The First Visit with Kris Kringle

Yesterday we were at the mall and the Jolly Elf himself was already there.  I thought Santa came the day after Thanksgiving, but I guess he is in a hurry these days to get the Christmas season started too.

The line to visit Mr. Kringle was really short so Big Bear and I jumped at the chance to introduce him to Nugget.  I always thought he would have one of those crying baby on Santa's lap photos, but not my brave boy!!  He looked at Santa and then at me, looked back at Santa then back at me.  Nugget sat for a few pictures and then waved good-bye to the grumpy ol' elf*.  He was a brave boy!

*This was not the real Santa.  This Santa didn't say two words to the kids.  He sat there like a lump of coal.  We are going to find a better Santa before the season is through.

Mid-Month Update

Here it is ~ another update post.  I really need to stop saying that I am going to blog, because when I say things like that, it seems I stop blogging all together.  To be honest there really hasn’t been anything exciting going on around here.  We have been busy living life and enjoying every moment together.  Plus how many times does anyone really want to read about how absolutely wonderful our son is?  Don’t get me wrong he does have his moments that make me want to pull out my hair, and I know I have a few extra gray hairs since coming home, but for the most part ~ he is perfect.

Here are a few highlights from the last few weeks:

·        Nugget is starting to say more words every day.  The latest additions are nigh-nigh (night night), wa-wa (water), and nana (banana).  I have wasted more bananas in the last week because he will walk over to the bunch of bananas and say ‘nana’.  The teacher in me wants to encourage the language development so I peel a banana.  Nugget will look, shake his head ‘no’ and walk away.  It was cute, the first two or three times.

·        Nugget is 19months old already.  I looked up at him this morning while he was eating breakfast, and saw a little boy sitting there.  It startled me.  He is growing and changing every day.  I wish time could slow down just a bit for a while.  I don’t  want to blink and suddenly he is in kindergarten. 

·        The reality of how fast time really does fly happened the other day while I was talking to my nephew, J.  I couldn’t believe it when he told me he was going to get his driving permit in five months.  Really?!?!  This was just after our conversation of how Nugget and I go over to Maemae and Papa’s house every Wednesday just like J and I used to.  Time didn’t go this fast when I was little!

·        Nugget is our little Linus.  His favorite comfort is a blue blanket we bought for him to take to day care.  The blanket has been home all week, and every time Nugget spies it he wants the blanket.  He does the cutest little wiggle dance and gets the biggest smile while I reach in his crib for the blanket.  I need to find another one of these blankets to keep at home. 

·        The blanket has been home this week because we’ve had some issues with the day care that Nugget is attending.  It is nothing major, just small things that when added all up make Mama and Papa Bear very unhappy.  Nugget is safe at the day care just not attended to as we would like.  We’ve had a talk with the director, so hopefully things will improve.  Nugget’s grandmas are going to keep him a couple days a week.  Most weeks Nugget will only go to school two and a half - three days a week.  That in alone makes me feel better.  I worry about the grandmas though because Nugget is such a ball of energy; but no one will care for Nugget like someone who loves him. 

·        Nugget goes through strange eating patterns.  This week we can’t seem to fill him up.  Nugget is eating everything under the sun.  The week before I was happy to get any food in him.  I am pretty sure this is normal.  Should I limit his food intake when he is like this or let him eat?  He does seem to know when he is full.  Even if it is in the middle of a bite.  Suddenly he will decide that he doesn’t want anymore and he even takes the food he is chewing out of his mouth.  Fun Stuff!

·        This year Big Bear and I will not being heading to Chicago for Thanksgiving.  This is the first year in quite a while that we won’t be spending the weekend with my brother and his family.  I am more sad than I thought I would be over this.

·        On the other hand, I am extremely thankful that for the first time in an extremely long time we are entering the holiday season and I am looking forward to it!  The last few years all I wanted to do was curl up under a blanket and make the holidays go away.  This year we have the greatest lil’ man to be thankful for.  It took a long time for Nugget to arrive, but by golly he is worth every second we had to wait!  What a Thanksgiving this will be!!

  

A Date to Remember

Today is a day that I will remember forever.  It is a small, little moment but it brings tears to my eyes when I think about.  Before I explain let me back up a moment...

When we were in China Nugget babbled a few words, but the only word we understood was mama.  Now looking back I know that he was actually asking for his foster mom.  Not long after we got home from China Nugget stopped saying the word completely.  

A month or so ago Nugget started saying mama again.  I could never definitely say that he was calling me mama because there were times he called Big Bear mama.  When Nugget wanted to know where I was, or tried to get my attention he usually just said, "Ahhhhhh".  I came to know that this was his word for me.

Until tonight.  Nugget and I were upstairs changing after school.  I quickly walked into another room ~ usually I make sure he knows that I am walking out of a room, but tonight I thought I'd be back before he missed me.  Nope,  all of a sudden I hear, "Mama!"  

I hollered back to Nugget, so he knew that I was just in the next room.  He came running to my arms saying, "Mama!"

A moment I NEVER want to forget!

Happy Halloween

Have a safe and happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat

Last night was trick or treat in our neck of the woods.  Yes! Yes!!  I know it wasn't Halloween.  Around here trick or treat is rarely on Halloween night.  It is a tradition that I am still not used to.  Trick or treat can't happen on Wednesday because of church, Friday because of football, or Sunday because of church.  Therefore if Halloween falls on any of those days we trick or treat on a different day, usually on Thursday.

Unfortunately, Nugget didn't get to venture out for his first trick or treat.  We weren't planning on taking him to many houses, only a few of our friends here on our street.  We didn't go, because Nugget was running a fever and had a cough.

It didn't bother Nugget at all!  In fact he enjoyed passing out candy ~ probably more than he would have had we taken him trick or treating.

Nugget and I had to mix all of the candy.  (We have a LOT of trick or treaters!)

In the beginning Nugget watched from a distance while Daddy passed out candy.

Soon Nugget was watching a little closer.

Then he and Daddy seemed to have a conversation...

I think Nugget was telling Daddy he wanted to escape.

The night was getting colder, so on went the hood.

Before long Nugget wanted to help pass out the candy!

I'm glad Nugget enjoyed passing out candy!

Enjoying Indian Summer

On Sunday the weather was absolutely beautiful here in Kentucky.  Big Bear, Nugget and I were playing around in the front yard and I HAD to snap some pictures.  Nugget was so cute.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Nugget loves to run ~ every where!

This one is my favorite!

A Little While Later...

After all the warm fresh air the boys were hungry for a snack.

Later that night.

After dinner Nugget had his first cupcake.
I think he enjoyed it!  

Questions

Over the last few months people have been asking many questions about Nugget, such as where is he from? or does he eat a lot of rice? and even are you his maw maw? Yes, someone really asked me if I was Nugget’s grandma! I’m letting that one go, letting it be free. Otherwise I’ll be depressed for a month! As for the rice comment ~ ignorant!

Moving on…

The most common question that I have been asked over and over since we’ve been home with Nugget is, “What is his special need?” This question has come from people within the adoption community, but I have also had non-adopting adults ask, “what was wrong with him?” Huh?!?

A few months ago the three of us were in Wally World when we met a couple with a four-year-old boy from China who clearly had had a cleft lip. The mother of the boy asked what Nugget’s special need was, and when I told her that he didn’t have a special need she couldn’t believe it. She slapped her husband on the arm and said, “they got a healthy one!” (not kidding) Then she wanted to know how we did that? The more we spoke with this couple the more irritated I became. I simply passed it off as ‘ignorance’.

Until recently I really haven’t put too much thought into it when someone asked the question. Until we met our social worker on Saturday for the six month interview.

Big Bear and I were being asked the typical questions at the beginning of the interview:
· Where is he from?
· How old is he?
And then it came:
· What is his special need?

It caught me off guard when I was asked this question.  On one hand t is understandable that people may think because Nugget is a boy from China he has a special need. I understand that it is more common to have a boy with a special need from China, but it also makes me a little sad for Nugget. Sad that people automatically think that the only reason he is home with us is because he has a special need.

Non-special needs boys are rare, but there have been more adopted in recent months. In our travel group there were two boys - both are healthy non-special needs boys. Our guide told us that she is seeing more boys being adopted internationally.

The next question that inevitably comes when I reply that Nugget does not have a special need is, “how did you do that?” Everyone, including our social worker, wants to know how that happened.

I don’t know how it happened. The only thing we did was write EITHER on our application where it asks if we would prefer a boy or a girl. The rest of the story had absolutely nothing to do with me.

I am sure the questions will continue. Some questions will make me think, they may irritate me, or even stop me in my tracks. When the insensitive/irritating questions come up I have a choice; I can walk away or I can choose to take the opportunity to educate. Hopefully, I will also teach Nugget how to handle such situations in a positive, productive manner.