Toddlers

oh what joy ;o)

I was speaking to my friend today and she asked me if I ever wondered why I decided to adopt this age again.  And I told her if I was honest, yes of course I have... toddlers are hard.  Toddlers that have been through what mine have, are a special case.

But there are times like tonight when I look at my boys and think... "Man!  We hit the jackpot 4 times!"  Who needs the lottery?

We have always thought that our older 2 were amazing blessings, and though far from perfect are part of the reason we decided to adopt.  We felt like we had already been so blessed that we wanted to do it again.  When we got N home, it was incredibly hard, but we came to have those days when we just sit back and think "ok God, thank you for this blessing!  How did we GET SO LUCKY?!"  N is such a great kid.

We are starting to have those days with E.  Days where the faces he makes, the motions he does, the little squeal he makes when he runs through the house, the look on his face when he's telling you to be quiet because he's going to sneak up on daddy... those are the moments that make me want to reach up and just plant a HUGE kiss on my heavenly fathers cheek and say "Thank you dad"  

We are still having health issues, still some unknowns, still tantrums, and the glare, and the shoulder... but these are fewer.  We are starting to see the real little E and he's just so precious. He adores his brothers and sister, he loves his daddy, snuggles on his momma, and even loves the dogs.  

N needs some prayers though, his adjustment is hard, he's having some pretty bad acting out issues.  He wants so badly to be a good brother, but he just doesn't get the whole not being the center of attention.   Poor little man.