Friday, December 14, 2007
CLUBB FAMILY UPDATE

HAPPY THANKSGIVING (belated)! MERRY CHRISTMAS! We can’t believe that November has come and gone and it is already December. We are off to a busy but purposeful start to the holiday season. Since our last update, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Ainsley and Griffin and took them on their first Christmas tree excursion (more below). There is so much to do, but the most important thing is to take time to enjoy those special moments with those special people in our lives. And, of course, there are two really special people this year – Ainsley and Griffin! We look forward to sharing this meaningful time of year with them, especially over these next 2-3 weeks leading into the New Year. (Today, December 14, is David’s last day at work until January 2, 2008 so he is excited to spend some quality time with Shannon, Ainsley, Griffin, and the whole family over the next few weeks!).

It is so strange to look back and think that two years ago at this special time of year our adoption paperwork had just officially been logged in with the Chinese Center of Adoption Affairs and we had no idea that about six months later we would be pregnant with Griffin. And we certainly had no idea that it would be many, many months later before we would receive our referral from China and finally be “introduced” to Ainsley. And we absolutely did not expect that many months later we would be giving birth to Griffin and going to China to get Ainsley in the same month! We never could have anticipated how it all played itself out or how wonderful it has been having these two sweet children in our lives.

Of course, the timing has resulted in Ainsley and Griffin being very close in age, which seems to be working out great! They really seem to enjoy having each other around more and more. They play together, share books, and love sharing Cheerios. Ainsley thinks it is the best thing in the world when we put Griffin in his Exersaucer and put Cheerios in the snack tray for them to share. She gets so excited! They like splashing around in the bathtub together. Griffin loves crawling over Ainsley when she is napping so he can wake her up to have a playmate. Even if we try to keep him away from where she naps, he goes right there over and over again that it is pretty much a lost cause trying to avoid him waking her. He has also (without realizing it, we think) started body slamming and wrestling his sister! Once when they were both standing behind a chair, he literally grabbed the hood of her sweatshirt and pulled her down, then dove on top of her! Lots of giggles followed so they both seemed to be okay with it – tough kids! It is so wonderful to watch them interact together and love on each other.
 

Ainsley turned 20 months old on December 5. Her biggest change is how her vocabulary continues to grow! She has started saying her name again (“Ainsee”) and likes to point to each person in the room or in pictures and say who is who. When she first started to say her name again (after weeks of her only calling herself “Mama”) we would cheer and hug her and celebrate her saying her name. So, we’ve discovered that when she is getting into trouble or wants some attention, she quickly says “Ainsee? Ainsee?” thinking that will make up for it! She also has become such a big helper – always getting the diapers and wipes out when we need them, putting her toys back in all the right places, saying uh-oh if she sees something under the table where she can’t reach, etc. It amazed us one night to see her put all of her toys back in their exact places (food goes in the shopping cart, magnets go on the fridge, musical toys go in the drum, people go in the airplane, etc.)! She even knew where to put Griffin’s teether (in the fridge), as well as some cupcake tins and kitchen items that they are allowed to play with when we’re in the kitchen. For now, she thinks it is fun to clean and put toys away, so we’re enjoying it with her, not knowing when the day will come when this becomes a chore she has no interest in at all! Ainsley has also started saying “Amen” loud and clear when we finish praying before our dinner. She gets a real kick out of holding Mommy’s and Daddy’s hand during the prayer and then ending with “Amen!” One of the other big news items for Ainsley is that we finally applied for proof of her United States citizenship! The process should be finalized sometime in February, at which time we will apply for her US passport.
 

Griffin turned 9 months old on December 9. It is so hard to believe we have a 9 month old child when it seems like just yesterday he was sitting in his bouncy chair watching the world go by. That baby is no more and this baby wants to be IN everything – exploring, climbing, crawling, standing, reaching, grabbing, and otherwise touching and tasting everything and everywhere! It is fun to watch him discover new things (he learned he can see his reflection in the ornaments we have on our coffee table so he picks them up and smiles at himself, even though we then have to take them away from him time and time again throughout the day). He got yet another tooth (now a total of 7), so we have started giving him a lot more finger foods instead of purees. He was getting especially fussy during mealtimes one week and was bored with just Cheerios on his tray, so we started giving him small bites of our chicken and he was like a new baby! Since then, we have given him mostly finger foods and he enjoys feeding himself. And boy can he can eat! Needless to say, Bosco’s highlight of the day is mealtime when he can pick up all the food dropped on the ground and get any leftovers remaining on the tray at the end of mealtime! In fact, Griffin has also already learned the concept of sharing, which is supposedly really early for his age (according to our pediatrician). He will take a bite of his food then he will offer Mommy or Daddy a bite. And he discovered he can even feed Bosco some of his food, which they both enjoy! He also likes giving us a toy and then getting it back over and over. One day we were sitting around and Griffin was on the floor with a snack and sippy cup and we thought – how did this happen? How do we have a baby who can feed and drink all by himself?!? He is just developing so quickly and it is amazing what a difference a short time period makes when they are this young. He has such a great personality and is happy 99% of the time. One of the biggest and most exciting developments for Griffin this past month is that he is finally sleeping through the night on a regular basis!!! We took a more relaxed attitude toward making this happen and didn’t want to force him into a schedule and so it did take longer than it normally would have.