One week today...

It is a week today since JM literally entered our lives, and it’s been the most wonderful blur ever since! He is becoming more and more a part of the family. This morning he was carrying around a photo album we had sent over to him at CRIBS with photos of our immediate family. We discovered on our arrival at CRIBS that they had shown him that album every day for the last 5 months. This might explain why he was so comfortable seeing us for the first time. Today as we looked at the album together he walked around the house saying the names of the people we had looked at together. Soooo beautiful, it’s also pretty amazing to hear him saying mummy and daddy so much more frequently. As we reflect on the last week (finding it hard to believe it had only been a week) bath time tonight stood out... When we first picked JM up CRIBS had told us he had a bath every night, so at the end of the first day we dutifully plonked him in the bath with Will. He sat there like a stunned mullet and wouldn’t let go of our hand. This happened for the next couple of nights... when we went to ICAB on the Thursday to pick up JM’s papers, the Social Worker said, “of course you know when they said bath they meant ‘bathe’, on a stool with a bucket...”. Well we do now! That explains the completely freaked out look on his face when we sat him in water! In our last post we said when JM heard the water running for the bath he started to strip off, well tonight I just said the word bath and headed for the bathroom and he already had his trackies and nappy off! Whilst he was sitting in the bath with Will splashing away, having just sung the “Barney” theme song... ‘I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won’t you say you love me too?’ he spontaneously stood up and gave Liss a kiss on the lips. Oh my gosh, amazing. He also said ‘love you daddy’ after dinner tonight, seriously brilliant.

Other things too... like instead of just saying a very enthusiastic ‘amen’ at the end of grace now, he actually looks at all of us when we sit at the table, and hold out his hand so we can all hold hands together.

We’ve been encouraging him not to wear shoes inside the house (esp. with all the rain/mud we’ve had), so have been saying ‘shoes off’ every time we enter the house as we take or shoes off... first few days he totally cracked it (I don’t know if we mentioned it but he has a serious thing for shoes, and it’s even worse when you head for the door and think you’re going somewhere, it’s like the look puppies get you when you bring out a leash for a walk), anyway this afternoon when we get in, he pipes up and says ‘shoes off’. He is truly amazing and soooo sooo beautiful.

Speaking of amazing, Will has been equally impressive. Nothing JM has thrown at him has been too much, he has been patient, gracious, and still wants to help out and be ‘on duty’ each night. He’s back at school tomorrow and we asked if he’d like to be bed in his big bed to get a really good sleep for the big day, and he just said ‘no thanks, remember I’m on duty for this week?’ xo