Our sweet, wild Man Cub turned one year old today.
He has Haylee's hair and complexion with Taylah's face. Which is just the opposite of JJ, who has Taylah's hair and complexion with Haylee's face. It's funny, because Haylee and JJ have very similar faces and very similar personalities, and I can already see Man Cub's personality shaping up to be more similar to Taylah's. He is so busy and full of LIFE and spunk and happiness... except when he isn't... and then his unhappiness is equally vibrant. But thankfully that doesn't usually last long.
He has brought more joy to our family in the past year than I even knew was possible. Our home is full of so many more smiles and laughs every single day just because he is in it. He has also been an incredibly healing gift from God for my weary, infertile heart.
I wanted to record some of his milestones here, so that I will remember them and also for you, my friends, to get a peek into how he's doing.
He started walking at 10.5 months and is now running wildly wherever he likes. I knew from very, very early on that even though he's always been a very happy and easy baby, he would be very active once he was mobile, and he has proved me right!
He has 11 teeth, and is working on his 12th. Crazy, I KNOW, but he has been the easiest teether. He was cutting two molars at the same time, and I didn't even know it until I got a glance inside his mouth when he threw his head back in laughter one day. Teeth just don't phase him at all. It's unbelievable.
He says and understands a lot of words, which is new to us as parents and so much fun. He most regularly says: Mama, Dada, da (dog), ca (cat), baba (bottle), bye-bye, di-pah (diaper), poo-poo, boo, pa pa (patty cake), and go. He also tries to repeat a lot of what we say, my favorite being "dah-oo," when I say I love you.
He likes his brothers ok (though, let's be honest, neither of them really know how to play appropriately with him yet, and often end up accidentally hurting him), but he LOVES his sisters. When they are in their room with the door closed, he will go bang on it and yell at them to come out, and when he sees either of them he squeals with delight. And his sisters LOVE him back. They pack him around, argue over who gets to hold him in church, play games with him, and just generally spoil and delight him beyond all reason.
I'm fairly certain he thinks his name is Niffles, which is a derivative of Niffler, a magical animal from the Harry Potter books and Fantastic Beasts movie. It's what I call him most often these days, and he responds to it consistently. We started calling him Niffler after Fantastic Beasts came out, because the niffler is a small, furry creature that is very fast, mischevious, attracted to shiny things, and prone to making big messes. His other primary nicknames are Chubba and Lubba, as well as a million derivatives of these 3: Niffle-ator, Nif, Chubs, Lub, Lubba Lou, and sometimes just Lou. One of the milestones the doctor asked about at his 9-month well-check was whether or not he seemed to know his name, and I had to laugh because there's no way he does with all of the nicknames we call him!
As far as his case goes, things seem to be moving in the direction of adoption, but nothing is ever certain in foster care until the judge bangs the gavel, so we still wait prayerfully for that day. Until then (and hopefully for the rest of our lives), we are enjoying every day that the Lord gives us with our sweet Niffler, and we love him bigger than the sky.
He has Haylee's hair and complexion with Taylah's face. Which is just the opposite of JJ, who has Taylah's hair and complexion with Haylee's face. It's funny, because Haylee and JJ have very similar faces and very similar personalities, and I can already see Man Cub's personality shaping up to be more similar to Taylah's. He is so busy and full of LIFE and spunk and happiness... except when he isn't... and then his unhappiness is equally vibrant. But thankfully that doesn't usually last long.
He has brought more joy to our family in the past year than I even knew was possible. Our home is full of so many more smiles and laughs every single day just because he is in it. He has also been an incredibly healing gift from God for my weary, infertile heart.
I wanted to record some of his milestones here, so that I will remember them and also for you, my friends, to get a peek into how he's doing.
He started walking at 10.5 months and is now running wildly wherever he likes. I knew from very, very early on that even though he's always been a very happy and easy baby, he would be very active once he was mobile, and he has proved me right!
He has 11 teeth, and is working on his 12th. Crazy, I KNOW, but he has been the easiest teether. He was cutting two molars at the same time, and I didn't even know it until I got a glance inside his mouth when he threw his head back in laughter one day. Teeth just don't phase him at all. It's unbelievable.
He says and understands a lot of words, which is new to us as parents and so much fun. He most regularly says: Mama, Dada, da (dog), ca (cat), baba (bottle), bye-bye, di-pah (diaper), poo-poo, boo, pa pa (patty cake), and go. He also tries to repeat a lot of what we say, my favorite being "dah-oo," when I say I love you.
He likes his brothers ok (though, let's be honest, neither of them really know how to play appropriately with him yet, and often end up accidentally hurting him), but he LOVES his sisters. When they are in their room with the door closed, he will go bang on it and yell at them to come out, and when he sees either of them he squeals with delight. And his sisters LOVE him back. They pack him around, argue over who gets to hold him in church, play games with him, and just generally spoil and delight him beyond all reason.
I'm fairly certain he thinks his name is Niffles, which is a derivative of Niffler, a magical animal from the Harry Potter books and Fantastic Beasts movie. It's what I call him most often these days, and he responds to it consistently. We started calling him Niffler after Fantastic Beasts came out, because the niffler is a small, furry creature that is very fast, mischevious, attracted to shiny things, and prone to making big messes. His other primary nicknames are Chubba and Lubba, as well as a million derivatives of these 3: Niffle-ator, Nif, Chubs, Lub, Lubba Lou, and sometimes just Lou. One of the milestones the doctor asked about at his 9-month well-check was whether or not he seemed to know his name, and I had to laugh because there's no way he does with all of the nicknames we call him!
As far as his case goes, things seem to be moving in the direction of adoption, but nothing is ever certain in foster care until the judge bangs the gavel, so we still wait prayerfully for that day. Until then (and hopefully for the rest of our lives), we are enjoying every day that the Lord gives us with our sweet Niffler, and we love him bigger than the sky.
No comments:
Post a Comment