Monday, April 20, 2009

They grow up so fast.

Tomorrow will mark 3 months since the day we met Manu. I guess that makes today the 3 month anniversary of our 31 hour airport adventure! It certainly seems like more time should have passed, as it's becoming harder to remember life without him. Gone are the impromptu jaunts across town or country on a whim; gone are the nights out for fancy dinners or time with friends; gone is any hope of having lengthy conversation, or losing ourselves in books or movies-but we don't miss it. Just when you think you've got life figured out, something comes along to remind you of what you were missing. And we were missing a lot.

Manu has reached a few milestones this week. After a couple of painful nights crying himself back to sleep without mommy and daddy rushing to his crib, Manu seems to be more comfortable with sleeping throughout the night. This was especially hard on Leslie, as she can't stand to hear him cry, but this is working out best for everyone. Saturday morning also saw Manu take his last bottle, as since then we have successfully transitioned his formula to a sippy cup, and will further transition to milk after we finish up the last of his remaining formula. We've kept as a souvenir an empty can of Lactogen that we bought in India to remind us of his first few bottles we fed him, not that we could ever forget that if we tried, especially the bottle on the plane to Delhi, LOL. Manu also now has six teeth and has learned to bite his food. He also preferes to finger-feed himself, which allows mommy and daddy to relax a bit during dinner. He also enjoys feeding the dog off the side of his high-chair. And to top things off, this afternoon Manu, of his own accord, took off walking across the kitchen floor, a little wobbly, but confident. He has continued practicing all evening! He has also mastered long-division and is five chapters into Moby Dick.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Birthday!


Manu turned 1 year old today! As he reflects back upon his accomplishments of the last year, he wanted me to pass along the following statement to all of his adoring fans and family: "mamama...bububub...hehe...woowoo." I think we can all agree on that!

Manu has had a busy social calander the last few days; his first Easter yesterday and his first birthday today. Add to that the fact that he is recovering from an infection, and it makes it almost exhausting for the little guy. Because daddy had to work this weekend, mommy and Manu headed to Whitesburg to spend the holiday with her family. While there he had pictures made in his Easter outfit, got a visit from the Easter Bunny, attended church and participated in the egg hunt afterwards. He also got lots of birthday presents from his family back there.

Today Manu celebrated turning one by taking cupcakes to his teachers at daycare. Then tonight, on my way home I picked up Indian food for a big birthday dinner. Manu enjoyed the Channa Saag and the spicy dal, while mommy and daddy ate too much Lamb Biryani. After dinner we played with his new blocks and his Little People farm that we got for him. Later we sang happy birthday and had some of the chocolate birthday cake that mommy made. Manu took a few bites, but wasn't too interested in eating. In fact, the poor little guy was fussy all day, still feeling a little under the weather; not the best way to spend your birthday.

He's asleep now. It doesn't seem like he should be a year old, but at the same time we feel like we've known him forever. He has changed a lot in the few months that we have been together; we can see differences in pictures, and hear differences in video, as compared to today. But one thing that hasn't changed is his friendly disposition, and how happy he makes us feel. Leslie and I wish that we could have been there for the first nine months of his life, but realize how lucky we were to have gotten him as young as we did. The comming year is an exciting one, as we move toward finalizing the adoption and becoming even closer as a family.



Monday, April 6, 2009

Manu goes to the zoo.

With Spring finally upon us, we wanted to spend Saturday out in the fresh air; and since Manu seems to enjoy the veritable petting zoo that is our house, we thought he might enjoy a day at the Louisville Zoo. We awoke that morning and fixed a breakfast of idli, sambar and upma. We seem to have started a tradition of eating Indian breakfast items on the weekends. These are so much more interesting, and tastier, than bacon and eggs. We never imagined eating spicy food so early in the morning, but our trip to India changed a lot of our perceptions on food...I digress. On our way to the zoo we stopped in Shelbyville to see my mom, aka Nana, and Momaw, his great grandmother. Manu was a little fussy at first, he had just awoke from a nap in the car, but he warmed up and soon he was giggling and smiling while trying to get into anything within arm's reach. After leaving his grandmothers, we continued on to Louisville, stopping to get a bite to eat before heading to the zoo.

You could tell it was the first nice day of spring by the multitude of families pouring through the front gate of the zoo. While waiting in line we experience what would become ubiquitous throughout the day: the curious stares of people trying to figure us out. It goes like this: first they look at Manu, then glance up at us, then back to Manu, then somewhat nervously back to us, as if not wanting to be perceived as gawking, but trying to decide what to make of the very white couple with the cute brown baby. Not that this doesn't happen just about everywhere we go, but with the sheer number of people, I haven't felt as much like a spectacle since India. Everyone was very pleasant though, and many people were heard commenting on how cute Manu was, especially in his little boots that his uncle Brian got for him. Of course the stares could be just that people have never seen a baby as cute as he is!

While Manu was intrigued with the experience and enjoyed the animals, especially the elephants, he seemed to mostly enjoy just being out and about in the hustle and bustle of it all. At the end of the day Manu and mommy rode the carousel while daddy took pictures. This is Leslie's favorite ride of any amusement park, and Manu seemed to agree, as he was all smiles. We left the zoo for some shopping before heading back to Lexington. All in all a really good day, at least until 2am when Manu kept us up for 2 hours trying to get him back to sleep, but technically that's Sunday.

Speaking of sleep, or the lack thereof, Manu has taken to waking several times throughout the night lately. Most of the time we can get him back to sleep fairly quick, but at other times we could be up for hours. Part of the problem might be a lingering cold with which we all seem to be suffering, and the fact that he has 3 more teeth just about to break through. Whatever it is it is turning daddy into a zombie throughout the day. Manu simply takes a longer nap at daycare and is full of energy when we get home! He should be walking any day now, as he is starting to take a couple of steps on his own before flopping down. Whenever we see him doing this we try to encourage him and work with him, but then it becomes a game, and he's more interested in us than in walking. He has mastered stair climbing though...