What a month!

This month has been crazy! Diego turned 2, he had his first birthday party, he has helped daddy with couple of house projects, he sleeps now in a twin size bed with rails, and I had a conversation with Carol about our next adoption!!! Yes, you heard right!

I started a posting about Diego turning 2 a bit before his birthday, but as you notice I never got to post it. Oh well, at least you got to see pictures and see how much our little boy has changed! One of the things most people say is how happy he looks. He has a big smile most of the time (when he is not sucking his thumb) and now he truly looks like a 2 year old toddler! Why do I say that?!? For many many months after he came home I got so many comments (usually from strangers at the library, etc) about how little he was or guessing his age and always thinking he was way younger than his age. Diego was born at 32 weeks of gestation and weighted a bit less than 3 pounds. When we met Diego at 12 months he weighted 17.5 lb, at 13.5 months he weighted 20 lbs (quite surprising how he gained 2.5 lbs in less than 2 months), and now he weights 27 lbs 10 oz! In one year he went from 5th percentile to 40th percentile by weight!! His head circumference also grew and is now at the 50th percentile. But even most amazing is that one year ago he was only 27.5 inches long (5th percentile) and now he is 35.5 inches long (75th percentile)!! He is now a long, skinny dude, and we love every inch of him!!!

Now, don't get me wrong, we would love him the same if he was small, but it is quite rewarding for us to see that with a loooooot of love, care, patience, and good nutrition we were able to help Diego (who is still a very picky eater and does not seem too interested in food) to grow strong and overcome his not so easy beginnings. That means that this year we will finally able to chill with the food. If sometimes he is not super hungry and doesn't want to finish his plate, I won't push it; as his speech/feeding therapist told me once "I have to back off", and let him eat when he wants...

Diego continues to learn new words and I really enjoy the visits of the therapists every week. On Mondays we have the developmental specialist coming and she pretty much just bring cool toys for him to show off or learn a new skill. I sit with them, but I pretty much just look and enjoy watching Diego discovering new things! He makes me quite proud! On Tuesdays we have the speech therapist coming and even though I think he gives her a harder time (he almost always decides to jump on his trampoline when she is here), Diego has learned sooooooo many words!!! I keep thinking on making the list of all the words he knows, but I haven't done it, but I am pretty sure he is now saying about 50 words! Now that he is two, as the speech therapist reminded me, we need to work on words with two syllables and two words together... Unfortunately last week I found out that there is the really high probability that as a part of the state budget cuts, the early intervention services will be eliminated... I was asked to write a letter to the governor explaining why these services are so important to my family and requesting her to continue supporting the early intervention program, but we will see what happens.... The developmental specialist told me that she things Diego will move forward and continue catching up with the skills he is a bit behind, it will take just more of my and Mark's perseverance to help him...

In the last month Mark built a sandbox for Diego and also couple of tables for our patio. Mark was very thrilled to use the nail gun he got for Christmas and it was quite nice to see how interested Diego was in helping his daddy... He "helped" Mark holding the drill few times, passing screws, carrying few small pieces of wood, etc... Let's see how it will be when we start the bathroom remodeling!

Diego continues sleeping in our bed. He used to join us between midnight to 2 am, but a few weeks ago he started waking every hour after falling asleep and coming to our bed by 10:30 pm, which is kind of early for us. But then, in bed he would be tossing and turning A LOT, and the sleep would be quite horrible. Nap time was also kind of tricky with him sleeping for 45 minutes or so and then "kidnapping" me (made me lay in the twin bed with him while he slept on top of me) for another hour or so. Then, I got the thought that maybe he liked the feeling of a bed (the twin bed or our bed) better than the crib. So, as of last Saturday, he officially takes naps and sleeps at night in his twin bed with railings on the side and at the foot of the bed. The naps have improved and he has slept straight for 1.5 hours. At night, he is now sleeping straight from 8:15 pm until 11 pm ish, so there is some improvement! Yeah!

Now, the topic that you may be wondering. My call to Carol. For the last 4 months or so we have been thinking about if or when our next adoption would be. Diego's attachment feels more secure and he just seems better adjusted to his family life. And after filling our tax return and checking our finances, Mark and I realized that if we continue saving a bit more and complete our home study by the end of this year, the 2010 would be the year to bring our daughter home! I called Carol on Friday to give her an update on Diego and chat about our plans for our girl. It was nice talking to her and finding out how the process is working now to adopt a girl... She mentioned that right now it could take from 6 to 8 months to travel for trip 1 (for Moscow Region) if the family is open to any ethnicity, quite different than the 1 month we waited for Diego's referral! But I guess, the waiting will be different while keeping busy with Diego... I know it's still way out there in the future, but at least it is in the horizon and I really like planning things ahead a time!

So now, as usual, some pictures of Diego! Few pics from his birthday party, his little Kawasaki (grandpa's present), chilling and playing with daddy, and just looking cute!