• I can handle puke...as long as it's of the spitup variety. I haven't had the opportunity (and hope it doesn't happen for a while!) of the 'other' variety. But we had a little bit of a full belly today, and too much play. Also it could be a bit of reflux. Who knows, but it wasn't a lot...and it was fine.
• My kid has the stinkiest poops in the world. I mean, they stink up an entire room...for hours. Even after the diaper has been carried out to the trash.
• I will take a shower & an hour later, will be nasty again. And the kicker is...this doesn't bother me.

Things my child did today that I must tell you about:

• He blows kisses. Or at least that's what it seems like he is doing.
• He LOVES to swing...by himself. And then he gets out of the swing and will push an empty swing. He also likes to sit in my lap and swing.
• While looking at a book of animals, he kept going back to the dog...and finally made the doggie sound -- "ruff ruff!"
• He understands at least this much: his name, come here, come on, open/close, no, thank you (there may be a little more, but these, I am pretty sure of)
• He still loves to take walks. Sometimes he likes to be carried; sometimes he prefers to walk. He always loves to stop and pick up rocks (mom, sound like anyone else you know?).
• He asks for help when he needs it. It's mostly a sort of whiney grunt, but it's also accompanied with pointing at whatever he wants/needs, and looking at one of us to help him.
• His favorite toy is a shoebox. He puts all of his toys into it and carries it around.
• And finally, he has figured out how to suck. I really wanted him to get back to where he can suck, like from a sippy cup, for when we fly. He hadn't gotten it yet (remember the Nuby that's easy to chew on & get liquid?) so this morning, I pulled out a bottle (gasp!), and put some juice in it. He remembered pretty quickly (oh the power of juice)...and then transferred it to his sippy cup later.
• Finally, today, we were looking at his "who loves baby?" book that we left at the end of Trip One. We named people in it, and then he shut the book, held it close & hugged it (much like little ones will hug on baby dolls). I about died at the sweetness.

And I'm sure there's lots more to write about, but I think these are the best of the day. I dont' want you to burnout on him before you meet him! (as if you could, right? haha) He keeps us laughing...and we pretty much anticipate what sets him off, so tantrums are fairly predictable. And just so cute. Is that right to say a tantrum is cute? Oh well, it is. I'm sure they will get old...but till then, we'll just enjoy it.

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According to a really neat guy Nathan & I recently met, everyone has a story. And (I’m really over-simplifying here) our past life stories dictate how we act & react in our current life. In other words, our past interactions dictate current interactions – for instance, the ways in which my parents & I interacted could very well impact the way that I interact with Iliya (and the same goes for Nathan). I think this is pretty easy to understand, and makes sense. But I sure would like to go back in time & be a fly on the wall in the baby home so I could learn my son’s “story.” He will do things that make me wonder if these things are innate (because he’s just a kid) or a result of things that his caregivers have done with him.

Consider some of the above examples.

And also for instance, socks. Yesterday, I thought it would be interesting to see how he would react to me putting a sock on his hand. I’m not really sure what possessed me to do this, but we’ve got lots of time to do lots of different things. And putting a sock on my child’s hand was something that came to my mind, because he came over to me, and I happened to have a sock in my hand. Why do something predictable, like put it on his foot? Anyway, do you know what he did? He acted like it was a puppet. He started waving it at me while smiling and singing. It was the neatest thing to witness, because it was totally unexpected. And it gave me a glimpse of (perhaps) his playtime with caregivers. I’ve said it once & I will say it again, I believe he got the best care he possibly could have during his first year & a half. I truly believe that he was loved, and for that I am so thankful.

And even though I don’t know – for sure – about his past life, I am thankful that I’ve already been able to get a few glimpses. It makes me feel like we’ve got a good prologue to a great story just waiting to be made.