Gone baby gone

I was startled to realize today as Micah and I had dinner that about 90% of what comes out of mouth is recognizable (at least by me) words. No more baby babble! Wah, I'm the one crying, as I thought the babble was pretty cute.

Now, I'm not saying that we're over here having a Great Books discussion. Most of the conversation goes like this:

Micah: Guck!

Me: Oh, you want to go see the truck. Yes, let's go walk up the street to see it.

Micah: Guck! Noise!

Me: Yes, the truck was making a lot of noise this morning.

Micah: Man

Me: There was a man driving that noisy truck, wasn't there.

Micah: Guck! (getting distracted while we're walking) Circle.

Me: Oh, look what you found! A (disgusting piece of plastic trash) circle!

Micah: Circle. (showing me) Circle, etc.

He's also started stringing 2 words together, as in Daddy car, Mommy eye. This is the result of a good idea that Adam had a few months ago to distinguish between things that are Micah's and things that are someone else's. I highly recommend making this distinction as soon as your child starts talking.

Lots of things are starting to click all at once. He's gotten the concept (but not the specifics) of counting, and will count up to 6 with a little prodding and a lot of hints. He is totally obsessed with Daddy's me-come (motorcycle), a new addition to our household that currently sits, unregistered, in our garage. He also loves to pretend to talk on the toy phone, and will say "hi grandma," but if you get him to talk on a regular phone (such as I was trying to get him to do while I was away recently), you get a confused expression. He insists on going to visit the schoolbus parked at his daycare every day, and woe betide me if I try to get him into the car before we walk down the block and peer into the bus window and name all the parts. This afternoon, I transitioned him away from the bus by singing "the wheels on the bus" song as I've done several times in the past, but this time I heard him singing it in the back seat (without any words) on the way home.

We're off on another adventure this weekend -- Micah and I are flying to meet Adam in Arizona and visit with some family and friends. A few people I've mentioned this to have asked if this is Micah's first plane trip, and i just laugh! First time travelling with just one parent, though, should be interesting. At least it is a very short flight!

America's Most Wanted Babies

The week of April 25th saw the birth of three of America's most wanted babies, at least in my little world. First off was a dear friend who spent a long time trying to get pregnant, and who I was urging to look into surrogacy. I even introduced her to some members of our surrogacy "alumni" society, and wouldn't you know, she found out that her last ditch, last embryo IVF procedure had been successful just a week or so later. At the same time as I was talking to my friend about going to India, I was contacted out of the blue by a woman in California whose husband had met my cousin's husband and discussed their struggles to have a baby; my cousin's husband gave them my name, I talked to the wife, and they dropped everything and jetted off to Delhi for a quick trip that resulted in a baby boy in the middle of last week. And finally, the week ended with the birth of a sweet little girl to a friend of mine from Boston who decided, after years of looking for the right man, to fulfill her dream of a child while she could. All these babies are so wanted and treasured, and I'm thrilled to have witnessed the parents' dreams come true. Again I realize how lucky we are to live in at a time when medicine, technology, and societal norms have come together to make it possible for those of us who lack perfect "equipment" to achieve our dreams.

Back in my immediate world, I was away for 5 days for business, and came home to what felt like a smarter, more clearly communicating, exceptionally sweet little boy. Some developments over the last month:

• On several mornings, Micah's crib held a naked little boy who figured out how to strip off his PJs (and one day, his diaper) before we arrived.


• He's mastering the art of stacking things into "towers" very patiently.


• He now loves slides and has started to climb playground equipment more confidently -- does everything more confidently, in fact.


• He loves to hold hands and walk down the block (sometimes making me "march"), and knows which houses the other kids on the block live in.


• He loves to "help" daddy with yard work especially if it involves a shovel or stick.


• He missed his chance to fulfill the role of the youngest child at Passover because, a minute after I changed him into his dress clothes before dinner, he promptly vomited 3 times and went to bed before the seder. Performance anxiety? Or an after-effect of swallowing a fairly sizable rock the day before that passed smoothly into his diaper?


• He still says "bye-bye" to inanimate objects.


• He switched from calling my mother "maga" to "grandma" overnight.


• He now calls the pacifier "paci" and it is even more indispensible.


• The question "Was dat?" has returned, and he will repeat new words that interest him.


• He's been scolded at daycare for throwing food and biting other children .


• He loves peering under the couch to find our scardy-cat cats, and knows their names.


• He still has an outie belly button that's clearly not going away on its own.


• He loves looking a photos, and can name relatives he's only met a few times and identify pictures of mommy and daddy from the days when they were much younger-looking. He also identifies himself as "Mah-kah."



• He loves "this little piggy", getting tickled and nuzzled, and getting chased around the circular path through our living room and kitchen.



• Just today, he brought two stuffed monkeys that were in his crib to breakfast, and tried to give them his pacifier and feed them some of his breakfast. How cute is that?

20 @ 20

At 20 months, you are:

1. Obsessed with shovels. You notice them everywhere, even calling your spoon a "shi-va," and want to spend every minute in the backyard dragging one of our big sharp tools around.


2. The only thing you like as much as shovels is sticks. Expecially waving them around the house.


3. Ask for "boots" as soon as you wake up in the morning. (that's books, not footwear.)


4. Will eat brussel sprouts, bean sprouts, asparagus, and any other veggie, often before other toddler-friendly food.


5. But meatloaf is your favorite dinner. Just like your daddy.


6. Still lay down and go to sleep as soon as we put you in your crib. And we're still amazed, each and every time.


7. Ask to go "ou-dide" at 7 am every morning.


8. Were amazed when we went out one morning this week into a short-lasting snowstorm. You learned the words "snow" and "crow" that morning.


9. As soon as the word "school" is mentioned, you ask about your favorite buddy, "Ally."


10. Are happy to be dropped off at school, particularly if you get first dibs on the schoolbus toy in your room.


11. Have started singing the Twinkle Twinkle with mostly nonsense words and a few syllables of recognizable words.


12. Know the shapes for hearts and stars and can say the words. Circles and squares, not as interesting.


13. Got a new trike from a neighbor and love to be pushed around on it (pedeling can wait, it seems.)


14. Love getting horseback rides from daddy, and giggle uproariously, but get jealous if mommy tries to get in on the action.


15. Will politely tell us "all done" and hand us every item on your plate as soon as you decide the meal is over.


16. Know how to ask "pssss" for something you really want, but get frustrated if we don't know exactly what that is.


17. Immediately answer "no" to any question we ask you, as if you've given the matter great thought.


18. Love to have Grandma visit and give her a big hug. You'll occassionally give kisses on request too.


19. Imitate us frequently, like when we wink at you and you try to wink back.


20. Make us laugh and smile and glow with pride every single day.

One more hassle

I thought I was done with nearly every legal and religious hoop that needed to be jumped through for Micah. Indian birthcertificate, check. US passport, check. Exit visa, check. Circumsion and conversion, check and check (or should I say, slice and check.) Adoption decree, big check (and yes, it required a big check.) Then we sat back, patiently waiting for our state to figure out how to issue a new birth certificate..... and waited..... they contacted the State Department to ask for a new Coninsular Report of Birth Abroad.... and waited. Finally, today our lawyer sent me a letter from the State Department asking for certified copies of my birth certificate, marriage certificate, adoption decree, and a notorized request for an amendment to the birth certificate.... what a pain. Adam wonders why I care so much, but I know (from this request if nothing else) that there are many occasions in life when you need to show your birth certificate, and I want Micah's to reflect the correct information. I just feel bad that each time he needs a copy of his birth certificate, he's going to have to request it from the State Department. What a pain they are to deal with!

19 months/Mexican sunsets

We're back from our Mexican excursion, safe, sandy, and (only me) sunburned. Bliss. Back in the day (say, less than 2 years ago), a good vacation for me and Adam involved daily hikes or water activities and covering as much ground as possible. But we've quickly realized that with a toddler, less is sometimes more, so we found ourselves a simple house right on the beach and parked ourselves there for a week, venturing away from our little village only to find an ATM mid-week to support the local, cash-only merchants.

It was amazing to watch Micah thrive on this week of being a "free-range" kid! Right before the trip, he had learned a new word, "happy," to tell us when things were A-OK by him, and he used it frequently on the trip. He also used a new command, "Ow-dide," barked with increasing intensity to tell us when he wanted us to take him outside (it was rather funny that he usually issued this command from the open-air living room/kitchen or balcony of our rental house!) Although it was somewhat tedious for us to chase after him as he toddled down the nearby beach access road to visit the stray cats and merchants, it was wonderful to see his self confidence and curiosity. And although somewhat embarassing for us, it was also quite funny to see him walk up to strangers in restaurants and on the beach and try to play with their beach toys or eat their dinners!

Another new word used frequently on this trip was "wow" -- used when seeing something spectacular, like the ocean for the first time, or a beautiful sunset. Folks, there is no better reason to become a parent than to hear the joy and wonder of a child saying "wow" in that way. It is so interesting as a vocabulary word, too, so different from the much more frequent pointing to things and naming them: birdie, woof, guck. This one says "I am having an experience and I want to make sure you understand it." A parallel development: learning to arrange the face into a fake expression. One of the books we brought along on this trip shows a woman with a surprised expression -- big eyes and mouth in a large O. By the end of the week, Micah was frequently making this expression, sometimes appropriately but mostly because it got a laugh from us.

We also observed a new fascination with motor vehicles, including "heh-co-co" (helicopters, or what you and I know as airplanes), and any non-car vehicle, all falling into a category he calls "guck", or truck. Adam made the mistake of letting Micah sit in the driver's seat of our rental car while we did the paperwork, and he suddenly wanted to climb into the front seat every chance he could, and onto the dune buggies common in the village we were staying in.

In the last few weeks, we've also seen him increase his ability to really play imaginatively -- he picked up sticks several times and called them "heh-co-co" because they looked somewhat airplane-like. He was firmly attached to his "sh-sh" (shovel) and rake that we bought to play with on the beach, and if he had assigned you to the rake, he would give it back to you every time you stopped raking the sand. And Adam and I got to participate in more rounds of "ring around the rosy" than either of us has in many a year. Micah was really interested in other kids on the beach -- watching the big boys play ball, and joining other kids who were digging away to "help" them with their sand castles. He was also eager to hug and love every dog that came his way, and we were luckily that this village has a lot of very friendly dogs!

All in all, he was an easy-going travel companion, with the exception of about half of each 3 hour plane trip and a few nights at dinner where we kept him out past his bedtime. He slept each night in a little tent (Adam described it as a kennel) without any difficulty after the first time, ate nearly everything he tried (except for some spicy salsa that we accidentally put on a drumstick), and bravely faced the teeny-tiny little ocean waves (though he really didn't get the concept of playing in the water.)

All in all, while it was certainly exhausting for us in a completely different way than our past vacations, we're so glad that we were able to spend such quality time relaxing with Micah and watching him grow... and heck, I was even able to finish half of a long novel, something I rarely accomplished on previous trips with Adam!

Amost ready

The grandparents are worried about crazy drug cartel kidnappers; I'm worried about packing enough kid equipment and making sure we have everything lined up on the home front while we're gone; Adam's worried about..... well, he's not worried about anything, he shows up on the trips I plan and creates adventures for us (oh, and cleans manaically before we go). Micah's in his crib dreaming of eating sand and how much fun he's going to have escaping from his peapod tent, which arrived today. He's a good sleeper, but has never slept outside of a crib or pack-and-play and I'm afraid he's going to enjoy his freedom too much. But have na-na, will travel. I love it when people at the airport see his passport and marvel at how a toddler has a passport.... little do they know he was born with a passport!

One more day of stress trying to get everything done at work and then at home, and then we're off! Are there any Indian surrogacy babies we can visit on the Pacific coasst of Mexico? Speaking of, I checked in with a new friend in California today... she heard about Micah's story when her husband had some medical treatment with my cousin's husband. We talked on the phone and e-mailed a few times over the summer, and poof, she was off to India and is expecting a baby in May! I feel so happy when I'm able to help someone else achieve their dream of parenthood that they didn't think possible. Can't wait to visit them in SoCal at some point; another notch in my Surrogacy around the world trip!

Another plug for CSN stores

... silly me, I never took advantage of the benefits I received about blogging about the huge online CSN stores. They have stores for everything, including backyard swing sets, This time, I'm planning to check out the Kidco PeaPod Travel Tent -- a much lighter alternative to taking a Pack 'n Play on an airplane with us. Airplane, you ask? Yes, we're getting ready for a family beach vacation in Mexico -- Micah's second trip abroad, not counting his birth -- where we could use it for his sleeping and any potential naps on the beach. We have a few other trips other planned for the next few months, and I think the PeaPod Tent will be useful in our camper over the summer.