Two months ago, we met and became parents to the most amazing little boy in a musty conference room in Hangzhou, China. I still pinch myself sometimes when I realize just how lucky I am to be called his mama!
If you haven’t yet seen our video of our trip to China and homecoming, click HERE.
So, here’s what we’ve been up to in month two!
LANGUAGE: Brooks has added a few new words to his vocabulary this month! He has now mastered “bye-bye” with a wave and a smile, and “hello,” although it truthfully sounds more like “hola.” 😉 One of our favorite things that he does right now is pick up just about any toy, put it up to his ear or mouth, and say “hola.” It’s the cutest thing! He has also started saying “lala” when you say “love you” to him. He will imitate most things we say, and babbles ALL THE TIME. I also think he is understanding us more now. I can ask him to go get the ball or put the cracker in the trash or come here, and he’ll pretty much do it. It’s remarkable to watch his little brain at work – he’s an absolute sponge!
“Hola!”
PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT: Since his first well-check, Brooks has gained just over a pound and grown half an inch! It’s not much, but we’ll take it! His head stayed the same, but that’s okay…the measurements were only taken six weeks apart after all. He learned how to climb this month (see above) and thinks that’s pretty cool…Mom disagrees. 😉 He also became a FAST walker, and he likes to hold my hand and drag me everywhere. We’ve also noticed a huge leap in his interactions with his siblings. He’ll play peekaboo, roll the ball with them, or try to feed them his snacks. He has also figured out how to go up stairs, but reaches for a hand to help him come back down. The other thing he discovered this month were riding toys…he’s a big fan!
Clear the roads, people!
This is his “don’t you dare make me get off this motorcycle, lady” look. 🙂
ATTACHMENT: Brooks is VERY, VERY attached to me, and I have the sore arms and back problems to prove it. 😉 He still very willingly and happily goes to Blake, but since he’s with me 24/7, he’s become a mama’s boy. He has shown a lot more stranger danger this month, and he no longer willingly goes to just anybody. He has even become a little stingy with his high fives, but that’s totally okay and age-appropriate. These are all things we SHOULD be seeing that indicate he’s forming a very healthy attachment, so we are thrilled with how that is all going. It was very interesting to us the other day that when Kate was playing the orphanage video on my phone of him where he is held by his second “mama,” he didn’t get upset by it or really even seem to care. His ears perked up, but he didn’t want to watch it and wasn’t mad after. I’m truthfully not sure whether or not he even remembers it anymore, but we continue to tell him his story and show him pictures. It’s all just part of the process.
SLEEPING: He continues to sleep VERY well at night in his crib, but with his bronchitis this month, naps were hard. We are very much in the “one nap vs. two nap” limbo that is so typical of this age group, so we just go with the flow and try to nap when we can. Ideally, he’ll nap from about 11:30-1:30 every day, but some days he can’t make it to 11:30, and that’s okay. It’s hard to be one.
FOOD: HUGE progress in this department this month! We are losing the scarcity mentality! It’s become very obvious to us this month that Brooks no longer feels insecure about food, and he’s beginning to trust that we will always feed him. He has started to become pickier about what he eats and will actually turn his head or say “no” to certain foods. It sounds totally counter-intuitive to say that’s a positive thing as a parent, but we see it as a success because he understands there’s MORE. In China, he ate every bite of everything we ever offered, primarily because he thought if he didn’t, he’d starve. He doesn’t think that anymore from what we can tell. He will even go so far as to feed us some of his food – a huge sign of attachment and food security. He continues to love dumplings, rice, grapes, yogurt, oranges, anything out of a pouch, noodles, and french fries. We have to work hard to get him to eat meat, and he’s decided he doesn’t love milk, but we still try with both everyday.
HEALTH: The biggest hurdle we faced this month with Brooks was bronchiolitis that developed into an ear infection. He had to be put on a nebulizer and needed breathing treatments for nearly two weeks to clear it up. Not fun at all. We aren’t certain yet whether or not this is an indication that he’ll have asthma down the road or if his lungs are just a little weaker because he was premature. Time will tell, but for now, we are getting a crash course in pulmonology and doing the best we can. I’ve been very overwhelmed at times by all of it, especially because breathing is such a scary and somewhat life-threatening issue, but I’ve been reassured by lots of experienced moms that it gets easier as they get older and that it can be outgrown. Fingers crossed! His eczema also totally cleared up this month, so that was amazing! No more steroids!
Doctor visits…no fun!
RANDOM FACTS: This month, Brooks celebrated his first Christmas at home! He was a little bit overwhelmed by all of the fuss, and he struggled some with all of the guests that came over, but he loved his new toys and chair and we loved having him home for it!
This kid is NON-STOP and wants to be in the mix! We learned this month that he loves trampolines and bounce houses, and he will jump on anything!
His happy place is outside…as long as the sun is not in his eyes. He does NOT appreciate that.
He is a HAM and loves to be the center of attention. It was next to impossible to keep him off the preschool stage during his siblings’ performance.
He is FULLY ONE…destructive, funny, and HIGH-MAINTENANCE!
Other than mama and daddy, his two favorite people in the world are, hands down, his siblings.
Brooks saw his first snow this month! He was…less than impressed. Haha.
And finally…we got his Certificate of Citizenship in the mail this week! Eeeek! He’s officially Brooks Andrew Ezell, American citizen, in the eyes of our US government. So exciting! Now we get to go get him a Social Security card…womp womp…
Thanks for continuing to follow his journey! Have a great week, friends!
Allison Ezell 