It's been a tiring week but things have really turned around in the last day or so. Smiley is cutting his top front teeth and is having a tough time with it. Both of my girls were easy teethers so I had NO IDEA that this is what other parents meant when they said teething pain. Yikes! My poor baby's gums are so red and swollen. Luckily the right tooth finally broke through during the night last night so we only have one more to go!

We have had a couple of breakthroughs with Smiley in the last two days. Yesterday he refused to go to Cookie's teacher when we went in to pick her up. Usually he'll just go to anyone but for the first time he turned away and clung to me instead. Yeah! Progress! It feels weird to be celebrating this though because it is the exact opposite of the issues we had with Princess at this age, who wouldn't go to anyone, including Zman, for the longest time. I have to remind myself that this is a very different situation and that we are not fostering the same leave of clinginess by encouraging Smiley to prefer us. *It's not the same. It's not the same. It's not the same.*

Then this morning, after a tough night of teething, Zman handed him to me and he spontaneously turned and kissed me on the mouth! As you can imagine, my heart melt right then and there into a little pile of mush. Later in the day I tested to see if he would do it again. I asked him to give mommy a kiss and he did! Of course when I tried to get him to do it when Zman was around he wouldn't do it again.

It's so exciting to see him getting more and more comfortable with us. It hard to believe that it wasn't long ago that I was so disheartened and discouraged. Princess is no longer throwing fits everyday and we are really starting to get into the parenting 3 groove. Now if I could just get my house under control life would be wonderful. Right now the laundry is staging a battle to take over the house and I think it may just win!

This evening, Zman took over with the kids and I went out to meet a new friend for dinner. We met through my homestudy social worker because she is currently waiting for a referral of a baby girl from Ethiopia. She wanted to gab about our trip, our baby, our adjustment since being home... We immediately hit it off and talking for 4 hours straight. It was nice to decompress our trip with someone who was fascinated by every facet of our journey. She's well traveled and has spent a lot of time in Central America, so is familiar with seeing extreme poverty close up. She's also a English teacher and has read all the books... we never ran out of topics.

We are hoping to get together again soon so she can met Smiley and we hope to have many play dates when she gets her little one home. It was great to get away with out the kids or, dare I say it, my hubby for an evening. I know that taking time for myself is so important to my mental health and helps me be a better parent in the long run, but I don't seem to do it very often. Hopefully I can have more time like this in the future. My sister and I are talking about ditching our kiddos with the husbands and having a girls night out together...something we haven't done since Cookie was born.

I feel so rejuvenated tonight! Bring on the teething, bring on the sleep deprivation and attachment issues. I can handle anything. I am MOM hear me ROAR!

posted at 11:32 PM  
Labels: Attachment, It's ALL about ME, Kids