Homeland Security
So here’s the fun part of international adoption paperwork: You get to walk to your mailbox and receive mail from the US Department of Homeland Security. (In this week’s case, we just got a notice that their Immigration division has received our I-600A Form) You also get to casually insert sentences like this into conversations with friends who ask about the adoption process: “We’re just waiting for our biometrics appointment as part of our dossier preparation.” (Which really means: “We need to be fingerprinted by the feds.”)
Neat, eh?
A little closer to home, we realized that we had a security breach in our home this week. It happened around 3:30 at night, when I was awakened from a deep sleep by sounds over the baby monitor. Noah seemed to be whimpering a little, so I went upstairs to make sure he had his pacifier and blanket. Imagine my surprise when I got to his bedroom and didn’t see a toddler in the bed! I scanned the room, saw no little boy, and quickly felt all over the bed again to make sure he wasn’t crumpled in the blankets. Just as I was about to panic, I noticed some legs sticking out from the end of the bed.
That’s right. Noah breached the bed rails, must have gotten out of bed, and crawled under his bed. And there he laid, with only two-pajama clad legs visible to my sleepy eyes. I’m really not sure if he was even awake when I pulled him out and tucked him back safely into bed. And I really can’t imagine why he decided he needed to investigate underneath his bed in the middle of the night.
Perhaps it’s time for more stringent security measures in Noah’s room.
Broke!
Ah, the wonderful mind of a two-year old! Noah’s vocabulary is growing by the day, and we’re never quite sure how he’s going to use his new found powers of speech. Consider these two short examples of how he’s using his favorite new word, broke:
Example A: The Nose
Amy has been fighting a nasty head cold for the past few weeks (so much for Spring, eh?), and the other day she moved into the “blowing the nose” phase of things. She made the off-hand comment that her nose was “broken” and that got Nojo’s wheel’s turning: his eyes became serious and he looked hard at her nose. He leaned left, then right, and then lifted her head up to look into her nose. Then, with great concern, he said earnestly “Nose broke? Nose broke?” 
Example B: The T-Shirt
Despite the extended cold season, it is starting to feel like Spring around West Michigan. And with an expected high of 73 degrees today, it’s officially t-shirt weather. The only problem with that is Noah doesn’t remember warm weather, let alone t-shirts. When Amy pulled a T over Noah’s head this morning, he looked at each bare arm ,and then said, with great concern, “broke? broke?” Amy decided that some battles aren’t worth fighting, and changed it out for a long-sleeve shirt.
Monkeys and Doorbells
A blessed Easter/Resurrection Sunday weekend to you all! Here’s some recent videos of Nojo. Enjoy!
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=Egxv5_mG4SA]
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=lwM95WxBNn4]
The Best Part of the Day
Do you have a favorite part of the day? A routine moment you always wish would last just a little longer?
I do. I’m still savoring the last few minutes I spent cuddling and reading with Noah before his nap. I just love those quiet moments when my little boy slows down and settles into my lap for stories. Together we go off on little adventures into the pages of our favorite books. And as we get to the last book on our stack, Noah often turns and plunks his head right on my shoulder, ready to go upstairs and drift from the world of books into the world of slumber.
If that isn’t peace, I don’t know what is.
At any rate, I thought I’d let the quiet moment linger awhile and do some writing here on the blog. January’s been a busy month in the Tol household, as you’ve probably figured out from the absence of posts. Brian and I are in the middle of our adoption home study process, which includes various interview appointments, training programs, working through a lot of paperwork, and wrangling with the national government over the spelling of my last name. (The National Passport Center has single-handedly transformed me from a “Tol” into a “Toi,” but that’s a story for another day!)
If you want to get a feel for what’s involved, just check out this shot of our initial checklist of forms we had to gather for our formal adoption application. Now that we’re in the home study phase, I have a new checklist, of course! But fortunately, since we are planning to adopt from Korea, we don’t have a lot of additional paperwork to complete. (Some other countries require you to jump through a lot more hoops.) When I think about all the things we’ve completed already–and all the things we have yet to complete–it seems like a daunting process. But I’ve really appreciated the way Bethany (our adoption agency) has broken it down into manageable steps. As another adoptive family we’ve met commented: “It’s a lot of work, but it’s all doable.”
But it hasn’t been all work and no play. We just got back from a fun family retreat we spent with the Russcher clan this weekend. We stayed at Khardomah Lodge in Grand Haven, MI. It’s a quaint and very old home with 15 guest rooms and lots of nooks and crannies. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera, so you’ll just have to use your imaginations to conjure up images of a cozy fireplace, yummy food, fun family games, and lots of laughs. The only down part of the weekend was that Brian, Noah, and I were all fighting some nasty colds. But we enjoyed the time with family nonetheless.
Well, that gives you the January highlights for the Tols. And for those of you who’ve been faithful enough to read to the end of this post, you get to enjoy this reward: Some recent pictures of Noah!
Noah found a pair of Mommy’s slippers. He really gets a kick out wearing them!
And finally, a picture of Noah and his Sunnyside Farm, another favorite toy he likes to play with.
图片! Abbildungen! Картинки! 그림! Pictures!
My creativity is a bit wanting tonight, so I thought I’d let Google shiny new translate tool do the work for me.
And, yes, this post is all about pictures. Pictures of Noah, actually. I (finally) got around to editing up a bunch of photos from this summer. Click on the pictures to see more.
Hanging out at the playground
Hanging out in South Holland
Hanging out at the soccer because Amy and Brian wanted some 18 months pictures even though Nojo’s over 19 months old. Oops.
Not bad, if I do say so myself.
Fun with Toys
Howdy dear friends and family! Hope you’re all well.
I just installed a new video editing program (iMovie 08) and thought I’d give it a spin on some clips of Noah I had hanging around. Below is the world premiere of Fun with Toys, starting our very own Nojo:
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=89gePGw390E]
By the way, iMovie rocks. It took me 10 minutes to put this together. And that includes learning how to use the program.
Of Strawberry Shakes
Ah, the joys of Summer: Sunshine, playing in the park, eating fresh fruit, catching the drips from your ice cream cone. Is there anything better?
What about being air-conditioned comfort, enjoying a strawberry shake from good ‘ol McDonalds? Yeah, I thought so, too.
Nojo thinks that a pretty good plan, as well. He recently hijacked my shake, and much enjoyment followed:
[youtube http://youtube.com/watch?v=PUoaIWLWM5E]
For the curious among you: The video was made with Apple’s excellent iMovie program, and the music was sampled from their Garage Band tool.
Piano Man
Watch out, Billy Joel, you have some company:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZV6s2jqpt0A]
I wasn’t able to record the more traditional first half of the “concert” in which Noah used his hands. But I was able to catch his new, foot-powered avent garde piece. I think he’s on to something myself.
Boating in the Kitchen
Ah, Spring is in the air! While it’s too cool to go out on the Big Lake, Noah’s already making waves in his kitchen boat:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PbiCtMn8BE]
Ah, I could watch that all day.
Breaking News: Cat Surrenders to baby. Film at 11:00.
Well, since it’s 11:00 somewhere, here’s the video:
[youtube http://youtube.com/watch?v=h1l__eVRass]
The camera ran out of space, so I ended up catching only 11 seconds of Noah torturing playing with Mocha. Mocha apparently decided it wasn’t worth the effort to move. Or (and equally possible) she’s just given up all hope that we’ll return Noah whatever place we picked him up at.
Either way, she just didn’t care anymore, and boy, did he have a good time pulling her tail.