Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Five Months as A Family

This week we hit some pretty big milestones in terms of our relationship with Davis. This Thursday (Wesley's birthday) marks one year since we sent in our Letter of Intent for Davis and this past Monday marked five months that we have spent together as a family.

We actually had our six month post placement visit with our social worker Debra Hewitt last week. Our adoption agency Lifeline encouraged us to arrange that way because of the whole holiday season. We won't need to see Debra again until next June. In terms of the legal stuff, we received Davis' Social Security card in the mail and are still working on getting all of the paperwork together for the lawyer for the readoption - it's a little more involved than we thought.

Davis' gross motor skills are really doing great. He walks backwards down the hallway and makes the "beep-beep" back up alarm sound when he does it. He's climbing more on furniture and other things - and he always wants to jump, whether it be off a curb, or from a picnic table. He can also sit down "criss-cross, applesauce" when you tell him. Davis' fine motor skills are coming along as well; he works hard at Carousel on writing with pens, pencils, crayons, or anything else he can get his hands on.

He's had a language explosion in the last month. Instead of coming to us and saying "hungry" he asks specifically for cereal for breakfast or tells us "change diaper" when he's dirty. He calls me "mama" and recently has started calling me "mommy" but he won't call Daryl "daddy," only "baba." He loves looking at pictures and can pick out different places like church and the beach, identifies articles of clothing like jacket, and tells me that I'm pretty when I get all dressed up.  He's still working on singing the ABC song and he is learning the Clean Up song as well. Davis is also affectionately known as the "manners police" in our house. If anyone forgets to say "thank you" or "you're welcome" he will stand there and remind you until you do it right. He also likes to express his opinions about things; things he wears, things he eats and more. The child adores Mickey Mouse, or "Mick Mau" as it often gets pronounced. The last three or four baseball games of the season Davis started throwing fits when we turned into the ballpark. He knew it would be two more hours before we could go and eat dinner and he didn't want to wait.

Davis continues to be very affectionate with our family. He loves to be held and snuggle. He has a new bedtime routine that involves making a fish lip face and getting at least four or five kisses before you leave the room! He has a very sweet spirit and loves to laugh and giggle. He also loves to be a helper - he started helping me unload the dishwasher last week without me even asking.

Perhaps his best new skill is recognizing himself in pictures. He's always been able to point out famil members, but seemed stumped when it came to himself. The day our social worker was here it clicked for Davis and now anytime he sees a picture of himself he points to the picture and then points to himself with a big smile and yells "That's me!" It was a riot to listen to him shout that out last weekend at Druid Hills during the Thankful video (at Friday's Thanksgiving dinner) and during the This is Your Life video (at Sunday's birthday party for Daryl).

He gets into everything these days and you have to keep a very close watch on him at home and out in public. It doesn't take him long to get into something that he shouldn't be doing as he continues to learn boundaries. He gives you a very mischievious smile when he gets caught. While it requires more vigilance on our part, the best part of that is it means = drumroll please = he is acting like a normal, happy, well-adjusted, three year-old boy.

We'll leave you with a couple of pictures from over the weekend. Here Davis is banging on the piano at Druid Hills with his brothers and friends during the Thanksgiving Dinner. And then there is a picture of him helping put the tables away after dinner.




No comments:

 
BLOG DESIGN BY DESIGNER BLOGS