Today is my Birthday and I'm very thankful that I was able to be home, even if my son has shared his cold-of-doom with the whole family and the amount of snot being produced around here is legendary. We had a wonderful Christmas that was all the more precious because we weren't sure until the last moment that I would be able to get home in time.

I ended up getting home around 10pm on Christmas Eve and came in to find all of my children still awake and waiting for me. I will always remember the look on Smiley's face as he saw me. The child was gob-smacked. He was literally stunned to see me...I guess he thought I had gone the way of many "moms" before and was gone for good. He stared at me for a while with a shocked look on his face and never broke eye contact even when I picked him up. He leaned back a bit to look at me and then, after a minute, he leaned in a gave me a huge kiss right on the mouth.

After that he seemed to come out of his shock and squealed with happiness and proceeded to spend the rest of the night and most of the next day attached to my hip and giving me random hugs and kisses. He was very happy to have me home!

Besides today being my birthday and, in my opinion, more importantly; today is the day that Smiley had been with us longer than he was in the orphanage. How quickly the time is passing. We have seen some really big changes in his attachment over the last month and he is like a different child since I've been home. He smiles more, he gives hugs and kisses freely, he plays with his sisters, he will occasionally fall asleep in our arms, and just overall seems more content. We still have issue to work on but I finally feel that he is MY son and I am HIS mom.

What a wonderful birthday gift!

posted at 6:28 PM  
Labels: It's ALL about ME, Kids