Month: June 2012

Wade is pretty bad with learning peoples’ names. He will often just call them “friend” if he can’t remember. Alex seems to be taking after Wade in this regard. He will often ask for “his friend” when he can’t remember a name. We had the Hoiums over for dinner and Alex and Emelia were just as cute as last time (at the Thomas exhibit). Several times Alex couldn’t remember her name and would just talk about “my friend”.

As the Hoiums were leaving, Alex and Emelia kept stalling with the need for more goodbyes and more hugs. After they had driven down the street, Alex looks at me and says, “I forgot to give my friend a kiss.”

For two years I have bought fun sprinklers (meaning two of them) for Alex. The cute ones with faces and bright colors. It turns out he prefers a regular old-school sprinkler. Wade was hooking it up to water the yard and Alex jumped in before we could stop him. We put dinner on hold and let him play. Riley even stopped by and joined in too.

The last series of pictures needs a little explanation. I thought the boys were just drinking from the sprinkler. Then I listened to what they were saying and realized why they ran up onto the porch after a drink. They were “watering” my flowers….

Today was predicted to be our hottest day so far. Over the past few days I watched the predicted high go from (103 to 95). Alex and I decided a movie theater would be a good way to spend the morning. In preparation we had been reading the book, “Brave“, and Alex seemed to enjoy the movie. He did end up in my lap when the bears started fighting, but definitely did not want to leave.

Today was just a water kind of day. Alex went through three swimsuits.
1.) Playing “water balloons”. (Right now that just means throwing them in the street.)

2.) The wading pool at Jacobus park with Sam.

3.) The giraffe pool in the backyard.

Wade sings to Alex every night. Somewhere along the way he created the llama song.

I initially thought it might be a little cool for the pool today, but Alex was quite insistent that we go. It turned out to be fantastic. The sun was shining and the water was warm. The best part was the pool was mostly empty – most people obviously agreed about the weather. Riley and Alex spent the morning bouncing from activity to activity and having a blast. My favorite was the “jumping” series.

Today was Jack’s baptism (our next door neighbor – son of Bo and Damian). The entire neighborhood (and Jack’s extended family) gathered for church and then the baptism. It was our first time at a Catholic church and I was a little nervous about no nursery for Alex. Thankfully there was a quiet room (with pews) just big enough for all our friends. The boys did great.

Wade is still working on Alex’s bed and got the mattress platform completed today. We had Alex give it a spin. (He was quite upset when he didn’t actually get to sleep on it.)

Part of my birthday present was family pictures with a real photographer – Allison Williams. We drove down to Chicago a few weeks ago and got the pictures today. The best part – I am not behind the camera, but actually in the pictures!!

It’s so easy to please when a pool party is a small container in the backyard. Asher and Alex were content to chase each other with the boppers and water guns most of the afternoon.

Teague is coming home sooner rather than later! We got a message this morning that he had been submitted for EP approval in Korea (that is explained here and is normally the cause of the long wait to bring kids home). This was unexpected for several reasons, but wonderful news! The normal course of the adoption should look like this:
1. Accept referral
2. Receive legal papers from Korea
3. Send legal papers to State of WI
4. Receive approval from State of WI
5. Send legal papers and approval from State to US Immigration
6. Receive US immigration approval
7. Submitted for EP in Korea
8. EP approved
9. Visa medical exam
10. Travel Call
Ours looks like this:
1. Accept referral – 3/5/12
2. Receive legal papers from Korea – 4/12/12 (and a missing paper on 6/20/12)
3. Send legal papers to State of WI – 6/20/12
4. Receive approval from State of WI
5. Send legal papers and approval from State to US Immigration
6. Receive US immigration approval
7. Submitted for EP in Korea – 6/20/12
8. EP approved
9. Visa medical exam
10. Travel Call
If our process had gone as expected we would have about 6-8 weeks of waiting to travel after being submitted for EP approval. Unfortunately at this point we will probably be held up by the US side of things. My guess is travel time will be 2-3 months away, which is still much earlier than expected. We had been told not to expect to travel till early next year.
We were also told 20 families currently have referrals (from October 2011 through June 2012) and 8 of them were submitted for EP approval yesterday. Korea chooses which children are submitted and Teague most likely made the list because of his age and special needs.

Today’s big accomplishment was packing up care package number 4 for Teague.

For Teague we packed a toy hammer, car keys, and race car (like ones we already have at home). I also included a pair of overalls, shorts, and t-shirt. Wade and I both recorded pages of the book – one of Hallmark’s recordable stories.
For the foster family – Girl Scout cookies, snack mix, and assorted hard candies.

I’m not sure who first used the word, but I overhead this quote as Wade and Alex were “working” on the attic stairs.

“We’re good teamwork Dad.”

Today was all about Dad. Alex and I got up early (or rather we got up at Alex’s normal time) and made cinnamon rolls.

Alex couldn’t contain the excitement for the presents so we ate very quickly and got on to the good stuff. (Wade is now the proud owner of outlet stickers and an emergency goggly eye kit.)

We finished the day picking raspberries in our backyard. Yum!

We surprised Alex this morning with a trip to Green Bay (which he repeatedly called “Orange Bay”) to take a ride on Thomas with (A Day Out With Thomas). I was pleasantly surprised by all of the activities provided at the Train Museum. Alex explored the trains before we got in line for our ride on Thomas. We were in the open air car – right behind Thomas. Alex loved it!

After our ride we met up with some friends (the Hoiums). Emelia and Alex were two peas in a pod and had a great time exploring and playing.

Alex and I normally start the day with breakfast – “bars” (breakfast granola bars) and a glass of milk for both of us. As I was pouring our milk I found milk everywhere and realized the gallon must have a hole. I salvaged what was left in a plethora of containers.

Then we headed to the pool. Abby even showed Alex how to get his hair wet (which he attempted to copy).

After a nice long nap for everyone (Wade was home too) we got ready for our dinner guests. Alex was happy to try out the frosting for our strawberry cake (recipe here).

Alex and I had a date tonight for pizza and a movie. I was trying to come up with a movie he would enjoy and thought of Dumbo. I told him yesterday we were going to watch a movie called Dumbo about an elephant that could fly. It’s all he’s talked about all day. He was so engrossed with the movie he mindlessly stuffed his face with pizza.

I took our plates into the kitchen and suddenly heard Alex screaming. By the time I rushed into the living room he had tears running down his cheeks and was shaking he was so upset. I thought any Disney movie would be fine to watch (even one created in 1941). I forgot about the scene where Dumbo and his mother are separated. The men are a little scary with their sharp sticks and whips. Not to mention the mother and Dumbo are obviously upset. We talked it through and he wanted to see the rest and loved it in the end (whew).

It’s so convenient for Alex to wake up from his nap and see playmates across the street. We grabbed our snack and headed over to play with Abram and Sam. (Grant was cracking me up by grabbing his face. He was kind enough to do it repeatedly so I could capture a few pictures.)

We got an update a few days ago and a picture today. It’s amazing the small changes I see between pictures. (No real news on anything else adoption related.)

Alex was Wade’s shadow the minute he walked in the door today. Wade had to make a phone call and tried to convince Alex to stay downstairs with me. Alex was having none of it and got his own phone. He sat on the bed and Wade tells me Alex’s conversation into the phone went something like this:
“We have red, orange, purple.”
“I’ll have to check.”
(Puts phone down and picks it up again)
“Okay.”
When asked what he was talking about, Alex said he was selling windows.
He also informed us orange was the most popular.

Alex is in charge of giving Madison her treat before we leave the house (She gets a treat because I feel bad that she has to stay home.) Today I tried to teach Alex how to make her sit for a treat. She did fairly well. Then I showed Alex some of the better tricks, like “take a bow”.

We’ve been trying to get Alex to use the pedals on his cars and bikes for a year. Sometimes he’ll do it and then lose interest. I’ve even had a “real” bike for 9 months (I found a brand new, never-ridden one on craig’s list for $30), but I wanted to make sure he was ready. Abram got a new bike last week and Alex wanted one too. I told him I had one for him when he could use his pedals. He begged us for it tonight and we decided to get it out and see who he did. He got on and PEDALED!!! (He also called it his “pedal bike”)

Alex’s hair had gotten long so we had an appointment for a haircut today. Due to the insane number of people at Yo Mama we had to park several blocks away – in a residential area. As we were walking to Whimsikidz we passed some men pouring concrete. Alex and I stopped for a few minutes to watch and one of the men came over. He told Alex to come back in about 30 minutes to leave his handprint. We laughed and walked on. After the haircut we stopped for ice cream and then walked by the men again. This time we stopped and sat on the sidewalk to talk about what they were doing. The same man asked again about the handprint. Then a second man came over to Alex and laid down a trowel. He told Alex he could play in the concrete and told me he had a hose if anything got on Alex. Alex loved working like the men and talking to them. When we were ready to leave the same man created a container so that Alex could take home some concrete. What awesome guys. They made Alex’s day.

(Meyer was the name of the concrete company.)

*And this is why I always carry my camera.

We had an awesome day of outside fun. Alex and I spent the morning at our private pool (Hoyt Pool isn’t actually ours but there were only two other families there).

After nap we set up our new sprinkler and invited Abram and Riley to play.

While taking Alex to MDO this morning, Amber asked us if we’d like to go to the Zoo’s Member appreciation night for the dinosaur exhibit. I called Wade and he said sure. Alex was obviously listening and asked about our plans. Then we got to talking about dinosaurs. I tried to explain that we would see pretend dinosaurs because all of the real ones died a long time ago. Obviously I didn’t do a good job of explaining. By the time we got to school, he had his lower lip out and tears in his eyes because the dinosaurs were all dead. I took him to his new class (for summer session) and he immediately went to the table that had dinosaurs on it. I gave his teachers a heads up about our conversation and told them “good luck”. His teachers did great! When I picked him up he was telling me all about the dinosaurs and how they aren’t alive anymore but there are bones.