Tag Archives: Gus

18 months and Toothy Milestones

August 2, 2012 Molly 5 Comments

My day began at 12:30. Gus woke up. VERY unhappy. Even after I calmed him down, he was not going back to sleep, so I brought him into bed with me. Poor kid is teething. One of his canines is just poking out, and apparently canines are the worst. He cuddled up with me and we tossed and turned for about 2 more hours before we finally fell asleep.

Babies need mamas. Gus has his own very sad, post-institutionalized way of self-soothing, but when I scoop him up and cuddle with him, that’s enough. Then he’s just my baby, content to put his head on my chest and play with my fingers or let me tickle his feet.

The excitement of our morning did not end there. Reed and Lena let us sleep in a bit, but when we got up, the first thing Reed said to me was…

“Look, mama! I lost my tooth!”

He was SO excited. And I was so excited for him. He is so cute without it, and it feels like crossing the line from preschooler to big kid.

Even though we don’t pretend that the tooth fairy is real, we still play out the tradition. Reed is pretty sure that I cannot be the tooth fairy. Here is the letter that he wrote to her:

“Dear Tooth Fairy,

We have a baby brother named Baby Gus. We love you, Tooth Fairy. I lost my missing tooth. It was pretty funny and it goes straight and I tried to get it back to normal, like teeth are supposed to get back. I can’t find things small because there is a lot of white. How do you fly inside my teeth? Are you little or not? Is your magic wand at the top a star or a heart? Sorry for telling you you don’t know how to snap.

Thank you and love,

Reed”

Gus turned 18 months old today. Since we didn’t get to celebrate his 1st birthday with him, I wanted to celebrate this. Nothing fancy, just the Oreo cupcakes.

Gus had his first cake moment. I imagine that this is his first time ever eating cake, and you can see how he just throws it until I put some icing in his mouth. It was too cute.

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Gus!

Adoption, Everyday Life, Second Adoption

Parenting a 17mo old

July 26, 2012 Molly 6 Comments

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!

Everyday Life

An Everyday Adventure

July 23, 2012 Molly 1 Comment

It is so incredibly hot here… we like to take our dogs out for a walk every day, but it is hard when it is this unbearably hot. Instead of every day, it had been a week!

So, all 5 of us headed out for a walk together. This is the first time that all 5 of us have been out to the levee together.

Aaron and I have been coming here as long as we’ve lived in Kansas, and it’s always been one of my favorite places. I adore it this time of year, looking out over all of the corn and soy beans. I could tell you so much about this place and all of the memories we’ve made here, but I’ll skip on to the photos.

I wanted to get a picture of all 3 of my kids together. Gus is not having that.

“Hold his hands?,” I suggested. You can see how that went.

The big kids ran off to play with a soccer ball.

Lena did come back long enough to make Gus laugh. He loves her.

I told Aaron how easy it is to snap a cute photo of her… I wasn’t trying and had a few, while I struggled to get one of her little brother.

I am not going to smile for you.

Nope.

But, instead, I’ll eat this rock.

I’m really going to eat it.

Yum.

Big brother/guard Reed welcomes you to our favorite place. I’ve spent a lot of time looking at old photos recently and it’s hard to believe that my little monkey Ilya has grown up into this crazy kid!

Where he plopped down, right as we were getting ready to go. He was so mad that I picked him up and put him the car.

I think he likes it too.

Everyday Life

Weekend Update

July 22, 2012 Molly Leave a comment

Our weekend was pretty relaxed. Our one big to-do was that we wanted to each take each of our big kids out on a “date”. Some alone time to hang out and check-in with them.

I let them pick what they wanted to do. Reed wanted to go get ice cream. I told him we could do something else after we got ice cream and he was so excited to go to the playground for awhile. And, when we left, he was super excited to go home and go “swimming” in our “pool”. Reed moves fast!

Lena just wanted to go to the playground. Lena soaks up my undivided attention whenever she gets it. So, I put down my cell phone and gave it to her. All I needed to do was narrate everything she was doing on the swing. “Higher!” “Slooooower.” And she laughed and laughed. Then, I pushed her myself and sent her to outer space. She called me on the phone from outer space and told me she loved me.

Am I driving you crazy that I don’t have much of an update on Gus? Poor kid didn’t get to leave our house all weekend! Actually, that might be a happy thing for him– he hates getting buckled in to his car seat. It is also 100+ here every day, so the options for where to go are limited.

He did get to “swim” for awhile Saturday night, so he was happy about that!

A video of the little goofball.

Honestly, he’s a lot harder to photograph that my bigger kids, because he rarely slows down! I am trying to get some photos for an adoption announcement, and we’ll see if that ever happens…

Adoption, Everyday Life

Missing out on what?

July 20, 2012 Molly 4 Comments

This was not part of my plan. I did not want to parent 3 children before my 25th birthday, nor did I ever imagine I could. Sometimes, I feel crazy… actually, I always feel crazy when someone asks me my age, or when I am with people my own age. Yes, I am 24, and my husband and I have adopted 3 kids internationally. Yes, it is crazy. No, it was never part of MY plan. That’s what I often want to say, sort of shrugging off my own participation in the matter.

But, no, you know what’s crazy?

Missing out on this…

or this,

or this.

My best moments aren’t spent being 24, being carefree or whatever 24 year olds do… my best moments are spent with these 3, loving these 3 and being loved by them.

Missing out on the way Gus runs into my arms and slobbers all over my face. Missing out on Lena’s tender hugs, which make me feel like the most special person in the world. Missing out on Reed’s silly jokes, which make me laugh until my stomach hurts.

I won’t lie… there is a cost– a cost to adoption and a cost to parenting, but the reward?

Extravagant.