Eight Months As A Family

Monday marked 8 months since we met Davis in China. It's very surreal sometimes to realize he has only been a part of our family for just months. Neither Daryl nor I can imagine our family without this little guy.

Today we marked his time in our family with a special celebration at the courthouse. We re-adopted our son at the in family court at the Marion County Courthouse. This is to ensure that his foreign adoption is recognized by the state of Florida and to give him access to a Florida birth certificate. Grandma was able to travel up from Seffner to be with us for this occasion. We pulled the boys out of school early so that they could be present as well. Ten minutes before a judge and we were all set. We hung out at home for a bit doing homework and reading to Grandma before heading out for an early dinner at Grace Japanese Steakhouse to celebrate.

Waiting in the lobby for our turn. 

With the family court judge, the Hon. Sue Robbins. 

With our lawyer Paul Consbruck, also an adoptive parent from China.

 

In other news, we finally got an answer to the hives that Davis experienced in January. He underwent a bloodtest for allergies and came back as allergic to eggs and lactose intolerant. We've already switched him over to almond milk for cereal and we will just need to monitor his intake of eggs and dairy and note how he does. Considering that he loves the taste of both eggs and milk, we're hopeful he will outgrow these allergies as he gets older.

Davis is showing more signs of readiness for potty training. He will come up to us and tell us when he's dirty or wet most of the time now and often will go and get a diaper and wipes when we are at home.
We are holding off on really working this process until after his circumcision later this month.

In the last few days Davis has really become obsessed with being a pirate. From his Jake stuffed animal to his pirate boat, to Jake legos - they are the first things he reaches for in the morning and the last thing he handles before he goes to bed. He's learning to play more with other children and not just alongside of them - at Wesley's baseball practices he plays with the coach's 3 year old daughter. Davis also has this cute thing he does now when you ask him to do things, like put on his shoes or put away his toys.  He looks up at you and says very seriously: "I can't. You do it." If you tease him for a bit, then he will get up and do it. But it's such a change from his previous attitude of doing everything for himself.

We're so thankful for our little, happy boy. We'll leave you with this video of Daryl tickling him and you can hear his contagious laughter.