Happy Birthday to my "baby" boy, the cutest and coolest 4 year old I know!
What a year you had my darling boy! You started age 3 off with a bang learning to ride a 2 wheeler the week of your birthday a year ago and you have been speeding ahead ever since. You love to ride through the woods to the special spot we throw rocks, love riding on the bike path and still love your rides with Daddy on the Wee-hoo to school. This past winter, with a Daddy/Grant trip to Colorado and a family trip to Utah you became the best 3 year old little skier I've ever seen (with the caveat I don't spend much time on mountains, ha). You can take on green circle slopes like a champ and have mastered turns and slowing down. It's so fun watching you come down a mountain like a little rock star and hearing random people comment how awesome you are the whole time. Spring soccer just began and in the first "game" you scored three goals. Now we just have to work on not trying to take the ball from kids on your same team, ha. You never cease to amaze us Grant and it's a joy watching you accomplish so much at such a young age all with a big smile on your face.
Only two soccer games in and you already received the "sportsmanship" medal that they give to one child at the end of each game for following directions, being a great teammate and trying hard. Nana and Pappy were happy to be there for it:)
Swimming is a little more slow going because we haven't been doing it consistently since last summer but when you do spend a lot of time in the pool, you make great strides. By the end of our recent trip to Florida for Great-Grandmom's 90th surprise party you were swimming across the width of the pool. You certainly have been loving all these family trips. You do so great with traveling, which is a lot to be said for a toddler, let alone a child who's world was turned upside-down not too long ago as you started a new life with your family. I hope that means we do a good job preparing you for each trip and understanding that we always come home. You just love family time together and going on adventures together. "Vacation Grant" doesn't even get the morning grumpiness after he wakes up, haha. It's the transition back to normal life (none of us like!) when we get home that's the hard part.
This past year has just been "easy" for you and we are so grateful for that. You love your preschool and boy does your preschool love you. You walk around that place like you own it- you know everyone's name, every teacher adores you, your classmates all look to you for what imaginary game to play next, etc. Gosh, when I walk around the school with you I feel like I'm with the cool kid- waving goodbyes, high-fives, hugs- it's hilarious and wonderful. Of course you'll never be a morning person, so waking up for school is a different story:) You just had the spring concert at the high school and in usual Grant style there was hilarity as you said "hi!" to me several times and after the opening song, yelled during complete silence "Hi Audey!!" to your brother. You definitely got an auditorium of 200+ people laughing. I'd say all in all you were pretty comfortable up on stage. Could that be in your future?
Below is a picture of you and your "girlfriend" Katie. You guys adore each other and there has to be squeals and five hugs when you see each other. Katie's mom and I think it is the cutest! And yes, I'm extra excited that Katie is Asian because when you first started school, you would gravitate mostly towards white kids. This is normal for an adopted minority child in a white family but I was hoping it wouldn't be set in stone for you since your school is 30% Asian:)
Your personality has certainly blossomed, that's for sure. There is that saying "kids say the darndest things"- yeah, you are the king of that. You have quite the knack for embarrassing me in public, check-out counters are your forte. Off the top of my head, here are some experience I've had recently:
- Telling the cashier at Michaels he looks like Santa Claus and asking if his beard was real
- In a long line at T.J. Max you asked me about 15 times why the girl behind us was wearing a head covering (religious scarf)
- At the airport security check-in you saw people were taking off their shoes so you asked the agent if he wanted you to take off your pants (with a big grin on your face). That one got some big laughs.
- At the grocery store check out, I said "Grant, please stop touching the gum" and you quickly replied with a serious face- "Why do you keep calling me that? My name is Charlie. Please call me that." Yeah, not the thing to say to a mother that doesn't look like you!
The list could go on and on...
Another funny thing is I never knew how many expressions I use every day until you call me out on all of them. They don't make sense to people with English as their second language and I'm always confusing you with them. Just a few I can remember that made me laugh:
-I told Daddy to "throw" me a napkin, so he walked over and handed me one. You wanted to know why Daddy didn't actually throw it like I asked.
- I told you we had to be careful because we were "playing chicken" trying to cross a tricky intersection. You said "huh? how do you play? I don't see any chickens!"
- You were doing something I didn't like and I told you to "cut it out." You said "but I don't have scissors, why should I cut?"
- I said it was "raining cats and dogs." You of course, said "HUH? It's water mommy!"
You are one curious little boy, always aware of your surroundings, and when you are comfortable in environments- you will do anything for a laugh. Did I mention you don't stop talking, like ever? We never knew how quiet Auden was until you came along:) Your memory is still astounding us. You will pass a street driving and point out a store/restaurant that you only were at once a year ago and ask me if I remember it, ha. You remember people so well too, that's a great skill to have! Auden and I couldn't remember the name of his old summer camp teacher and then I said- I bet Grant remembers! I asked you and sure enough it took you not even a second to remember her name. Never mind she wasn't even your teacher, or that you were barely 3 when you met her, or that it was 9 months ago that Auden had her. Minor details:)
4TH BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW
What is your favorite toy? Paw patrol anything
What is your favorite food? Noodles- red sauce (like Spaghetti) or brown sauce (like Ramen)
What is your favorite thing to do/play outside? Riding bike
What is your favorite show? Animal Mechanicals
What is your favorite color? Red
Who is your best friend? Christopher and my whole class; besides brother;)
What do you want to be when you grow up? Airplane pilot
What is your favorite sport? Soccer
Any challenges right now? Dinnertime is not your father and I's favorite time with you. If it is a "kid food"- perfect, no problem. But we like to serve you and Auden what Daddy and I are having many nights. There is inevitably complaints from the moment you see the- pork chop, ham and bean soup, turkey burger, stews, etc. You eventually eat it, but not without a lot of sitting around, negotiating bites and not making dinner very easy. This is all normal kid stuff though, one day you will learn we always win so might as well just eat what's in front of you without complaint:) However, you have come a long way with vegetables thankfully!
You and your brother are two peas in a pod. I'd say 85% of the time getting along with each other and having fun. Unbelievably, right? You guys even decided this year to start sharing Auden's bed because you being there "keeps his bad dreams away" and it makes you sleep through the night without coming into Mommy and Daddy's room. So it has been a win/win. Although lately you've been having a little too much fun before going to sleep and we have to threaten to separate you and have done so recently. About two weeks ago, we came in Auden's room on a school night and it was 10:30pm and you guys had built a "fort" with blankets and pillows complete with stuffed animal friends, picture frames and books. Of course, I needed to do the "mommy voice" when I discovered you guys and separated you but I thought later that night, I hope it was a night you guys would remember:)
We have been seeing our "Korea friends" (adoption friends) every so often for outings and birthday parties. You are getting more comfortable around them and the fact that you all share being born in Korea. In fact, you are taking pride in it now which is so wonderful. You told Auden before an outing- they are "YOUR" Korea friends because they are from Korea and Auden is not. I giggled in my head and then corrected you and said Auden can be friends with them as well. Creating these bonds are so important to me and our adoption friends. It's great that we live in an area with a big Asian population but I've learned that there will be nobody on this planet that you will identify more with than other Korean (international) adoptees growing up with white parents. Just knowing these boys will make you not feel so different as you are growing up and trying to figure it all out.
You go in spurts of wanting to talk about Korea or your foster mom Mrs. Moon every day for weeks. We welcome any and all of it. I'm still talking to Mrs. Moon over an instant messenger app almost weekly, sharing lots of pictures of you. She loves all the pictures/videos and you so very much. I promise I will do everything in my power to keep this connection to Korea. I dream of the day we go to visit and we can see her again or when you get older and can talk to her yourself. Her English is not great but well enough to learn a lot more about Korean culture and customs. We are just so thankful you were raised in such a loving family. Even though we talk about it a lot, the concept of adoption is still confusing to you (of course, it's so complex). Lots of "whys" and such hard answers. I promise we will always keep an open dialogue. We may not know the answers to some of your "whys" but we will sit beside you always and validate your feelings. You are such a perceptive little boy and already talk about people's skin color and even like it when Mommy gets a tan and "matches" you more instead of Auden. We keep an open dialogue about how family members don't have to look like each other to be family. Thankfully between all the multi-racial families we have in our neighborhood and our adoption friends we have lots of examples to go through with you.
With your birthday comes so many emotions for me, I can't even imagine what you are going to feel in the future. I know many adult adoptees struggle with birthdays. You are not with nor do you even know the person that gave birth to you, on this day that we are celebrating. The person that carried you for 9 months and gave you life. This loss is not lost on us Grant. You are our dreams come true, you have taught us about trust and unconditional love in the most profound ways. You have made our lives and family infinity more richer. But that doesn't take your first loss away. We know we are your plan "B", we don't pretend that you were meant to leave your birth parents, your birth country, your culture, just so you could be our son. But I promise you we will always try to be the best Plan B we can possibly be. I hope you always know on your birthday, that you have so many people that love you all over this world. Your birth mother made the best decision she could with the circumstances she had, she chose life for you and she loved you. Your foster family loves you so much and always will. And we feel like the luckiest Mommy and Daddy in the world that we get to be your parents.
And here we are, shortly approaching two years from the day we finally got to meet you. Wow, these two years feel like they just flew right by. It's like I blinked and my baby is now 4. You are such a kind, smart, funny, well-mannered and handsome little boy. You make us so proud. We can't wait to see what this next year holds for you! We love you!
You had such a fun birthday with all your friends at The Little Gym. Cousins Reegan and Kinley were there and Nana and Pappy came too! Of course it was Paw Patrol theme! Here are some pictures:
We hope all your dreams come true this year my love!
