R is for...

R is for Recuperating!

Wow, this cold has hit all three of us and is Really dragging on. In an effort to be Responsible, we cancelled our activities for two weeks – two whole weeks cooped up in the house! Our Recovery has involved a lot of movie watching and Reading and Resting. In addition, I set up an art corner for Mateo with supplies that he can use whenever he wants to without asking permission – he is a big boy now, you know.

We’ve started feeling better and venturing out again, which will lead us to the letter ‘S’…next week!

Q is for...

Q is for Questions…

Mateo, on the loss of his voice:
Will the ibuprofen go down, down, down? (running his finger from his throat to his belly)
Will it find my voice?
Will it bring it up here? (running his finger from his belly back up to his throat)

Mateo, on the color of his eyes:
If I have dark eyes, does that mean I can’t see?

Mateo, on adoption:
Why did you take so long to come and get me?

These have all been recent questions, the last of which came up for the first time in December just as Kevin and I were getting ready to go to a holiday party, and again earlier this month. February holds a lot of celebratory moments for us: the day we finally held Mateo, Mateo’s homecoming, remembering Kevin’s Grandma – all that in addition to Valentine’s Day and, let's not forget, President’s Day. So we talk about these moments as a family and look at old pictures and videos and when he says things like: “If I get little again I don’t want to go back to live with my foster mommy” and “Why didn’t you get me right away?” it just breaks my heart. I go right back to that time of waiting for him and wanting him with us so badly, and being angry at that “someone” for delaying the process. I go right back to that time of meeting him in the hotel lobby, taking what felt like my first real breath in months at the relief of finally, finally holding him in my arms. But, my knowing that we are a forever family doesn’t equate to his knowing that we are a forever family. So we will keep loving each other and hugging each other and sharing stories and special moments. And one day he will know, as much as I do, that we are and will be a family forever.

P is for...

P is for PreK orientation and Pizza celebration! Mateo registered for PreK this week and, initial separation anxiety aside, he had a lot of fun. We’re all very excited for him to start this fall!

N is for..., O is for...

N is for Nature! We’ve been checking out some of our local nature programs – the two last week focused on winter (circle snowman craft, a story about tracks in the snow, looking for tracks in the snow, and outdoor play time) and wolves. Too bad it wasn’t ‘W’ week! The wolf program involved a slide show in a theater along with a talk about how wolves are not big and bad as they are often portrayed in fairy tales. Both programs were outstanding.

O is for Owls! We met Aztec at the state park this morning – she is not from these parts. She’s actually a tropical owl who was introduced to people at an early age and, as such, is unable to be released back into the wild. She was part of a zoo bird show until she decided she didn’t like to be handled by so many people, and has spent the past 17 years living with Park Ranger Barb.

Winter Wonderland

Today is one of those rare days when we had nothing on the calendar and opted to just stay home.
Baking bread, playing outside, catching up on laundry. Sometimes these days are the very best. An added bonus: it’s gorgeous out there – bearable temps, and crispy white frost clinging to the trees.

Faux Days

We’ve been playing with faux snow! Yesterday it was white sand in a cake pan with Matchbox bulldozers (snowplows) and today it was shaving cream painting on cookie sheets. Mateo enjoyed both, but keeps going back to the snowplowing. Today he added a dump truck to the mix after witnessing a real snowplow dumping loads of snow into a dump truck. So cool to see real life situations translate into play activities.

Apparently Mateo was also playing with faux fire this afternoon, as he pulled a fire alarm at a nearby arts center. Zoinks. It really scared him – fingers are crossed that he was scared enough to not try that again. Ever. There was a tai chi class in progress at the time – it probably scared them a little bit, too.

Winter Break!

We are spending a week (maybe two) learning about winter and taking part in some fun local offerings. We kicked the festivities off today with a visit to a beautiful library in a neighboring town that was hosting a ‘Winter Learning Through Play’ event for children ages 1-4. There were a variety of stations for the kids to explore: rice bins for sensory play and scooping; duplo blocks for building; shaving cream painting; educational toys; build-a-snowman felt board; and an igloo made of milk jugs. Ooh, we mustn’t forget the snowflake café serving snowman soup, snowflake pie, sugary snowflakes and donut snowballs. We left all sugared up and satisfied.