are so many different people to say HI too.  I really like the swing!  I didn't used to, but now it's my favorite. That and collecting the most special pieces of bark and throwing it on the slide for the other kids to enjoy when they come down. Momma says not everyone may appreciate my hard work. And when it's hot out side I REALLY like the sprinkler. I try to get the water with my mouth but the wiggly arms move too fast...and then it goes up my nose.

 

How did your special hearing test go?

I don't remember the actual test, but I did NOT like the poke in my arm beforehand. That was NOT fun. The two nice nurses tried hard to make me feel good while they put the rubber band on my arm, but then they had to poke me two times and I cried REALLY hard...then Momma started to cry a little...then the big boy doctor started to cry!  He said he makes him feel bad when little kids cry. After they gave me the sleeping medicine I fell asleep too fast and I guess I stopped breathing a little. (How am I supposed to keep track of all these things? I had just got poked two times!). Momma said the big boy doctor and the nurse had to get moving quick and make sure I kept breathing and had all the oxygen I needed. And that it was very hard to watch because she & Gramma knew exactly what was happening and there was nothing they could do except pray quietly(...and mean it!) After my body calmed down they checked my hearing then I woke up in Momma's arms and got to eat some goldfishes and go away from the poking people. I might get a Super-Ear to help me hear better but I'm glad I don't have to do that special test again.

 

What new foods are you eating?

Um...some days I don't want to eat, but then other days I eat A LOT. Momma makes special chicken strips for me; I like those 'cuz you can eat them with your fingers. And I like to see how many grapes & blueberries I can stick in my mouth. Momma doesn't like that game so much; she says I can do that when I'm big enough to ride a bike by myself. I'm also learning to eat corn on the cob just like Momma. She tried to give me a little piece all by itself but I want to have a BIG piece with little sticks to hold on to just like everyone else!

 

What things does Momma do that make you laugh?

Sometimes when we are playing chase, Momma jumps and says "I got ya!"  I LIKE THAT!  I laugh and laugh and try to get her to do it again. I also like it when she throws me up-up-up in the air and I fly down into her arms. Sometimes I laugh so hard I fall down on the ground!

 

What things do you do that makes Momma laugh?

Momma thinks it funny when I walk around the house with my hands behind my back; she says I'm "surveying the kingdom", but I don't know what that means. And anytime I try to do to her what had just been done to me...washing my face, cleaning out my ears, checking my new teeth. I guess maybe I don't do things so softly 'cuz she always laughs and says "hey you, who pays the bills around here?!"  I don't know. Momma also laughs hard anytime I grab Gramma's glasses (Gramma doesn't laugh though). She says it's only funny because it KEEPS happening and now I've learned that I can trick Gramma by asking for a kiss, then I grab her glasses SUPER fast!

 

Any plans for next month?

We get to go on a plane again!  Momma says we are going to visit some pretty special people who love me very much and it'll be extra special because it is America's birthday too. Yeah!!



Forty-Three Weeks Together

     Since watching the parade at Disneyland, the world has become Isaac's personal parade! I will often will let him walk beside me, holding hands, in the grocery store, through the church foyer, on the way to appointments, etc and my boy makes a conscientious effort to smile and wave to EVERY SINGLE person we cross paths with...and some we don't cross paths with. It's super cute!  Most people smile & wave back. Some don't. At that point, Isaac will stop dead in MY tracks and call out to whomever didn't wave and wait until he can get their attention. The response process is almost always the same: the person is physically irritated at the tiny human that is making all that racket, clearly ruining their day; then they turn ready to stare us down; and when they actually do make eye contact with my smiley, waving little boy that is so intent on getting their attention, you can see a wave of relaxation...and then a small smile...then a wave...and almost always a turn back with a big relaxed grin. Isaac's job is now done and we can keep moving down the cereal aisle.  At first, I tried to shuttle him along; "Let's not bother these people, buddy".  But when I'd see those faces soften, I wondered...maybe this is the only smile and wave that person got today/this week/this month. Already, Isaac is demonstrating compassion & joy to those around him. I don't want to be the one to hinder the Lord's work in the middle of grocery store/public park/clinic hallway/church parking lot.  So...if you see us walking around town, you'll most likely get an enthusiastic parade wave & salutation Isaac-style!

 

 

Everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness & joy will overtake them, and sorrow & sighing will flee away.

~Isaiah 51:11

This week one of the little girls at Kollege was getting her braids fixed and apparently Isaac wanted in on the fun. I'm told he pulled a chair over next to his little friend and waited patiently until their teacher was done with fixing her hair, then he promptly sat in her seat and patted his head. His teacher obliged him with a solid hair brushing, but Isaac wouldn't get out of the seat pointing to his friend's hair and then to his. So...this is what my son looked like when I picked him up from Kollege!  Boy was he proud to show it off (and more than disappointed with me when it was time to take his new do down). Honestly, I think the moral of the story is...it's time for a haircut!

 

Enjoying the excellent Seattle weather we've had this week:

When I posted these pictures on Facebook this week, a childhood friend (& adoption mommy) commented: "Awww...these are the things we dreamed of before we became mammas, right?"   Yes.  Yes they very, very much are.

Forty-Two Weeks Together

Some random photos from a not so busy week:

Chilling with the cousins
(Notice...there is no biting of the cousins. PROGRESS!)

A big thank you to the person who gave us the LeapFrog alphabet tablet. Isaac LOVES it and it has gone EVERYWHERE with us in the last week. Pushing all the buttons is SO MUCH FUN!! A not so big thank you to LeapFrog...the only song the tablet plays is the ABC song. On this particular little road trip with the tablet, I listened to country music...loudly.

6:56am and still snoozing.
Two or three times per week he ends up in bed with me between 5-6am. Most times he falls right back to sleep...and then proceeds to take up the ENTIRE bed with his little 26lb frame.  Seriously, how is it possible?!

A boy + planter of dirt = heaven

His new hiding spot

Hi Mom!

Our first backyard picnic



A summer evening stroll