Gotcha Day ~ 6 months later & first post placement visit

The pictures in this post speak 1000 words! It was 6 months ago on Friday that we became the Brockmann Trio. Today, the child with the empty look, hesitation, and unwilling to trust; who walked out of Baby Home #1 with us, is no longer there. Nick is vibrant, happy, loving, and full of energy. We certainly had our bumps along the road as we molded together, but I must say, it has not been nearly as tough as I thought.

We took these yesterday after dinner. Nick was clearly not interested in going to bed yet. I spotted an empty laundry basket in the laundry room, and the light bulb went off! We used to pull full laundry baskets using a belt back in the day, when we had to haul our laundry to the basement, living at the Purdue dorms.... so I figured this could also work as a "special car" and be fun with a toddler. He enjoyed it and then the next problem was getting him to go to bed. Yep, no good deed goes unpunished.

All along we thought we were making progress with attachment, and we were re-assured last week by our social worker that have indeed come a long way! We had our first post placement visit last weekend. Wasn't it just yesterday that the three of us (J, Bill and I) were sitting down to coffee getting ready to start our home study? Nope, that was March of 2007, but it sure feels like yesterday.

Our social worker assured us that Nick is doing great with attachment and is on par developmentally. She also noticed some personality traits that we had also noticed, and that funny enough, Bill and I also exhibit. He is very determined and independent. He will be the kid who will try to do everything on his own first before he asks for help... we can deal with that! We definitely have fun years ahead of us with 4 Type-A personalities under one roof... I say 4 because even the dog is stubborn... I mean... determined.

Nick's birthday weekend (2 weeks, 2 days ago)

(yes I wrote this a while back and I finally getting around to downloading the pics from the camera...)

Oddly enough, Nick does not care for cake of frosting, he just wanted to kiss Elmo!

Enjoying his new sandbox

All equiped to hit the course

It was a good good weekend for the Brockmann trio. We finally had time to kick back and relax. Nick didn't get to see fireworks this year, after running around all day, he was ready to call it a day at 8:00, and with DST, fireworks don't start till 9:00 around here. Will try again next year.

On Saturday, Nick and I spent our morning at the Farmer's Market. He, of course, enjoyed being outdoors and called every dog he met by our dog's name. I have been wanting to get out to the market to pick up some seasonal vegetables for Nick.

Then it was on to Classic Cakes to pick up his birthday cake. Judging by his reaction when he saw it, I say I made a good choice by picking out an Elmo cake. To put it simply, Nick squealed at the sight of Elmo. After Costco and Target, it was back to the house for nap time. While we trekked around town all morning, Bill hit the golf course and according to him "hit pretty well". Now he just needs to get out there again soon! See, this is the benefit of tennis, you get a couple of sets done in an hour. Well, at least I do, now those guys at Wimbledon playing the longest match in Wimbledon's history on Sunday, that's a different story.

On Sunday, Nick's paternal grandparents came to visit and bring Nick his big birthday present - a sandbox! This sandbox is set to provide hours of entertainment. It was a good thing we had everyone (mom, Bill's sister and her fiance) come up in the afternoon and wait till after nap to start the festivities, I am pretty sure Nick would not have napped if he had seen the sandbox in the morning.

After spending a couple hours outside, it was back in the house for cake. While the cake was delicious, Nick showed no interest in it, and even turned his nose when we tried to feed him some. I am sure that will change someday, no rush to get him to like cake.

So other than Federer's defeat in Wimbledon it was a great weekend. While it was the best tennis match I have ever seen, I really wanted to see Roger take Wimbledon for the sixth year in a row.

Happy Birthday Nicholas!

My baby turned 2 today! I can't believe I have to start buying T-lettered clothes, no more month-sized clothing. We celebrated with a cupcake, the big cake is coming Sunday when we celebrate with Nick's grandparents, aunt and soon to be uncle.

While you see Nick enjoying his cake here, I should tell you that after one bite, he was done. Maybe he is not a fan of chocolate cake. Grandpa Brockmann, should we claim an early victory here!?!?!?!

Move over Nemo!

We took Nick to our community pool today for the first time. Bill started out with him at the kiddie pool, but Nick had little interest in playing in water that came just to his calf... so off to the big pool they went.

Our Niko is a natural, a few minutes in the water and he was kicking his legs and wanting his dad to put him down on the water and just glide him as he kicked away. I stayed long enough to get som pics. Yes, I am a mom and I get paranoid!

The many faces of Nicholas - yes two posts in one day!

I have been meaning to post these for a while. They crack me up!

Happy Father's Day!

Our first Father's Day celebration was a low key, yet fun one.

Bill's parents were here for the day and we all met up at the Children's Museum. After much enjoyment of the many amenities and play areas the museum offers, we grabbed lunch and headed home for nap time and some down time.

We wrapped up the day with dinner at one of Nick's favorite places, Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. He gets handed a balloon the moment he walks in and the fries are tasty!

The Brockmann men

Like father, like son. We may have another Simpson's fan in the house.

Nick decided to try on daddy's slippers and style his hair while we got ready this morning. Did I mention he is also fond of blonds and bobbs his head and claps when we play Jimmy Buffet?

One month till cake!!!

... hmm better call Classic Cakes soon and order it. These people make the best cakes and book weeks ahead. I have ordered cakes from them on several occasions and have made it my mission to order a different flavor each time. Plan is to keep on doing this till Nick has a preference on cake flavors. With my luck it will be chocolate, like his dad, and I will be SOL. Not a chocolate cake fan here, unless it is the Stout Chocolate Cake from the September 2002 issue of Bob Appetit! All that said, a lemon cake with raspberry filling sounds like a good birthday cake for Nick's 2nd birthday next month.

Now that I have written an entire paragraph about cake, let's talk about Nick....

* He is getting acquainted with his other grandfather this week, dad is up here visiting from Puerto Rico and in complete shock about how much energy Nick has. I think he now understands why he gets the standard "busy as always" when he asks how I am doing over the phone. He has also witnessed a temper tantrum or two. Either I skipped the terrible two's stage as a toddler, or he doesn't remember, because he sure looks shocked at his grandson's reaction to not getting his way.

* We will be taking advantage of Celebrating Adoption and have scheduled a professional photo session for Nick on June 14th. I am really excited about this. We will be doing outdoor shots near the White River State Park, downtown Indy.

* And the sole purpose of this post, today, my baby turned 23 months. Saturday marked our fourth Gotcha Day and Friday will mark our fourth month at home.

Here are a couple pictures of the family comedian who likes to empty one of his toy boxes and climb inside them... and the future football player. He even has the look in this picture!