(Maureen's Post)
One year ago today, Sean and I nervously went through our court proceedings, silently praying that the judge would allow James to come into our family. I remember her asking A LOT of questions, wanting to make sure that James would be well taken care of. I remember Sean reciting his well-rehearsed speech, pausing every so often so that Inna, our interpreter, could translate. I remember us frantically digging through our dossier during the proceedings, trying to find a missing document while Judge Roza simultaneously asked more questions and took a phone call in the middle of court. I remember the huge sense of relief I felt once she granted us the adoption of James and realizing that our lives were about to change forever. I remember going to the Children's Hospital that night with our gifts for the doctors and the caretakers. I remember sitting in Dr. Victoria's office and giving James his last bottle in the hospital. I remember his curious eyes looking around as we took him out of the hospital and loaded up into Oleg's minivan. I remember finally getting into our apartment with James and us looking at each other as if to say, "now what?" And although it took an hour and a half, I still remember finally getting James to go to sleep and kissing his sweet little head. Every day Sean and I look at James and give prayers of thanksgiving for the blessing that he is in our lives.
Tonight we celebrated the one-year anniversary of James officially becoming part of our family by having dinner with both sets of grandparents plus James' godparents. Sean and I went out on a limb and attempted to make a few dishes that we ate while we were in Kazakhstan, including borscht (beet and beef soup), plov (rice pilaf-type dish), and shashlyk (pork kabobs, reminscent of the Rainbow Cafe in Kokshetau). Turned out pretty good if we say so, ourselves (thanks to Marc for sharing his recipes)! We were going to make chuk-chuk (fried dough with honey syrup) as a dessert but decided that may be more messy (especially if James is involved with the preparation), so we'll save that for a weekend sometime. Instead, we had a chocolate torte for dessert. Sean and some of the guys also drank Baltika, which is a Russian beer that he tried while we were in Kazakhstan (Bob - you might remember this one as the "Fajita" beer; unfortunately we couldn't get the Number 3, which is the Baltika Classic). Even though it's a Russian beer, there is a brewery in Kazakhstan. We also gave James a little gift from Kazakhstan - a small, felt Kazakh boy doll. We would like to celebrate this day in our family as a tradition every year, and as James grows older it will be up to him to decide how he would like to do so.
Well, we are now parents to a 19-month old toddler. I just can't believe it - where has the time gone? Before we had James and I would hear parents commenting that children grow up so fast, I didn't believe them, thinking that they must have been exaggerating. But now I get it. This past year has been a whirlwind of events, with James' homecoming last March, his baptism last May, his first birthday in July, the World Partners Reunion in Atlanta in October, and, of course, James' first Thanksgiving and Christmas at home. On Christmas morning we brought James downstairs, and he saw the Little Tikes car that Santa left him by the Christmas tree. The look on his face was absolutely priceless, especially once he realized the car was his. I don't think I could ever receive any material thing that could make me feel the way I did when I saw James' reaction - it was truly awesome.
James is doing really well. He's as active as ever, making the sofas and the stairs part of his own personal jungle gym. He continues to laugh and play and still has a fondness for fire trucks and cars. He loves to dance to all kinds of music, especially to The Wiggles music, and will also ask to watch his Wiggles and Baby Einstein DVD's by name. His vocabulary has definitely grown now. He seems to jabber nonstop. Of course, Sean and I still usually have to translate for him if other people are around and they don't quite understand what he says. At first I wondered if James' learning how to sign was going to cause language delays, but apparently it hasn't. Actually, there are times when he'll sign and say the word at the same time. It's obvious that he understands pretty much everything we say now, so we are being very aware of what we say around him. It's even gotten to the point where we have to spell out certain words in his presence. He's pretty good about saying "thank you" when given something, but it usually comes out sounding like "tatoo," and whenever James says "Kazakhstan" it comes out sounding like "Tatan." He loves to read his books and points out pictures and say what they are. Sometimes he'll read to us at bedtime (when he does this, we have no idea what he's saying, though). He's also starting to do some imaginative play - he makes his Little People and animals "walk" around, and he does the same thing with making his animal crackers "walk" on the kitchen table at snack time. As of last month, James is no longer drinking out of a bottle, just using his sippy cup and now regular cups, too. He really is Mr. Independent now, preferring to sit at the kitchen table with us in a booster seat rather than sit in his high chair. Recently, Sean went up to James' room to get him out of the crib in the morning, only to find James already standing on the other side of the door to his room. So, now that he's climbing out of his crib we'll be transitioning over to a "big boy" bed. James has also hit another milestone: he's figured out how to turn doorknobs and open doors, even with the doorknob covers on!
So, as you can tell, James has been doing wonderfully since coming home. Thanks so much for stopping by!
