Thursday, July 10, 2008

It's the Little Things

It’s amazing what you might miss if you let yourself get too wrapped up in unimportant details. A few things that one might think are little, but are actually quite big have happened the past couple of days in our world. We’re glad that we didn’t miss them.

First, Max let us cuddle and rock him before he went to sleep. He’s actually been much cuddlier than we expected right from the start, but this was somehow different. Although he was quite tired, he seemed to be having trouble settling himself down, so Tammy bundled him up in a soft fleece blanket and rocked with him while she held him snugly. We expected him to fight her on this but he only fussed for a second or two and then completely relaxed and started to fall asleep. Before he completely nodded off, we tucked him into his crib where he gave us one last long gaze and a big sigh before he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

The next little big thing was that Max fed both of us some food. Not that he’s been starved in any way, but once something to eat is in his hands, he isn’t too keen on giving it up (that is, unless he’s decided to launch it into orbit). Well today at lunch, out of the blue he picked up a piece of his pancake and shoved it into Rod’s mouth! Then at supper, he kept feeding Tammy pieces of macaroni. Mind you, he didn’t want to eat it himself, so we think he was trying to say, “Well, if you like it so much, you eat it!” But still, we think that for a kid who would pitch a complete fit if we tried to take a bite of his cookie or even pretended to, giving us some of his food is a big deal.

Third, our little guy plays pretend. At first we weren’t sure what he was doing but the first time we noticed it, he was pretending to pick stuff up and put it in and take it out of the basket of the stroller. Later on, he was playing with a toy telephone that we brought. He hasn’t really cared to play with it for the last month, but he has really taken to it the last couple of days. It’s hard not to bust a gut when he picks it up, puts it to his ear and says, “Da” which is exactly how people typically answer the phone here. So, that was cute enough, but then after an unfortunate crash which he seems to have blamed on the phone, he has switched to using an empty water bottle for his telephone!

The other day we found ourselves yet again going back through all of the photos we’ve taken since we arrived. We never cease to be amazed by how much Max has changed since we first met him. From the timid little boy that we first met to the sing at the top of your lungs go getter that we spend our days with now.

Day 1



Today


So, although sometimes we have been given the advice to forget the past and just keep looking ahead, we’re really glad that we took the time to look back. It’s hard to know just how far you’ve gotten when you don’t look back to find out just how far you’ve come.

4 comments:

dhebron said...

It is so nice to hear things are going so well for the 3 of you. Moments like theses you will charish forever. Max is so lucky to have 2 such loving and caring parents.

BG & JoG said...

Bravo!!! What a transformation Max has done and you two have made it possible!!! and all of that loving hasn't hurt either!!! We have loved reading your posts on this blog spot; it's like reading the best summer novel you could ever pick out and take a chance on - this is better; it's your details about your adventure...it's ok to look back on the past I believe, because it helps with the future and how to do it better the next time, and of course, the learning...again, can't wait to see you when you arrive home and hope everything continues to go well...these are the DAys of YOUR LIVEs....God bless!!!

Angela said...

I loved reading this. It is the little things that are big. And look at that big smile on Max's face now that he is with his mom & dad.

Unknown said...

Nice that you caught those moments. More to come I'm sure.
I think what he did with the water bottle telephone is actual stellar inginuity! Think about it. His telephone didn't work anymore, so he thought back to the days of phones using 2 cans and a string. So he thought can, bottle, similar in contruction, must work the same.
!?
Just a thought.

Nathanaël, Isabelle and Andrei.