A Few Pictures

All is well here. Three weeks left in the winter term ... not that we're counting! Things should settle down a bit after that. In the meantime, I thought I'd post a few pictures of the boys.

Keeping up ...

How can it possibly be 15 days since we last posted? It's a good thing our travelmates are so good at keeping up with their blogs; otherwise, there would be little hope for us in keeping up with this one. Social comparison is a powerful motivator!

All is well here. We took the boys to the Indianapolis children's museum which has a very cool new Lego exhibit complete with nifty dress-up gear. Owen was in heaven! He donned his sword and (pink!) shield to protect his kingdom, especially from (little-brother-sized) green dragons. After the duel, Alex decompressed with a little tea party care of the three bears.

We also got out to do a little bit of hiking in the near 80 degree weather last week. I will be so very happy when spring is here to stay.



Alex's language is really starting to take off. He can now say and/or sign up, down, banana, mama, dada, ge ge (mandarin for big brother), shoes, kitty, turtle, cheers!, bye bye, hat, ball, milk, juice, and night night. He still LOVES to eat (grilled cheese and tomato soup is YUMMY!)



and continues to be a pretty easy baby, though he does get a bit hyper when he's tired. :)

Muffins and Angel Hair

Alex and Ellen have been spending their mornings baking delicious treats lately.

Stirring is great fun.

Waiting is hard.

But,oh, so worth it.

And Owen has been quite the raconteur at dinner. Here's the tail end of an impromptu rendition of "Aiken Drum" (note Owen's name spelled in angel hair pasta on the table).

Time is flying ...

This semester has been flying by for us. I suppose that's a good thing, but, because we're still counting Alex's age in months, it seems like he's growing up incredibly fast. I wouldn't mind for time to stand just a bit more still. Barring that, we're doing our best to enjoy

sink play ...



drawing ...



cooking ....



matchbox ...



and hanging out with big brother Owen ...



who is becoming quite the Lego engineer ...

Happy Valentines Day!

In the spirit of the holiday, the siblings are getting along much better these days ...

Interesting encounters

One of the things we were worried about as we considered adopting a child with a limb difference was how other people might react. I'm happy to say that almost all of our contacts have been very positive. Alex is such a cute little boy and we've had lots of people come up and say that. But we have had a few different encounters that I thought I'd share. My favorite occurred when Ellen took Owen and Alex to a local restaurant where we knew several of the cooks casually. One of the cooks smiled and waved at Alex, who was wearing a one-piece winter suit that's a bit baggy. I guess she thought his right hand had come out of his sleeve or something because she kept saying "Where's your other hand? Let me see your other hand." Ellen smiled and waited for her to move on to some other question, but the cook persisted in wanting to see Alex's right arm. Finally Ellen said, "Actually...he doesn't have one." The poor woman's face turned bright red and she said "Oh my God!" and ran away. The other interesting reactions are all with young children. Today a little boy saw Alex and said "That kid's arm is cut off!!" Fortunately we were able to put his mind at ease by telling him that Alex was just born without an arm. At a birthday party this weekend, another little boy was not so easily assuaged. He wanted to know that the arm would grow in later, wouldn't it?

Honestly, we hardly notice Alex's limb difference anymore. It's just a part of who he is, as if he wore glasses or had a special shoe or something. I'm sure there will be challenges we'll face as he gets older, but so far, he's an amazingly easy kid with a wonderful temperament and we feel so lucky to have him as part of our family.

We've recovered!

We've all recovered from the gastrointestinal nastiness and are re-settling into our routine. The boys are typically up by 6:00 or 6:30am (earlier on the weekends, which I don't understand ....). Owen goes to preschool from 8am to 12noon. Bill goes to work from 8am to 11:30am while I watch Alex. I work from 11:30am to 3pm while Bill watches the boys. And Bill is back at work from 3pm to 5pm while I watch the boys. The boys are asleep by 7:30pm and we work madly until we fall asleep. It's a bit hectic, but I've come to terms with teaching with food in my hair and we figure it's only for one semester. By fall, Alex (and his mom and dad) should be ready for half-day daycare and Owen may be ready for some full days.

This week's big headeache ... I mean excitement ... has been an ice storm and snow! I'm not sure if Alex has played in snow before, but he seemed at least mildly amused.



And big brother Owen has been thoroughly enjoying it.



We lost power for a few hours one morning. Bill made oatmeal on the camp stove in the garage and we ate breakfast via candle light. Owen was a pro at this given that we lost power for nearly a week in the fall after a windstorm. Alex seemed to think we should just turn the lights back on already.



Alex survived his first hair cut (though mom forgot the camera). He finds hanging out around (or, better yet, in) the fridge a favorite pasttime



and continues, happily, to devour everything in his path.