22 months

This entire month has been spent in Hungary, it was weird that he left canada at 21 months and came back 23 months old! I can't believe he is almost two! Isaac has grown so much over this past month, he is turning into a little boy... He's not a baby anymore!

At 22 months you say:

- you officially don't stop talking! You love to talk to people and tell stories. You use English and Hungarian interchangably and also like to throw in some gibberish! 

-you talk to mommy and daddy the most and say all kinds of things to us, "mama watch!" "Dada sit!" "Mama fix" "dada help" but the best words you said just two weeks ago, "I love you mama" melt my heart!!! You say it to us many times a day. I always got on your level and looked you in the eyes when I said "I love you Isaac" so sometimes when I look at you and catch your eyes you will say it to me first. 

-your using so many words now, since we were in Hungary you picked up a lot of Hungarian!!! We were laying in the bed when you looked out the window and in Hungarian said , "the pigeon left!" I put a shirt on you from the dryer and you said "melag!" Which means warm! You understand everything daddy tells you in Hungarian. Everyday I sit there and say, "how does he know that word!!!??" 

-you also memorize names. You have a lot of family in Hungary and you learned about 30 or more names. You'd meet people one time and remember their name the next time you saw them. You won over everyone's heart by learning not only their language but also their names. They couldn't stop talking about how smart you were! 

-you also like to sing, you have learned many songs and like to sing in the car, your favorite songs right now are "Jesus loves the little children" and " the wheels on the bus"

- I'm teaching you the beatitudes, you have the first one down and are working on the second. I'm hoping to have taught the entire passage to you by the time your 3... I think you'll learn it a lot quicker than that though!!

The way you sleep:

- you have blessed us with the way you handled travelling and an 8 hour time change. You took it all in stride and did the time change both ways within two days!!

-you slept in out bed and I always made sure to be around when you woke up

- when we say it's bedtime you never cry. You go around and say goodnight to whoever is there, take your bottle and my hand and walk to bed. We lay down and you have been falling asleep within ten minutes!

At 22 months you play:

- You finally got to go outside after a nasty winter at home. You played everyday outside and loved it!!! 

-you played alone in the sandbox for about 15 minutes on your own...it was amazing!!

-one day I stuck a warm bucket of water outside for you to play in and you had so much fun in it

-you played with all your cousins and loved when you could boss the older ones around to do whatever you wanted.

-you splashed in puddles, fed chickens, rode on a plastic tricycle, pulled around a tracker and played in tonnes of sand!

You had a lot of fun this past month and I loved watching you play and run around!! I didn't have any distractions and could hardly talk to anyone so we spend a lot of time together, I wouldn't trade that time for anything! You grew very attached to daddy and would throw a fit if he tried to leave the house without you. You would grab you boots and run after him. You loved being carried around by him and riding on the bike on his back. You really became the best of friends over this month together. I loved watching you guys from the side lines, and I'm so happy you had all this time together! You two play nonstop, no one can make you laugh like your daddy can!!!

You are almost two and becoming a big boy. We are trying to be the best parents for you by loving you and disciplining you so you can grow up feeling safe and confident! Can wait for month 23 :)

20-21 months old

Once again I am a few weeks behind, I will make it to 24 months though! Time is flying and Isaac is turning into a little boy. He has changed so much lately. They say at this age they learn 10 new words a day, and that seems true for Isaac. He is so smart, people are constantly commenting on his language skills. I got stopped yesterday in a store and the lady said her two year old grandsons don't even say as much as him. All I remember him saying was "Kitty, Meow".  We are enjoying every stage as it comes, each with new joys and challenging. We spend most of the day laughing at the cute things he says, he is quite the funny little guy! I thought my favorite age was 12-18 months but I now feel my favorite age is whatever age Isaac is :)

The funny things you say:
-You love telling the dogs off. You yell, "Bedtime!" "Out!" "Down!" and they listen to your every word. They are a little afraid of you as you still hit them sometimes and grab their skin (no I  do not allow this!) but you also pet them gently and kiss them.
-You love to eat so a lot of your words have to do with food. You love ketchup and call it "Dedup", we have now convinced you that all sauce is dedup.
-It's hard to think of everything, you say the cutest things.

How you sleep:
-We still haven't kicked you out of the bed yet haha, you love having us beside you at night. Sometimes I can feel you reaching around to touch skin, I think you do this to see if we are still there.
-We don't rock you to sleep anymore, you like to lay down to fall asleep now. We lay beside you and sometimes you curl up to us, other times you want to lay in your own space. I asked you the other night if you wanted to cuddle and you said no. I tried to tickle your head and hand and you picked my hand up and pushed it away. I was so sad, yes I put too much emotion on your responses. Then after a few minutes you rolled over and curled right up against me and fell asleep. I admit you made me cry, it's hard to not be emotional when it comes to affection from your children!
-We sing Jesus Loves Me, to which you now know almost all the words, then we pray. You list of a name and I will pray for them. You always pray for your family, specifically Uncle Bobby at least 5 times in each prayer.

Playtime:
-You will now play with toys for about five minutes on your own! You still prefer to play with us or play with whatever we are using, but you are starting to venture out on your own.
-You love playing with your cousins, although you fight over toys with them, you think they are hilarious and always want in on their games.
-You are very active and the weather has been very cold...this does not make for the best mix. We take you to play places, swimming and anywhere else that you can be active and warm. You like hockey now and finally got to try some hockey skates on! I can tell we will need to get you involved in lots of sports!
-You have loved watching Olympics over the past few weeks, your favorite being hockey. This is the first thing we have actually let you watch, so when you see a remote you yell, "Hockey! GGGGGGOAL!!!!!"
-You still love music, your favorite song is Little Drummer Boy. You ask for "Pump pum pum" about 5 times a day. You have learned the first half of the song and always go to the ladder to dance. You love drums and have recently discovered the set at Uncle Bobbys house.

The funny things you do:
-I thought Daddy was watching you so I went and sat in the car, apparently he thought I was watching you so you took the opportunity to start booking it down the driveway. When we caught you, you yelled, "Uncle Bobby House!!!" You were on a mission to get to Uncle and Aunties house a few doors down!
-We were upstairs, I turned around and saw you hit Lily in the face. I asked you why you hit Lily, you grabbed your bum and said, "Lily eating bum!!" Fair enough, I couldn't get you in trouble for that!
-We have been potty training in the house, you are so smart that you started telling us you needed to poop, you kept your diaper dry and have been doing fairly well. We bought you big boy undies, the smallest I could find, and you are the cutest thing ever walking around in them with your tiny buns!!

The naughty things you do:
-This category could go on for a while haha, you are in to everything! It's not that you are meaning to be naughty, it's more that you are curious and adventurous.
-You fight your cousins for toys, you think you can grab from them and that all toys in the house belong to you at any given moment. You are working on sharing and when asked nicely will share with others.
-We ask you to sit while you eat, which is really hard for you to do. You want to run around with your food and have to be reminded about 20 times a meal to sit down to eat. Feeding you is sometimes exhausting as you now insist on feeding yourself. Food is fun, and you like to muck around with it as you eat it. You were eating chili with a dinosaur tail and I actually didn't have the heart to stop you, at least you were eating!
-We believe your heart is good and you have a desire to do what is right. And granted you aren't hungry or tired, you will correct yourself and listen when you know what is right. You are a sweetheart and love to say thank-you and please.

Attachment: 

The other day we were at a playplace. You were in the ballpit with friends when I went to get my phone to take pictures. You had three aunties standing around right in front of you. You noticed I left and I saw you look around. You then starting saying, "mama? Mama?". No one heard you but me. I grabbed my phone and rushed back. You were still looking for me when I crawled up to you so our eyes met at the same level. I smiled and said,"here I am". You smiled back then proceeded to show me how you jumped in the ballpit. You have no idea what that did to my heart. You look for me, you need me, not only to give you something but for companionship. You want me to watch and share in your joy and I don't want to miss one minute of it!!

I'm sure I've said this every update but we love being your parents, you bring us joy and are a gift from God. We thank him continually for giving you to us, we could not think of a better gift. We love being a family, through the good times and bad, we are figuring out what it means to put others above ourselves and selflessly serve. We love you!

18 and 19 months old

I realized today that Isaac turned 20 months old. Wow! We have been busy so I'm combining 18 and 19 months in this update.

The funny things you say:
-you love to tell on people when someone has wronged you. You will come to Daddy or I and say the name of the person you had the issue with, pointing at them and crying
-you know a lot of Hungarian, we ask you to do things in Hungarian and you seem to be understanding. Every morning we ask you to go bring a diaper and you go to your room and grab the first diaper you see.
-you try to say every word we ask you to say. You are the cutest thing when you talk, you are loud and love calling out our names.
-My favorite thing you say now is "My Dada, My Mama" You don't say "My" about anything else. You don't like when we give each other attention and you run over saying "My Dada My Mama" and insist on giving us hugs and kisses.

Your favorite toys:
-You still love playing with anything that we are doing. You love to put your boots on and follow Daddy out to the garage. He gives you tools and you help him work. I have to save computer time for when you are sleeping because you can't handle watching me push buttons and you aren't allowed to.
-You are more interested in toys that make noise, you like your instruments and musical toys.
-You like to push your shopping cart around and collect things in it.

Milestones:
-You are very advanced in language. I'd guess you know and say about 50 words now which is about 5 times the average!
-You are able to focus on things for a longer time, I can now read through an entire book (sometimes) without you smashing the book closed a few pages in!
-You like to color, blow bubbles, climb and jump.
-It's amazing watching you, so many people make comments on how smart you are!

The naughty things you do:
-You don't like sharing your toys and holler at anyone who tries to take something from you.
-You try to get away with things we ask you not to do, like getting up from your chair and running around the house with food. Your pretty good at listening and when we give you a chance, you usually obey.
-Last week I was doing something in our room, when I went to find you, you were in the bathroom with a cloth diaper "cleaning" it in the toilet. You sprayed water everywhere as you put the diaper in and then threw it around. I was shocked but had a good laugh about it after!
-You love to get into things, if I turn my back for a second you seem to be into something! I don't blame anyone but myself for those things as you are just curious and are often copying the things we have done.

You are very outgoing and have a fun and playful personality. You are loud and active. You do everything with your full heart...just like your Daddy. You cry passionately, laugh at the top of your lungs and focus your attention fully on an activity you are doing. People really enjoy watching you because you are so full of life. You like to do everything with us, you never complain about going places with us but when you think you are being left behind you scream and come running. You don't want to be left out of anything and think you should be included in all our activities. We are very intentional about including you. Your Daddy always includes you. He lets you follow him around with tools, workout with him, shower with him, go to the bathroom with him, cook eggs with him, pretend to drive the car, basically whatever he is doing he will try to find a way to incorporate you. I also try to do the same. I'm picky about what I do without you, I try to keep it to a minimum and include you in most of my outings. We love having you around, you bring us so much joy! You really have made us a family. The three of us love doing everything together, we are truly blessed!

17 months old

Isaac has taken some huge leaps forward this past month. He has really started to become a little independent boy, knowing his likes and dislikes!
Today we went to the occupational therapist for an assessment through the adoption clinic at the Royal Alex hospital. I wasn't sure it would be worth going as I know Isaac is doing well and I really have no worries about how he is doing developmentally, but it was great to see him go through the testing! He did so well, the OT had him do a lot of copy cat games and I had no idea if he would go for it but he did! Every little game she had him do he would copy her and complete it. She was very impressed with were he was at and said he was up to par with where he should be at 18 months. Can you believe it????  Only 6 months ago this little baby was acting like a 6 month old, hardly able to sit up, unable to crawl and definitely not using his legs. I knew he could do all the games but at times he really did surprise me. She brought out a ball and showed him how to kick, to my amazement I watched as he walked up to the ball and not only kicked it but said "kick" as he did it! It's just all really amazing to me.
I had a moment in the car later on, just sat there bawling. It all hit me, God's grace, his protection, his favor. I prayed so hard for this boy before he was even born, I prayed even harder once I saw his face and knew he was waiting for us. I specifically prayed that Jesus would cover the time we were away from him, that he would watch over him. And it dawned on me in that moment that looking at Isaac today, it's like he was never in an orphanage at all. I often think of him when he was a baby just laying in his crib. It breaks my heart what my son had to go through in the most vulnerable year of his life. But today I realize all that Jesus protected him from and how far he has come since being in a family. It really floors me what love and a family can do. It's just a beautiful design. I was looking through some of our first photos of Isaac, when Arnie held him for the first time. He was looking right in his eyes like somehow he already trusted him, yes we had to earn his love, but I feel that God was preparing him for that.
So onto the little update...I'm changing some of the categories as I can't sit and list all his new words because there are a lot and some have stayed the same.

At 17 months you like to play:
-you love to run and climb, you insist that you should walk everywhere we go
-you still love things like little bottles with product in them, your toothbrush, packaging, spoons and lotion
-as far as toys you now like to throw them around and think that is pretty awesome
-you literally want everything we have, we try and let you be a part of what we are doing as we think the best toys are real life hands on things.
-you like things that play music and love to sing and dance

At 17 months you say the silliest things:
-you have so many new words and you are starting to string words together like: "more snack!"
-you say "ah-de-da" which means "give it to me" in Hungarian. You make us laugh with this one! You told the OT to give you the marker she was holding, she had no idea but I knew what you were saying!
-you also like to say "an-ge-da" which means "let it go" in Hungarian. You walked up to Daddy and looked at the pens that were hanging in his work pants pocket, you quicked yelled at him to let them go as we often say this to you when you are grabbing pens!
-your singing is so beautiful, you have been trying more and more to sing. You love the song "If your happy and you know it", you grab my hands and say happy so I will sing the song, everytime I sing the word happy you open your mouth and lip sing the word!
-the Dr said you should know 6-10 words, we told her you knew 11 in Hungarian and about 30 in total, she was amazed at that!
-I find that when you start to love someone, you learn their name. You say the names,  Papa, ungle(uncle), annie (aunty), Bobby, ma (grandma), Annie Yoyo (aunt lois), Booky (brooky), Addie, Oli, Rollie, Audrey, Emmy, Nunu (Nini), Gucky (Dak), and of course you most favorite to say DADA!!!!! (Mama too:))

At 17 months you weigh 20lbs, wear 6-12 month clothes and size 3-4 shoes. You love to wear your puppy slippers and will often wonder the house in a diaper and those slippers.

My favorite moments recently were:
-I rocked you to sleep a couple nights ago after a few minutes you puckered up to give me a kiss then snuggled into me and fell asleep, I was so shocked that you did that, it was so beautiful and kind.
-you have been working in the garage and working out with Daddy, he lets you follow him around and go on his back for push ups or take some tools to "fix" things.

The naughty things you do:
-you decided to be like the dogs and lap out of their water bowl...I just can't convince you it's yucky!
-you like to pull kleenex and wipes from their box as well as unroll toilet paper
-when I try to rinse your diapers in the toilet you like to take the opportunity to dive your hands in the water which is so disgusting and results in a lot of cleaning!
-you still love to squawk for things you want...you will correct yourself with the words, "help" or "please" but we have to remind you a lot ;)

We love you so much, we love laying around playing with you. You are so fun and full of life! You really have lighten up our lives :)

We did a little fall family photoshoot! 17 months old in these pictures and just figuring out walking alone!

Family Age

It's been 6 months since we became a forever family. To say these months have flown by is an understatement...I feel like I blinked and here we are! We are feeling more and more of a bond with everyday that passes. Our love for Isaac keeps growing, I can't explain to you how much we love this boy. You know when you here a good sappy story and your eyes well up? You don't full out cry or form tears that roll but emotions bring your eyes to well up. I get that almost everyday watching Isaac. I hate being the one that is all fairytales and sparkle dust because the reality of adoption is usually not that...but sometimes it is. Sometimes I look at Isaac and he runs to me to pick him up and hug him all silly then he bursts out laughing and in those moments the tears begin to form. Now I will be realistic, he is almost 18 months and with that bring a whole host of other emotions...like how I feel after I explained for the 50th time that he can not throw his food to the dogs, or the embarrassment of the shrieks in public, "no, no, no!" But it's all coming together, this imperfect, messy and beautiful life as a family. We are feeling like one. Isaac has always been ours but I'm at a point now when we go in public that I am almost shocked if someone thinks he isn't mine. I was extremely aware of the fact that Isaac is our son through adoption for the first few months of arriving home, but now I just don't think of it all the time. Occasionally I am very aware like when I attend my mom and baby workout classes, I often feel like an imposer at these, but I am thinking of it less. Maybe the fact that Isaac is my son is finally beginning to sink in, it's been a while since we have referred to ourselves as auntie and uncle!
Lately I have been thinking a lot of our family age. I find myself comparing to others with 18 month olds, they tend to be able to leave them easier, worry less about what they eat or play with, carry them less and not baby them as much...but I remind myself that our family age is only 6 months. In many ways we parent as if we have a 6 month old at home. We have been labelled the overachieving parents, in love of course, but it is true to say that of us. When we go in public you will often see us fussing over Isaac, pulling on his clothes, cleaning him, feeding him, and just generally over concerned with him. While this be hard for some people to understand or look to most people like we are over the top, to us he is 6 months old. I find myself mentally trying to catch up to his age. Like when he started to walk with confidence it was hard, and probably harder than people would understand, after all whose 5 month old walks by themselves?? And while I love watching Isaac grow, it's hard to see him grow out of being a baby. Sometimes I still see glimmers of his babyness and I almost sigh in relief that it is not all gone. When I lay him down to change his diaper he curls his legs up to look like a baby or when I rock him to sleep he will snuggle into me with his bottle or when I snuggle him up in my sling, I see bits of his baby side still lingering and I am in no hurry to see them vanish. While most people have long since rocked their baby to sleep at 18 months, I still do it as if it was the first week having him home. I watch him as his eyes fight to stay open and then finally give in to sleep and close. In these moments he is my 6 month old baby, I sigh and think "oh how sweet". So when people suggest I do away with these parts, carry him less, rock him less and baby him less...I just think they really don't understand that to me Isaac is 6 months new...and not 18 months old.
Don't get me wrong, I love to see Isaac grow and reach new achievements, nobody is prouder than us! But we do struggle with it, we were in no rush for him to walk, we were ok with him crawling for as long as he wanted and this should explain why. I am beginning to shift from baby to toddler in my mind, admitting that he is becoming a big boy, but I will still let the little baby parts of him linger for as long as he needs them to. So bare with us as we now begin to think of what it might look like for someone to watch him while we go on a date or the fact that he still sleeps in our bed or even that we haven't allowed him sugar yet... Trust me we will get there, it just might take us a little longer then usual :)