Special Moments

I feel like this was probably the best week so far with the kids. I am not sure why things seemed so much more fun, more exciting, and more relaxed, but they did. We had lots of special moments together as a family.

Michael, like I've said before, is learning new words everyday. I am not kidding about this. He seriously says at least 2 new words each day. And he is starting to put more and more words together, forming actual sentences. Today he said something at lunch today that totally blew my mind that he would know this 2-word phrase. But, I didn't write it down and now I can't remember what it was! But, it was great whatever it was. He has almost completely stopped talking in Amharic with the exception of a hand-full of words. He used to talk and tell us stories in Amharic every day. Now he babbles and tells us stories in his broken English. I can't get over how cute it is when he stops for a moment to come up with a word or a way to describe the word he wants to say. It's priceless. Speaking of priceless - his mad dance skills are absolutely priceless. I could seriously watch the boy dance all day. I have never seen a cuter dance in my life. If you are ever with us, ask him to dance for you. Adorable.

Michael's latest excitement was our trip to the eye doctor. The doctor we saw at the U recommended that both of the kids have full eye and ear evaluations. The chances of a child that is adopted internationally having problems with their eyes and/or ears is quite high compared to kids born in the US. So, we took Michael to our local eye doctor and had his eyes looked at. We didn't have any concerns about his vision so we expected a clean report. Well apparently the statistic about internationally adopted kids having more issues with their eyes and ears is correct. Michael has a congenital cataract. This means he was born with the cataract on his eye. It is on his right eye just about his line of sight. The doctor let me look through the tool they use to look into eyes to see what it looked like. It was very cool. Of course, I asked every and any question I could think of so I would be prepared to explain this one to Matt. I think that is why he let me look through his tool. Anyway, the doctor said that he wouldn't recommend surgery because if Michael did have surgery, he would have to wear glasses for the rest of his life after surgery and right now he has perfect vision. Since it is above his line of sight, it shouldn't affect him seeing anything. The eye doctor will monitor each year to make sure it stays that way.

Liliana is growing like crazy. She is already fitting into many of her 12 month outfits. After 1 month home she had already gained 2 pounds (Michael gained 3 - he is now 35 pounds), putting her at 20 pounds and able to sit facing forward in the car. We have not turned her around yet as we still need to purchase car seats for her. She also said her first and second words this week. When we were in Ethiopia she said 'Hi' and 'Bye' in English a couple times. Since we've been home we haven't heard her say them again. Earlier this week she said 'ou' (this is the phonetic spelling as Amharic has a different alphabet) which in Amharic means yes. It was super cute until I would tell her to not do something and she would look me square in the eyes and say, 'ou.' Little turkey! Today the kids had hot dogs for lunch - a favorite of both Michael and Liliana. She ate her entire hot dog and I said to her, "Liliana, do you want another hot dog?" And as clear as day she said, "hot dah?" I about died. Seriously child? You say 'hot dog' before 'Mama'! Shows what she loves. :) She said it many times after that and I even got her to say it for Daddy over the phone. Although by that time she was say, 'Hot dah dah.'

I know there were lots of other special moments this week with the kids, but of course as I sit here I can't remember. I am just grateful that I enjoyed them at the time. I seriously have never been so scatter-brained in my life. These kids are making me loose my mind. But, it's totally worth it to have them home. They are truly a blessing from God and I am amazed each day at how perfect they are for us. It makes all the heartache of our infertility struggles that seem to be never ending totally and completely worth it.


And, as promised, here is a picture of Liliana in her new glasses. (Better late than never, right?) Even though they are at their smallest setting, they are still too big for her. When the fit perfectly behind her ears, they fall down to the very bottom of her nose... and then we call her our little grandma (no offense to our grandmas out there. :)