Having said that, I feel slightly ridiculous because there is just about nothing in the world that I love more than a good event with an even better theme. But are three pumpkin patch trips, two harvest festivals, and putting pumpkin stickers in my daughter's lunch the week of Halloween really necessary? Okay, so they are, welcome to America Max, your family is ridiculous!
Max's first trip to the pumpkin patch was so cute, and slightly sweaty. I don't know where fall is but it was a balmy 73 degrees as we tromped around the farm-just 20 degrees higher than normal! Our trip was all the more special because Bard's family was here visiting so they got to experience some of Max's firsts with us. Max, although probably once again thinking his mother was crazy for plunking him down on the ground and then getting out that square black thing that she likes to hide her face behind, was game enough to try and head butt the pumpkin, making for a classic photo! I had way too much fun dressing us up for our church Harvest Festival and then we got ready to go trick or treating. When the power went out. Yep, our power went out on Halloween, ha! Max doesn't really like anything out of his regular routine so he was a bit agitated, and it made for a slightly spooky walk down our darkened street, but it will definitely be a Halloween to remember! We were only out for a little bit (Totally long side note, I'm not a big fan of Halloween, I didn't grow up celebrating it and it seems weird to me that I try and teach my kids to be grateful every other day of the year but this day I teach them to be greedy with complete strangers. I've nothing really against the origins-if you don't like them, I suggest really researching them, you might be surprised. Besides, if I was against changing the roots of something my hair would look considerably more depressing and I wouldn't be able to celebrate most holidays which would obviously go against my aforementioned generation's love of blowing them out of proportion. But I do just think Halloween is a little odd. So, we trick or treat only in our neighborhood, to about a dozen houses, as a way to get to know our neighbors better. Last year we started the tradition of having our girls give out thank you cards to people as we trick or treat-which people LOVE-and which Evelyn remembered and did all on her own this year. Well. That's it. My side notes are other people's blogs.)So we were only out for a little bit! But we went with friends and although Max was stressed, our power did come back on after just a few hours, all in all a good time. Happy First Halloween Baby :)
We went from Halloween and putting away candles to getting ready for our first social worker visit. Not very first of course, we had one before we were cleared to adopt, but our first post placement report is due at the end of the month-to our state, not to Ukraine-so visit we did. I think I would have been a bit stressed regardless because of course having someone come into your home to at least sort of evaluate you is nerve wracking. But I was really coming off a super hard week with Max and that made it just seem surreal. Adoption is a funny funny thing. I love Max, but I don't know him. Not the way I knew my girls at 16 months, and not even the way I knew them at 2 months (which is how long we've been home.) What's more challenging is that not only does he not know us-he doesn't trust us. Because he doesn't trust anyone. Because people have always just let him down. And while that breaks my heart on an emotional level, on a practical, day to day care level, it makes everything really hard. But even just saying that out loud helped and whether Max has done better the last few days due to my attempts at being more connected, or whether God's just throwing me a soft ball right now, I'll take it. The last few days have felt refreshing and positive-exhausting still because someone doesn't like sleeping during the night and is very needy during the day. Bard. Sheesh. But it's amazing the world of difference attitude can make in the mundane of life.
And, good news always helps with that so the doctor today was wonderful! We just went in to fill out a form for our PPR (post placement report, did you miss all my adoption jargon?!) But the doctor-who saw Max when we first got home on September 4th-commented over and over again on how much progress he has made! His tone is better, he is much stronger, much more engaged, his exact word was "Amazing!" Moms really like to hear that :) Especially stressed out sleep deprived moms! And best of all, in two months Max has gained 1 pound 7 ounces and grown an impressive 1.8 inches-some of the wakefulness at night could be due to growing pains-I've never grown two inches in two months but it seems like it might be a tad painful. Since my life revolves around feeding this kid, I was really glad to hear that the Dr thought his growth was remarkable. Now off to buy some more coconut oil...
