You're 3!

Dear Son,

Wow!  You're turning 3 today.  I can hardly believe it.  It seems like just last week that we held you for the first time, last weekend that you started walking, and yesterday that you were starting to call us mama and daddy.  And now, now you're turning 3.  Three seems like so much more than two.  You are still a little boy, but we now have conversations about things ranging from trains to the alphabet to Santa Claus.  There is so much more you are able to do now that you couldn't do a year ago, six months ago, even three months ago.  (Although you are now most definitely asserting your independence and telling me "I don't want to!" when we both know you are perfectly capable of doing whatever it is.)  We have learned so much about you in the almost two years that you have been home.

You love trains and trucks and race cars.  You love being outside, jumping, playing t-ball, kicking the soccer ball, riding your tricycle and "popping weew-wies!"  You love blowing bubbles, blowing out candles, and helping me bake.  You like feeding the dogs, kenneling them up when we leave the house, and opening their kennels when we get home.  (Not to gross your grown-up self out, but you'd even love to help me pick up their poo, if I'd let you!)  You love visiting Daddy at work and helping him eat whatever snack he always has sitting on his desk.  You like grocery shopping so that you can push the "wittle" cart.  You love to sing, especially into a microphone.  And you know what you want for your birthday?  A penguin. Yeah, I'm supposed to do that how??  You don't like stuffed animals, you kick your covers off at night, and don't like tomatoes (just like your daddy).  You love mushrooms, baby carrots, and pineapple (not all at once though!).  You are a fairly picky eater and are determined not to potty-train quite yet..."maybe Thursday" is what you tell us.  :)  You love being in the camper, but do not like going to sleep by yourself when we're camping.  You don't like it when I call you "my moopsie-poopsie" unless you tell me that that's who you are!  You do not like being told "no!" and tend to start crying when we do say it.  You have the most infectious grin and giggle and my heart melts every time I see and hear them.  You are my sunshine.

You humble me with your resiliency to get through life's rough patches and just pick yourself up and go on.  Most people may think, "oh, he was so young when you got him.  He probably doesn't even remember his birth mother, foster mother, birth country, etc."  I absolutely do not believe that, my Son.  I know you probably grieved for your birth mother when you were born and I know you grieved in your way for your foster mother when we left Korea.  At 13 1/2 months, you were definitely aware enough to know that you did not know me or your daddy.  But we were your "safe people," your constants in life, at a time when everything else around you was in upheaval.  We have watched the video of your foster mommy giving you a message on your Gotcha Day recently, and your daddy has remarked how you will just stop and stare at her, even saying "That's my foster mommy."  Is it the language that catches your attention?  Or do you remember her and her voice, that wonderful woman who loved and nurtured you the first year of your life?  We will always be so very thankful to her for the role she had as your foster mommy.  Oh, how my heart aches for you, what you went through then, and what you may go through in the future as you come to understand how you came to be a perfect part of our family.  But just remember, sweetie-pie, we are a family and we'll always be here for you and love you fiercely.  Unconditionally.  No matter what.  Remember that.

On the days leading up to your birthday, which is a joyous occasion, I also stop to think about another woman who is probably thinking about you at this time as well.  The woman who carried you under her heart for eight months and who gave birth to you on this day three years ago.  A woman with the strength and courage to choose adoption for you because she wanted you to have a life that she could not provide for you.  I pray that she knows in her heart the love you have found with us.  I hope she knows that we do not take anything with you for granted, because everything we have experienced with you has been a gift we yearned for for a long time.

I love you, forever and ever and always...my moopsie-poopsie!!

Happy sweet 3rd birthday!

Love,
Mama