Confession of an awful mom: Editing

I love the show Everybody Loves Raymond. I remember the episode where Robert & Amy finally get married. Everything goes wrong. And Rays toast is on editing. He basically said the photos won't show the craziness and fighting. The photos will show the happy moments. Isn't that true with most family photos/memories. No one takes a photo when you are a raging lunatic or in the middle of an argument. That's kinda how these photos go.

It might look like this was a lot of fun and in a few years maybe I'll forget that I wanted to pull my hair out. It's frustrating being a photographer and having your child be fussy and not sit still for our perfect family photo. Maybe (ok-probably) my expectations were too high when all 3 of us were having a crabby, fussy day . BUT STILL! I wanted a cute photo damn it!

At 18 months old

Tesfa is now able to say about 30 words. It's amazing that in one month he literally acquired a new word almost everyday. They are not always pronounced well but I get him. Yesterday his word was shadow. Today he saw a shadow on our shed and kissed it. Kinda icky but still cute. He is something else.

Right now we are having a rough phase. The first of his canine teeth are coming in-seems it takes 2 months or more for this one tooth. I haven't slept well at all but am trying not to stress about it too much since I know it will change soon. Today he was sobbing hysterically because he drooled on a toy so much that it stopped working. Tears, drool and snot just poured from him. I'm a little nervous about this weekend. We are supposed to go to the memorial service for Joels grandmother, but if T is sick he and I can't go.

Soapbox Savior

I just got into a rather heated facebook discussion with another ET adoptive mama. It makes me shake just thinking about it. Moral of the story was someone said Uganda is having ethical concerns and the poster was attacked (maybe too strong of a word) for questioning adoptions. The attacker went on to say how she had saved her son and that God had willed it. In her opinion only people with good experiences should share their stories. Really? It infuriates me so!

I am not a saint for adopting my son. Maybe God choose us for him but I'm not sure why we got so lucky. And for the life of me I can't figure out what that means for his birth family.

And why would you tell someone to ignore the bad experiences? Do people really think that God places the child in your family and that's that-don't worry yourself with ethics. Awesome-what could go wrong?

Sunday Snapshots

We were visiting family last weekend and took Tesfa to the farm. Tesfa got to play in a sandbox filled with dried corn (a brilliant idea), pet animals and take a hay ride. Best of all he got some quality time with his cousins.

Attachement thing?

So lately Tesfa has been around our family quite a bit. He and I went to my parents house last weekend so Joel could get some painting and stuff done. We saw my brother and his family, my parents and two different close friends. Tesfa seemed very comfortable. He still came to me when he fell or got sad. I feel like our attachement is very solid. Really I've questioned it very little since he has been home. He began looking to us to see if someone was 'ok' pretty quickly after coming home. Which is why it seems a little silly to question his attachement. The other day at the park he took someone's hand and let her pick him up. She asked if it was ok first (she had a son the same age as Tesfa and he was adopted as well). I didn't think too much of it. Then this morning he grabbed a womans hand when we were walking and tried to get her to stay and play. At the library today he tried to get someone to help him get a toy (when I told him no).

I'm leaning towards thinking it's nothing. I feel like he knows that he is around people that are safe when he is with my husband or I (which is always). We are heading to Joels parents house this weekend for a visit. He was really excited to see his "PaPa" the other day and I think he'll do well. He used to be much more hesitant around people but seems to have relaxed quite a bit. So is he just more confident or is it an attachment thing?