Movie Monday - It's all about...you!

It's all about talking up a storm here these days.  And because of that, some pretty funny things have come out of our son's mouth.  What I've noticed most is that Boo is using "you" instead of "me" in command sentences: "pick you up," "help you please!"  So cute.  I just love listening to him talk and having conversations with him!

Oh, and everything IS all about him!!

Movie Monday - Pororo

A couple months ago, Boo's foster family sent him 4 books to commemorate his Gotcha Day.  One of them is a Pororo book where you can push the buttons to say the Korean words as well as a couple of songs.  Boo is absolutely loving this!!  (Pororo is a Korean cartoon that the kids just love!  Wish we could get it in the States because youtube does not have too many episodes available...and we have watched the ones that are available countless times.)  Here is how I found Boo last week just before taking him up for a nap:

Thank you to his wonderful foster family for continuing to think of him and keep him in your heart!!  

Catch-up Post #2 - Certificate of Citizenship

So where did we leave off?  Oh, right, the beginning of August.  Wow, that was only four weeks ago, but it feels like it's been waaaay longer than that!

After we got back from camping, we finally got our notice in the mail for our appointment to pick up Boo's Certificate of Citizenship in Chicago.  We applied for this back in November, right before Thanksgiving.  To clarify, Boo has been an American citizen since we finalized his adoption at the beginning of November and he got issued his Illinois birth certificate.  But he was still considered a permanent resident by the government until/unless he obtained this Certificate of Citizenship.  This means, if we did not get Boo's certificate and he has his passport stolen while traveling outside of the US, it may be more difficult for him to prove his American citizenship.  Scary, huh??  Because of this, we felt that it was never an option not to get this important piece of paperwork for our son.

So in the middle of August, nine months from our application date, we drove up to Chicago and met a good friend of Chris' for lunch, who took this great picture of our family before proceeding to our appointment:

Once we got to the federal building for the appointment, Chris couldn't come inside with us.  He had automatically put his pocketknife in his pocket that morning like he does every morning, not thinking about the fact that we would have to go through a metal detector and, of course, you can't bring a knife, no matter how small, into a federal building!  So Boo and I went in and, after being directed to the wrong floor along with another family, finally made it to the correct window after about 20 minutes.  We then waited...and waited...and waited.  We probably sat there for about 45 minutes before getting our paperwork.  It really wasn't that bad, but I was expecting about a 10-15 minute wait after hearing about other family's experiences.  We did very briefly get to meet another family I "know" from the online adoption community who was there picking up their daughter's Certificate of Citizenship as well.  In the meantime, poor Chris had been told that he couldn't even wait in the air-conditioned lobby, that he would have to go outside, in the 90 degree weather, to wait for us.  There is no cell phone use in the building either, so we couldn't even let each other know what the other was doing.  Regardless, Boo and I got his paperwork, but no picture in front of the federal and state seals to commemorate the day; he was close to a meltdown and wouldn't stand still for me, so we went out to find Daddy and show him the certificate.  

He looked so handsome (as always!) and sooo grown up!!

What a special day for a special little boy!

Movie Monday - Down South

Some video of our weekend down south with family:

Boo's first tubing experience.  He did okay but was ready to let someone else have a turn pretty quickly!

His first time on a trampoline also.  He got more comfortable with others bouncing on it each time he got on it himself.  So many new experiences!

Catch-up Post #1

Okay, so I'm so far behind on blogging about our summer, that I'm going to break it up into a few shorter blogs - which may not be short by the time I'm done with them!  I will try my best to show you what we've been up to without completely boring you with a whole lot of details.

End of July - we got together with my family at a halfway point between all our homes.  We rented a large cabin where we all had our own rooms and the place itself was awesome!  The kids loved it, although in a couple years, we'll probably need to be at a place closer to children's activities, with all the boys getting older.

Love this picture!

Mommy and Boo

had fun playing pool by rolling the balls while sitting on the table!

reading a Notre Dame book with Grandpa...Go Irish!

picnic time...look at all those smiles!!!

We tried to get a good picture of the boys.  Four of them.  Three and under.  Ha!

"What's the problem, J?" asks E.

almost had it here...

Yikes!  Are we almost done yet??

Story time with grandma...

...attracted another grandson...

...and then another with revolving seating!

Awesome picture of Grandma and Grandpa with their four grandsons!

Beginning of August - Back up to our land to camp; we rented a pontoon boat for a day with friends of ours and had such a great time, even though we had to head back to the rental place early so as not to get stuck in the middle of a downpour!  We actually stopped at a restaurant on the river halfway back to escape the storm and had a great view of the rain from a corner window seat.

buying a life vest for Boo for the pontoon ride.  Of course, he's thrilled because it's got "Cars" on it!!  The picture is fuzzy because he was so excited and wouldn't stay still for a good picture.

Daddy's second-in-command

Our little skipper

Naptime on the pontoon boat.  I've seen pictures of other kids who've fallen asleep on a boat and thought that Boo would never do that; he would be too excited.  Boy, was I wrong!  He fell asleep so quickly once he was wrapped up (the temp started dropping before the storm) and had his binky...wow, what a great kid!

Keeping the four adults entertained during the storm with Mommy's ballcap and Daddy's sunglasses.

A deer feeding her fawn on the road to our place. 

(Obviously, we couldn't get closer for a better picture or else we would have spooked them.  You can tell mom's already alert to our presence: her ears are up and she was starting right at us!)

Dinnertime at camp.  All the fresh air makes for a good appetite for Boo.

Ice cream treat.  And, I'm sorry, but look at all the ice cream in the dish in front of my son...that was what they called a small cone!!  Perfect for me (heehee), but for a two-year-old...no way!  I wanted him to actually sleep sometime in the next few days!!!

Wading in the lake near our land...why do I always think we won't get in the water when we go to the lake???  So, therefore, I never take a swim diaper and the poor kid ends up walking/slogging around in a 15-lb diaper!  And I found out that they get really tight around the legs when they're waterlogged.  Whoops!  Sorry, little guy.

Chris put up a motion-sensitive trail camera facing our campsite to see what kinds of animals wander through.  We got quite a few pictures of deer...

...and he was absolutely ecstatic about capturing this bear in one of the pictures.  We know they are up in the area, but have only seen one once from the safety of the truck as we were driving along a highway less than 5 minutes from camp.  I think Chris would like to see one from the camper.  Me, I'm very content to look at the picture, thank-you-very-much.

So now you're caught up to the beginning of our August.  Whoo-hoo!  I will try to get the next post out after the busy holiday weekend coming up.  Here's hoping the temps are going to drop a little so we can be outside the next three days without falling over from heat exhaustion!  Stay cool.

Movie Monday on Tuesday

I know, I know, I've been slacking off on updating the blog.  But this summer has been so full of traveling, friends, family, and fun that I've had to prioritize and the blog has been down the list a ways.  I am storing everything up though, for the time when I am able to finally sit down, get pictures ready, and write.  And yes, that may be once the weather starts getting bad.  The last month or so, we've finally gotten decent weather where we can be outside for more than 5 minutes without getting drenched in sweat.  Little Boo didn't mind that weather, but Mommy kind of did!  So we've been soaking up the time we can be outside, running around in the sunshine, playing ball, riding bikes, and getting dirty.

But I digress.  You didn't come here to read about why I haven't kept the blog updated the past couple months; you came for the promised movie.  Have at it!

"Chicken"

He calls the middle strap of his life vest his "tail" and handed it to Daddy while we were waiting to watch the sun set at the lake.  Of course, the two of them turned that into play time as well!

Boo loves ice cream!  He was especially liking eating Mommy's "purple ice cream."  (Honestly, I don't know what's up with my eye roll about 4 seconds into the video - ignore it.  Please.)  At 16 seconds, Boo finally caught the eyes of the two young girls who were at a nearby table and you see him sending his "cheese!" smile their way.  What a flirt!

Binky

A few nights ago, we trialed Boo going to sleep without his beloved binky.  Now, I've been reading about it and many people seem to wait until their children are around age 3 to take the pacifier away.  But others have said that they trialed it much sooner (or forgot it when going on a trip) and the child did very well without it.  So we thought, why not give it a shot...

We had had a couple of conversations with him throughout the day about giving his binky to the binky fairy for another little girl or boy to have who needed one.  And maybe a big-boy present would be in its place when he woke up!  He seemed to be okay with this.  So Daddy put Boo down for the night; he asked to be placed in his crib soon after they started rocking, which is not uncommon anymore (we've come a looong way, baby).  Because Boo was just in there talking up a storm, Chris decided to sit next to the crib until he settled down more.  Wellllll, that lasted over an hour!  At that point, I could hear Boo saying (through the monitor) "Uv oo, Dad-dy.  Daddy night-night, floor.  Daddy, legs, floor."  I had no clue what on earth that last one meant, so I went upstairs to see what he was doing.  Come to find out, he was laying face-down in Boo's doorway, trying to inch himself out without being seen - flashback to last summer!!!  I could hardly contain my laughter at seeing my grown husband on the floor, being caught by our 2 year old trying to leave his room!  (He could only see Chris' legs at this point, hence his last comment.)  So we just decided to bite the bullet; we gave him one of his trains and said good night.  And then proceeded to listen to him cry and sob his heart out for the next 10 minutes.   But not for his binky, nooo...he is scary smart: he cried for his daddy.  Who caved.  That little boy got his binky and was asleep within 5 minutes.  Like Chris told me, if he had been crying for Mommy, I probably would have been up those stairs just as quickly.  He was starting to sound a little panicky by the time Chris got to his room with the binky.

At least we tried.  And we'll try again at some point.  But this round goes to the binky.

Parents: 0  Binky: 1