Memorial Day Weekend

Henry and I drove to Houston for the weekend. We stayed with my friend Robbin and her children Annie Laurie and Geordan, and also got to visit Annette, John, and Kaiti. The drive wasn't that bad--I stopped at every rest stop and we ran around a little.
Houston is hotter than the northeast Texas area. We stayed in during the middle of the day. Since Robbin has two dogs that need to be walked we had nice neighborhood walks in the evening. Henry was a little scared of the dogs at first but I'm glad we stayed long enough for him to warm up to them. He got more at ease the longer we stayed and by the end he was laughing and playing just like he was home.

We went to a water play area in the local park, and also to the local pool. Henry was scared at first but he got more accustomed to the idea of water spraying all around him. Most of the time I had to hold his hand and lead him through the water.
Amazingly when I gave him a bath after we got home he was not afraid when I poured water over his head. He usually cries when this happens, and I have to be careful not to get it on his face. But he was very calm about it. I guess he is getting used to the water.
He really likes slides, and there was one near the water park. He will go down the biggest slides.
The trip was really good for Henry. He seems to like to travel. He likes the car and he likes people. Most of the time he is in a good mood and thankfully he has not been too sick lately.

Another busy weekend--all you can eat fish place, garden party at church

Friday night Henry and I met members of my family, including my grandmother, at an all you can eat fish restaurant in the small town near where she lives. Henry ate a few bites of fish and some french fries, but he liked the gravy the most. I finally relented and let him scoop it up with his hands and put it in his mouth. I don't like him to make such a mess, smearing the food all over his face, but I've been told that is a state he must go through in order to learn to feed himself.
First I tried feeding him with a spoon, then I gave him the spoon. But as can be seen he most enjoyed just dipping his hand in the gravy.

On Saturday morning we had what was called a "garden party" at our church. It started at 8 but those with small children were told not to come until 10:30. Henry wasn't really able to plant flowers with the other children, who seemed to be age 4 to 8. He did play a little with the bubbles and a big ball and he chased a dog somebody brought. Then lunch began and we had hamburgers and hot dogs.
On Sunday I put Henry in this little outfit with a red tie. It barely fits him but I wanted him to wear it at least once before he's outgrown it. This is the first weekend that has been warm enough for him to wear it. He has grown accustomed to the three hour church meeting. I still stay in the lobby or a classroom (with a speaker) during the sacrament meeting. He's just too difficult to manage in the chapel. But he really likes the nursery--he doesn't cry anymore when I leave him and the ladies tell me he is the only child who does all the hand movements and claps at the end of the songs. I think he is going to like music a lot.

Henry visits Blake

Yesterday after work I picked up Henry and we went to Stefanie and DJ's house. They adopted Blake from Guatemala. He is six months older than Henry--maybe they will end up being in the same grade in school. Henry was a little shy, hopefully next time we visit he will be more confident about moving around and playing. He did surprise me by eating lettuce--he seemed to prefer it to the fuit.

Visit to the park

I heard that the ducks were going to be exiled to the university's prairie land reserve so yesterday I took Henry to the newly landscaped pond on campus. The geese were bigger than him, and the ducks weren't much smaller. I don't think they want us to feed them anymore, so we just walked around and he looked at the ducks. They were obviously very hungry and followed us very closely. I ended up picking Henry up because they appeared to be so aggressive--I was afraid they might start nipping at him. He liked looking at them from a distance but seemed intimidated when they all started hovering around us.
Next we went to the city park. The slides and see saws and climbing stuff are too big for Henry, but he did like the toddler swing. The last time I took him to a park he seemed afraid of the swing, but he liked it this time.
This morning we both got up early and Henry played outside with a soccer ball. He doesn't kick it, he picks it up and throws it. But he does really seem to like balls.
I am really enjoying getting out and doing things with Henry, now that the weather is warming up. Soon I suppose it will be too hot. Last year was so stressful--everything was on hold while I waited for the travel date to come, then I was in Vietnam and I waited for the G&R. Then I brought Henry home in the dead of winter and he had difficulty adjusting to the change in weather. Now life is starting to get easier, and I am thank goodness finding time to work on my dissertation.
I am taking Henry to an ALA conference in Anaheim at the end of June. I still haven't decided whether it would be worth it to take him for a part of a day to Disneyland, since it is right across the street from where the conference is. Oh and luckily ALA has child care, so I don't have to worry about what to do with him while we are gone.

Remembering the Anticipation

My mother sent me some photos she had on her camera from when we were in Vietnam. Looking at them I remember the anticipation of finally going to pick up Henry. After having been over there so long it seemed unreal that it was finally happening.
We sat downstairs for a few minutes in a large room with a big portrait of Ho Chi Minh at the front. Then we were ushered upstairs, down an outside walkway leading to the nursery at the end of the building. I remember well how I felt as we approached the door--a second or two after this photo was taken I saw Henry for the first time as he spidered his way around the room on a walker. He seemed much smaller than I imagined he would be. I had blown the periodic update photos up to get closeup looks at his fingernails, nose, ears, eyes--until I guess I had the impression that he was larger than life. Then I saw him for real, as a very small baby. It really was an incredible day.
Here is a photo in the ground floor room, before we entered the nursery. I was looking with amazement at the so-called "Third Letter" from the DIA to the province that gives final authorization for me to adopt. Loc was translating for me, but all that mattered was that the end of the road (as far as Vietnam was concerned) was finally here.
Henry was very fussy. Here I give him to my mother for the first time. He was frightened, in contrast to how he was this past weekend. He was so happy to see my mother and held to her tightly. It is really good to know that he has attached so well to us.
I was in a daze as I sat on the floor and quieted Henry with a bottle. Hoi looks on--we have just heard from Loc that he and Hoi are expecting a baby in six months time. They were just as anxious as my mother and me were in finally getting to see Henry.

Texas Recognition of Foreign Adoption

Henry and I drove down to San Antonio for the weekend. It is the first chance we have had to see my mother since she moved to the Village at Incarnate Word. She wondered if Henry would remember her after six weeks, but he immediately went to her and held his head against her and patted her on the chest while he smiled. He seemed very happy to see her.

We ate in the bistro and the cafeteria. I didn't know that Henry knew to dip french fries in ketchup. As I was putting mayonnaise on my hamburger my mother noticed that Henry was reaching to dip his french fry in it. She said he wanted ketchup but I said "He doesn't know what ketchup is." But I guess he must have learned it at the Children's Center, because as soon as I put some on a plate he started dipping the french fry in it.

We had an enjoyable time staying at Pat and Christine's home. Christine sang songs with Henry--he seems to have picked up the hand signals for songs at the Children's Center as well. He also routinely claps at the end of songs.

On Monday we went to the court house with the paperwork to file for the "Recognition of Foreign Adoption" that will get Henry a Texas birth certificate and also officially change his name. His birth date has also been officially changed from 18 September to 19 June. A big change of three months but obviously he has to have the same birth date as Ben.

My mother practiced law in San Antonio for a number of years. Judge Tanner was a judge that she was familiar with. I was worried about the complication of changing a birth date. It was made easier by finding a familiar judge. Of course the final test will be whether the state issues the birth certificate with the amended birth date, but I don't see why they wouldn't because the form I send in (which was notarized at the court house) only has the June 19th date on it.

By the way, June 19 is known as Juneteenth in Texas, and I understand it has spread to several other states. It celebrates the day in 1865 when a ship arrived in Galveston to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves.

And yesterday, the day the recogntion paperwork was filed, was Cinqo de Mayo--a popular Mexican holiday that is celebrated more in Texas than it is in Mexico. The day I adopted Henry in Vietnam, the first of November, is also the popular Mexican holiday known as the Day of the Dead in which ancestors are honored.

Henry continues to expand his multiculturalism.

We left San Antonio at 4 in the afternoon, packed tightly in my Scion xB. The trip back was much swifter than the trip there, and I am back at work today. I am really thankful for my mother's help in getting the paperwork written up and filed and signed by a judge. That was really the last step in completing the adoption that made us a family.

Six months since the G&R!

It seems like I've had him forever, but it was six months ago when he became officially my son under Vietnam laws. I am hoping Monday to get the Texas "recognition of foreign adoption" processed along with a name change. It is complicated by the fact that I am also amending his birth date. That is the last step in the process.