M Bug just LOVES watching daddy on TV. We like to start the day with a bottle for M, a cup of hot chocolate for mom, cozied up in a blanket, on the lookout for “dada.” The second M hears Spencer’s voice on the TV, his head snaps up from his bottle and he just stares at the screen 100% entranced. Sometimes he softly whispers “da da da” under his breath while he’s watching. It is the cutest thing in the world.
(Here’s the link that some of you have been requesting to Spencer’s shark package.)
Happy Valentines Day from the cutest cupid around!
My friend Rachel wrote about her tradition of writing love letters to her kiddo, and she inspired me to write a few myself!
Dear Cutie Pie,
Happy Valentines Day sweetheart!
You are just the most remarkable little soul and the past months as your mama have been among the most special of my life.
I love how the past few nights you have been letting me rock you before you go to sleep. You used to not like being rocked after you finished your bottle. You just wanted to hunker down in your crib with your giraffe rattle in one hand, and your thumb in your mouth. But lately, you have wanted me to hold you close while you rest your head on my chest and suck your thumb. NOTHING melts my heart more than those quiet moments before bedtime. Probably the moments most dear to my heart are those when you want to be near me. I treasure every single second and hold you close until you demand to be put down.
I love that you call “mama” when you are sad or when you need something. It would be nice if you said “mama’ in a happy voice once in a while :), but I love love love being called “mama.” My favorite title in the whole world, and it sounds the sweetest coming from your little mouth.
I love when we are sitting on the floor playing and you put your hands on my knees and crawl right into my lap.
I love watching your daddy whisk you away for diaper changes, storytime, bathtime, or playtime. You peek over his shoulder as the two of you retreat down the hallway and it is the cutest funniest sight. Sometimes, Daddy makes you peek around the doorway. He holds you so just your little head is in sight and you just hover there smiling until I notice you. It cracks me up every time to see you peeking into the room with a grin on your face.
I love watching you zip around in your walker. You RUN in that thing. Not walk. RUN. You are FAST too. It is the most hilarious thing to see you scuttle across the room on a mission to pull the DVD’s off the shelf or rip the dishrags off the oven handle.
My favorite sound in the world is still your “yodeling.” It will never ever get old.
I love when you giggle because you think something is funny. It’s cute when you giggle because we are tickling you, but even cuter when you giggle because you are little person with a big sense of humor. You think Lizzy is hilarious. You think me brushing my teeth is hilarious. You think Daddy making funny faces and noises is hilarious. You thought that the time you bit mommy’s thumb during church, almost making her scream out loud, was downright riotous (the pain you can inflict with just two little teeth is astounding).
I love that you love puppies. You are obsessed with puppies and your little “uff uff” is the cutest barking sound I’ve ever heard.
I love that you look to me for reassurance. Like if someone new is talking to you, you look over at me as if to say, “Is this okay mom?”
I love checking on you after you have gone to sleep. I usually put my hand on your chest just to feel the subtle rise and fall. It’s amusing to see your little diaper bum in the air or chubby arms thrown above your head. The contortions you seem to find comfortable amaze me. Tonight you are wedged in the corner of the crib with a sock clutched tightly in your fist. You are so especially darling when you are sleeping peacefully. And don’t even get me started on your bed head! I LOVE seeing your wonky hair every morning and after every nap.
You have taught me so much little guy. You have taught me a deeper love than I have ever known. It is such an experience to live for someone so completely. Of course, I live for your daddy as well, but Daddy does not need my attention in the same 24/7 every moment of every day kind of way. It’s a wonderful thing to think about and care for and adore someone so much.
You teach me patience. It’s funny because I’ve always thought of myself as a patient person, but I am learning that there is always room to improve. The demanding, difficult, stretched to the limits moments of motherhood are molding me into a better person. And just when I think I’ve it all figured out, everything changes and I get to learn it all over again.
You teach me to savor every second. Life is such a gift. I’m so glad I get to share it with you.
love,
Mom
I wanted to share another favorite adoption blog. I really have been slacking on sharing these because there are SO MANY good ones. This one is written by a birthmother, and it is probably my favorite birthmom blog out there (which is saying something, because my adoption blog roll is pretty long).
Jill is such an eloquent writer. She’s one of those people that doesn’t write just to fill space. I feel like I learn something from EVERY post she shares. Jill is also a very articulate individual. I really think she should write a book on adoption.
I think many if not most people in the little “adoption bloggers community” (if you could call it such a thing) are familiar with Jill’s blog, but since I have a lot of friends who don’t have many ties to adoption except through our family, I wanted to share it here.
This is perhaps one of my favorites of her posts:
But I also REALLY liked these ones:
and
Honestly, they are all so good. When I first found her blog (which was a while ago now) I read everything she had written in one sitting. Be sure to hop on over to The Happiest Sad and read for yourself.
A few days ago, M decided that baby food is for chumps. If it’s in a baby food jar, then he does not want anything to do with it. I was surprised by this latest transformation, because it happened so suddenly. One day he was eating anything that could fit on a spoon, the next he was acting like eating his favorite mashed green beans was torture.
Lots of times he gets little bites of whatever we’re having, so there are some meals that we don’t even open a jar of baby food. But there are other times that he just can’t have what we’re having because it’s too dairy based or spicy or whatever the case may be.
So tonight daddy got smart. He poured some of M’s food onto his own plate and fed it to him on a metal spoon. We discovered pretty quickly that it has to be off OUR plates, not just any dinner plate will do, it must be the one we are currently eating off of. And just like that, M was eating his baby lasagna like it aint no thang.
The way he is striving to be a big boy lately is amazing to me. He wants to do everything we are doing the exact way we are doing it. He follows me around in his walker like he’s chained to my ankle. If I’m doing dishes, he’s pulling the dishrags off their handles. If I’m folding laundry, he’s unfolding laundry. If I’m playing the piano, he wants to sit in my lap and play too. I love having a little shadow. I just can’t believe how fast he is growing up.
And speaking of growing up, just this week the little mister decreed that he will take only one nap a day.
I know I say it all the time, but could time slow down just a little bit?
I have thought for a long time now how fun it would be to share a few of my favorite adoption blogs/posts. I love hearing other people’s stories and one of my most favorite things to do when I have a few minutes of spare time is to catch up on adoption blogs. I actually thought it would be fun to share my list way back during national adoption month, but lacked the time to do it then. However, I decided I can’t wait for November to roll back around.
Therefore, what better month to share some amazing adoption stories than February? The month of love! (I guess I should mention that this is just something I’m doing. I don’t have any kind of agreement with any of these bloggers. It’s just a list of things I like to read from people I admire. That’s all).
So first up: Pink Shoes!
I LOVE this blog. I really enjoy the things Maggie has to say, and often find myself nodding in agreement as I read her words. She’s bold and funny and expresses herself so poignantly. I get excited every time I see she has posted something new.
If you read one post from her blog, let it be this one:
Wow. So touching. I love hearing different perspectives from the exact same story. It is particularly special to hear an adoption story from the birthgrandma’s view. It’s a perspective that isn’t often represented in the blog world, and one that I wish was shared more often.
A few other favorite posts:
I agree with everything Maggie wrote in the second post in particular. She kind of said everything I could ever want to say, only much better than I could have ever said it. Anyway, enough of my gushing. Hop on over to her blog and read for yourself!
Oh my cutie pie. I could just eat him up! He’s been a busy boy this past month!
Lately M has mastered cruising around in his walker. It is the cutest, funniest thing in the world to see him walking around in his bumper car. Anytime he’s in there, he’s close on my heels. It just cracks me up to have someone small bumbling along behind me everywhere go. It will be even weirder to see him walking along WITHOUT the walker someday. Crazy!
M has also discovered how to pull himself to a stand. So far, he has only done this in the bathtub. I guess the edge of the tub is just the perfect height. He was SO proud when he stood up unassisted for the first time. It was so cute to see him all dripping wet and nekked with the biggest, happiest grin you have ever seen on his face. I ADORE his “proud” grin. There are few things I love more than seeing my little boy get excited about learning something new.
This past month M also learned how to drink from a straw. He thinks he’s pretty big stuff when he’s sipping ice water out of mommy or daddy’s glass. He finally figured out how to kind of army crawl. But he still hates inching along on his tummy. His preferred mode of transportation is siting on his diaper bum and scooting across the floor. Or occasionally he will roll from one end of the room to the other.
Even though he still only has TWO little teeth, M’s most favorite thing to do is eat. He loves his grub. Especially when he gets bites off our plates. He can eat a LOT of food too. I am always amazed how much food he can fit in that little tummy. His latest favorites are still nanas, applesauce, mashed ‘tatoes, and corn. We are sometimes surprised at the variety of foods that M enjoys. M got his first taste of orange and I was amazed that he seemed to like it so much. We also let M try a tiny taste of lemon and he loved it. There don’t seem to be many things that Cutie Pie DOESN”T like to eat.
M says “dada” when he is happy or concentrating very hard on something. He says, “mama” mostly when he is distressed. He still says “baba,” but not as frequently as he used to. His new favorite word is “lodle.” We call it his “yodeling.” He loves to sing “lodle lodle lodle” all the day long and it is my favorite sound in the whole wide world. I LOVE that he does this and hope that he yodels all the days of his life. He still loves to scream his biggest, happiest screams. Especially during church. Make a joyful noise.
M is currently VERY attached to mama. He doesn’t like being handed off to anyone. He usually does okay if we can distract him while I sneak away. But he does NOT like leaving my arms. I love that he’s my sidekick.
M is still a little jumping bean and still loves his johnny jumper as well as jumping up and down in our laps. One of his favorite things is when we have dance parties in the living room. M LOVES when we hold him and dance all about the room. We probably have at least a dance party a day. He is such a charming dance partner that one.
M does not like being messed with. He hates getting his diaper changed, nose wiped, or having his arms put through the sleeves. Anything that restrains him for a certain amount of time is an annoyance to him. He’s a busy man! No time for nonsense such as clean diapers or fresh clothes!
He loves reading stories and I love the times he will sit still and close for a little while. Holding him close is the best part of my day. Some of my favorite times are when he falls asleep in my arms. This doesn’t happen very often anymore, so when it does I try to savor every second. Just last night he was so tired he fell asleep while I was singing his lullaby’s and he RARELY does that anymore. It was heaven to hold my sleeping baby for a while before finally putting him in his crib.
He’s such a smiley little man and is eager to make friends. Love that kid.
