Dern, I cursed us.

I shouldn't have mentioned that Acer was sleeping in, I doomed myself. I think he's now figured out that if he wants to see Bill in the morning, he has to wake up early. Both yesterday and today we were awoken by a small man voice saying "Go see Baba?" at a whopping 6:20 in the morning. Bill gets up with him and lets me sleep for those few blessed minutes. Yesterday he startled us by stripping down and joining Bill in the shower, today we were more prepared for his declaration of intention to join Bill in the shower. I will admit it is pretty funny to lie half asleep in bed and listen to their shower conversation; Acer is a water hog and wants to stand in the middle of the water stream. I'm not sure how someone who is half Bill's height and a small fraction of Bill's weight manages to take up more of the tub than Bill does, but by the conversation I hear, that's what happens.

So much to say, such a little bit of time before Acer needs my attention again

Howdy!
Well, we've had a blissful couple of weeks in our own bed, re-learning how we snuggle and fit together. Acer has been sleeping at least in until 7:15, I think he's no longer as bothered by Bill's waking up at 6:30. Still earlier than my 8:30 -9:00 normal waking time, but I'll take that 45 minutes, no problem.
Well, little man needs me, I'll continue this later.
Heather

Acer is now eating second breakfast, so that gives me a few to continue before we head off to school.

We're working on Acer's dressing himself. I will admit I was dressing him myself because it was easier & faster, but it's definitely time. He has the skills to do it, I just have to be able to explain it in a way he'll understand. The hardest to me is the shirts, explaining how to put his arms through and how he'll know the difference between a collar and a sleeve by feel. Any suggestions?

Acer enjoyed his first " 'sgiving meal " at Bill's parents. Mum and James were invited but James was sick so he stayed home to work on getting better. Mum enjoys going and helps Bill's Mom as much as she can in the kitchen. Sometimes things are not done exactly as Sue would do them, but she's earnest in her desire to help.
Acer behaved reasonably well until he knocked down a block tower his cousin made, which had just been knocked down by the youngest cousin and re-built. It never occurred to me that he would do this and precipitate a major meltdown. He was on his way to Bill and nothing ever has deterred him from doing this before. I just wasn't close enough to prevent him. Sigh.

It has finally gotten cold enough for it to snow, but it hasn't stuck yet. Acer ate his first handful of snow Monday. Can't let him do it too frequently because I need to protect his precious hands, even more than I'd have to on a sighted child. frostbite would be devastating and the little man HATES mittens. Thankfully he's obedient enough to leave his mittens on once they're on, otherwise I'd be in trouble.

One last item, Acer has a new name for himself, started it on Thanksgiving morning - Mister Grin - Not sure how he came up with it but I love it. It so describes his engaging grin and charisma.

Asleep in our own beds!

Yes, yes indeed. After 6 months of sharing a bed, for bonding purposes and because he shared a bed with his foster parents, Acer is sleeping thru the night in his own bed.
We tried having him sleep on air mattress next to our bed one night, he slept for a couple hours & then was just sobbing heart wrenching sobs, so we let him in with us.

The next night we moved him up into his bed, which he's used to napping in. He slept 4 hours before the sobs started and we brought him in with us. We'd also moved back into our old bedroom, so that we were just across the hall from him instead of downstairs.
Two nights ago he slept through the entire night, 11 and a half hours. Yeah! The first uninterrupted sleep we've had since May 13th!
Last night he slept through too! Yeah! we're on a roll!

He tends to sleep sideways on the bed, so I tucked blankets into both the top and bottom so he can snuggle where ever he decides to sleep.

Now we will start the great furniture migration, We live in a tri-level and Bill and I had turned the lowest level into a sort of bedroom suite for us, and Acer. Acer's room has been serving as our TV room. We'll need to move the gaming and TV stuff downstairs and a dresser upstairs into his room.

Some furniture and a rug will move downstairs for the seating area part of that room and the other part will be both the gaming and TV area and the futon will be both seating and spare bed.

2007 Fall Leaves

6 Months, long ago

6 Months, what a ride it's been.

Wow, it doesn't seem like it has been 6 months since we got our much yearned for and prayed about little guy handed to us. I still haven't seen the video of it yet (mainly 'cause we're not sure where it is) but the swell of emotion I felt still makes my eyes tear up. It was incredible.

Then we had the endless weeks of not being able to sleep. I think we had a little post-partum like depression going on because we were so tired, that derned reality reared it's ugly head. We still loved our little guy just as much, and we totally expected something of the sort. Expecting however it, is not living it.

We survived and now after 6 months of the little one sharing the bed with us for bonding purposes, we're ready to transition him, and us into our long term beds and bedrooms.
He is such a joy, even when his lower jaw is stuck out stubbornly and tears are in his eyes because he's been denied something when he was too tired or hungry to have another method to deal with it.

It was a long and stressful trip from the very first form we filled out until we arrived home from the airport. The thought that our futures were on sheets of paper that decisions were being made about by total strangers, well that wasn't an easy one for someone who likes to be in control. I would do it again in a heartbeat to get the little man.

November is National Adoption Month. I think we're going to be celebrating it truly for the first time ever. If you think it might be for you, drop me a line, I've been on both sides of the fence, as birth mother and adoptive mother.

Ski pants like a swim vest

Acer received his first Christmas present early, on Sunday night. Vicki delivered it for her sister Lori. Lori and Vicki are my oldest friends; I still remember running down the street and meeting Lori running down the street to meet me. The excitement as we found out we were both three and then running over to meet their parents. I don't think I played more with any other children than with Lori and Vicki in the sun or the snow, we'd suit up and off we'd go. I even remember how excited we were when our parents let us take thermoses of hot tea outside with us in the winter.
So, it was entirely appropriate that Acer's first pair of snow pants would come from Lori. She also sent two pair of pants, a shirt, fleece jacket and a 'nice hoodie' (to use Acer's own words)
We tried on the ski pants right away and Acer immediately announced 'Ski pants like a swim vest' I think because they were padded and went over his shoulders. He's in an analogy stage, almost everything is like something else. He has some logic to it, but it can be hard to figure out what he means sometimes. This one was easy though.
Thanks Lori for such a great gift, and sent early so that I won't have to worry about finding them!


Acer with Tia Vicki and the new toy

New toy on the move

The nice hoodie

Acer in Lori gear

Fantastic blanket

This incredibly wonderful blanket was made for Acer by my sister-in-law Kerry's Mom, Mrs M.. I couldn't believe it, it is so cool that my pictures don't begin to do it justice. She made this; consulting with friends and finding all these different kinds of fabric and making the super cool dragon, putting his name on it, using little tiny buttons to make the braille letters for the different words. I am in awe and thankful that she chose to use her time and talents to make such a neat-o nifty cool item for our little guy. I am also running out of superlatives!

We use it as a car blanket for Acer, It not only keeps him warm, it can keep him busy!

Halloween At Last!

I think the captions explain the night, I'll just flesh it out a little bit.

We played our Mannheim Steamroller halloween cd's so that people could hear them as they walked up to the door and we had our giant blow up monster up and running. We used some of Acer's school art to decorate the door and I had a few pumpkin decorations of glass and terracotta. We had our real pumpkins on the porch, but we'd never gotten them carved! Oh well, it's so hard when we're playing tag team parenting to do much of anything together.

We just went up and down the street, about 15 houses were open for business so to speak, We could have gone onto another street, but that was really enough for Acer. He'll get the hang of it soon enough, he has an expert for a teacher. I went until I was 18! Acer even used my old pumpkin (yes I still had it, but really, I just used it for decoration;) )

Back at the house Mum gave out about 6 bags of candy and when we got back we gave out another two. We're in a big area for trick or treating, but it was a school night, so not as many were out as had been in past years.

We also put the baby gate at the top of the stairs to the best use it's had so far. We used it to keep the dogs upstairs so they didn't spasm at every trick or treater. I think for sheer volume from them it was our quietest Halloween ever.

I hope everybody had a good Halloween and sent up some thoughts to the big guy for All souls/saints day.

My beautiful tiny tree

This is a Kamagata Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum'Kamagata'). It's less than a foot tall and grows only about an inch a year. (What can I say, I like all my perennials to be over 4' tall and all my evergreens and trees to be dwarfs or miniatures.) Anyway, this year the color on it has been incredible, and has been so for some weeks. I had to take a picture; it is just this little blotch of bright color in a garden that is dying back for winter.

This is what you find if you don't get to the bathroom as quickly as Acer thinks you should!

Yes, the little man crawls up and stands on the seat! He's very stable, I've watched him. I don't want to reprimand him while he's doing it because he might fall. I don't want to discourage him from going to the bathroom so... I just walk in, pull down his pants & sit him down (facing the tank). Thank heavens he's not trying to pull his pants down too, that could be disasterous!

The good Lord has a sense of humor

This is a fact. Why else would I be named Heather (Calluna vulgaris) Anise (Pimpinella anisum) Bowman (Bowman's Root - Gillenia trifoliata) and be a horticulturist?

This is why I bring it up today. I am not a morning person. I have uttered such bon mots in the morning like "you're talking to me." to Mum as my brain exploded with the effort of having a conversation before 9 AM. So the Lord gives me a wonderful, funny, smart, musical joy of a son. Yeah! Except the Lord said, nothing is perfect (except him) so we'll have to give him a personality flaw. Yes, my little man is a morning person.

Today he started rolling on and over me at about 5. I tried my best to convince him to stay quiet as Bill had a rare morning to sleep in past 7, but it was rough. In Acer's defense, this was his quietest not allowed to get up yet morning. When Bill's alarm finally went off, I asked him to take the little man so I could get some more sleep. Oh those blissful 45 minutes!

Mama, were you there when...

Something that came to me as I was drifting off to sleep. I was thinking I'd make it into a book for Acer. Feel free to alter words to fit your little ones if you want, maybe to go in their lifebook or something. Obviously Acer doesn't know how to do some of the things I'm saying we were there for, yet. I was just writing down milestones for the future.





Mama, were you there when I was born?

No little man. After we found you, we came as soon as we could to bring you home and love you.

Mama, Were you there when I learned to crawl?

No little man. After we found you, we came as soon as we could to bring you home and love you.

Mama were you there when I learned to walk?

No little man. After we found you, we came as soon as we could to bring you home and love you.

Mama, were you there when I learned to talk?

No little man. After we found you, we came as soon as we could to bring you home and love you.

Mama, were you there when I learned to run?

No little man. After we found you, we came as soon as we could to bring you home and love you.

Mama, were you there when I learned to sing?

No little man. After we found you, we came as soon as we could to bring you home and love you.

Mama, were you there when I learned to ride my tricycle?

Yes, little man, We came and brought you home and loved you forever. We were there when you learned to ride your tricycle.

Mama, were you there when I learned to swim?

Yes, little man, We came and brought you home and loved you forever. We were there when you learned to swim.

Mama, were you there when I learned to speak English?

Yes, little man, We came and brought you home and loved you forever. We were there when you learned to speak English.

Mama, were you there when I learned to dress myself?

Yes, little man, We came and brought you home and loved you forever. We were there when you learned to dress yourself.

Mama, were you there when I learned to write?

Yes, little man, We came and brought you home and loved you forever. We were there when you learned to ride your tricycle.

Mama, were you there when I learned to read?

Yes, little man, We came and brought you home and loved you forever. We were there when you learned to read.



Little Man, Mama and Baba love you and want you forever!