Maddyx's Foster Mother is in Los Angeles!

Maddyx's Foster Mother, along with a group of women from ESWS, have made a trip to the States and we are going to see her tonight!  I will have a post with pictures and an update of our visit this week. We are meeting his foster mom and the Director from ESWS this evening at their hotel.  What a once in a lifetime opportunity!

How crazy is this?!?!

Stay tuned.............................

22 Months!

I can hardly believe that Maddyx is 22 months.  He has come so far in the last few months.  He's gone from my little baby to my little boy.  Sigh.  I do have to apologize because I've kind of dropped the ball on the the monthly updates.  I'm going to get back on track.  For at least the next two months.  And then there's no promises!

So let's talk about 22 months.  We've got a whole lot of words trying to make their way out.  Let's just say we've had a language explosion over here.  We definitely have to put our special Maddyx language interpretation cap on to try and understand the words, but Mama's usually got it figured out.  A few things he's saying all of the time; tweet, tweet (bird), ba ba (bottle), wha? (like we ask Maddyx what do you want? and he replies, wha?), up, mama, dadadaaa, more, waaa (water), night night, sna (snack), baa baa baa (bath),  bu buu (belly button).  And these are just a few.  There are so many more.  He turned into a little sponge overnight and he's really just taking everything in.

Maddyx loves the park and is absolutely obsessed with the slide.  Don't get me wrong, he likes the swing just fine, and enjoys the socializing aspect of the park, but there's just nothing like going head first down the tube slide.  We do it over and over and over and OVER again.  Until we tell him we have to go.  And then he cries.  Every time.  Thank goodness he forgets about it about 30 seconds after we walk away.
Maddyx is a true dream when it comes to sleeping.  He goes to bed at 7pm and wakes up between 6:45 and 7:15 am every day.  Naps are anywhere from 1-2 hours a day.  No, we don't get the nice long 3 hour nap around here.  I tried.  I mean, I tried really hard to force the long naps, but one thing you can't do is force a toddler to sleep.  Mission aborted.
Maddyx's biggest obsession right now is the Baby Signing Time videos.  Seriously obsessed.  My friend let us borrow them several months back, and when I first introduced them to Maddyx he could quite honestly care less.  And then one day the light switched on and the obsession began.  He begs for these videos morning, noon and night.  He actually does the sign for "baby" when asking for them.  It's so darn cute.  I'll have to to take a video of the pure joy (squeals) he exudes when I grab the DVD remote to turn the video on.  It makes me smile every time.
Maddyx is going through a little bit of a shall we say, jealous phase?  Lets just say when Daddy kisses or hugs Mama (or gives me any sort of attention), Maddyx must stop whatever he's doing, rush right over and give Mama the same exact kiss or hug.  Sound effects and all.  We love to do it just to get his reaction.
Another really neat thing?  Well we've discovered picking our nose.  Yes we have, and SO not cute.  Okay, kind of funny but I'm a Mom now and I can't encourage this kind of behavior.  So I ignore it and laugh on the inside.  We've also discovered toots are funny.  Maddyx toots, Maddyx laughs.  Let's just say Maddyx toots a lot.  Of course, Mom and Dad NEVER toot.  Never.  Ahem. 

I have to say that overall 22 months is pretty darn great.  Maddyx continues to be a very easy-going and happy little guy.  We've yet to see any real signs of *the* "terrible twos"...knock on wood....and (don't hate me fellow mama's) we don't really have any tantrums either.  So I guess we've got it REALLY good around here.

Now if I could just find enough energy to keep up with everything!  That's a story for another day.  

I wanna be a Cowboy......

and you can be my cowgirl!

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Could there be love in the air?

Maddyx,

I might have already prearranged your marriage.  I might have.  Not because I believe in arranged marriages but because I do believe in fate and in destiny.  How can you argue with fate?

Let me back up.  Some of you may remember me mentioning this, others may not....one of my closest and dearest friends in the world, one I like to call my "BFF"  got pregnant around the same time we were talking about pursuing adoption.  We officially started the process in April of 2009 and she was about six months pregnant at the time.  On July 25, 2009 she gave birth to her beautiful daughter, Kaiah.  Here's where the fate part comes in.  We received our referral for Maddyx on January 14th, 2010, and when we looked at his paperwork we saw that his birth date was July 25, 2009!  Is that crazy or what?!?!

So obviously we have decided that they very well may be MEANT for each other!  We love to joke around about it and we hope at the very least they'll be the best of friends for life!  Or heck, they may be so much alike that they drive each other bananas!  I guess we shall see.

So we had our friends down a couple of months ago for a weekend visit.  While here the kids had a chance to hang together and see if they felt any sparks.  I can tell you that there was love at first sight.  Not so much between Maddyx and Kaiah but Kaiah and Maddyx's police car.  Oh yes, she was IN LOVE. 

Below is a little snapshot of the two of them figuring out who was the boss of this car.  A nice lesson in sharing for these *almost* two year olds!  You'll see at the bottom who clearly won this battle. 

Oh and Maddyx for the record, you may want to withhold elbow jabs on any future first dates.  I don't *think* that's going to work too well with the ladies.  Could be wrong.

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A Very Mammoth Easter (a little late, I know!)

So I realize that I am way behind here in the blog world!  For no good reason except that I am absolutely EXHAUSTED when I get home from work every day.  By the time we get home, make dinner, eat dinner, do bath, clean up, do bedtime routine and FINALLY sit down, I'm completely brain dead.  My brain is mush.  That said, I really want to *at least* stay on top of posting photos, so if you notice I'm not writing too much these days, well, you know why.  Just remember, mush for brain. 

We had a very untraditional first Easter together as a family.  Instead of celebrating here in sunny San Diego (as we always have) we packed up the car with my sister-in-law and our nephew and took a road trip to Mammoth.  Much to our surprise, the forecast of partly cloudy and 45-50 degree spring-like weather ended up being non-stop snow for three days straight!  We celebrated our very first white Easter! 

Maddyx is about as easy as kids come.  Especially one that's quickly approaching the age of two.  However, my very easy-going son Maddyx decided to check out on the the 7 hour car ride to and from Mammoth, and instead his very, very bad twin joined us.  Lets just say Maddyx was unhappy to *get* in his car seat upon leaving the house, and he remained unhappy to *be* in his car seat for the entire seven hour drive!  Can you imagine how fun this road trip was?!?  If not, just imagine a very high pitched *annoying* yelling in your ear for SEVEN. HOURS. STRAIGHT.  Actually I take that back...we did get a 30 minute break when he actually decided to sleep!  Mama and Daddy have decided road trips will be put on hold.  For the next 10 years!

Aside from the car rides our trip was great!  We didn't get Maddyx on the slopes this time.  Maybe next year.  We figured it might be a good idea if he perfected walking first. 

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Friends....

I feel so blessed to have such amazing friends in my life.  Friends that are supportive, insightful, understanding and always there for me.  I don't say it enough to the women in my life, but you are the best!  I love the ones that I talk to constantly.  I love the ones that I share amazing girls nights with.  I love the ones that I don't see very often, but when I do it's like no time has passed.  And, I love the ones that I've never met, but share this amazing bond of adoption with.  You are all amazing women, and I just wanted to let you know how much I cherish each and every one of you.

Thank you all for your comments, phone calls and emails regarding my last post on Maddyx's early intervention.  We've since had one therapy session and he did great.  It was mostly interactive play, but he was all about using his words and he even put two words together for the very first time!  He said "more ball"....it was just too cute.  It was really helpful to see how the therapist played with him, and how she negotiated words through play.  I've since learned that I need to give him a little extra push to use his words.  And when I do, he does!  Food is the easiest negotiation tool.  As you all know, our boy loves his food!  He even tried to say cracker for the very first time tonight.  I was shocked!  And yesterday it was cheese.  I can't even begin to explain how much progress he's made in this last month.  It's blowing my mind.  And it's so amazing to watch.

It's like he's starting to blossom.  He shows us each and every day just how blessed we are.  And each and every day we fall more and more in love with him. 

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Early Intervention......

So at the advise of our pediatrician and several other individuals that I spoke with, we decided to have Maddyx assessed for early intervention services.  I've felt in my gut for some time that his speech was delayed, but I wanted to give him ample time to adjust into his new environment, into his new life, and with his new language.  After a little over six months home we had his 18 month check-up and that's when I brought it up to our pediatrician.  She recommended we contact Early Start and let them do an assessment.  So I did.  The assessment concluded that Maddyx was anywhere from 25-50% delayed in almost all of the categories (motor skills and language).  Not really a big surprise.  He was a really late walker, he's a big boy and seems to really struggle with his balance and the overall control of his body, and we obviously new he wasn't using a lot of words.  Not totally sure what any of this means at this point, and only time will tell, but I do know there's no harm in getting him some extra help.  I have to be honest though....I did get, and still am, a bit freaked out!  The minute you contact anyone about delayed language (even a child who heard another language for the first 13 months of their life, and was uprooted from everything they ever knew) they almost always jump to autism.  That scares me.  Doesn't make me love him any less.  Just scares me.  I want him to have every chance at the best life possible.  I don't want him to struggle.  I want him to be blissfully happy and loved and accepted by all.  You know, all of the things us parents wish for, for all of our children.  Any thought that our kids will hurt or struggle for just one second, breaks your heart into a million pieces and makes you want to weep. 

The good news is, everyone I've spoken to (within *the industry*) has said they don't *think* he's showing any early signs of autism.  Outside of a couple small indicators.  And I don't think he is, but that doubt was placed in my mind and I'm having a hard time controlling the fear.  As much as I know I must not allow it to enter my mind (the fear that is), it's so much easier said then done.  You know?

So we start Maddyx's in home speech therapy this week.  I'm excited for him.  And I'm excited to see his progress.  But here's the funny thing..... wouldn't you know, the very next week after getting him assessed he starts copying almost EVERY word we say.  Really Maddyx??  Don't get me wrong, these words are by no means *clear* versions of the words, but I know what he's *trying* to say, and this is SERIOUS progress for him.  It's almost like something just started clicking with him.  Not only is he saying more, he's mimicking more, and he started using signs (sign language) after only one time of seeing them.  Like I said, it's just like something clicked.  He's coming up on 20 months in a few days, so maybe he just needed a bit more time.  Little booger.  Just love him to pieces.....more and more every single day.

Thanks for listening, all.  This was more of a venting/therapy session for me.  My heart feels better after talking with you.

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