Another week gone already?

I can't believe how time is flying by, and that January is already almost gone.  The days and weeks home with Ben are passing by with a blink of the eye. This past week we skipped our first Gymboree class as to not pass on our cold, but by Friday we were indeed healthy for the "baby shower" at Tom's office.

It was really fun to celebrate Ben with this type of celebration, as all our baby showers were several years ago.  They had a really neat little party for us, with a DELICIOUS homemade cake decorated with a snake for "the year of the snake" and some great decorations including "Benjamin" confetti!  Of course, I remembered Ben but forgot the camera... but, it was really nice to meet so many wonderful people.  Tom has a pretty sweet work environment!

In addition to some fun bath toys we received a generous giftcard to Target. This was so perfect because in the past few weeks we have seen Ben quickly grow out of most of the toys we have for him.  At the Children's museum last week he fell in love with a play kitchen, so we ordered one for him yesterday from Target, as well as play food and a small children's table and chairs.

Ben also surprised us by expressing his desire for a future career in Cirque Du Soleil when I caught him doing this with a Christmas gift from his Babcia and Dziadzia (Tom's parents):

Last week we also took a trip to Buy Buy Baby to buy a shower gift for a friend as well as pick up new bottles for Ben.  In China, we tried to transition Ben to the bottles we brought, but he was having none of it.  The nipples of the two bottles were very different.  By the time we got to Guangzhou, we were operating only on the the bottle Ben's orphanage gave us, so when we saw a similar bottle at a local store, we bought it.  We have been operating on those two bottle ever since.  Well, even though we have to be off bottle by surgery time, I couldn't take another day of using Ben's very old special bottle that I am pretty sure was leaching out some type of plastic toxins-the shine was completely gone from the plastic and the numbers and pictures on the side were rubbing off with each wash. Unfortunately, I  am pretty sure we left our bottles in Zhengzhou by mistake, because when I was packing for our trip home, there were no bottles to be found.  So this week, we bought two more, and hilariously  Ben switched over to the new bottles without incident! I have packed away his sweet bottle from the orphanage, there was no way I could just throw that away. I know you are thinking, "Isn't 15 months old too old for a bottle anyway?" But in adoption world, feeding baby-style, like rocking in a rocker making eye contact while giving your toddler a bottle, is an awesome way to build attachment with your little person, as you focus on making all that important eye contact and deep gazing during this quiet time.  Ben LOVES his bottle time.

Old and New

On Saturday we had our family photos taken at Lincoln Park Conservatory by Holly Daly. http://hollydalyphotos.wordpress.com/ It was great to give business to a another mom, and it turned out that Holly was a social worker and worked for an adoption agency in the recent past.  Needless to say, we had plenty to talk about.  Pictures to come in about a week.  Ben was more interested in walking, walking, walking than posing, so whatever she got, I'll take!!

Today (Sunday) we discovered a package that came for Ben the evening prior from Grandma and Papa (my parents)- Ben was very excited!!!  My mom has been saying that Ben does not have enough toys, which I disagreed with at first, until every toy became more of a baby toy and he started spending more time with anything EXCEPT his toys:

Look at this!

Cookware for the future kitchen!!

He loves things with lids!!

Then he saw the dog!

Hitting his tea cups together in excitement when he sees the dog move, then he pulls it himself.

Lastly, I spent the time during Ben's naps this week working on this little "video" of Ben's adoption.  Watching the videos of our first days with Ben, I just can't believe how much he has changed in one short month and a few weeks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_xdLjYnLJ8&feature=youtu.be

 Our plans for this week include our gymboree class, homemade edible fingerpaint, making something similar to this: http://handsonaswegrow.com/toddler-activity-pipe-cleaner-sprinkles/, and who knows what else?

In the development area, Ben's fine motor skills continue to impress me (today he stacked 5 blocks on top of each other with out knocking them over!).  He is walking well, and also loving to "crawl" around like this on his feet and hands, which he finds HILARIOUS!

His large motor seems to be on track as well.  His speech is interesting, he definitely calls for me as "Mama" now, often repeatedly if I am out of the room. I am listening more carefully to his "babbles" because I find often he trying very hard to repeat exactly what I say, and is saying "dada", "yes", "milk", "bottle", "vacuum", "dog", "grr", "moo", "meew" and so much more. I am not focusing on correcting his language until after his palate surgery, as I don't want him to try to make too many sounds by compensating for his open palate.  As far as understanding what WE say, he blows my mind.  I am realizing he understands about 95% of what we say to him. In just ONE month, he has essentially picked up comprehension of an entire language. It is unbelievable.  A few months post surgery, we will sign up for an assessment from Early Intervention just to make sure we are on track with speech.

And best of all, we get these sweet smiles all day long!