First Bath, First Mommy and Me Group, First Baseball Game, First, first, first!

First baseball game!

Over the past few days Ian has had a lot of firsts.

We have been preparing ourselves for a lot of things that Ian may or may not experience as he gets use to us and our lives. So far he has done an amazing job. He was a little nervous when we were in the bathroom getting the bathtub ready for bath time but once he got in the water he was a happy camper. He didn't mind being squished in the middle of Ev and Elijah and never whimpered (his sign of being nervous about something) just happily played with the bath toys and water. We've also been trying to give him foods he is use to or close to it and even though we give him his food and then eat the meal I prepare he seems to be adventurous and wants to eat what we are eating too. He has eaten ground pork and torn tortilla -that we used for tacos, meatballs- from our spaghetti, hot dogs, pizza, cheese, soft pretzel, you name it he has tried it. I was preparing myself for him to be more picky but he has proved himself to be a really great eater. We are very thankful! From day one we started teaching him basic sign language relating to eating: more, please, all done, thank you. He has picked it up really well and by today day 6 he is signing like a pro. Ev and Hobs join in signing as well and praise him when he does sign. Tonight we went to dinner and I look over at Ev who had been patiently signing more for pizza. I didn't realize she had been doing that for a while since she wasn't talking!

Pretty early we also have been teaching Ian boundaries and expectations. Since our little guy hadn't been told no very often he is use to getting his way when he wants it and how he wants it. We have spent a lot of time teaching him his boundaries. He has impressed me in these learning times. I know it must not be easy to have lived for 1.5 yrs doing his own thing only to be adopted by us and having to follow our rules. Most of the time he follows them now occasionally he will test us. The biggest thing we are trying to teach is to not pick up everything and throw it. Tonight at dinner he threw at toy which hit the vase in the middle of the table and nearly shattered it. He spends a lot of time exploring everything as if he has never seen it before and doesn't know how to take care of things. In a way I feel like he is a infant trapped in a toddler's body.

I took my first outing with all 3 kids by myself today to go to Todd's last baseball game here in our city for a while. First it took us about 30 minutes to get ready to go outside. Every one's coat, shoes, gloves, hat plus mine needed to be put on. Then I had to make sure I had snacks for everyone, drinks, my wallet in a bag that I could put over my should and not worry about falling off. I carried Ian in the Ergo, while I held Ev's hand and Elijah's. E & E are good about standing on the sidewalk while I get a taxi and Ev and crawl into the taxi by herself, Elijah still needs a little help. After getting out of the taxi we had to walk a ways to get to the baseball field. Elijah loves going to see Todd play and we were excited for Ian to see too. He wasn't as interested as Elijah is but he sat pretty good on my lap for a long time before he wanted down to explore. When he did get down he walked over to a spare baseball that was on the ground.

On Friday morning Ian got to see what our Mommy and Me groups are like. I was impressed that he wasn't too overwhelmed with all the kids and moms at our house. He did really well.

So far we are really impressed with how Ian has been adjusting to our family. He is a good eater and a good sleeper so that really helps. We've gotten into a good routine here at home, even though we've only been home for 4 days. I am wondering how next week will go as we live in a hotel for 5 days and then fly to America.