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Today, I had a father and son moment…For the first time in my life, I changed a diaper…and it was his. Although there was no dark and smelly payload, it was a wet one and quite heavy as well. Ah…the joys of fatherhood.
Gen and I spend every day massaging Gabriel’s leg muscles and stand him up to dance to strengthen them in preparation for his crawling and eventually his walking. We placed him inside a walker from time to time to see if he’ll move around. Usually, he just stands there playing with the little toys and buttons on it, but today was different. Gabriel was moving around in the walker. Not long distances mind you, but small ones. He moved forwards, backwards and side to side. We are so proud of him…he is making so much progress!
As for his crawling, he keeps getting stronger everyday. He doesn’t mind spending long periods of time on his tummy, but he does get a bit frustrated when he wants to move but can’t. He’s almost there…he can get on to three of his four appendages, but can’t figure out how to move forward yet. We hold him up and he kicks his legs out, but it looks like he’s swimming. Gabriel can also sit up straight for long periods of time, something that wasn’t possible a couple of weeks ago. Gen and I are always behind him to reassure his balance. He has a bad habit of throwing himself backwards and then looking up at us and giggling.
One of the challenges facing us when we got home is how Gabriel and Dakota are going to get along. For those of you that don’t know who Dakota is, she is our yellow Labrador Retriever. She’s not that big for a lab and she’s very good with small children. In fact, some of our friends bring their kids over just to play with Dakota. We brought with us a doll of a yellow lab which we will let Gabriel have once he’s back in our apartment. In the mean time, the playroom has a German Shepherd stuffed animal that we let Gabriel play with. I add the sound effects of a barking dog so that he won’t be scared of the noise. At first, he was scared of it and cried a couple times when it was close to him. He’s gotten way over that fear as you will see in the pictures below. I think Gabriel and Dakota will get along just fine.
Finally, one of the families here is going to court to legalize the adoption of their daughter Maria. Carlos and Rosa are from Spain, specifically the Canary Islands. They are a delightful couple who unfortunately don’t speak any English, so they are forced to listen to my very broken Spanish. They have done a wonderful job with Maria and it is obvious from the moment she enters the room. Before, she would not even look at her parents to be, but now, she cannot take her eyes off of them. They taught her how to walk and are feeding her more nutritious foods than the orphanage does. Unfortunately, Carlos and Rosa have to go back home after court and Maria cannot go with them due to the fifteen day appeal period. They have two children back home and must tend to them as well. I don’t know if we will see them before we leave for home, but we wish them the best of luck. Maria will be well loved and cared for by them.
Paka!
