ONE YEAR!!

Yesterday was the one-year anniversary since Ethan arrived in the United States! Hard to believe. Impossible to conceive of life without him.

I asked Ethan what was his favorite thing was over the past year. I was figuring he’d say something like going to the beach, or candy, or Halloween, or something like that. Instead he said “You pick me up and hold me.” I was blown away.

This year will actually be the second Christmas we’ve been together, but last year we were all still in a haze, so in most ways it feels like the first Christmas together. We went out on Saturday and picked out a tree. He was a little nervous beforehand – getting the tree seemed rather significant to him. We brought it home, and he helped decorate it. He especially enjoyed looking at all the different ornaments, and Mark held him up so he could put the angel on top. He said the tree was very pretty.

We also met Santa at the mall on Saturday. Ethan was a bit scared at first, but Santa was very nice, and Ethan told him he wanted a “transformer”. (Later I asked Ethan to show me in a kid’s toy catalogue what he had asked from Santa – otherwise I had no clue what he meant!)

Today I read a story to his kindergarten class (parents take turns doing that). Afterwards, I drove him to his after-K program, and hung out a bit with him. He really, really didn’t want me to leave. He told me how much he misses me when he’s gone. Boy was it hard to leave! Last night he cried before bed saying he was afraid we would die. Can you say "bonding"? It's hard to take it all in, the intensity, sometimes.