Baptism by fire
Maybe other adoptive families bring their children home the week before Christmas and skip all the family gatherings. We had considered it. That was before we met Louis, who is extremely outgoing and bonded to us more quickly than we had expected.
We were also anxious to have him baptized. When you factor in our 11 siblings and their families, you end up with quite a group, even for an allegedly quiet, family-only baptism. So we decided to schedule it for this Sunday, when many family members had an excuse to be around and--coincidentally--the Church was celebrating Holy Family Sunday. Louis behaved beautifully, accepting the water and oil without any complaint, watching the candle with fascination, and waiting until the priest was almost finished before pulling the white bib-garment off. (His godparents, my brother Ricky and his wife Christina, drove all the way from Rhode Island with their sons, ages 2 and five weeks, spending almost as long in the car as we did on the flight from Beijing to Chicago. We were so, so very grateful to them for making the trek.)
Louis happily wore an outfit we bought in China, but he was even happier to trade it for a Spiderman T-shirt and a party at a house full of toys and cousins--three of whom were also born in 2007. We discovered that Louis likes cake, though my mother tells me that hot milk sponge cake isn't a key part of a calcium-rich diet!
This morning we took Louis to storytime at a local library where my sister Treasa is the children's librarian. Many of his cousins were there, and he was so excited to see them again. He made himself right at home, stealing Aunt Treasa's tambourine and hurling Humpty Dumpty from the felt board wall. We picked out a few books to bring home, though we'll wait for another day to get him his own library card.
Meanwhile, we definitely notice that Louis is mimicking the sounds of our words. Before storytime began, he was sitting on John's lap pretending to read a book aloud, and my mother realized Louis was reciting "Peek-a-Who," his other favorite book. He didn't have the words right, but he was making the vowel sounds and saying it the same way we say it when we read it. It is such fun to watch him learn, and he's teaching us a few things, too. As new parents of a toddler, we know we have missed many milestones along the way, but every day we discover more that Louis is capable of, and that is such a joy.
We were also anxious to have him baptized. When you factor in our 11 siblings and their families, you end up with quite a group, even for an allegedly quiet, family-only baptism. So we decided to schedule it for this Sunday, when many family members had an excuse to be around and--coincidentally--the Church was celebrating Holy Family Sunday. Louis behaved beautifully, accepting the water and oil without any complaint, watching the candle with fascination, and waiting until the priest was almost finished before pulling the white bib-garment off. (His godparents, my brother Ricky and his wife Christina, drove all the way from Rhode Island with their sons, ages 2 and five weeks, spending almost as long in the car as we did on the flight from Beijing to Chicago. We were so, so very grateful to them for making the trek.)
Louis happily wore an outfit we bought in China, but he was even happier to trade it for a Spiderman T-shirt and a party at a house full of toys and cousins--three of whom were also born in 2007. We discovered that Louis likes cake, though my mother tells me that hot milk sponge cake isn't a key part of a calcium-rich diet!
This morning we took Louis to storytime at a local library where my sister Treasa is the children's librarian. Many of his cousins were there, and he was so excited to see them again. He made himself right at home, stealing Aunt Treasa's tambourine and hurling Humpty Dumpty from the felt board wall. We picked out a few books to bring home, though we'll wait for another day to get him his own library card.
Meanwhile, we definitely notice that Louis is mimicking the sounds of our words. Before storytime began, he was sitting on John's lap pretending to read a book aloud, and my mother realized Louis was reciting "Peek-a-Who," his other favorite book. He didn't have the words right, but he was making the vowel sounds and saying it the same way we say it when we read it. It is such fun to watch him learn, and he's teaching us a few things, too. As new parents of a toddler, we know we have missed many milestones along the way, but every day we discover more that Louis is capable of, and that is such a joy.
Ewen has the "Peek-a-Moo" and "Peek-a-Zoo" books! ha, ha! He loved those when he first came over. He's moved on to other things now, usually involving cars, trucks & heavy equipment! Before we brought Ewen home, I was so sad that we'd missed so much including 2 birthdays, but after we got him, it felt like he was with us forever, and all the missing out just melted away! Today we're celebrating his first birthday (okay, it's his 3rd, but 1st for us.)
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