A Boy and His Books

Our little boy is such a reader, and we are LOVING it! Truman is constantly going over to his book corner and bringing us books to read to him - it is seriously the cutest thing I have ever witnessed. Here is Truman picking out some reading material (oh, and check out how long his hair is getting - isn't it cute?)

Swimming Lessons Are Back

Swimming lessons started back up this Saturday (yay!) and Truman continues to love being in the water. He has now mastered the art of splashing, and as soon as he entered the water he was splashing Daddy. The new camera seemed to work really well at taking pictures of the boys in the pool - enjoy! (p.s. I love how determined Truman looks in the last picture!)

Melkam Ganna (2 days late)!

Melkam Ganna is Amharic for Merry Christmas - Friday was Ethiopian Christmas and we were so excited to be able to celebrate with Sweet T! We decided to make our first traditional Ethiopian meal. On the menu was Yesimer Wat (a stew made with lentils and tomatoes), Shiro Wat (a stew made with chickpeas, potatoes, and carrots), and, of course, injera (the traditional bread served with Ethiopian food). We also decided to put up a Christmas tree - while that's not traditional for typical Ethiopian Christmases, we have heard that in Addis Ababa it's becoming more common for families to have trees. We decided to decorate our tree with ribbons in the colors of the Ethiopian flag - I think it turned out cute!


Anyway, the meal turned out a lot easier to make than expected (thanks in large part to Shea prepping all the veggies earlier in the day). It just felt so nice to be making Ethiopian food with Ethiopian jazz playing in the background and our sweet baby boy playing in the kitchen. The Shiro Wat was delicious (thanks for the recommendation, Tera!), the Yesimer Wat was okay (I think next time we'll use more berbere, which is the traditional blend of spices used in Ethiopian cooking), and the injera was really good! (sure, it wasn't "true" injera because we don't have access to the grain tef which is the main ingredient in injera, but our imitation wasn't half-bad!). Truman also got his first taste of Ethiopian food. While the Shiro Wat was a bit spicy for him, he seemed to enjoy the Yesimer Wat! Here are some pictures of our spread and our boy trying his first Ethiopian food:



After dinner we gave Truman his gift - we hadn't given him anything at Christmas in NY and went small this year, giving him a puzzle (we're not huge on accumulating lots of material things in our house - except books, of course!). Customarily children are given clothing at Ethiopian Christmas, so we're planning on starting that tradition next year. Here's Truman enjoying his gift, which makes animal noises when you put the puzzle pieces in the correct spots:

Christmas Extravaganza: Part 2

Sorry for the delay in postings about Christmas in NY - Truman's been doing so many cute things lately and I've been trying to keep up with blogging about the present day stuff, too. Anywho, because Christmas day was so packed with events already, we decided to have "Christmas morning" at Grandma Bernard's on December 26th. We had a wonderfully relaxed morning hanging out until Uncle Steve woke-up and then taking our time opening and enjoying our gifts. This year most of the gifts that we gave were Truman-focused (surprise, surprise!), and Grandma B and Uncle Steve enjoyed their framed pictures of our little man. Grandma B also enjoyed the photo album we put together for her (if you look closely you can see her crying) and Truman had fun with his new toy train!










The next day, December 27th, we enjoyed a Christmas celebration at Grandad Bigsby and Nadine's. It was the first time Shea's older brothers (and their families) were able to meet Truman, so it was an exciting day! At some points Truman started to get a tiny bit overwhelmed, but he was able to calm himself down by looking out the window at the pretty snow - he loved watching it! Truman also had his first dental exam from Grandad Bigsby - it wasn't Truman's favorite experience but he made it through and everything looks great!







The final "official" holiday party came on December 29th, when Truman was able to meet some of Grandpa Steve's family, including Great-Grammy Simmons, Great-Aunt Karen, Great-Uncle Rich, Great-Aunt Debbie, and some more cousins. Once again, it was just so great to have Truman meet everyone. Honestly, I think the theme of this trip was how overwhelmed Shea and I were by the amount of love given to our little boy!







Finally, here is a random assortment of other pictures we like that we took while in NY. It was such a great trip and we feel so lucky that everything went as smoothly as it did. When we started the adoption process in 2009 we weren't sure if we would be matched with a child by Christmas, let alone have him home with us for good - how lucky are we??

Truman Reads and Kisses

Okay, final video of the night :-) Over Christmas break we discovered that Truman knows how to give kisses (it melts my heart every time!) Here is a video of him reading a book with Shea - at the end of the book is a mirror, and every time we read the book he gives the baby in the mirror a little kiss - so sweet!!

Truman Walks with his Car

Truman is really starting to get the hang of his new Push and Ride Racer. We took a few videos of him using it tonight and couldn't decide on a favorite, so I put two short clips together into one video - enjoy!

Truman Runs Away From Daddy!

Whenever we go to change Truman's diaper, he tries to crawl away - and he thinks it's hilarious when he can outrun Daddy!

Truman's First Guitar Lesson

Truman loves listening to Daddy play guitar (so does Mommy!), and yesterday he received his first guitar lesson:

Teeth and Tickles!

Today Truman's 7th tooth broke through - it's on the bottom left next to his front tooth. Even with the aching from that, our sweet boy was able to enjoy some tickle-time with Mommy and Daddy.