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

Movie Monday - Pose-down!

Showing off his muscles!

Random photos

Loved playing with B'loonies.

He was in awe that you could actually hold them and they didn't pop!

Our friends came home from Washington DC to visit and we were fortunate enough to have a playdate almost all day long for one of the days.  When they moved, the boys were the same height, but you can see here that their J shot up in the 9 months they've been gone!!

Playing soccer outside with Mommy.

Looks like a big boy in this pose!

Trying on Mommy's earphones.

The parking lot in our front yard.  I think he was fixing the bell on his train in this picture.

Funny story: I had just finished up washing one of the dogs and chased her down to dry her off.  When I looked up, I saw Boo out in the grass holding the nozzle on the hose and in slow motion turning it around to point at himself.  I had just started saying, "Don't squeeze it!", but before I could get more than the word "don't" out, he had done it.  Totally squirted himself in the face/side of the head with a cold stream of water!   It took him a few seconds to realize that he did. not. like that and then promptly broke out in screaming/sobs with his head thrown back while holding his arms out to me.  Of course, I went over to him and he burrowed in my arms.  Meanwhile, another Mommy of the Year moment, I am laughing so hard while he's crying hysterically, the neighbors probably didn't know what to think!  I felt awful laughing at him, but could not stop myself, his expression had been priceless!  I finally took him inside and showed him what he looked like in the mirror, but I think what stopped the tears and brought on the giggles was the huge wet spot that he had made on my shirt!!  So one of two things could come from this: he's either going to be more cautious about holding the hose, or he's going to start aiming it at something (or someone) else!

We had dinner at a friend's house and met the son of a friend of theirs a few weeks ago who was also adopted from Korea, I think just a few months before we got Boo.  Boo and their son, E, had a great time playing together and pretty much chasing each other around the yard and in the house.  The other two couples are #1 and #2 on the waiting list for a referral, which we are hoping will come any day...the sooner, the better.

The boys were loving to chase each other around in circles in the house.  We had to hold the dog back because he wanted to get in on it too!!  You can hear him in the background, very excited to watch the kid's play.

Just love how E stopped and seemed to bow at the camera.  Hilarious and oh, so cute!

Racing and Fish

A few weeks ago, I got up the nerve to sign up for a 5K run here in town, sponsored by Chris' work.  I've been running off and on for the past few months and thought, what the heck, and took the plunge.  It gave me an incentive to keep pushing myself when I ran.  Mind you, though, I haven't run 3.1 miles all at once for, oh, over 16 years!!  So my hope was to 1. finish and 2. as long as I was finishing, try to make it under 35 minutes.  (Well, in my head, I really wanted to do it in under 30 minutes, but thought there would be no. way. that was going to happen!) So, in true cross-country training (yes, I use that word loosely here, ha) fashion, I carb-loaded the night before.  We got to the race start area 20 minutes prior to start time and I was a bundle of nerves, starting to second-guess what the heck I was doing to myself after such a long hiatus from running races.  But I sucked it up, got in line with my two favorite guys cheering me on from the sidelines, and ran.  And ran.  And ran.  Thank God for my iPod because my songs really gave me a good boost and kept my pace up.  I actually did a lot better than I thought I would, finishing in just under 29 minutes!!  Yep, people, 2-9!  Though according to the "official" race time, I finished at 29:01, but that's absolutely not true and I'll show you in pictures later in the post.  I was even able to push a little faster at the end, almost passing a young boy, but when he noticed me next to him, he sprinted to the finish line and there was no way I was going to embarrass myself by trying to elbow out a kid at the finish!  And he came in 3rd place for his age division...yeah, him!  I was no where close to being at the top of my age division, but again, my goal was to finish.  Which I did.  But I couldn't have done it without my fan club of two:

pre-race

You can see Boo right through the finish line cheering for me and Chris is standing just behind him.  And there's my head, between the guy in the gray shirt and the kid in dark blue.

Notice the time here.  There is no. way. it took me 3 more seconds to cross the finish line!  Plus, I was a little farther back at the start, so didn't really "start" the race when the gun went off.  That's why I'm sticking with what my watch said at 28:56!!

After the race and snacks/hot chocolate that they gave us, we went over to the Expo for Chris' work which was part of the weekend events.  Boo got to see and touch some fish that Daddy helped collect from streams two days before.  He wasn't too sure at first, but after a while, really got excited about them.

"Uh, I'm not so sure about this..."

"I guess touching it with one finger won't be too bad."

"And this dead one won't hurt me."

"Aaaah, here's a little baby one!"

Head-first into the tub filled with the big, dead fish!

He wanted to touch a big one that wasn't moving.  :)

All in all, a good weekend.

Just one request from you, readers: what songs motivate you and keep you running??

Movie Monday - Christmas in April

*note: this was supposed to be published yesterday - Monday - but blogger wouldn't upload the video, so it's coming at ya today*

Boo has found two songs recently that he loves to sing.

And this Mama loves to hear him sing.

Anything.

But Christmas songs are close to my heart because it is my very favorite holiday.

And not just because my birthday is the day before.  :)

Yes, this was heard through the monitor when he was supposed to be taking a nap.

He was singing it over and over and over...

He has also been singing a few more songs that I sing to him frequently:

"You Are My Sunshine"

"My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean"

"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

and a little bit of "Hickory Dickory Dock" to name a few.

I wish he would sing even more because I enjoy listening to his little voice sweetly singing the words, but whenever I ask him to sing something specific, he decides that he doesn't want to sing "right now."

Little stinker.

Big Boy Bed

I fell asleep on Boo's floor yesterday for naptime, thinking seeing me with my eyes closed would get him to go to sleep as well.

Ha!

I was the only one who took a nap yesterday, although it was pretty nice to have one.

When I woke up and peeked an eye open to see what he was doing, I saw a certain little someone staring at me while pretty much balancing himself on the top rail of the crib!  Of course, I immediately told him to get down before he fell.  I told him I'd be right back and rushed downstairs for the camera, after which I asked him to try to climb out of his crib so I could take pictures.  Yeah, mama of the year award, right here!!  Don't worry, I didn't let him go too far.

"really, you want me to do what?"

"okay, I go like this with that foot..."

"...and then grab here with my hands..."

a little more pull and he'd be over!

Okay, you can stop. Now.

So Chris and I decided that this weekend, we would convert his crib to a toddler bed.  Nothing wrong with trying to keep him in the crib as long as we could; he wasn't complaining about it and, as far as we knew, he wasn't trying to climb out of it...at least, successfully.  During his bath, we switched out the bed rails, then got him in his pj's and let him loose.

I think he's diggin' it.

So far, no problems, although I think he was pretty exhausted by the time he went to bed, so tonight's ease could be deceiving.  Who knows where we'll find him in the morning!!

My baby's not a baby any more.

Wordless Wednesday - Yeah, I'm Cool!