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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Ladies & Gentlemen, we have a walker!

Sammy has been taking a few steps here and there since about two weeks ago. He’s taken several steps in Rittenhouse Square (which I didn’t witness) and more at home. Well, he really got brave on Memorial Day evening and walked from the coffee table to the other side of the living room. Granted, the living room is not gigantic, but he did it! And then he walked some more, and chased after Mr. Smith cat. I couldn’t believe it! But of course, there is video footage of some of the walking. We were too stunned to get a lot of it videoed.


When we picked him up from school/day care the next day, his teacher said he’d been walking all day!He walked while we were there and again at home. It was so exciting I had to call my mom and my sister Jackie. We all predicted he would probably start walking by the end of the month based on his previous attempts.

Today I had lunch with a few former co-workers and took Sammy along. At lunch he ate about a quarter of my spinach & mushroom quiche. The quiche was pretty small but that was a lot of food for him. I fed him from my plate, with my fork, which he seemed to enjoy. Sweet potato puffs and cheddar bunnies rounded out his meal.
I walked them back to the office building where there is a beautiful fountain in the plaza. I set Sammy free from his stroller and he had a great time crawling (fastest mode of transportation) and walking. There are three shallow steps that lead to the fountain and the sitting area which surrounds it. He tried going down the steps alone but needed my help to keep him steady. Then he walked all around the fountain, stoping to both marvel at and figure out a way to get to the water. He was adorable! Alas, I don’t have pictures because I was too busy following behind him

Once we got home and cooled off I changed his diaper and fed him yogurt. I tell him yum when he eats and he’s trying to repeat it. After yogurt there was crawling, walking, and general mayhem. He treats every toy like a ball, throwing it down, expecting it to bounce. Then he wanted to eat share my banana. Instead of breaking off a piece as I normally would, I let him bite it. It’s amazing the progress he’s making in eating table foods. Last week I cut a banana into small pieces for him and all he did was play with them. Today he’s taking bites directly from the banana and begging for more.

So far, age one is pretty good. I feel as if a light bulb has gone off in his head and he’s suddenly able to do a host of new things that he wouldn’t/couldn’t do before, like leaning in for me to kiss him when I ask for a kiss. It’s like wow! What’s he going to do next?

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Teaching Moment - Dishwasher Installation

Thursday I had a new dishwasher installed. The two installer guys were in their late 40s to mid 50s, and nice enough. I sat in the dining room with Sammy so that he could watch the installation and I was chatting with the guys as they worked. Both of them had kids so they would talk to Sammy, trying to get him to smile. Tall guy commented on Sammy's hands and said that they were big and that Sammy would probably be a big guy. Then he asked if Sammy's dad was big, to which I replied, he's adopted and his birth dad is pretty tall. Both said I did a great thing and tall guy said his sister had adopted children. Taller guy said that he thought people who gave their babies up for adoption were cowards and that they wanted the fun without the responsibility. I countered that it's very tough for parents to place their children for adoption and that most would keep their children with them if they could. I shared that Sammy's parents were already parenting two children and that they knew they couldn't give a third child all that he needed at this time. I also said that it's better for parents to place their children for adoption if they know they aren't equipped to take care of them. Taller guy then sort of backpedaled and said something like, oh, i guess it (adoption) isn't what I thought now that I know. After that he asked about the process, how long, paperwork etc. So in the end, the conversation ended on a positive note and he is now a little more educated about adoption. This was my first adoption "teaching" moment outside of my family. And I jumped in because I felt protective of Sammy's first parents and of adoption in general.