E-I-E-I-O

On our first trip to visit Rudy, we brought him a toy barn. It was a soft toy that had animal pictures on it and played "Old MacDonald". In our letter to his foster family, we asked that the barn come with him, when we finally brought him home (never realizing that would be measured in years, not months).



Every time we went to visit, the barn was the one toy that always came with Rudy. And he was so familiar with it, we could tell he played with it a lot. He knew how to push the button to make the music start. He rocked to the music. And as time passed, he started singing it. I guess at least the E-I-E-I-O part of "Old MacDonald" is the same in English and Spanish.

November 2006 in Guatemala.

October 2007 in Guatemala to bring Rudy home.

"Old MacDonald" is still Rudy's favorite song to sing. Every month he seems to sing more and more of the song. At first it was just E-I-E-I-O, then "quack, quack", and today I heard him singing something that sounded like it included "farm".

Mommy, Push

Yesterday after emptying a laundry basket, Rudy proceeded to climb into it and say "Mommy, push".

His room isn't very big but he actually wanted me to push him in to the closet. He loves to go in the closet, say "adios" and shut the doors. So I pushed him in the closet and he shut the door.

His hand got caught a little (he didn't even whine about it). By the way, this picture is just another testament to the slowness of my camera. I pushed the shutter button when he was saying "adios" and closing the door and it didn't take the picture until the very end.

But when he opened the door he gave himself a "beso" where he hurt his hand.

Buggy

We bought this buggy at a yard sale yesterday. Rudy happily rode it home and we put it in the backyard to clean it. After I cleaned it, we all took a walk. Rudy was so excited when he realized we were finally going out that he was just giggling in delight. He hasn't quite gotten the knack of how to move it (it's like the Flintstone's car), so fortunately there is a rope attached so we can pull it.

I promise he was much happier than he looks in the pictures. He holds his pose and smile for about 2 seconds and it seems to take at least 5 for our camera to flash!

Sleeping (again)

I think I've become addicted to taking pictures of Rudy sleeping. And Patti, once he's asleep he's out so I don't worry about waking him (at least not too much). So here are last night's pictures.

Now let me explain about all his friends in the crib. At least the ones you can see - there are probably 4 or 5 more at the foot of his bed! You remember Pooh - from a previous post. Pooh just stays in the crib all the time. He takes up a lot of space but Rudy doesn't seem to mind.

The gato that Rudy is clutching was a gift from Uncle Bill & Aunt Renee for his first birthday. Rudy got it when we were in Guatemala last November and he loved it then. We took it home with us, but brought it along on our other trips and he continues to love having gato around. Gato also stays primarily in the crib and Rudy often falls asleep holding on to him. Here are some pictures of him with gato on our visits.

The last friend - the newest- is the big purple oso (bear). It was a gift to Rudy from his friend Paige. He was so excited to get it and he came home and "introduced " it to one of his other toys by putting them both together on the floor and then holding them together when we read books last night.

An unrelated story - last night we went out to dinner after church with a mix of people - my dad, Paul's grandmother and aunt and cousin, and friends - Karen and her daughter, Paige. Rudy, of course, charmed everyone and managed to get them to all share their food with him. It's pretty impressive when a college senior, home for the weekend and getting a free meal is willing to share it with a two-year old!

So after dinner, Rudy shared Paul's "chee-co-la" (this is a word we think that Rudy was originally trying to say chocolate but has now come to mean any sweets or desserts) and when it was done he was asking for more. Paul told him it was all gone and everyone else was done too. Rudy looked around the table, saw Paul's aunt still had dessert and said "Pat, chee-co-la" and proceeded to walk around the table to her and get the rest of her dessert. What a kid!

Sleeping

The biggest problem Rudy had when he came home had to do with sleeping. He was used to co-sleeping with his foster mother. We quickly determined that wasn't for us when he slapped and hit both of us one night as he flailed around. So for our first few weeks, maybe even month or so, we would hold Rudy until he fell asleep. At night this meant the routine could take up to 2 hours. And we had to be sure he was REALLY asleep before putting him in his crib or he would wake up and we'd start all over again. Nap time was really difficult because I would spend 2 hours trying to get him to sleep and then maybe he would sleep for another 2.
I can't remember how it happened but there came a time when Rudy was more comfortable in his crib. So we started putting him in his crib and staying in the room, reading a book of our own, until he fell asleep. It was still a long process but a little easier on us.

Nap time was still a problem, though. One day he fell asleep in the car so I carried him in and put him in his crib. I started baking and after 30 minutes he woke up. I was right in the middle of baking so I ran upstairs thinking I would just have to rock him a little and he'd fall back asleep. When I got upstairs he was wide awake and raring to go. I tried getting him to sleep but no luck. I needed to get back downstairs to my baking and didn't want him under foot, so I gave him some books to read and told him he needed some more time in his crib. Amazingly, it worked. He was happy to read his books and talk to his animals. Thus began a new nap time routine - putting him in his crib with some books or toys and leaving him for an hour or so - if he slept - fine - if not - fine too. It gave him (and Mommy) some down time.

Recently (within the last month) we decided that if he was okay during the day in his crib alone, he should be able to do the same thing at night. So now, after we read books with him, we let him pick some books of his own to take in his crib. And we say good-night and leave the room. The first few nights we had two or three times to reassure him but after that he's been fine. Some nights it may take 15 minutes for him to fall asleep and others an hour. But it's nicer for us to be downstairs instead of sitting in his room while he falls asleep. And if Iwe could find a way to record his conversations with himself, or his animals, I would post them here because Paul and I sit downstairs some nights and just laugh.

Here is Rudy after he fell asleep last night.

And when he woke up this morning. (The room was dark and the flash was shining in his eyes, I think).

Nap time with Tad. Tad was our savior on all our trips to Guatemala but once we got home, Rudy wasn't as interested in him. The past week he's been playing with him a lot again.

And waking up from his nap. He was actually a little tired - he may have slept too long.

Imagination

It's amazing what a toddler comes up with. Yesterday morning Rudy decided to sit in his toy box. He was very pleased with himself. He also waited while I took the picture and even said "cheese". Which leads to the next set of pictures.....

Last night Rudy was taking pictures of his own. He started out using Poppy's guitar tuner, which I took away, but then discovered the monitor worked just as well. He would hold it up to his eye and say "cheese, Lou" or whatever he was taking a picture of. Rudy was crouching down to take the pictures and pressing the button to turn the monitor on and off as he said "cheese". The monitor even followed us upstairs for bath time where he said "cheese, trash" and "cheese, bubbles".

Hats

Rudy sure likes wearing hats. Here's what he wanted to wear yesterday when he got out of his crib.

And just to review, some other hats he's worn.

He was so excited when we bought this hat he ahd to wear it immediately - with the mittens still attached.

"Bucket head" as we fondly call it, makes an appearance at least once a week.

A baseball cap.

Poppy's baseball cap #1 (in Antigua June 2007).

Poppy's baseball cap #2 (in Guatemala July 2006). It might even be the same cap - he still wears it!

A swim hat.

A party hat for a tired boy (in Guatemala for his first birthday). (Sorry Patti - neither of us look very good in the background. )

Growing Up

Remember this picture? It was the first time Rudy fed himself yogurt.

Here's today, after having yogurt for breakfast.

4 months has made a big difference! (And what happened to all the beautiful curls?)

You Know You're An Adoptive Parent If....

I took this from another blog http://www.prayingthemhome.blogspot.com/ . So many of them are so true.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE AN ADOPTIVE PARENT IF ...

1. The fact that there are 143 million children without a parent to kiss them goodnight has made you lose sleep.
2. You realize DNA has nothing to do with love & family.
3. You can't watch Adoption Stories on TLC without sobbing.
4. The fact that, if 7% of Christians adopted 1 child there would be no orphans in the world, is convicting to you.
5. You spend free time surfing blogs about families who've experienced the blessing of adoption.
6. It drives you crazy when people ask you about adopted child's "real" parents.
7. You've been "pregnant" with your adoptive child longer than it takes an elephant to give birth.(2 years!)
8. You'd no idea how you'd afford to adopt, but stepped out in faith anyway, knowing He'd provide.
9. You've taken an airplane half-way around the world with a child you just met.
10. You believe God's heart's for adoption.
11. You realize that welcoming a child into your heart & family is one of the most important legacies you could ever leave on this earth.
12. You know what the word "Dossier" means & you can actually pronounce it correctly!
13. You've welcomed a social worker into the most private parts of your life.
14. You shudder when people say your child's so lucky that you adopted them, knowing full well you're the blessed one to have him or her in your life.

Tagged

I've been tagged by http://kleclercq.blogspot.com/. Apparently a new friend (I thought I knew all my readers - family & friends so it's cool someone else has discovered us!). It's a blogger/internet game. The rules are to link the person who sent this and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours. Post the rules on your blog. Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and link their blog. Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here are my random facts:

1. I hate vacuuming - it's even worse with a 2 year old helping. Fortunately Paul doesn't mind it!


2. I make fun of my husband for being a little obsessive/compulsive about things but have recently realized the top rack of the dishwasher is my area for obsessive/compulsiveness - small cups have to be in the middle, large at the ends. I will rearrange it if Paul puts them in differently.

3. I check my email obsessively during the day - I sometimes have to turn the computer off just to make myself stop.

4. I hate to be late.

5. I hate to be the center of attention. It makes showers hard. Fortunately I have a wonderful husband who was willing to be a part of our wedding shower and Rudy's shower and friends and family who understand so neither shower was a surprise.

6. I wanted to be a teacher since I was in grade school. Not so much anymore. The testing requirements make me crazy. I may never go back. Although if I could afford to work as an aide, I would do it in a minute - the best of both worlds - working with kids, but not dealing with administrative duties, parents or lesson plans!

7. I have, on my dresser, the panda bear I received for my first Christmas when I was 9 months old. He looks pretty good considering he is 34 years old!


I am tagging these people (I only know of a few blogs and many have already been tagged).

http://lifewithlittlebug.blogspot.com/

http://theadventuresofmaxandlucy.blogspot.com/

http://henrygirls.blogspot.com/ (private blog)

Besos

Rudy loves to give besos - kisses- to his toys, his pets, even to statues of animals at the library. But ask Rudy to give a person a beso- and you get his cheek. No matter how many times we try, as soon as we ask him for a kiss he turns his cheek as in "you may kiss my cheek". Here he is hugging and kissing his gato.

Edited: I thought I had more pictures of him kissing his animals but I can't find them. Probably I tried to take pictures of that but the moments passed before my camera shutter clicked. So here's just one.

No, Gracias

The title sounds like a polite kid, doesn't it? Well, the reality is not quite the same. Here are some examples of when we hear "no, gracias":

Us: Rudy, don't chase the dog around.
Rudy: No. No, gracias.

Us: Rudy, if you aren't nice to the gato, you will go in time out.
Rudy: No. No, gracias.

Us: Rudy, no throwing your toys.
Rudy: Stop. No, gracias.

New Friend

People let me tell you about my best friend.... (An old theme song - I think from The Courtship of Eddie's Father but correct me if I'm wrong).

Rudy just received "grande" Pooh yesterday and this morning he was his new buddy.

OCD?

When Rudy plays with cars or trucks he always lines them up. It seems a bit organized for a two year old.

Is it? Carro?

There it is.

Cheese.

Toddler Speak

I think I'm going to start a new language - the language of toddlers. It is based on the pronunciations and new words they create. Some of Rudy's new words:



eh-fa-fant : elephant (much more fun to say than the original)



peek-a-goo : peek-a-boo



nah-nay : grande ( I find myself using this word now instead of big or grande, and he usually says it with a lot of emotion and draws the word out)



goal : ball (because when we played ball with him in the hotel in Guatemala, whenever the ball would hit the wall, we'd say "Goal")





moo-me : excuse me





crash : couch (Paul was telling him the other day not to crash his car into the couch. Somehow he got crash and couch confused and now refers to the couch as the crash - seems somewhat fitting!)

Once again, the picture has nothing to do with the post. It's from our first visit to Guatemala in July 2006. Rudy was about 7 1/2 months old.

A Fun Day

Just some pictures of the fun Rudy had with his cousin, Max, today.

And my beautiful niece, and Goddaughter, Lucy.