More Milestones and Markers

Last year at this time this is what we were seeing:

....and this was us, 2 hours before we met Isaiah for the first time (March 1st, 2011).

This past summer I learned a lot about grief markers-dates/events that occur and remind us of loss or things that are not with us. This week marks our second Celebration Marker-the start of dates/times in our life we can now mark with joy, blessings and gratitude of what we have been given...our first Celebration Marker-having him home for Christmas this past year.

Isaiah's development and growth in our family has been amazing-his language is so clear now and meaningful. He is able to hold a pencil/marker and make letters with tracing patterns. He plays well with Kenny and my heart stops when I get home and he runs to me yelling "mommy mommy".

Last Friday night while participating in World Visions 30 hour famine Rob and I watched Isaiah's life story DVD-something we hadn't done since his return. At times I can't believe where he was, and what he has experienced and how resilent he is as person. We can thank God for these blessings and the gift of this young man in our life-despite all the obstatles encountered in bringing him home.

In the next few weeks Rob and I will be crafting a letter to birth mom-the first of many that we are sending to Ethiopia throughout his life with us-another marker of how far we have come in only one short year.

Many blessings-the Cabeen's

Another few milestones...

Becoming Buddies...Feb. 2011

So another week has flown by-between work, school, house cleaning, etc...the days fly by! Kenny and Isaiah are really becoming brothers-more and more each day. It is so neat to see Kenny and ask for the hug and Isaiah give it to him-no whining or running away-but willing to accept hugs and love from a big brother that consistently asks-no matter how many times he says no.

This week brought a new milestone-our first illness. We made it through the trip home and a series of shots/blood tests, but a week and half into preschool/school he got the flu/cold. Rob spent the day home with him Thursday-he was cuddles and naps for Rob-well rested and ready to try again on Friday. Well Friday morning came-he was dressed, breakfast and a little Sesame Street-ready for daycare and happy to go. We got into the classroom and I was getting ready to say goodbye and that is when it happened-he cried for me.

Now for most parents you have experienced what I affectionately call the "guilt" you know when you leave your child at daycare and they cry and bawl for you until you walk out of the room and they stop and go on with their day..while you question why you are trying to juggle it all anyway. I can still remember watching Kenny through the "secret" window at his daycare in Saint Paul-he literally cried until I walked away-got up and started playing like nothing happened!

But this day, with Isaiah was different. Isaiah has never "cried" for me. Now granted it isn't that he dislikes me-but he had never emotionally responded to my presence/or absence like that before. Now when Rob went to work 4 days after we came home, each morning for a week Isaiah would wake up and lay down at the front door and cry for Rob. When I take him to day care-I can get a kiss goodbye-but only outside of the room so no one sees us. Now I had become accustomed to these relationship-not quite as close as Kenny and I are-but just close in a different way. The curve ball came friday when I left a crying little boy reaching for me at daycare. Now some might say I should have run back-built that attachment/bonding at that point, others might have said-he might just be pulling the "guilt trip" to get an additional day of Sesame Street and Cosby Episodes while hanging out on the couch.

However I kept going, crying all the way to work, knowing that today we had made a little more progress then before. Now before I leave this too much like a Disney movie-this morning he had a major breakdown and found out mom does not like it when he tries to poke me in the eyes during our time ins....

But the good continues to out way the bad...and I am grateful for each day we have as our family of 4.