All the News That's Fit to Print

Long time, no blog. For those of you who are wondering, here's the latest news from Williamworld:

Now You See Us, Now You Don't: Over the past couple of weeks, we've been working on acclimating William to the church nursery. At the recommendation of our adoption pediatrician, we waited until he was 1 year old to start. Unlike leaving him in weekly daycare, the once-a-week nursery visits don't occur with enough regularity for him to get used to be left alone in an environment reminiscent of an orphanage.

We've kept him with us during the singing portion of the service, then have tried to leave him in the nursery for progressively longer 15 minute increments. We'd hang out with him for a while, then say a quick goodbye. Sometimes he would let us leave with no protest, sometimes he'd unleash the waterworks as he did with Craig the previous week.

I'm happy to report that last week was William's first successful week alone during the whole sermon time. He was so happy to see me that he did a semi-jump into my arms and squeezed me as tightly as his little arms could muster. Score one for bonding!

This Fish Has Gone to Heaven. About a year and a half ago, we purchased three goldfish for Andrew. He named one Franklin and the other two Franklin's Mom and Franklin's Dad. Two of them have since passed. Since they all looked alike to me, I couldn't tell who had survived. Several days ago, Fish #3 departed for the pearly gates via the commode (shhh... don't tell Andrew). William really loved looking at the lone fish swimming about in his tank. He'd get very excited at the "Yu" and would slap at the aquarium glass, scaring the poor fish. Swim free, #3, swim free.

Gimme Three Steps: I won't call it walking just yet. It was more like not realizing he was moving from the glider ottoman to his nightstand in three quick steps. Andrew and I gave William a hearty round of applause and he received it shamelessly, clapping for himself and cheering, "Yaaaaaay!" He's done this a few times over the last couple of days but overall, the m.o. still comes down to crawling along on all fours.

The Book Is Finished! Sadly, I don't mean my novel, though I have been making some slow progress on it lately. The photobook which we had sent off to be printed and bound for William's biological mom was shipped back to us. Overall, I am very pleased with how it turned out.

We ordered two copies, one to send to Taiwan and one to keep for ourselves. Gracyn's mom, Tiffanie, who is on her way to Taiwan in just a few weeks, has graciously offered to transport a copy to St. Lucy's for us. If you have a free moment, hop on over to her blog and cheer for her soon-to-expand family.


Bottle Boot Camp: I decided this morning that it was high time for William to learn how to hold his bottle and sippy cup by himself. I'm told that the caretakers at St. Lucy's would prop up the bottles for the babies who wouldn't/couldn't hold them by themselves. You'd think that a good eater like William would be the first to learn to hold his own, but alas, no.

William was none too pleased about the new policy. He couldn't get the hang of tipping the bottle upwards to get the milk flowing down into his mouth. Every once in a while, he'd get it right, but for the most part, it was I trying to prop his elbows up high while he gripped the bottle. There was a lot of crying and a lot of spilled milk. We definitely have our work cut out for us. It's Mommy vs. William in the battle of the bottle. Who will triumph and who will be left in tears?


The Early Bird Makes Nice (for Now): You know that feeling of being so tired it feels like you've been punched in the head a couple of times? So do we, thanks to our little early riser. For the past few months, William was in the habit of waking between 5:00 to 6:00 a.m.

This past week has seen a welcome shift in his wake time. He has arisen between 6:00 - 6:45 a.m. God be praised! What a difference an extra 30 - 45 minutes of sleep can make.

By the way, if you happen to know when Daylight Savings Time falls, please don't tell me. I don't want to know. Let me just savor the feeling of being able to get through the days without that fuzzy-headed feeling.