Summer's Here!

What better way to kick off summer and Memorial Day weekend than a family reunion?! Now, for some of you, family reunions may be a simple fact of life – but for me, coming from a very small family, I don’t ever recall attending a family reunion. That is, until I met Glenn, and was enveloped into the “Every year, on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend” tradition. Like most families, Glenn’s family has subsets that are closer than others, but no matter what, that is now Max’s family too, and it is my life wish to ensure that at least once a year, he knows that he is loved by many aunts and uncles and cousins on Glenn’s side of the family. Glenn is one of seven brothers and sisters, and two of his sisters are already deceased, having both died premature deaths long before they should have had to leave this loving family. That’s even more reason to ensure that we make this effort every year to celebrate happier times as a family.

This is picture of all of Max's first cousins who attended the family reunion -- the children of all of his brothers and sisters. You can see that Max is the youngest cousin.

Glenn's brother, Uncle Ronnie, brings a pinata every year for the younger kids to bash. (There are plenty of kids Max's age -- second cousins, etc.) Max was more excited to help Uncle Ronnie hold the pinata rope than he was to actually take a whack at it.

This is Max, handing me back his lollipop. He took one lick, and that was it. He really doesn't like any candy. Strange, but true. Now, potato chips? That's another story...

This is Max giving our great-nephew, Tristan, a big kiss. Tristan's dad is our nephew, Dustin -- Max's cousin. So, I think Tristan is Max's cousin, once removed. I should probably know that stuff, but when you're from a small family, you never think about these things! I do not have any first cousins!

Later that weekend, we broke out Max’s little pitiful baby pool. I bought it last year, and as you’ll see in a minute, we have since upgraded him. I haven't really “sat in the sun” for years – I have no idea what I used to do with my time before Max, but in the last two weeks, I have sat by or near a pool more than I have in the entire last five years combined (not counting vacations, of course). We even joined a local pool! I am slowly but surely getting over my aversion to running into people I know (co-workers, for example) while wearing a bathing suit. I know the life jacket might have been a bit of overkill, but I wanted him to get used to wearing it before we headed off to a bigger pool a few days later.

Maggie, Heather's oldest daughter, splashing up a storm...

... and Max signing and asking for "more."

Also on Memorial Day weekend, Mindy and I took Max to the Taste of Cincinnati festival downtown. (Glenn was golfing). We rode the city bus, which was overwhelmingly exciting for Max. He yells "big bus" every time we are near a bus, and he screams "wait, bus!" if one happens to pass on on the road. On the way downtown, I put his stroller in the seats next to us, and another passenger happened to sit down next to the stroller, and Max fretted for the remainder of the trip that somehow the person was going to take his stroller. On the way home, he made sure it was clear to everyone on the bus exactly whose stroller it was -- he stood up on his seat as we were pulling out of downtown (Mindy had a tight grip on him), and turned around to address all of the passengers. While wagging his finger at everyone, he announced: "People, people, no touch stroller. MY stroller." I have no idea where he got the "people, people" part -- we never say that, and I can't think of a show or a book that addresses "people, people" in that manner. Needless to say, the passengers got a giggle out of that, and he watched his stroller intently to ensure that his directions were followed in their entirety.

Aunt Mindy arranging for a balloon animal. They tell us it was a giraffe, but it had us guessing.

Playing in the fountain on Fountain Square. (Gross water, but I tried to get over it).

He had a death grip on this ride, and his experssion never changed. Afterwards, we asked him if he wanted to go on it again. No indecision on his part: "NO!"

The week after Memorial Day, we ran into a few child care challenges, and Heather, who is home on maternity leave with her 3rd child(!), agreed to let Max spend the day at their house. (Once you have 3 kids, do you think “The more the merrier?!” She’s such a trooper!). And, she was kind enough to send me pictures while I was at work of Max’s great big fun adventure at her house. I get all weepy-eyed when I think about how fortunate we are to have this family so lovingly welcome Max into their lives and their home.



After one weekend with that pitiful little pool, I scoured the Internet and bought Max a much more elaborate pool. Glenn says, “We’re in Hyde Park territory now” (a reference to the ritzy section of Cincinnati that is adjacent to our slightly more rif-raffy Oakley!). I thought Max would sit under the shower on this pool, as that’s what he will do forever if we will let him when he's bathing. Instead, he favors the little inflatable slide and he goes down it over and over again face first. He is fearless, and he really isn’t quite sure how to right himself when he gets turned around under water, so he’ll be wearing that life jacket around the bigger pool for some time to come.


I just have to include the next picture -- we were at Coney Island with Heather's entire family, and Ellie and Maggie would go on every ride, while Max watched (apparently still tramautized from the ATV ride at the Taste festival). I know tthe picture is a bit fuzzy, but I just love how Rich is riding in the middle with all of the kids. Note Max's BFF Ellie 2nd from the right (Maggie is next to her). She went on every ride, but Max just wasn't into it that day.


What’s new developmentally? (I have to note it on here as I can’t say that I’ve actually started a lifebook for him .. yet).

• Max continues to eat better than he had been, although we still have our moments where he just will not eat. We put food in front of him, and then he flashes his all done sign while saying "all done", and hands his plate back to whomever brought it to him. Ugh. His iron levels have improved, and I love the tip we got in our Comments about mixing his iron with a little strawberry ice cream sauce. I guess Mary Poppins knew what she was talking about (“just a spoon full of sugar….”) We’re trying not to get too caught up in his growth or weight, or his potential blood disorder, but we can tell he has grown quite a bit and put on a lot of weight. His latest shoes are a size 7, and he’s solidly in 2T clothing. He’ll have his 2 ½ year doctor appointment in two weeks, and we’ll get the official stats then.
• His vocabulary improves every day. He’s saying many, many more words, although we’re still working on getting beyond 3 words at a time. (He had his initial “intake” with Early Intervention last week, and his evaluation is next week). He is obsessed with manners, and I don’t really think we did that to him. Maybe school? He says “Please, Mama” and “Thank you, Mama” and “Excuse me” a lot! If he is walking around one of his toys that is anywhere near his path, he says “Excuse me” to the toy. (It sounds more like “scuuuuuz me” with a really nasally accent – again, not sure where that comes from!). It is just TOO cute!
• He can’t quite say “Okay”, so he answers a lot of questions with “Otay.” Love it! We’ll get that “k” eventually, but “Otay” is just the sweetest word to me, and not just because it generally means he is actually agreeing to do something that we ask him to do!
• He LOVES throwing things away. If you are at our house and you are eating something with a wrapper, just be prepared for him to perch himself at your side, waiting for you to be finished so he can ask you if he can throw away the wrapper. Not kidding.
• He is just starting to get the potty thing. One of our fave blogger moms wrote about her hesitancy to jump into potty training, and I have to steal her thoughts because she nailed my thinking (e.g. “diapers are easier, don’t want him to grow up too fast, public bathrooms – ick,” etc.). The other night Max and I were laying in bed together, reading books as we do every night as part of his bedtime routine before he heads to his own crib, and he reached down and touched his diaper and said, “pee pee, Mama.” I asked him, “did you go pee pee in your diaper?” and he said, “Yes, change diaper.” (Or, at least I think that’s what he said – even his parents have a difficult time interpreting some words). Now, I was super cozy and snuggled in for the books, and it was dark throughout our 2nd floor, except for a nightlight in his room and a reading lamp in our room. Honestly, I just didn’t feel like getting up at that minute! (No mother of the year award – AGAIN!) So, I said, “If you get down from this bed, go into your room, get a diaper, and bring it to me, I’ll change your diaper.” He shouted, “Otay”, and off he went, through the dark and returned with a diaper a few seconds later. There’s definitely nothing wrong with his receptive speech! Sigh, I guess he is growing up, and I guess we’ll be staring down potty-training sooner than later. ☺
• He is still just the happiest kid, but he does throw the occasional temper tantrums. The two biggest doozies I have witnessed have both been related to making him get out of the shower. He loves just sitting in the shower, playing with the soap, and letting the water pour down on his head. I’ve tried the “five more minutes, two more minutes”, etc. routine, I’ve pretended we’ve run out of water, and I’ve created major distractions post-shower .. but on a few occasions, he was just inconsolable for several minutes. He’ll probably quit taking showers when he turns 12 and I’ll long for the days when he would sit in there for hours if we’d let him!

One of the post-shower distractions is playing with a bag full of costume jewelry.

He is all boy, and he loves being outside, pushing his trucks around, kicking a ball, swinging a bat, etc. He had a stick in his hand the other day, and he pretended it was a golf club and kept “swinging” it like he was hitting a ball. I think I saw true tears of joy in Glenn’s eyes when that happened. We are having so much fun that we barely remember to make progress on our next adoption. We’re happy to report that we finally submitted our “final” home study to Immigration, so we’re now officially in waiting mode for that elusive I-797 form. (I put quotes around final because we’ve been forewarned that it will likely need an addedum, based on Embassy feedback, along with multiple other paperwork updates along the way). We have all of the other major paperwork gathered -- new stuff like a mortgage letter was super fun -- and once that I-797 hits the mailbox we will be ready to submit our dossier.

Things are really changing in Kaz, but we are plowing ahead and hoping for the best. If we are meant to find Max’s brother in Kazahkstan, then hopefully we will be on our way there sometime next year. If our child is not in Kaz, then we’ll just have to wait to see what path unrolls before us. We’re already so amazingly blessed, so whatever happens, happens.

A quick shout-out to my Mom. I knew Max would bring me insurmountable joy, but never realized how much joy he would bring to my mom -- and much joy I get out of seeing them together. It melts my heart when he recognizes her every time their paths cross. I'm at that age when many of my friends are losing their parents, and both of Glenn's parents are already deceased. I am so happy that both my mother and my father are alive to experience this amazing grandchild of theirs. My mom has also been focusing so well on her health, and I know she wants to make sure she is around for a LONG time to see Max (and his brother, when he ever arrives) grow up. My mom also has been making these AMAZING scrapbooks for Max that will be cherished FOREVER. The pics below are from the weekend following Mother's Day, when my mom made the trip to Cincinnati, not only to see her grandchild, but also to provide us with childcare so that Glenn and I could participate in a church/community service project all day on Saturday. Happy belated Mothers Day, Mom, and THANK YOU!





We just finished up a weekend in Nashville with alot of other families who have adopted children from Kazakhstan. Stay tuned for more about that, too. Also, we are just a few weeks away from our one-year anniversary of the moment we carried Max out of the baby house. We still aren't sure how we will commemorate that day, but stay tuned for that as well. Happy Summer!