Yesterday, for the first time, when Aaron got home from work, Gus got up from our playing and ran up to Aaron and hugged him.
Love.
Category Archives: Second Adoption
All About Gus, 18 months
Here is the latest on Gus. You can see last month here.
Age: 18 months, 13 days Home: 30 days
Height: 2′ 6.25″* Weight: 21.4lbs
*Obviously either this month’s measurement or last month’s is off.
Words he knows and says spontaneously:
- Papa
- Mama
- Eat
- Aa daa (all done)
- Mo (more)
- yeah
- no
- yay
Words he repeats often but hasn’t used spontaneously:
- Genta (gentle)
- out
Signs he knows:
- More
- Eat
- All done & drink, which are exactly the same in Gus-sign
- Yes
- No
He is highly motivated by praise. He will do something right and then clap his hands and say “yay!”
He is also often very aware when he is doing something wrong. Today, he threw his napkins on the floor, looked at me, smiled, and said “nuh-uh” while shaking his head.
He has figured out how go through the doggie door and how to open up doors, at least our bedroom one. Fortunately, he hasn’t gotten out of his crib yet, and the baby gates still contain him.
He loves to take things and move them. Meaning I have a hard time finding anything we usually keep at his level. Shoes, toilet paper, his drink, etc., are constantly disappearing.
I love his spontaneous hugs and kisses. You know, the charge at my legs kind.
I do not enjoy the baby gate being shut every single time it’s open.
He tries to put most things in his mouth… dirt, rocks, any toys…
He loves movement– swinging, upside down, thrown in the air, etc.
He seems to prefer having shoes on, but not clothes. Or, just one shoe. That is pretty typical, he will take on off and leave the other one on for awhile.
He still sucks his thumb all the time, especially when he is stressed.
He dances to music and the vacuum cleaner.
Sleeps: He still sleeps the same amount as last month, although he seems to a bit pickier about where he will sleep. He has fallen asleep in the car, our bed and the crib, but not anywhere else, including the stroller.
Eats: He will still eat anything and begs to try everything as I am cooking, including raw chicken. If he sees something new, he will throw down whatever he is eating and beg for the new thing.
Loves to: explore, be outside
Dislikes: teeth brushed, buckled into car seat, diaper changes most of the time
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Still taking questions for a Q&A. So, if you have anything you want to ask, leave a comment or email me.
Parenting a 17mo old
As I talked to a friend today, I was reminded that I want to portray our attachment period honestly. I am so happy to have Gus home that I hesitate to ever open my mouth with a complaint.
But, parenting an a 17-month old is exhausting.
One question my friend asked me is whether this is easier or harder than the period after Reed and Lena’s homecoming. Much, much easier, because we are already parents, there is just one of him, and we have a better support system than we did the first time around. We were just much more prepared this time, mostly because of our experience the first time around.
Gus has transitioned in to our family MUCH easier than Reed and Lena did. Of course, it’s possible that we are still in the “honeymoon” period, but Gus is doing very well. Most of his behavior seems very normal for his age.
However, there are challenges. Some of them are just part of parenting a toddler, and a few are related to his past.
-Prefers women to men, including me to Aaron: This is pretty normal. He’s has not spent much time around men, so he naturally prefers me and other women to men. This is a challenge, because while he super comfortable with me, he is only okay with Aaron. He won’t look to Aaron for comfort yet, and still gets a bit upset if he sees me leaving.
-Communicating: I am used to communicating with Reed and Lena, at their level. We are signing with Gus, and the idea is still pretty novel to him. He knows a few signs, like “more” and “all done” and we are working on several more signs. But, even though he knows them, he doesn’t understand how to use them without prompting, and I need to remind him that he has a choice. Choices are very new and exciting to him.
-He’s into everything: This is definitely a typical age thing, but I think it is only complicated by the fact that everything is new to him. He probably hadn’t seen a toilet before we picked him up, or any kitchen stuff. He watches me with great fascination when I brush my teeth or put on makeup. It is ALL new to him and his preferred ways of exploring are touching and putting things in his mouth.
-Hitting/grabbing/pulling hair/biting to be funny: Of course, this is also all typical 17mo old stuff. And it is exhausting. “Gentle”… 500 times a day. This is particularly frustrating when he is hurting Reed or Lena. Fortunately, they have a lot of patience with him.
One of the biggest challenges is just that I was pretty comfortable parenting 2 preschoolers. Most of the time, I knew how to communicate with them, motivate them, etc. It is a whole new learning curve. An expected new learning curve, but challenging nevertheless.
I am ready for nap time most days. But, I’m always ready for those sweet post-nap kisses, too!
All About Gus
Age: 17 months, 18 days Home: 4 days
Weight: 20lbs, 2oz.
Height: 2ft., 7in.
Sleeps: About 10 hours at night, and 2 hour nap. Will sleep anywhere– stroller, car, crib, mama and papa’s bed or even outside…
Eats: Just about anything– wants whatever everyone else is having. We haven’t found too much he won’t eat yet. His favorite may be bananas, though.
(A particularly yummy dinner of fried rice from our friend Jill)
Loves to: Play in water (until he’s shivering and his lips are purple!), dance, getting kisses and rasberries and giving big open mouth kisses, have the attention of his big brother and sister, do whatever they are doing, pressing on someone’s nose and making them go “honk” or “quornk, quornk” as Lena does
Dislikes: Diaper changes, getting buckled into his car seat, having his face wiped, going to sleep
What did I leave out? What else do you want to know about Gus?
Home Sweet Home
We are home!
We left our apartment in Moscow at 8am Saturday morning, that’s 11pm CST, for our 11:40am flight. But, our flight was delayed, first an hour and twenty minutes, then it turned it all chaos, and everyone cheered when the plane finally left the ground at 3:30.
We did get to make some new friends at the airport! My friend Jennifer is adopting, too. This girl is so sweet and so much fun. Go show her some love?
That’s our plane, waiting to find out what was going to happen with it.
He really loved watching all of the vehicles on the tarmac.
Gus is an awesome flyer. But, I was so grateful to have my mom to help me wrangle him on the plane. He barely cried at all, and after 9 hours, we made it to JFK. We had a good experience with customs there. We were about 3rd from the last in the line, but knowing we had a baby and an international adoption, we were quickly moved to the front of the line, before we even had the opportunity to ask.
Dancing to the Muppet Movie.
Playing on the floor.
Very excited about becoming a US Citizen.
From JFK, my dad picked us up and drove us to my parents’ house, where we spent the night. Gus got to briefly meet his cousins, aunts, uncle and grandpa. And one of my best friends.
Meeting his cousins.
Yesterday morning, I got up to find my laundry dried and folded, Gus’s bottles, bowls and spoon washed, and a bunch of new food for him to take on the plane. My mom is so thoughtful and made it so easy for me to get ready this morning.
I was so grateful we flew out of a tiny airport… going through security was so easy. Our flight went smoothly. He was awesome. Snack trap cups with yogurt drops or rice puffs worked great. He was busy with his hands and his mouth.
Our layover was in Chicago. They have a little “Children’s Museum”, which is like a play area for kids, which stuff about flying and planes. We hung out in there for awhile, so he could burn off some energy.
Then… home. My friend Danae filmed this for us.
Gus fell asleep in the car on the way home. He was so, so tired, and slept until about 2am last night. Then, he was up for about 2 hours, before I made him go back to sleep. Partly to help him adjust to our timezone, and partly because I was exhausted.
I can’t wait to tell you how Reed and Lena have been with him, but that could be another blog post. I am so proud of them!
a moose in moscow 