ONE MONTH HOME

Wow, one month.  31 days.  At the end of this first month my house looks tidy and all of the dirty laundry is currently being washed!  This is happening cause Mr. Mack refused his nap today and could barely keep his eyes open through the 5 o'clock hour!  So I have spent the last two hours cleaning, washing and it's just 7:55 pm! What shall I do all night?!?  Maybe sleep!

First carwash

In 31 days, a lot has changed in Mack's bedroom.  As of today, he is in his toddler bed and there are also bunk beds in his room :-)  He likes his room, which is mainly only used for sleeping, reading, and rocking in the chair.  He has slept in his own room for 8 nights now!  He sneaks into my room somewhere in the middle of the night and then stays laying down until I sit up (7 am....which will change to 5 am in a week and a half!) and at that point he babbles away something I cannot understand but I am sure it's something like, "Good morning Mommy!  I slept great and I am ready for the day!"  He always has a huge smile on his face and he can't wait for me to get out of bed.

Current configuration in his room.

He loves his cats and my day 31 they generally love him.  He loves baths.  He loves lasagna and he loves gummy vitamins!  He also LOVES Avery!  This month he has enjoyed his time with his cousins, his auntie Amy, Grandma and Grandpa and his two buddies from GLA.  He also has visited the school he will be attending and he loved that!  We will visit on Fridays until he starts full time.

He wanted all of the lasagna that was left from when my aunt made it.  He ate most of that too!

Jumping on a really awesome jumpy thing with his GLA buddy.

First visit to school

Busy boy

He has 4 days left of his icky, icky medicine that causes lots of drama each time I take it out of the fridge.  He declares, "NO!" and then finds somewhere to hide.  It is tricky to get it into his mouth but once I do he gives the most pitiful look and even though I am the one administering the ickiness, he just wants to snuggle after it's gone down.  I cannot wait til the 4 days are over and I pray that he needs no more of this medicine EVER again!

First visit to the MN zoo

He continues to love shoes and is so frustrated that he does not know how to put them on by himself.  Baby steps buddy.  He put his pants on by himself today and then proceeded to hop around the house as his legs were in one pants leg!

Playing the piano with his new friend at church.

Today was a VERY hard day....BUT, these past two weeks have been so much smoother than the first two weeks!  During those weeks it was hard to see the next day.  After a couple of weeks pass, he fell into the routine of things and just seemed so much more comfortable.  I no longer have to carry him everywhere with me.  I still carry him quite a bit, but I am able to go from room to room without him needing to be stuck to me, which is good.  We can be in the same room doing different things now.  I can even run upstairs once in a while to grab something, assuring him that "Mommy will be right back!"

I am thinking he misses his crib and all his buddies at GLA :-)

My mom has watched him a couple of times so that we can see how he does when I leave and then return and he is doing well.  He does not want me to leave...once I leave he plays and enjoys himself...when I return he is very happy to see me :-).

He cannot stand the sun coming in the car windows but he also cannot keep his hands off the window shade and pulls it right off so these sunglasses were the ticket!  

We went to vote for mayor and he got his first I VOTED sticker :-)

Book time with Grandpa

Getting love from Grandma :-)

Reading to Mommy

He is not voluntarily speaking any English yet except for "ALL DONE" which he tells me all day long...after eating, when we're driving, when we are visiting somewhere, and when he is in a time out, lol.    He continues to speak a lot of Creole throughout the day.  He understands almost everything I say to him and this is evidenced by him following directions I give him like, "Go sit on the couch," "Go to the back door and get your vest," and "Take your coat and boots off and put them away."  He does all of the things I ask him to do in English.  It will be exciting to see his English take off and I believe this will happen quickly once he is in school with 9 other kids all day.

He loves this buddy from GLA so much!

He went to his first airport party this week and we made a big event out of it.  I woke him up at 9pm which he thought was just crazy and then we went to pick up my friend and her daughter who is Mack's buddy from GLA.  We then went to the airport to welcome home another little guy from GLA who is now in Minnesota!  It was fun to see Mack at the airport.  I wondered what his mind remembered of the night he came home.  The two were so excited, expectantly watching the glass doors for their friend to come out:-)

Time to go to the airport buddy!

Now we are excited!

Watching for Trey to come down!

He of course cannot comprehend what Thanksgiving or Christmas are gonna be like but I am so excited he is home for these holidays!  We have been listening to Christmas music all week and Friday the tree in the back yard will be covered in lights!  He loved the snow on the one day we had it and he pulls the sled around the grass now.  The 50 degree weather right now is fine with me!

Thanks for all of your prayers!  There of course is so much more to tell about this first month but I will end it here.  Eleven more days home with him before I head back to school.