Small Fry Update

I have a three year old!?!? Wow does that sound weird or what?? But I do!

I have been having so much fun with Small Fry the past several weeks. It's been just the two of us a lot and we have been having a blast bonding. I love that! Yesterday we had to go to the next town over for Jabber Jaws football game. The King Fish and Tiger Shark had practice with their team, so they could not go. So, Small Fry and I had a little over 2 hours to kill at the football game. I dressed him in overalls and his Lightning McQueen rain boots, as I anticipated rain. He looked so darn cute! Naturally I had no camera at all....

Anyway before the game he was driving his car (that's himself in his pretend car) and he would say... "Going to work Mom. Bye.. Love." Which stands for "I love you." Then he would drive up to me, get out of his car and bring me pretend coffee. And we would drink it together. Then he would say, "Okay gotta go to work.... kiss." He's pucker up his lips next to my face to give me a kiss. So darn cute! He had me smiling sooo much. What a long way we have come from the early days when he wouldn't even let me into his pretend world!

We had our doctors visit this week and the results are good. Our Dr. has adopted 4 children himself from Russia and he is a great resource as a man who has "walked a mile in our shoes". Anyway, Dr. M was so pleased with Small Fry's speech. He just couldn't believe how verbal he is. He has seen a lot of adoptions and many are not very verbal 9 months in. I mentioned how I was concerned with Small Fry's articulation, but he wasn't really that concerned. He said at this age a lot of children are mispronouncing words and so we will reevaluate as he continues to progress in speech and vocabulary. I did mention that he is now saying 6 word sentences, (which even I was surprised when I figured it out), and he was pleased.

Growth wise Small Fry has progressed nicely. Actually Dr. M said he is just tickled with his growth. Hmmm.... He has grown 4 inches in 9 months. When we first brought him in he was not on the growth charts and now he is at 10%. We're moving up. I think he may move up further in the next year as he continues to eat well and get the proper vitamins and nutrients.

Speaking of eating, well he's pleased with that too. He eats very well and a variety of foods. The child loves vegetables (just like my older boys)....which is a good thing. His favorite foods right now are hot dogs, grapes, watermelon, raw carrots, and apples. He likes pasta pretty well and homemade meatballs. He rarely tries to control a situation by tucking his food in his mouth and refusing to eat. This is something we dealt with for the first 6 months home, but I think he has abandoned that control tactic now. We would have to be so patient to get him to eat because we knew he needed the calories and nutrients. Now, he can chow down, especially when it's some of his favorite foods! lol!

Here is a recent shot of Small Fry. He has changed so much from the little 2 year old we brought home. I try to think back to all we went through to adopt him, and it seems so distant. It feels like he's been with us forever.