One year ago today I met my babies! What a wonderful day that was for me!!! What a scary day that was for Katie Mumbi. We talk about it often and Kate tells me about how she was scared to leave her orphanage that morning, then fly on a big scary airplane, then drive a long time in a car, and then meet this strange woman with light skin, and then be left with that strange woman. She says she very was nervous but then I gave her food and gave her a bath and she started to feel better.
So much has changed over the past year. But in most ways Katie Mumbi and Nat are exactly the same. They are who they are because of their beginning with their parents and their time in their orphanage. That is just such an integral part of who they are today. I never forget that. But reading what I wrote one year ago today definitely reinforces that:
KATE - ONE YEAR LATER
It was also funny to read in that first post, "I think she understands a little Swahili." Um...yeah...by day 2 or 3 I figured out that Katie Mumbi was completely fluent in Swahili and a total chatterbox. Sadly, she has lost most of her Swahili - but her English is AMAZING!!! The vocabulary this kid has rivals her big sister's at that age. And when a word escapes her she is so clever in figuring out how to communicate. The other day she wanted to ask for something from the fridge but couldn't remember the word. So she sat cross legged in the kitchen and pointed to her legs and said she would like "this." I completely understood that she was referring to criss-cross applesauce and she was asking for applesauce. This child is absolutely brilliant! I can't wait to teach her chess!!! Kate is also picking up some German from me and continuing with French at her weekly French class (i.e. hanging out with the French teacher while I teach chess at the French school). We try to keep up some Swahili but our resources are limited. She will be attending preschool in the Fall in a wonderful program that welcomes many children of African refugee families. Maybe she will have a classmate that speaks Swahili. But whether it be English, German, French, or Swahili this kid talks NON-STOP. And she asks "why" 50+ times a day.
Katie Mumbi is still a great eater - when a food is her favorite. When it is a not-so-favorite food item she can really be stubborn. We are working on that. She still loves baby dolls and books and spends most of her at home time reading or playing with her babies. The latest fascination has been to play "baby Moses" complete with baskets, the river Nile, and the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. Kate is still a tiny little thing (for her age) and people are so surprised when she tells them she is 3 years old. She is finally growing into a 2T (sometimes even a 3T) and she now wears a size 8 shoe. Over the past year she has added about 8 pounds and grown almost 5 inches. Her ringworm is gone and her scalp is healing. She still has some sparse patches on her head but her hair is starting to fill in.
Did I mention how beautiful she is? Katie Mumbi has a striking face. We have a wonderful relationship with the family who adopted her older sister, Numbi, and these girls are both crazy beautiful! As much as I want my kids to develop their intelligence and use their gifts to serve God, this kid might be destined for the stage. She is constantly singing and dancing and "fake crying" - at home and out in public. I get some looks. We may just have to help her channel her performing in a way that uses her God given talents to do His work.
Most importantly, this girl can LOVE!!! She adores her Daddy. She wants to be exactly like her big sister. And even though she fights with her brothers she does adore them both. The sun rises and sets on her Auntie Erin. She still holds a candle for her Congo boyfriend, Joseph, and insists she will marry him. She will tell you how much she loves our priest, Monsignor Carr, and Miss Joan at Whole Foods. Both Millies, her friend and our dog, are dear to her heart. But most of all she is a Mama's girl. She still wants Mama to be the one to hold her or carry her. She needs Mama when she has an aua (owie or boo-boo). She can nap without Mama but to sleep through the night she still wants Mama. She loves me!!! And I love her!!!
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| Katie Mumbi - May 3, 2012 |
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| Katie Mumbi - May 3, 2013 |
NAT - ONE YEAR LATER
Oh (with a sigh!)...Our precious buggy boy! How he worries us. Nat is a tiny little peanut with feeding problems and health problems. Recently, he caught a stomach bug and threw up for days, didn't eat for several more days, and had strep at the same time! That was on top of his usual stuff. I try to limit Nat's therapy/doctors appointments to only two per week. But he is bowlegged. He STILL has ringworm. I was reminded after reading that second post...he did have scabies but that nasty ringworm was also at play. The poor guy had staph and strep infections all over his skin. And he STILL doesn't eat properly! We are shooting for normal food consumption by the age of 3. No, really...that's the official goal.
On that first day with the babies I had to shove a bottle in Nat's mouth and force it. He was SO malnourished and SO hungry - but he had never had a bottle before. He had been cup fed a thin baby porridge. He would gladly put all kinds of food in his mouth but he wouldn't swallow. Well...it turns out that nursing from a breast or a bottle goes a long way in developing the swallow reflex...and he didn't get to do that. So now we have our weekly visits with Miss JoAnne and Miss Shelby and he is making huge progress. Nat will now (sometimes) happily eat and swallow a Tablespoon or more of food at a meal. On a rare occasion he will eat almost 1/4 cup of food! That's when we do the happy dance. But, for the most part, Natty gets his nourishment in the form of Pediasure from a bottle. At least now (if he's in the mood and I lay him back on a pillow) I can hand him a bottle and he will put in his mouth and hold it on his own. That is a victory!!! And that mom who raised her eyebrows at my (then) 18 month old eating from a bottle needs to mind her own business.
Natty boy had grown 4 inches and gained 9 pounds in the past year. Now his head doesn't look so odd/concerning, thank goodness! His feet haven't grown more than a half size but that's got to accelerate at some point, right? He went from a toothless 8 month old to a toothless 11 month old, but now he is an almost 20 month old little boy with 12 teeth. Nat is still a tiny little guy. He fills out a 6-12 month size nicely. The next size up is 12-18 months and he kind of swims in that (except for his big belly.) But considering he will be 20 months old in three days he really is a tiny little guy. After we do his "modified barium swallow study" (yes, that is a thing) I think I may take him to an endocrinologist just to make sure we aren't missing something.
Thankfully, Nat is a happy boy! And he is doing AWESOME in his development. He went from not being able to roll over at 9 months to being a promising rock climber at 19 months. This kid can high step and mantle! He has no fear of going up. It's just the coming down that causes problems. I am just grateful that he is appropriately cautious and not a daredevil who will just hang and drop. Buggy has some impressive dance moves! He will dance to almost anything (including ballet - complete with ballet shoes and tutu) but his favorite thing is to dance Gangnam Style!
Talking is...ummm...developing. But we aren't too worried about that. Verbal expression is linked to oral-motor development and those are things we are working on. Nat was becoming quite the fussy-mussy so we started baby signs at 12 months and that has made a world of difference. Fortunately, his receptive language is awesome! Nat understands, EVERYTHING we say. And he is completely capable of responding through action, nodding, grunting, or some form of verbal expression. A lot of his verbal expression sounds like "da" or "ba" but his unmistakable words include, "Mama", "Dada", "ball", "ba ba" (interchangeable for basketball or baseball), "wawa" (water), "ee" (please), "ou i" (outside), and "eh mah" (yes Mam). He signs/grunts at least 20 more words.
The most adorable thing he has been doing lately is singing and saying prayers. We have certain songs we sing and we same the same prayers at dinner and bedtime. Nat totally knows the songs and prayers. I will catch him "singing" and I can tell what he is singing by the tune. He has very nice pitch! And I can tell which rhyme it is by his rhythm and hand motions. Lately I've had to keep myself from laughing during prayers. He has them memorized and as we pray he will say the last word or syllable from each line in the verse. Jeff jokes that Nat is just rapping. I say that my baby is called to the priesthood! I do need to bring the iPad in at bedtime to record our, "holy Mary, Mother of" - then we can be totally silent as Nat yells, "God!"
Nat's two great joys in life are being outside and playing ball. All wrongs in the world are made right if I just open up the kitchen doors and let him play outside on the deck. He loves to dig in dirt, play with bugs, carry sticks and leaves, etc. And if he sees a ball he MUST hold and/or bounce and or/throw that ball. Nat loves anything that involves a ball! His 6'2" brother is trying to groom him to be a basketball player. Nat definitely adores basketball, but considering he is (just now finally) on the growth chart at a whopping 3%, I think we might be better off encouraging baseball. At least he will have a challenging strike zone. I recently took Natty to his first baseball game and he was such a happy boy! He will also tell you all about his "beh bah baa" (baseball bat).
Our Cuddle Bug is definitely still a sweet and loving baby boy! He gives me great kisses and wonderful hugs. But as soon as his Daddy walks through the door he pushes off from me and can't get to Daddy fast enough. He often cries when Daddy leaves without him. Nat wants to sit in Daddy's lap and have Daddy help him eat his smoothie or read a book. Yes, Daddy is the hero (and Daddy likes that job very much!)
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| Nat - May 3, 2012 |
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| Nat - May 3, 2013 |
One year ago today I woke up, ate breakfast, visited with my Dad and my new friends, and then waited for strangers to arrive and place two children in my arms so that I could be their mother. So much has happened since then and it seems like that was such a long time ago. These children have become my children so deeply that it is hard to remember our family before they arrived. But with every memory of that day and the six weeks that followed being so incredibly vivid is also feels like it was just yesterday.
-B
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