Family ties

Among many activities and adventures of the past two weeks, the most monumental was a trip to Fort Worth and Waco to visit Ian’s family. It was my first time to meet his brother and sister-in-law and their two beautiful children, Jenna and Michael. We ate and chatted and played an awesome game of tag baseball in the backyard (even Julian got to participate! He laughed and laughed and just couldn’t get enough of running around with me to tag the kiddos.). It was the quintessential family get-together, full of all kinds of love and positive exchanges. 

To top it off, Erin was in Dallas for a job interview, so she got to meet Julian. She was pretty blown away by the whole Addie-as-mother thing. Seeing it firsthand is quite different than hearing about it on the phone or reading about it here. She is going through all kinds of life transformation herself, and it’s cool to see how much our lives are still the same even though on the surface they are very different.

After a day and night in DFW, we headed to Waco to have dinner with Ian’s mom and stepdad. We hadn’t seen them in awhile. To say that they have had a troubled relationship is an understatement, and neither is without fault. But a grandchild is a grandchild. They want to watch him grow and love on him like they do the other grandkids, so Ian arranged the meeting, not for him but for Julian to reconnect with them. The outcome Saturday was totally unexpected. Little did I realize what amazing healing powers sweet Julian already possesses. Something else happened while we watched a naked Scooter Boy do his gorilla walk around the patio, gave him a bath in the sink and ate Lavonne’s delicious homemade dumplings. It started to feel like a family should. Ian and his mom genuinely hugged each other. He earnestly expressed his love for her. She accepted us and our way of raising Julian with open, nonjudgmental arms. Somewhere during the course of the night, an old, rusty, well-used hatchet was buried. Everyone had tears in their eyes as we drove off and headed back home. 

Now it is my turn to share Julian with my family. I’ll be back in Missouri over the weekend. I can hardly wait.
 
So, kid update: Julian, who will be 8 months old in a week or so, is pulling himself up whenever he can. Not quite standing on his own just yet, but he’s starting to cruise (walk with assistance) along the couch. Ian will hold his hands and he takes steps, so he’s definitely making progress in that area. He’s sleeping pretty well in the night. He still gets up around 4 every morning for a snackerson (ah, the Troyisms are still being passed) and has been taking great naps (like the one he’s enjoying now so I can take care of some Web site business). He just ate a plum, one of his favorite big people foods. I scrap off most of the skin and remove the pit and he eats the rest. He is still way into bread and bananas. 

And I watched a DVD on baby signing and lost my cynicism that the concept was bunk. We’ve started using the signs for food, milk, more and up, but we won’t see the results for at least another 6 weeks. It’s one of those things that you have to put the time in at the beginning, but it will pay off many times over in the end. Just imagine a 15-month-old who doesn’t have to rely on the point-and-cry method of telling you what’s wrong. Or the 20-month-old who can tell you what’s so damn exciting in that picture book you’re flipping through. I’d heard plenty about it delaying their verbal skills, but I think that’s just unfounded hearsay. They will replace signs with words as soon as they can, but there’s a good dozen or so months in between the desire to communicate and the well-developed ability to speak. 

Overall, Julian is characterized by his charm and personality that are really starting to show. You can get him in a laughing fit just by running around with him or making funny noises. He is starting to want to show off what he is playing with or what he can do. His face lights up when he sees someone he recognizes, including girlfriend Ruby, who is showing him her new top teeth and first unassisted steps.

So, all is well. Love is in the air. We can’t wait for our trip to Missouri. Wish us luck with planes and airports!