Little D Screams for Ice Cream

While driving home from picking Daniel up at day care, Abuela needed to make a quick stop at Sam's Club to grab a couple of items.

Daniel, who has overnight turned into the backseat navigator despite having never driven a car in his life, immediately picked up on the deviation in routine route home.

"Abu, donde vamos," he asked and she replied, "to Sam's Club."

"Porque," quizzed Daniel; to which she explained there were some things she needed to buy. Then Daniel asked, "Abu, ice cream. Danielito ice cream."

Abuela said she would need to call mommy and ask for permission. 

At two, Daniel has begun to master the basic foundations of language and communication. It's really very fun to witness. But what came next was a surprise.

"Abu, no mommy. No habla Mommy. Solo Danielito ice cream," he said; which basically means don't tell Mommy that you bought me ice cream.

Really? (to borrow a Seinfeld phrase)

At two years old he has already mastered to a certain level manipulation, and now deceit. What type of child are we raising? Where have we gone wrong? Is this a natural-born skill that has just now begun to show itself, or is this new-found-talent something he picked up from school friends?

Of course, I ask all of the above a little tongue in cheek. We know we're raising him okay and these are the stories we don't ever want to forget.

God bless,

For The Love of a Dog

Moments before embarking on a four-hour-drive to visit family, Claudia narrowly averted a crisis.

"Can you get Wow-Wow, please," she shouted to me from the car.

Without thinking a second thought, I disappeared inside the house and began a quick search in all of the usual places. Inside Daniel's toy work bench. Inside the "trunk" of his tricycle. Upstairs in his room. Den. Kitchen. Our bedroom. Okay, now I'm running out of places Wow-Wow could be.

A sickening feeling entered my mind. I recalled the last time I saw his treasured stuffed dog. It was a few hours earlier in Dick's Sporting Goods right after Daniel had ducked under some merchandise to disappear for a few solitary moments to go poop.

After discovering Daniel's dirty diaper we jetted off to the house and left "man's best friend" behind. I quickly accepted this to be the case. Thankfully, we had replaced Wow-Wow with Wow-Wow 2 only a few weeks earlier and still had the original tucked away in a closet.

I grabbed the original Wow-Wow, who smelled like a real dog; which was the reason it had been replaced in the first place. But, it would do for the weekend during an emergency.

I called Claudia while she was en route to family to let her know I had returned to Dick's Sporting Goods, but no one had turned in Wow-Wow. So, I had already ordered another one from Amazon.com and would have it in a couple of days.

Crisis totally averted. Whew!

We've all been children at some point which means odds are good that we've all had a treasured stuffed animal. For Daniel, it's Wow-Wow.

He has developed a great attachment to the stuffed animal. He plays with it all of the time. His daycare has noted that he sleeps during nap time about an hour longer on the days when Wow-Wow is with him. Wow-Wow eats. Wow-Wow barks and licks your face. In Daniel's world the little doll does just about everything a real dog can do.

Which is why we jump through so many hoops as parents to make sure we don't lose Wow-Wow.

Of course, we still feel more than a little silly after Claudia noticed at her sister's house that Wow-Wow was laying on the bed, and Wow-Wow 2 was snuggled in Daniel's arms. Averted crisis. Well, it never really was one to begin with.

Meet Me in St. Louis: A Family Reunion of a Different Sort

Summer 2012 has been a time for us as a family to enjoy some great American past-times including cook-outs, swimming pool, beach vacation and family reunions.

We recently attended the Children's Hope International Family Reunion in St. Louis to celebrate 20 years of helping adoptive parents and children meet. Families from around the country who have been touched by this wonderful organization traveled to the Gateway City for a weekend of fun and fellowship.

Dwight Gantt, who founded CHI, spoke about God's plan and reflected on His hand's influence on his life. Specifically, Gantt talked about how the hundreds of families who have adopted through CHI have been positively impacted by the events that eventually led to the organization's founding. From humble beginnings assisting one family adopt from China, CHI has helped thousands of families adopt from China, Russia, Colombia, Ethiopia and others.

Daniel had a great experience traveling with us. After a few road trips, he has begun to enjoy the adventure a little more.

We visited the St. Louis Zoo for the first time. It is a wonderful zoo that is offered to the public for free. Thanks to donations from generous individuals and companies, patrons can see a lot of different animals. The highlight of our visit was watching a couple of baby elephants swim for apples and a rhinoceros grunt and huff around to beat the 105 degree heat.

We also enjoyed some live music underneath the St. Louis Arch while the sun set. Daniel loves music and had a blast watching the people and saying, "Yee Haw," at the end of songs.

We met a few families during our trip; including a couple who had adopted two sisters from Colombia. It was really special to meet them and make some more connections with families with Colombian-born children.

By the end of the trip, we realized how much fun we had during the past couple of days. More importantly, we realized we were part of a much larger adoptive family through Children's Hope International. We can't wait to go back next year.