As we've mentioned before, Shea stays home with Truman every Wednesday. Lately, at the suggestion of Truman's speech pathologist, we've been trying to have some more structured "work" times during the day. Because Truman is SUPER busy, it was recommended that we put him in a chair for certain periods of the day in order to help him focus on different activities. Last Wednesday Shea took these cute pictures of their work time. And the strategy seems to be working. Within the last week Truman has said his first and second official words! ("bath" was first, which was said on Sunday, followed by "ball" which he said tonight :-) We are so proud of our little worker bee!!!
Truman's daycare recently asked us to make Truman a Family Poster. They thought it would be nice if the children each had pictures of their family that they could look at during the school day. We decided to use the colors of the Ethiopian flag in Truman's poster. Here's what we came up with - we think it came out great!
This summer we decided to stop attending swim lessons while outdoor pools were available. Now that the pools are closed we signed Truman back up for swim lessons at the local YMCA. Our boy truly loves the water! Last week Mommy got to go in the water with Truman, and this week it was Daddy's turn. Here are some of our favorite pictures from each lesson.
Mommy's Turn: Daddy's Turn: And look at this funny comparison - looks like Truman has consistent 'diving' form! :-)
Sorry for the drought of videos! Here's a really cute one from a couple of weeks ago - Truman gets laughing at Oskar so hard that he falls over! (Be forewarned that the wind gets a bit loud in the background :-)
Our boy is obsessed with milk! I swear, he would drink it all day long if he could. A couple of days ago he found an empty milk jug in the recycling and had to check to make sure there weren't any extra drops left. Perhaps his love of milk explains how he is in the 85th percentile for height?? I have a feeling that within the blink of an eye Truman is going to be towering over his momma and papa :-)
Welcome to our blog! We started this blog in order to stay more in touch with family and friends, especially as we make our way through our Ethiopian adoption journey. For those who don't know, Shea is currently getting his PhD in English and Alison is a school psychologist with a local school district. We are loving life with our little boy!
April - October 2009 - Began thinking about adding a child to our family and started looking into different programs and agencies October 30 - Submitted application to WACAP & Nathanson Homestudy Services November 4 - Accepted into WACAP's program (and so the paperchase begins!) November 7 - Accepted by Nathanson November 12- 1st Homestudy Visit November 17 - 2nd Homestudy Visit November 24 - 3rd (and final!) Homestudy Visit November 25 - All reference letters received November 27 - Mailed I-600A Application to USCIS December 20 - Homestudy complete and sent to WACAP December 21 - Welcome phonecall with WACAP - officially in Ethiopian program January 6 - Fingerprints Completed January 11 - Received 171H! Officially on waitlist!! May 5 - Referral!!!! (shock, happiness, pure joy!) June 15 - Received court date for July 1st! July 1 - Court Date - Truman Bekalu is legally our child! This is also the date we took custody of Truman July 27 - Embassy Date July 30 - Home Forever! September 24 - Received official US Certificate of Citzenship October 20 - First Post-Placement Meeting January 13 - Second Post-Placement Meeting August 31 - Third (and final!) Post-Placement Meeting