More firsts - church, new friends and more

Sunday Mihretu and I went to church for the first time. I was so beyond excited. It signified to me a return to some normalcy but also - I was so very excited for him to meet all the many amazing people at church who've been praying for him for so long. He seemed a little overwhelmed but he does great - he just gets quiet and clings to mommy and takes it all in. He stayed upstairs in the sanctuary with me for worship. I tried leaving him in kids worship but I could tell that was not going to go over well and since he had discovered the classroom full of cool toys that just so happened to be the room he'd be in for Sunday school - I thought taking him there rather than the worship room would be better. Before church, he met Miss Carla who is the preschool director and immediately took to her. So when we came back down to take him to class, even though he cried for a few minutes when mommy left, he let Miss Carla comfort him. I was able to stand on the other side of the windows that I can see in but looks like a mirror on his side and just make sure he was ok. He calmed down pretty quickly. Carla ended up sitting in there with him and it was so adorable when I came back down and peeked in the window and saw him sitting at the table with all the kids next to her showing her a little toy lion he had picked up. She said he did great, followed instructions and went along with everything the other kids were doing - went over to the circle for story time, to the table for snack and so on. She said he was especially good about throwing all his trash away. He loves to help clean up which makes this momma proud. I was so glad he did so well. Initially I wasn't planning to leave him in there the first day at church but because he's starting school in 2 weeks, I thought it would be good practice for mommy to show that yes she has to leave but she always comes back. And since it's like a classroom, I was hoping that would be even more helpful of a setting.

Yesterday (Monday) he had his big appointment at Vanderbilt International Adoption Clinic. It ended up being 3 hours total but it was really great info and he also met with an occupational therapist. He's a bit behind for his age developmentally - mostly I think because of lack of practice or opportunities to develop certain skills - but they said he shows signs of already picking up things really quickly so they think he'll be up to speed in 6 months. I think so too. If I need to have him work with an occupational therapist in the future, it's nice to know it's there but I don't think we need to at this point. They gave me some great things to work on with him. At the very end of the appointment was the not very fun part where they had to stick him for a TB test and then draw lots of blood to run all sorts of bloodwork on him. He did not like that but he recovered really quickly. He's a tough kiddo. So proud of him.

At nap today he was not wanting to stop playing and sleep which can get frustrating trying to talk him into resting. I ended up trying out the Ergo carrier again - hadn't used it in awhile for napping. Since Ethiopia actually. But I think I will go for that from now on cause he was asleep in like a minute. And I was able to lay him down in his toddler bed. YAY he's asleep in his own bed. Not sure if that'll take or not but we'll keep trying it. The Vandy nurse recommended we transition him to his bed and me next to it on the air mattress for awhile as the next step before mommy no longer sleeps in there. So we'll be trying that and seeing how it goes.

My friend Robin came over last night and met M for the first time. He LOVED her. I've not seen him take to anyone quite that well right off the bat. She's fun and silly and played with him a lot which made him warm right up. By the end of the night he was reaching for hugs and giving her kisses on the cheek. Pretty sure he stole her heart. My cousin Heather is coming next weekend and I'm SO excited for her to meet him and for her to visit again - it's been a really long time. M and I are going home at Christmas but it'll be nice to have Heather all to ourselves for some one on one time for a few days. Can't wait for that.