I am in love...

With three and a half year old Patrick. He is fun and funny and cute. He eats food again (after a two year break) and he says funny things.He's just a lot of fun.

Last night, we were treated to a piano concert.

This morning, we were taking "Kay-one" to school with us. Maggie brought a big glass of tea in the car. I sped up as she was taking a big drink of tea and it sloshed on her. She was upset and Patrick patted her leg and comforted her. Then, in the next breath, said "it look like you pee peed your pants." We all started laughing.

Then,we were talking about how Steven had to rescue memaw this morning. Patrick said, "yea. I helped out too" (he didn't). I asked him if he was a rescue bot (from transformers).

He said, "nah. I am a powder ranger." Again, he got lots of laughs. Our little drive to school left the girls laughing as they grabbed their back packs and headed to school.

We ran some errands and we're back home again. We played some preschool games online on my laptop.He tried to swipe the laptop screen instead of using the mouse.

As I was doing dishes, he ran in with his Spider-Man mask. I asked him what letter his name stated with.

He said, "I start with dot com."

I'm daddy

I was taking Patrick to Miss Sandee's house this morning. He saw the mountains in the distance. He pointed to himself and said that he was going to "climb mountains with daddy". I told him that it was a great idea and he wanted to call Steven to tell him this great idea.

I dialed the number and gave him the phone. Steven didn't answer, so Patrick waited patiently through a list of options after the beep.

Then, he said, "Daddy. Climb mountains. Bye. I love too."

We arrived at Sandee's house and he put on his brown corduroy jacket. He told me that it looked like "daddy's jack".

April 2010. Oh my gosh. He is so cute!!

He pointed to himself and said, "I daddy. I Steve".

No, he's ours

Yesterday, I went to pick up Maggie from school. I was talking to Kirsten and Maggie and Katelyn were playing. Maggie's teacher called me over. I must confess that I thought, "oh crap. What did Maggie do?".

But, it was a good thing. Her teacher asked me if Patrick was adopted and I said that he was.

She laughed and said that they were talking about families in class today for language arts. They got to a section about adoption and Maggie raised her hand and told her teacher that Patrick was adopted.

Her teacher said that Patrick wasn't  and asked Maggie if she knew what adoption meant. Maggie said that she did and she was sure that Patrick was adopted. She thought maybe Maggie was confused.

Maggie went on to explain that we had adopted Patrick and she had gone to Stockton to watch us sign the adoption paperwork.

Maggie's teacher was shocked. She couldn't get over it and said, "But, he looks just like you." I laughed and said that I was glad that one of my kids looked like me.

She asked Maggie to bring in pictures of his adoption signing and I sent in the scrapbook that Christine made for me.Christine took pictures for us that day before she started her own photography business and the pictures are precious to me. It's one of my favorite things. Wanna see Christine's new website? Click here!

So, we shocked Maggie's teacher yesterday. I was talking to Maggie about it as we were walking to the car and another one of Maggie's friend's mom overheard us talking. She said, "WHAT?! Patrick's adopted?! NO. He couldn't be. He looks just like you!".

Yep. Here's the proof!

Kitty cat

Patrick likes to pretend to be a kitty cat. He gets on all fours and meows and will even give you a kitty cat kiss (aka lick you on the face).

Yesterday, Maggie was getting ready in her room. Patrick was meowing through the house and saw that Maggie's door was opened.

He crawled into Maggie's room and meowed at her.

In true, big sister fashion, Maggie said something sweet like, "Get outta my room, Pat Pat!".

He looked at her and hissed as loud as he could.

Kitchen timer

Patrick's new favorite game is to take our Kitchen timer and use it like an alarm clock. He makes us pretend to go to sleep. We have to snore and close our eyes.

He sets the timer and makes it go off. Then, when the timer goes off, we "wake up" and yell and he laughs hysterically.

The funniest part is that Patrick calls this his clock.

Guess what letter he doesn't pronounce when he is saying clock?

L

So, Patrick runs around our house yelling "where's my cock?".

Patrick's world

Steven and I were talking about Patrick last night and really how bizarre it is that we are raising and loving for "someone else's child." I mean, he's ours, but isn't that kind of strange when you really think about it?

I noticed that he says a few words with a southern accent. Yes, we are raising him right.

Isn't that bizarre? He was born here and lives here. But, he is being raised by people from the south and Texas.(Texas isn't the south, according to my husband).

I started thinking about children who are adopted and raised in a culture that is different from there own. It's an amazing concept when you really think about it.

Not that being southern is exactly the same thing. But, don't worry, we are raising him well and true to his NorCal roots. Today, on the way to Sandee's house, we were looking for school buses and we passed an orchard. He said, "look, almond trees".

I was shocked. I mean, his vocabulary is coming along, but he doesn't use a lot of words that are clearly spoken. So, this was a big deal.

And he would never see almond trees in the south and he recognized them this morning. He will get to experience two worlds, actually. We go back at least once a year, so he will experience the Gulf of Mexico and southern hospitality and all the great things about the south. In fact, he will call adults Mr. and Miss even though it's not cool to do that here.

At the same time, he will live here and eat Tri Tip and play in the snow at Lake Tahoe and cough when they are shaking the almond trees.

But, don't worry, he will "grill" Tri Tip. Not BBQ it.

Little Brothers

Isn't this picture the epitome of being a big sister? Maggie is standing next to Nikki and Jerry's wedding cake smiling and trying to keep her brother still. Patrick wants nothing to do with taking a picture. He just wants to DANCE.

Maggie is very patient and protective of her little brother. She does get aggravated with him at times. He takes her stuff and runs through the house. He grabs her blanket and taunts her with it before running away. He wants to play with whatever she has. He is always trying to get into her room to destroy something.

Sometimes, Maggie gets fed up and can't take it anymore.And I try to tell her that I completely understand. I had a brother who was 5 years younger than me. He was annoying. But, now, he is a great friend. I've been trying to explain this to her. She will eventually find him to be a good friend and not just an annoyance.

She looks at me like I'm crazy.

But, I see glimpses of their future relationship. They have been playing a game where they go on a train. Patrick is the conductor and has a whistle. Maggie makes up adventures for them to take. They hide behind the big chair in the living room and give us tickets for the next train ride.

This works for me cause I just have to sit on the couch while they drive the train.

I pray that they will have a good relationship and that they are laying down the ground work for a good relationship as adults. I just have to keep reminding Maggie that it's a good thing to have a little brother.

Babies

Patrick is starting to really notice and talk about babies. When we pass a stroller, he looks inside and says "aww" at them.

There are twin babies at Miss Sandee's house that he talks about. Ezra came over the other night and Patrick was playing with him and kept saying "aww" over and over again.

We went to In and Out burger last weekend and we saw a mom pushing a stroller. Patrick pointed to the stroller and said, "awww...baby".

I asked him if he liked babies and he said "yes".

Then, I asked him if he wanted Mommy to have a baby.

Without hesitation, he said "NO!".

(Patrick contemplating a baby)

Ears

This guy loves to put things in his ears.

We first noticed it when he started requesting his "bee" to go to sleep. "Bee" looks just like Maggie's "quame"  and was given to Patrick. "Bee" is a blue blankie with a silk lining and he loves to sleep with it at night.

Patrick will take the tips of "bee" and put it in his ear. He will rub it around his ear and it just seems to comfort him when he is relaxing.

The funny thing is that this has transferred to other items now. In the car, he will take the strap of his car seat and put it in his ear. He will take off his boot and put the shoelace tip in his ear.

Tonight, he was playing with Copper and grabbed his tail. He sat down and put Copper's tail in his ear. Copper didn't appreciate this at all.

Twas the night before Christmas

And all through the house
2 year old little boys dressed up in Santa pajamas weren't quiet as a mouse

He found a light saber and he was rocking this Santa/Jedi look, don't ya think?

A pretty December day

It has been unusually cold here. I know, not as cold as what you northerners think of as cold. But, pretty cold for us Californians. This afternoon, though, it was pretty outside and Patrick and Copper took advantage of it. This is Copper at around 12 weeks old.

Sometimes having a 2 and a half year old and a puppy is hard work. Lots of pee, poop, and craziness abound. But, sometimes it works to my advantage. They both love to run around in the backyard and chase each other. Look at how cute Copper's ears are in this picture.

This guy can't wait for warmer weather. He NEEDS to be outside running around. I'm grateful for days where it warms up a little bit for him.

CHristmas with a two year old

It's too much for him to bear. He's fascinated by the Christmas ornaments and the Christmas tree. He's always trying to put new things on the tree. He's put a flashlight on there and talks about the star on the top of the tree.

His absolute favorites are the snow globes. I found a plastic snowglobe when we went to Lake Tahoe and he loves it.

A box

Patrick got a gift from Nana and Papa in the mail. He doesn't care what the gift is going to be. Cause look at this box. Isn't it awesome? Maggie and Patrick have been playing in it ever since we got it. Patrick loves watching tv in it. Thanks for this gift, Nana and Papa!

One year ago!

One year ago, we adopted Patrick. It's been  a great year and I'm so glad that he is officially part of our family.

Tonight, Maggie and Patrick went to Raley's with me. I told Maggie that it was one year ago that we adopted Patrick.

Maggie said, "really, we adopted Patrick today last year?".

Patrick raised his hands and shouted, "yay me!".

Isn't he awesome?

Thankful Thanksgiving #9

I am so thankful for Sandee, the wonderful lady who watches and loves Patrick. I met her at the water park 2 summers ago. I started talking to her and saw how sweet she was with the kids that she was watching. I got her phone number and went to her house and signed up Patrick right away.


From the moment, he started going to her house, she loved Patrick. She feeds him, changes him, watches him for me. But, more than that, she really cares for him. And she loves each of the kids that she watches.

She has been so worried about him over the past few months as he has lost weight and stopped eating and battled with his tonsils. During that time, I couldn't get him to eat anything, but he would still eat for her.

I am so grateful for her and for the love that she shows to Patrick. I got the best phone call from her today. She called to tell me something funny that he was doing. She is amazed by his recovery. She said that it was like the doctors took out his tonsils and gave us back our sweet little boy.

Nuff-in

Today, I heard a loud crash in patrick's room.

I said,"patrick, what are you doing?".

He says,"nuff-in"!

His new found vocabulary is cracking me up!

Patrick's tonsils

Patrick had his tonsils taken out yesterday. The hospital was really nice and the nurses/doctors were amazing. Everyone was amazingly nice and helpful to us.

Here are some funny moments that were maybe just funny to us since we are sleep deprived after taking care of a wimpy 2 year old:

One of the nurses came in the room and was talking to Patrick. She said, "what is your name?". He said "Me!"


The doctor came to check on Patrick after he got out of surgery and looked at him. He said, "Is he always that pale?". We laughed and assured the doctor that he is just a really white baby.


Patrick refused to eat or drink. He ate some ice chips on Friday afternoon The nurses were really concerned and kept trying to get him to eat. We told them that he doesn't eat much on a regular basis and has gotten really skinny. The nurse looked confused and then said, "but both of you are both so, ummm....you are healthy".

There's lots more to tell. I just wanted to remember some of the funny moments!

Dancing

Maggie and Katelyn performed at the East Union's football game.  Patrick LOVED it. He loved "foo-ball" and would cheer and clap. But, if you asked him if he wanted to play football, he would say, "I dance".

So, here's a video of him dancing to the band.

Saturday morning

I got a new phone yesterday. Maggie knows how to use it better than I do. She made this video while I was unloading the dishwasher and Steven was cooking breakfast. Enjoy.

I love this picture

 I really like this picture. We went to the beach one night this summer and Patrick got in the water and Jonathan grabbed him for this shot. I love these guys!