Stephen 2nd birthday and the start to summer.

Stephen has grown a lot since my last update. He has been sleeping in his own big boy bed for about 2 months now. He loves it. When he wakes up we have to look to see if he is a wake if we don’t he will just lie in his bed till we go get him. He started asking to sit on the potty so we have started slowly potty training. It is going okay. Nana helped me a lot while she was here with the potty training. Now he asks before he goes down for his nap and at bed time to go potty; he's started not wanting to potty when he wakes up from bedtime but does go after his naps so this is a very slow process. I am not pushing him since he is so early in asking to potty.



We had a very small birthday party for him with just a few family members and a lot of friends. We were hoping to have an August party but think it might have to wait not sure yet. We have a lot of yard work and the yard is not going to be ready for a party by then. But back to the party he had a great time Stephen just loves to have people around him to make them smile. He got a lot of great toys for playing outside with. That was the one thing we did not have for him and he loves to be outside all the time.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

After his party Papa and Nana got to stay with us; Papa only got to spend a week with us but Nana was here on and off again for 5 weeks. We have had a lot of family function this summer. Stephen went to his first wedding at the end of May. He did really well for it being a night wedding and past his bedtime after a 3 hour drive. I think he wore out most of my family running them around all around the place.



Last Friday we took him to the Cleveland Zoo for the day. He loved seeing all the animals and saying what each one was. It was a great time but I think we will have to drive down to Columbus to see that zoo some time this summer and maybe some of our family will join us.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Today we started swimming class and what fun that was. We had a major melt down for a half hour. I thought we should take him back this afternoon and play with him in the pool so he knows it a fun place to go. Let me tell you it was like night and day. He loved the pool for about an hour and half as he did not want out of the pool. I guess Tuesday will be the telltale day as to if he will like his lessons or not. At least I know he does like the water even if he does not like the lessons.



I am sure I have left some things out but Stephen keeps me busy and I don’t usually have the time to write something all the time. I am sorry I can’t keep you updated better.



Thanks again for everyone’s support and love. We love you all!

Last night!

Last night did not work as well as we had hoped. He lasted for about four hours. Then wanted one of us to sleep with him but he never could calm down to fall back to sleep. So after an hour he asked to go back in his crib. We will keep on trying and won't give up on him. Maybe by his birthday he will be sleeping in his big boy bed.

Spending the night in his BIG BOY BED!

Well I think we might be able to get rid of the crib. He has taken a nap and spent the night in is big boy bed.




Well I don't have a little boy any more, he is growing up.

Oh yeah I know we need to get him a real bedspread set. We will just didn't think it would be this soon.

Stephen took his first nap in his big boy bed!

Well we put a big boy bed in Stephen room about 3 weeks ago hoping that would help him get use to being in one. We started giving him his milk at night and reading to him every night and at nap time in his bed. He started last week wanting to stay in his bed but we did not have his bed rails yet. We got his bed rail this weekend. I went ahead and let him stay in his bed for his nap. We will have to see how well it goes from here on out. Let's see if he will sleep in his bed at night or his crib. I am happy that he is growing up but sure seems a lot faster then I thought it would be.

Stephen learning how to ride a tricycle!

We got Stephen a tricycle for his birthday gave it to him early so he had something to do out side while it was nice. He is learning how to move his legs with the pedals. Man is he growing up so fast.

Easter

This was Stephen frist Easter Egg Hunt and it was in our neighbor hood. Anyone that wanted to join the egg hunt helped by suplying prizes or candy for the hunt. I hate to say I did not get any photos of this one because I was having to show Stephen how to pick up the eggs and put them in the bag and Drew was trying to video tape it.



This is what the Easter bunny left Stephen at the house. Then he also left him some eggs in another room with another basket with more toys.

These are photos of Stephen at an Easter Egg Hunt in the town square. I think that there where about 30+ kids at this one. He did a great job after he walked to the center of the square and started to pick them up.

Here Stephen is with what he got at this Easter Egg Hunt. To our surpise he walked out of there with a lot of candy.

This is Easter Day at Drew's Grandparents house. This is Stephen with his cousin Makayla before the party got started.

This time dad helped with the Easter Egg Hunt at his Grandparents house.

Again Stephen made out with a lot of eggs for this hunt.

Our newest visitors to our little Lake Larrick!

We really do not have a Lake Larrick. We just have a really low area in our yard that we plain on filling this year. We have never had visitors in it before but this year I guess it is low enough now for us to have guests.


The dogs were asking to go out so I went to put there collars on and looked out side to my surprise we had two ducks in the yard.

Then I let the dogs out and if you look hard you will see them flying a way very quickly as Angel ran after them.

Then later that day I looked out to see if they had come back and they did. Then Next I noticed that they were gone and we had two geese in the yard. What a very exciting day.

The newest information.

A lot has changed since I last updated everyone. Stephen is doing really well. He is growing leaps and bounds socially, personally and physically. I am so shocked every time I think back to when we brought him home. He is a totally different person. He tries so hard to improve and grow with all the new things he does.

A couple of weeks ago we went to an update checkup with the Adoption Health Service at UHS. The doctor that did his first check up after we came home was just shocked at how much he has grown and progressed. She will not get to see him at his next several appointments because she and her family are moving to China to work with the orphanages over there. He is now at the top of the chart in weight and height, in social skills he is now in his age range. I can’t believe he went for not being on the chart to now being at the top in 7 months. He came home at 14 pound and is now 32 pounds and was 21 inches and now is 33 inches. I guess it really does show what love and good nutrition does for a child. We will go in to see his pediatrician for his 2 year checkup in May so I will let you know how that goes.

We are really looking forward to this summer we have a lot of family functions going on. Three of my cousins are getting married this year but we will only be able to make it to two of them. We wish Jeff and Erica the best and hope that we get to see that side of our family some time soon. We love and miss them all very much. Luckily four of them have met Stephen over the Skype video web cam. Then we have several birthday parties and one graduation party. We hope we get to have some fun also this summer. Last year he loved the pool so I am looking at getting us a pool pass this year for a pool nearby where some friends of ours go and looking at getting him into some class for swimming. I hope I can fill this summer up with great fun for him like zoo trips, park trips and swimming time during the week. If anyone else has any idea for a very active 2 year old please let me know. I am trying to come up with as much as I can for him to be outside this summer.

I am sure that I will be updating the blog a lot more soon since we have a lot going on.

Hope everyone has a great Easter!!!

Just some new photos.

This is GRANDMA doing. We had not shown him what the piano can do yet. Then Grandma comes for a visit and now all he wants to do is play on the piano. Love you Grandma!!!!!

A warm day to be out side and seeing the lay of the land.

Here is a picture of Mom, Stephen and Angel. Not the best side for Angel.

Here is Stephen and Grandma.

This is Stephen favorite hat! I guess you really don't need to buy them expensive toys they will just use your plastic ware.

Stephen is doing really well. We are both really looking forward to Spring and Summer so we can be outside or how Stephen says it out out out! But TODAY we have snow on the ground so wont be going out today. I am just glad it is just a trace of snow and a lot.

A great day in the snow with Dad!

Well another day in Chardon with SNOW!!! I don't think that this snow will ever go away. I feel like it has been here since we came home with Stephen in August. Well here are some new photos.

Emergency Dentist visit!!

Okay last Friday was one of the scariest days as a mother for me. I thought when Stephen fell and hit his head on the corner of the coffee table about 3 months ago it was bad but let me tell you, so far nothing has compared to what happen Friday. Let me explain . We just got out of the bath tub, I went to get him some clothes and he was following me. Then I turned to go get him to put his clothes on and well he turned also and ran right for the bath tub. The next thing I see is him tripping on the bath rugs and going face first into the tub. Then blood, and I mean blood every where. He had chipped his tooth and his gums where bleeding like crazy. We got in to the dentist right away and per the dentist he will be fine. We will keep following up with him but does not look like there was any nerve damage as of right now. We have a follow up with the dentist on Wednesday. Stephen is eating fine so does not look like they hurt him any more. We will also know at that time if we will need to have his tooth bonded or just smoothed. I am hoping just smoothed but don’t know.

Major Snow this year.

This has little to do with Stephen but just an update on all of us. We are having the worst winter with the snow. Per the news we are setting records this January at this point we are in the second worst snow fall for Jan in record. I can say I think this has been the worst in years. But they say that since 2003 we have had 5 out of 6 years records set for snow fall in this area. As most of you know I HATE SNOW!!!!! And since my back surgery I really hate snow. I don’t go out in less I feel Stephen is safe which is not that much. So we have been cooped up since we got back from my parents house in Alabama. I can’t wait till spring gets here. I have so many plans even though most of my summer is taken up by weddings, bridle showers, adoption gatherings and birthday parties.

Drew and I are really looking forward to the spring and summer. We both feel we didn’t get a summer last year. But we are happy with what we did last summer. We would not trade it in for anything. We are hoping to show Stephen all the summer excitement and going fishing with grandpa. Grandma and grandpa live on a really big lake/river in Alabama. Mom is looking forward just to be down in Alabama and having nice weather.

We also have several friends that should have new friends for Stephen to play with around the area. We also have a play area just up the street from us. I have plans to have Stephen in swimming lessons this spring. He loves and I mean loves the water. So I think we will spend a lot of time at the pool with Jo and the kids and with Kristen at her family pool. I am so looking forward to the summer.

Drew, my stepdad Don, Mom and I are really looking forward to introducing Stephen to NASCAR this year. Drew and I are counting down to the start of the season. Drew is a Tony Stewart fan, I am a Dale Jr. fan, Grandma is a Jeff Gordon fan and grandpa just loves NASCAR.
We normally go to the Talladega race but I think until Stephen can go we will have to sell their spot at the race. But we are hoping once he is ready to go that we will be able to make it a tradition for all of us to make the trip for the race.

I will try to keep you updated. But with the weather Stephen and I are not getting out much right now. Stephen does start a “music and move” program on March 19th. I am looking forward to that he loves music. I guess I am also starting to plain his second birthday party soon. I can’t believe it is that time already. We met Stephen 2 weeks before his first birthday and to think his second is coming up WOW that is just crazy!!!!

Just a little update.

Okay an update on how Stephen is doing. He started a playgroup on January 5th and he is doing okay with it. We are having some issue with me leaving him even though I am on the other side of a two way window. I am hoping the more we do this the better he will get. If they take him out of the room to go for walk or to the gym he is fine. I am not sure but I think he feels like I am abandoning him. Which I fear will hurt him. But I know he needs to know that I will come back for him. It is only for an hour and a half and I try to stay in the room for the first 10 minutes.
With our weather being as bad as it is I want him to have some time with children his own age and start making friends. We have a few in our neighbor hood but it is hard to play when we have almost 2 feet of snow. I am ready for spring and hope that the weather is nice.

Stephen has learned several words even though he will not talk in front of others. He won’t even say them in front of grandma and grandpa. He is very strong willed. I am working really hard on his speech and reading of words. He knows what I am saying but won’t fully say what I am saying he leaves parts of the word off. Like Hat he will say ha, cat he will say ca, apple is ah, and monkey is mon. But we are still working on that. I think for the short time he has been here he is doing pretty well. We went to the mall the other day to walk and then to play in the play area and he loved the play area. He loves to climb on thing and crawl through things. He is a normally little boy when I comes to that. But I was happy to see him leave me and play. He did stop and look for me some of the time but not to much. We went with Kristen and Peter and I think we all had a really nice time getting out of the house. I think Kristen and I are going to try to get the 2 boys to Playground world soon so they can play. But that will depend on the weather I think. But all of the Doctors have been really happy at his progress both physical and educational. He is now in the normal for height, weight and head circumference all are above 75%. When we brought him home he was not even on the chart. With his language or education he is close to being to a 20 month old. But in my mind thinking of everything he has been though he is doing really well. We are very proud of our little miracle.

A Day with Clothes

Well I was trying to sort out some clothes we got from friends of ours. But I guess Stephen had a

better idea for the clothes. He thought that I had

them sorted incorrectly and wanted to correct

my mistake. Here is what he thought it is should

look like.

Our First Christmas!

Well I know I have said this before I will try to keep you updated the best that I can.

I will start with Thanksgiving. We had a great first Thanksgiving with my mom, step dad, Drew, Stephen and my self. I hope this will be our new tradition or maybe once Stephen is a little older we might go down to Alabama for Thanksgiving and they will come up to Chardon for Christmas. We did not have the traditional Thanksgiving meal but knew we would on Saturday when we had our large family gathering. My parents got here on Tuesday before thanksgiving and stayed till Saturday when we all headed down to Columbus for our family gathering. When my parents got to my house on Tuesday they got in a couple of hours before Stephen went down for a nap. When Stephen woke up my mom and I went and got him and noticed his checks were really red. I went to take his temp and notice on his arms, back and face that he had what looked like burn welts which did not make any since to either of us. I called the Doctors office and they set us up with an appointment right away. We went to see the doctor and she thought it could be an allergy or some other type or infection (sorry Mom and I can’t remember what it was called) but it was not, because once we got home from the doctors the welts where gone a half hour later and the fever was gone 3 days later. Not really sure what happened but glad it was not as bad as the doctor had thought it could have been. That Friday Stephen started to feel better so we knew he would be fine to go down to Columbus for our family holiday. Saturday was fun a little crazy just because we really have not traveled much with Stephen yet. He had a really hard time taking his nap for the day, but he slept all the way home. While we were in Columbus we exchanged gifts for Christmas with my family since we were spending Christmas with Drew’s family and my parents. Stephen was not really sure about the presents but once we showed him how to rip into them he did a good job. He got a lot of great gifts from them.

Next was Christmas which for our family was crazy like every year is but even much more. We always have a Christmas party the Saturday before Christmas which this year we kept it down to five different families. With all of our families growing so much it is getting hard to have every one at my house for Christmas. One of our very close friends just move to Louisiana this year and came back up to Ohio and Pittsburg for Christmas which was great because they had not gotten to met Stephen yet and they helped us out a lot with the adoption process. So Aunt Linda, Uncle Bob. Lindsey, Hailey and Johnny finally got to meet the newest addition to the family. They were all so happy to meet him. Stephen had fun with all of them. Uncle John, Aunt Jo, Isabel, Jake, Uncle Clayton, Aunt Sharon and Dan came over to see Stephen first Christmas party. We had a great time the kids all had fun.

We started on our long journey to Columbus then to Scottsboro then back to Chardon. We where gone for 11 days. Let me tell you we were all glad to be home once we got home. We had a great time but I think it was too long of a time away from our normal routine. We first went to Drew’s grandparent’s house and spent Christmas Eve day with them. Then we went over to Stephen and Charlene house for a couple of hours before we headed down to Scottsboro AL for Christmas Day. We got into Scottsboro around 5am Christmas day. My parents were very happy to have there grandchild with them for Christmas. I don’t think they really cared if Drew and I were there or not. It was great to be in Alabama for the Holidays (not because it was most of the time in the 60’s or warmer) away from everything else. It has been a great challenge since we came home with Stephen to go anywhere since Drew had used up all his vacation time. But since his company shuts down from Christmas to New Years it was a great time to get away for a while. I can say Stephen was given a great first Christmas from everyone that loves him. I was shocked by the love that he was shown by so many different people. I can say it made me very happy and proud of our family and friends. I can say we are surrounded by some really great people.

The Larrick Family would like to wish everyone a very
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!