There's Snow Day Like Mother's Day

I finally got to celebrate Mother's Day! Though it's currently 70 degrees in Denver, on Sunday we woke up to this.

So we went to brunch at Lucile's. We had to wait over an hour for a table, but that place is always worth it. Jonas enjoyed sharing my chai latte during the wait.

When we got home, we went outside to play in the quickly melting snow. Our poor son doesn't even own boots or gloves, as we didn't see the point in buying him winter gear that might not fit next season since he was adopted in spring. So we put double pants and socks on him, a heavy coat and vest, and let him wear our big mittens to build his first snowman. It was a pretty pathetic snowman, but Jonas had fun practicing his new word ("snow"), rolling around in it, and eating it.

Zack did all the diaper changes on Mother's Day-woohoo! He also kept Jonas entertained with playing in the music room, reading books, watching basketball, and making him laugh with "This Little Piggy" (seen in the picture). He had Jonas help sign a really nice card, and I did a craft with my boy to preserve his handprint in an ornament.

Jonas also made it all the way through church without having to go to the cry room! Not that he ever cries, but he gets so crazy sometimes and wants to leave the pews (and yells if you won't let him) that we have always had to head to the cry room partway through Mass. I guess him making it the whole way through was his present to me!

Mother's Day used to be a holiday I dreaded. Now I'm grateful I have a reason to celebrate! Here are my two "babies" looking cute as can be. Lucky me!

What We Do

Okay, we feel like we live in Seattle. It's been raining for days in Denver, and this is SO not normal. We're all kind of going crazy. Here's how we've tried to keep sane...

Jonas has enjoyed watching basketball (another word he's learned) with his daddy.

He also has liked taking Molly for "walks" inside the house.

Here's Jonas trying on Mommy's shoes.

We've been waking up early with Zack for work, so the other morning, Jonas fell back asleep on me in our back room for about an hour. I just watched The Today Show and enjoyed the extra cuddles.















I'm not sure what Jonas is doing here. This was after breakfast this morning between pajamas and getting dressed.

















Today we met up with our friends Emily and Adam and their son Graham at the mall to let the boys run around in the play area. Jonas had a blast climbing everything, going down the slide, and as you can see from the picture below, hanging with the ladies! And now the rain has turned to snow...

Mongolian Spots

Mongolian spots are bluish colored birthmarks that are found on 90-95% of Central Asian infants. Jonas has them in all the normal spots (lower back, butt, shoulders). They usually disappear before a child starts school, and they are caused by melatonin-containing cells getting trapped in a lower skin layer during embryonic development. They are flat, painless, and don't cause any problems.

I first noticed the spots when I was visiting Jonas at the orphanage on my second trip. We were playing outside, and when he bent over, I noticed these bluish marks on his lower back. Having no idea about Mongolian spots at all, I kind of freaked out internally, thinking he was bruised! I tried to take a picture for documentation, pressed the area gently to see if it hurt him, and wondered if he had had a bad fall or if I should be worried about abuse. The next day, I showed the translator, and she said something about that being normal for Asian skin. When I got back to the hotel and Googled something like "bruise marks Asian toddler back," I knew right away that he had Mongolian spots and that I could stop worrying.

I wish I had known to expect them, and as recommended, I've told his pediatrician to document them (so we never get accused of abuse), but now that I know what they are and that they will eventually go away, I think they're kind of cool. I thought I'd include this blog post in case someone else has never seen Mongolian spots, especially prospective adoptive parents of Asian children, so they don't have to freak out like I did at first!

Rain Dance

We've had some unusually cloudy and rainy days here in Denver lately. But Molly still needs to be walked, and we were getting cabin fever, so Jonas and I went for a walk in the rain the other day.

The fun started when Jonas decided to try splashing. He walked through a little puddle first. That got his shoes wet, along with the bottom of his pants.

The rain started coming down harder, and at that point, I had given up on trying to keep either one of us dry. So I let Jonas go hog wild in the puddles. He found the widest and deepest ones and ran through them over and over and had a blast. His pants were soaking wet above the knee. I had fun just watching his joy.

I honestly don't think Jonas has ever felt rain before. There's no way the caretakers brought the kids outside in the rain at the orphanage. When we got back home after our splash session, I stood under the patio roof, but Jonas just stood out in the rain holding his hands up to the sky and feeling the drops.

After bringing his bike out in the rain, playing with the gushing gutters, and eating a snack on the patio, Jonas could finally be convinced to come back inside to take a warm bath and put on dry clothes. I'm so glad I didn't try to stifle his desire to jump in the puddles, because we both had an awesome afternoon in the rain.

More Music

Jonas continues to love music. He asks to go in the music room and bang around on the full-size keyboard almost every morning. His toy piano just won't do!

Jonas also loves to sit on Zack's guitar stool and admire (and try to touch) his guitars and pedals and music.

Jonas still likes his toy instruments too. At least once a day he has to play his trumpet. And he's figured out how to be silly with his see-through drum top too!

If the video below actually works, you can get a taste of our boy's personality and musical skills. Enjoy!

More Life Lately

Yup, another blog entry where I post some random pictures and talk about what we've been up to lately...

Jonas and I went to the Furry Scurry (a huge dog walk/event) at Wash Park on Saturday. Molly got lots of treats and took second place in the "Best Trick Contest" with her ability to "count." In this picture, Jonas is watching the dog racing demonstrations.

Zack took Jonas on a Daddy-son coffee outing and then to the park to play on Sunday morning so Mommy could have some time to herself to relax (or do laundry).

We had Jonas's mattress on the ground next to our bed, but he was always playing games with kicking his legs over the edge and such when we were trying to get him to go to sleep. He also moves around a lot, so he often ended up on the ground. Now we've got his entire toddler bed downstairs next to us, and things seem to be going more smoothly. He often ends up upside down, but he's only been found on the ground once. And we don't care if he kicks his legs all over the place, as long as he doesn't get out of bed.

Jonas has really been getting along with Molly well lately. He puts hats on her, tries to play doctor with her, gives her spontaneous hugs, and sits on her sometimes. She's a great sport through it all, and I think they'll have lots of fun together in the future.

I've been taking Jonas to some library story times and craft sessions. We also tried out a free Kindermusik class, but to be honest, the library programs have been better (and they are always free!). The kids sing songs, move around, play some music, listen to a book, watch a puppet show, and make a craft to take home. Jonas made a lion puppet yesterday, and today he painted with Q-tips. Yesterday, Jonas was a little too quiet in his room while I was preparing dinner. I peeked in, prepared to see something disastrous, but instead saw my little guy had crawled into the rocking chair and was reading a book all by himself! Melted my heart. This is a big deal for a kid who I don't think had ever had a book read to him before. Guess those library visits are paying off!

Lots of people have asked about Jonas's helmet. He only has to wear it when he's up and running around (so not when he's sleeping or in the stroller or being held and stuff). He'll only have to wear it for about six weeks total, just so he doesn't bang his head during the initial healing process. It's not the kind that shapes his head; it's just protective foam. Unfortunately, it makes his head kind of sweaty, but he doesn't mind wearing it, and we feel a lot safer when he has it on. It's been funny to see what kinds of reactions he gets when we're out and about. Most people just smile. One lady asked if he had febrile seizures. Kids at the library story times we've been attending just think he forgot to take his bike helmet off!


So that's what we've been up to lately, along with playing music and playing in the rain, but those will be other posts.

Before and After

Jonas is still healing from his surgery. His stitches are still falling out and his hair is patchy in spots, he has lumps and bumps that are still working themselves out, who knows if all of the swelling is gone (it can sometimes take more than a month), and it'll be over a year before the plates dissolve and bone grows across the gaps, but I thought it'd be interesting to compare some before and after shots.

I think Jonas looks much older with his new look. I kind of miss my cute little baby with the pointy head and eyebrows, but he's pretty handsome now. How many two-year-olds can say they have already had "work done"?! The bottom set of before and after pictures really shows you the big change in his head shape. Now we just need his hair to grow out!