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| Practicing walking! |
Kev and I are exhausted, not just a little bit, a LOT.
It's not that Bozi is physically demanding, although co-sleeping didn't really work out so well last night. Kev ended up getting kicked out of bed by the kiddo, literally, and getting no sleep. We are trying the pack'n'play beside the bed tonight, although currently he's in the bed. We will move him before we go to sleep.
Returning to the mental effort and preparation you have to put into having a toddler/infant is draining. I forgot about all that. For instance, this is the second time we've left the house and were out during a meal. Kev says, "What did you bring him to eat?" Ok, so maybe, I didn't remember to bring anything for the kid to eat. No big deal, he can just share with us, right? NO, the kid EATS... a lot and he doesn't know how to chew so if it's not pretty mushy or liquid he gets all choked and freaks us out. So, tonight we fortunately had just walked passed a pharmacy and Kev was able to run in and buy overpriced baby food.
In addition to the mental energy, the emotional energy is the real energy sucker. So many times we watch him express such joy over the simplest things and wonder if it's his first time for that. The wind was blowing so hard tonight and he was gasping, giggling and smacking at the air. It was so cute. I was trying to think of a time he might have been outside when it was that windy, but most likely they would have moved the children at the orphanage inside at that point, for safety. While we were walking, Chloe had him laughing so hard just by getting in his face super close and backing up. We had such a fun night in the Vitosha area. There's a great park with fountains, beautiful flowers and scenery and so many things to look at. He honestly cannot decide what to look at first. I've heard many adoptive parents talk about over-stimulation with their children from orphanages, but if this kid is over-stimulated I can't tell it. He doesn't exhibit the typical behaviors we were warned to watch for. He studies everything and tries to explore. That's one thing we noticed on our first visit when we took him outside. He is even starting to explore our apartment. Tonight he played with Violet's socks. He put them on his head and the girls laughed and of course, he does it again and again. He didn't let go of those socks until bedtime.
As we were walking back to our apartment after dinner there was even some dragon or dinosaur
dance thing going on in the park. The girls LOOOOOVED it. We ran, stroller and all, so we wouldn't miss out on the fun. Kev looks at him and says, I bet this is way more fun than any old orphanage, right? It brings us so joy to see his happiness and the way his entire face lights up over the smallest things, like a piece of paper.
Everything just takes forever to do. I forgot that. The girls and I can get ready for school in less than 30 minutes. That will not be the case any longer, ha ha. It's especially challenging when the kiddo doesn't want you out of his sight. I'm sure many of you mommies of young kiddos can relate. I am stepping back in time here.
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| Success, finally drinking! |
We've learned a few new things. He is scared of the elevator, at least the apartment elevator. This elevator is a little 1964-ish and a little sketchy, annnnd it does lurch whenever it starts and stops, so maybe it's not totally an irrational fear. He loves wind, like his mommy. He will eat almost anything. We finally got him to drink ayran from a cup. I had him watch me feed it from the cup with a spoon, then let him see the cup and he drank it! This is alleviating some of our concerns about getting fluids in him. He loves when you put his bib on and he will hold it on if he's not done eating (he's never done eating). He also will point to his plate for more food. He loves having his diaper changed. He gets excited when I lay out the pad to change his diaper. He loves lotion time before bed. He does NOT love baths. There are no photos to document because we all barely survived. Between the shrill screaming, the attempts to stand up and escape and serious crying I barely got him washed and out--forget picture time.
We are getting there. Tomorrow we are going to the zoo with our awesome translator. This week we have some appointments in place and we hope to have our family pictures made by a local missionary.
We are waiting to hear back from our neighbors about the status of our house in Wilmington, NC. It's still raining and the neighbors who rode out the storm haven't ventured outside yet. They said our neighborhood seems to have been pretty fortunate, minus the power outages. We are grateful to have such amazing people around us. We are praying for our city and all those in North and South Carolina who are being affected by this hurricane and the flooding to come.
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