Sometimes he hits the ball right off the top and sometimes he hits the tee. Either way it is much better than when he decides to hit the ball than the walls or his sisters. Who knew solving one problem would cause another. Good news he no longer is using balls inappropriately.

Of course Madeline always has to take illness to the next level, surprising me last night with a 103.8 fever! We finally got it down and were able to sleep some. Although the sleep was not as sound because I could hear her wheezing beside me. I decided to take her in to the doctor today. He confirmed that we all have a virus and that Mimi does have wheezing. We didn’t do a chest x-ray but he felt confident that it hadn’t developed into pneumonia. Mimi has added breathing treatments into her care.

Hopefully we will all be better soon.

Mr. Independent has now decided that along with taking care of his business in the potty he also wants to only do things that are his ideas. You can ask him if he wants to do something that he wants and he will say no. Then he will go say “now” and he will do what it was you asked him. It is a serious assertion of control and I just let him do it. I know it is a phase and that he will stop saying no before he says yes someday, at least I hope.

His latest and greatest talent is dressing himself. I mean completely dressing himself. He puts on his Thomas underwear, then the socks, then the shirt and pants. He won’t even let me help him get the socks on, unless it were his idea for me to put them on. Today he put the pants on backwards. Try as I might he wouldn’t allow me to turn them around. So if you saw me at Costco today you saw me with the little man and his pants on backwards. Thankfully they were sweat pants and you can’t really tell.

I captured this photo today while he was outside making baskets.

Mr. Independent can be hard to live with especially when we are on time crunches and I really don’t have time for him to buckle himself in his car seat, but it is so worth it. My boy is growing up. It is enough to make my heart swell.

As you can see from the picture above Annie and Kimberly were overjoyed! They were both able to find the right column and check for the numbers on their own. They got close to bingo once but didn’t win—sounds like bingo to me.

Mimi had fun too, though it was much harder for her to follow the numbers. I had to help her out a bit, but she still had fun!

Paul was not into bingo at all and was fairly hard to wrangle most of the night, with the exception of the 10 minutes he was eating Dippin’ Dots.

There are stages that pass and you miss them. I can’t say I will miss diapers, even for a moment. A huge grin comes to my face when thinking about how close we are.

Paul has been accident free for several days now. He is proficient at taking his underwear down and climbs up on the potty like a pro. My boy is growing up and I couldn’t be more happy!

He also has finally decided to be responsible about coloring on the marker board in the kitchen. Before this he would sneak the markers away from his sisters and color on the walls or furniture. I am so glad he can enjoy this now. He loves drawing. Today he drew a picture of Daddy.

I thought a no TV day would be good for the family. I was right it was just what we needed for them to realize that they can do other things.

The Girls spent the afternoon playing imaginary games, creating art projects and had no problem with the fact that I had placed this limit on them. Paul on the hand was a wreck the entire day. He wanted so desperately to watch a movie. He cried, threw tantrums, and basically punished me all day for putting this limit on him. I didn’t play his beloved Wiggles DVD but we did listen to the CD in the car. Still he was not happy. I can see that this will be a struggle for him, he loves TV.

Tomorrow we will watch some TV. I can only imagine how excited Paul will be.

Paul has been spending his time at home without pants in order for him to easily make it to the potty in time. He hasn’t had an accident yet and hopefully will begin to stop going in his diaper. (He still has to wear them when we go out and other times when I am not up for potty training.)

Toady I was sitting in my office reading email and I hear him in the bathroom talking to himself. He was telling himself the things we always say when he is trying to go. He called me in shortly after that and I saw that his pep talk worked! Way to go Paul!

Paul said this to Bill tonight to let him know he wanted to read to him. The boy certainly knows how to communicate what he needs.

He also love to hold a “mote” and play Wii with us. He jumps at all the right times and does the right actions with his hands/remote.

I don’t want to be stereotypical about the difference between boys and girls, but it sure seems like he is is very adept at video games. Amazing! Certainly not something I would have thought before of a specific gender or someone his age.

Paul says this to me each time I try to lift him into his crib. He likes to climb up and get in by himself. My boy is so grown up!

Today Paul had his 2 year old well check. No longer is there a steady pace. In fact he has lost two and a half pounds and weighs in at 23.5 pounds.

Sure he struggles with being a picky eater. And he does eat some, just not enough. I know people say all the time that their kids grew well on just cheese and crackers for a year but that isn’t the case for Paul. He runs and plays constantly and he doesn’t eat enough to offset the calories he is burning.

The reason that this becomes worrisome is because Paul has known real hunger. He was malnourished just a short year ago. If we take into consideration how far he has come it is amazing, but that doesn’t change the fact that he should be gaining more now. Paul doesn’t feel bad when his tummy is empty. It happened so often that it probably feels normal to him. Changing this idea in his psyche is very difficult.

He will have to see the endocrinologist soon to rule out the possibility that there is an underlying physiological issue. In the meantime, we are supposed to get him to eat more. Seriously easier said than done. If only apple juice and fruit snacks had a high protein and caloric content.

I think we have an official potty trainer on our hands. Woohoo! Just knowing that my days changing diapers are numbered brings a huge smile to my face.

Of course, I don’t think it hurts that each time he does poop on the potty we give him a M&M. I told you this boy will do anything for chocolate.

*Update: Daddy is home today and it would seem that Paul doesn’t tell Daddy he needs to go. Something to certainly work on.

The cake was placed on the table close to him and he enjoyed dipping his finger in the icing and eating it. He and his cousin Ian did this many times.

Here he is getting the icing.

And here he is enjoying it.

He had another slice of it yesterday afternoon for snack and I am sure he and Kimberly will finish it up today.

In the evening, we prepared an Ethiopian dinner for friends and family. Sandi made the doro wat, beef tibs, and sambusa appetizers. We bought the injera, atkilt wat, shiro wat, gomen wat, mesir wat, and tikil gomen wat from a local Ethiopian nanny who is trying to fill the void that Nan left when she exited the underground Ethiopian catering scene in Phoenix. (If you’re local and have that sort of a need, inquire within because the food was fantastic and way less expensive than it should have been.) Here’s the spread:

Here we see the boy’s birthday cake featuring a fondant train created by Papa. The little guy blew out one of his candles on command and we were quite impressed. Not pictured is the fabulous ice cream concoction that Sandi whipped up:

The hit present of the evening was a motorized police motorcycle. To be honest, it was mostly a hit with the under-7 crowd. The adults quickly grew weary of the life-like siren that the riders insisted on blaring the entire time. Except for when a few fingers were run over, that thing was going non-stop from the minute it was revealed. I think I may have perform an emergency speakerectomy when I get home from work tomorrow.

You have grown so much since we first met. From a 14 pound malnourished unhealthy boy you are now a 25 pound thriving toddler. The maturation in one year is phenomenal.

I am proud and happy to call you my son and look forward to the adventures your life will bring.

It feels like Paul has always been with us and yet I know that isn’t true.

Tomorrow we celebrate his second birthday. I don’t think I am ready, I am not sure I ever would be. He has been with us such a short time that it is hard to think we are already celebrating his second birthday. It is times like this that remind me how we have missed half his life.

It has been an amazing year growing in love as the Brown Family.

Today marks one year since Paul has been with us. This day is bittersweet. As of today, Paul has been in our arms longer than anyone else’s. I feel very emotionally overwhelmed. We are his family and yet he has known other families in his short life. He probably has little memory of them, another fact that makes me feel emotionally overwhelmed.

He has grown so much and changed in this short year. He is no longer that tiny baby who was pushed around by all the other babies in the nursery. He has found his own voice and isn’t afraid to make his opinion known. He fully trusts us to keep him safe and comfort him.

It is hard to think that an entire year has passed. In one hand it feels like he has always been with us and yet I know that isn’t true. Tomorrow begins another year together. Life is good . . . really good.

This year we made some great pies. Each kid got to help stir in one item and Paul even got to help! I am pretty sure we even got all the ingredients in this year. (Some years we forget an spice or add extra thinking we missed something. It all works out in the wash and adds to the fun!)

Kimberly making a pie crust.

Annie pouring in the milk.

Mimi measuring the ginger.

Paul cracking his first egg and pouring it in.

Tomorrow we celebrate Thanksgiving. Life has so many things to be thankful for. Focusing on the positives in life takes skill and practice and isn’t always easy.