Bozi's Six Month Favs!

Best Cousins and Best Bros, Bozi and Joseph!

The first two years of a child's life is huge. They learn to attach to other humans, their brain alone grows dramatically, children learn words, most are walking, following simple instructions and hopefully how to take turns.

You learn their favorite foods, what they like to play with and who their favorite people are. I love watching my child's personality develop. I love observing their likes and dislikes. Watching how they grow and how they change.

I remember my baby Chlo, she was very passionate about everything. She felt things...deeply. Happy and sad doesn't quite describe it, more like euhporic or elated versus heartbroken or mournful. Annnd then there was angry...that was it's own category, more like rage and she was ONLY 6 months old! Literally, if you gave her the wrong toy it was like she just found out you killed her puppy and refused to give her candy for the rest of her life. She was a wee bit high maintenance in all areas and had serious opinions. As I've said often, we have affectionately labeled this as the beginnings of her "leadership skills."

Then there was my sweet baby V. Anyone who knew her as a baby knew how easy she was. She would just go with the flow, always happy and loved cuddles. She was toooo easy and it made me a little nervous. I was almost worried she wouldn't have much of a personality. Then she turned two and her personality really started coming out. Anyone who knows Violet now, KNOWS how wrong I was to worry. That girl has more personality than about ten people combined. We call this "creative," and she really is!

It's a little different with Bozi because we didn't have the privilege of seeing the first two-ish years. The orphanage told us he was a fat baby. :) They said he liked construction vehicles. They warned us he sucked his fingers. They were able to give us a couple of pictures when he was younger, but that's all we really got.

When we met him on our first trip we learned a few more things. He played hard to get, but once he warmed up he was playful. He had opinions as well and the workers told us he was pretty stubborn. The words he knew were the Bulgarian words for cat, dog, car and fall down. He loooooved cars. His favorite time of the day was definitely anytime they brought him food of any type--he basically would hyperventilate and power surge. He liked to swing. Annnd, he seemed to like the color red.

After six months hanging with our sweet boy we've learned even more.

Bozi's Favs

Red and orange are probably his favorite colors. He likes to wear them too. I definitely need to find more bright clothes!

Poppy scored brownie points early on!

Cars are a BIG deal. He still stops everything to watch a car drive by and while we are in the car he
watches them intently as we drive. He doesn't freak out anymore when we get in one, but he is likely to be found hanging from the door handle of our van or another vehicle. Also, if you let him just sit in your car, he'll be your best friend. I'm not lying, that's basically ALL he really wants...to sit. I guess he's absorbing the experience? I don't know.

Dogs and cats? Yes, please! For the past month he has been asking for a dog. It goes like this. "Mommy. Can a Doggy. Pease? Mommy. A Bow bow. Pease." "Bow bow" is another way they refer to dogs in Bulgaria. When we are out he begs to pet them, then gets scared and backs up. So far he's all talk, but we'll see. Also, I would like to give a shout out to turtles or Bozi calls them "toodleloos." Since we started walking around our neighborhood past the lake, he begs to go see the "toodleloos" regularly.

Singing. He loves it. His favorite songs are Old McDonald, Twinkle, Twinkle and the ABC song. He sings them all. Well, as far as Old McDonald he usually just says "e-i-e-i-o." Our prayer at meals is a song called "God our Father" and he sings it loud and proud. He is slowly adding the words rather than sounds, but that's a work in progress. Good thing we are a music-loving, singing type of family.

Fluffy dinosaur blankets are crucial. He pretends he doesn't need or want it, but asks for it when he's tired and I've found it clutched in his little hand while he is asleep many times.

He loves to count. I'm not sure how this started, but he does it all the time for the last couple of weeks or so. He starts from 4 and goes to 10, I can't get him to say 1-3 at all and he usually skips 6...we will work on that.

His favorite word is "yes!" Interesting twist for a two-ish year old when most scream "NO," but a fact none the less. The best part is he will say "yes" to ANYTHING. Bozi are you cute? Yes. Bozi are you crazy? Yes. Bozi am I your favorite? Yes. If you know my husband you can imagine the random questions he asks Bozi and Bozi always answers with a confident assertive, Yes!

He's a reader. He loves to be read to and he loves to read to us. His favorite books are Brown Bear, Brown Bear; The Bear Snores On; Momma Will You; Going To Sleep on the Farm; Little Blue Truck; Good Night, Construction Site; and anything Llama, Llama, he's not a fan of the tv show though.

Watching the Toodleloos!

His favorite TV shows are Storybots aka "bots", Octonauts and Sesame Street aka "Elmo." He wasn't really interested in TV until he was home for about 4 months. So, this is pretty recent and he watches only half of a show or one show a day at most. I'm not complaining.

Fav toys! His favorite toys seem to be his nesting blocks, his Squidzs, the little musical toy my mom sent him on our first trip and drawing on this little magnadoodle we have.

He loves being outside. He asks constantly to go outside. He even figured out how to work our lock and door, scary! We fixed that. He loves swinging outside on the front porch at the park. Once we get to the swings at the park, it's all over, good luck getting him back on the playground equipment again.

Bozi loves storytime. We go most Thursdays. Mr. Max is the best and it's really great having a male librarian for Bozi. His favorite thing at storytime are the movement songs or rhymes, playing instruments and the fact it ends with BUBBLES! Everytime I pull him out of the car and he sees he's at the library he yells "bubbles, bubbles!"

He prays. He says, "God, Mommy, Daddy, Coee, Pilot and Bozi. Amen." Every couple of days he throws in other family, but when that happens usually it's Joseph who gets prayed for.

Favorite foods!!! He loves eggs, tomatoes, cheese, hummus, pasta, yogurt, apple sauce, rice, green beans, bread, tacos, pizza, oatmeal and tacos!

He has two BFFs. He loves his cousin, Joseph and talks to him on Facetime for a few minutes almost

Best bros Brady Boo and Bozi Boo!

every day. He asks to call him most mornings. It's really sweet. He loves his friend Brady and gets excited whenever we get together with him and his family.
  
Bozi is the friendliest kid I know. That's saying a lot if you know my girls. He stands in our yard and waves at every single car riding by like his life depends on it. He yells "Hi" usually too late, after most people walk by and then continues to yell "Bye" until they respond or they are really far away!

I worry because I know so little about my Bozi boo and those first two years, then I realize I actually know quit a bit for the six months we've had him. Six months seems like such a short time and in other ways, it's been an eternity--in a good way. Then I think about before we had Bozi. I can't imagine that little body that leans into me not being cuddled 24/7, those squishy cheeks not being kissed and having no one to rest his face against like he rests his face against mine. He stays so still when he does that, our cheeks touching, almost like he doesn't want the moment to end. I have to put those thoughts quickly out of my mind. I truly can't bear them. I can't imagine the fact that he could still be there. I remember there are more children still there, still in cribs and in beds, still sitting, rocking themselves and waiting. They wait for something they may not comprehend, something they remember they had once and lost or someone that will never come--and my heart breaks again.

So, I look back again over the six months. I see my little tiny boy's favs. I know them. Having that knowledge came at a price for everyone involved. But, we've adjusted. We've learned. We've grown. Our hearts have been filled with more love than we thought possible. Our minds have been broadened to what God can do with and through us and our children. I look at my sweet boy and that's exactly what I see...MY boy, OUR son, a part of us gifted to us through another woman.