December 15, 2009 · 1 Comment
Today is Logan’s first birthday. We had a party for him on Sunday, and he was introduced to birthday cake, and more importantly, icing. Michelle made a castle cake with a fondant (think sheet of icing) made out of marshmallows. When Logan got his piece of cake, he pulled the icing off with one hand and stuffed as much as humanly possible in his mouth. His expression said it all, “What is this new and delicious thing you’ve hidden from me my whole life!?!” Friends and family were very generous with their gifts, and Logan has been having a ball with his new toys. The thing that made me laugh the most was the fact that we evidently have not been teaching him “southern ways” adequately. He received a pair of camouflage overalls, a camo onesie, and a John Deere tractor to scoot around on. Personally, I find the picture of him in his camo overalls astride his John Deere with no shirt on absolutely hysterical.
He continues to progress as you would expect. He pulled up to standing for the first time on Sunday. He’ll take awkward steps if you hold his hands or support him under the arms. It won’t be long at all until he is running.
Everyone always says that once you have kids, your life changes forever. That is such an all-encompassing statement that you really can’t grasp what it means until it happens to you. As I think about how my life has changed in the past year I cannot think of a single aspect that is not different. Just as a very mild “for instance” ; I have one picture of my wife on my desk…..I have two of Logan on my bulletin board, he is my computer background, and my cell phone background. He is the first person I speak to every morning. I think about his needs before my own always. I look forward to seeing him every evening, and playing with him. When I see him in the evenings for the first time and his bright smile lights up his face and he comes crawling toward me as fast as he can, my heart just swells with love. All this and he can’t talk, or walk yet.
Adopting him has been the single best thing I’ve ever done with my life. I am changed forever and for the better. On this one year anniversary of that life changing event, just in case she is reading this let me say to you, Logan’s birth mom, I am forever grateful to you. I know your motivation was to do what was best for him, and I will never forget that it is my obligation to always do my absolute best for him to honor your decision. Thank you!
Categories: Adoption · Happiness · Humor · Parenting
Maybe because I look for them, but maybe because I choose to be an optimist, I consistently find little things that Logan does to be immensely rewarding. Like most 10 (nearly 11) month olds, he jabbers quite a bit, but he isn’t saying actual words yet. I firmly believe he communicates nevertheless. I referenced this behavior in an earlier post, Logan always responds to me when I make a popping noise with my mouth. He responds by making the same noise, and we go back and forth for a few moments. It doesn’t matter if he can see me or not, if he hears that noise, he will stop what he is doing and respond. Likewise, when I hear him do it first, I stop and respond. I’ve watched him, and sometimes he does it when he thinks I’m not paying attention to him. Sometimes I do it to get his attention away from something he shouldn’t be getting into. The odd thing is, he doesn’t seem to do it with other people. I think he finds it comforting because when I respond, he knows for sure that I’m paying attention to him even if I’m in the next room preparing his dinner or something. All of this explanation was setting the stage for something that happened the other night when I put him to bed. He almost always goes down without any kind of fuss, and is quiet when we turn out the lights and close the door. The normal bedtime routine had proceeded as normal, and as I turned off the lights, he made the pop noise, just once, and I responded just once. It felt like he was saying, “Good night Dad, I love you.” in our special little language. I know I’m reading into it….but it warmed my heart.
Categories: Adoption · Happiness · Parenting