The Last of the Firstest

Dave sez,

Hi! We're Cathy and Dave. Thanks for taking the time to get to know us and our Number One, Justin. We hope that our journey has given you an idea of what adoption - especially, international adoption - and first time parenthood is like. If our story has at all touched you, we hope that it has inspired you.

Cathy and I are having a "discussion". I looked at the calendar and realized that, as we get closer to Justin's 11th birthday - his second here at home - we've come to the end of memorable "firsts".

...like FIRST wrist-band.

It was kind of a last minute idea I had. Cathy couldn't take off work and Justin had a Friday off from summer school, so I thought it would be perfect if he and I went to Country Jam in Eau Claire together. We'd spend the day together. We're still at that bonding stage, where it's important for us to spend as much time together as possible. He hasn't reached a point where he is comfortable, secure and brave enough to sleep in his own room by himself. Either I sleep in there with him on the other bunk bed, or he sleeps with one of us in our bed. That's been going on for nigh unto a year. (I think you know what I'm talking about; wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say-no-more-say-no-more)

Anyway, getting him ready for a FULL day away from home on a bus ride to Wisconsin for an ALL-day outdoor concert was like mobilizing for battle. Portable DVD player - check. DS - check. iPod - check. We both agreed it might be kinda cool to carry along our mitts and a baseball to play catch. He ALWAYS says he's not hungry, until the worst possible moment - when there's really no way to get food - so we stayed one step ahead of him on that. We condensed the refrigerator to a cooler. We pretty much shared all the food...

If you've seen the videos you know how brutal a day it was on both of us. If you haven't...check them out here ~ http://www.youtube.com/user/AirDave817?feature=mhee

He enjoyed Lauren Alaina and Craig Morgan. I don't think there was any way to prepare him for Montgomery Gentry...

I'm okay with Justin not being a fan of Country. Whether or not he is, he will be an individual and express himself in his own unique way, and I will be able to appreciate him that much more, just like I do his mother. Hopefully, one of the lessons he learns is to appreciate the uniqueness of others.

We've been kinda concerned about how to balance his steady diet of electronics while encouraging him to improve his reading skills. He's a boy - boys are naturally more active. It would be a delicate balance to try to get him to sit still long enough to turn pages.

I'm not sure how it happened. Maybe all the time he and I have gone to bed at night at nine, and Mom has sat up a little longer with the bedroom light on reading...maybe she had a subtle influence on him - like erosion - she wore him down. He finally picked up the copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid we bought him and - - he FINISHED it this morning! He started reading it just a couple of days ago!

We picked up Rodrick Rules at Barnes & Noble, grabbed a bite at the mall food court, then went back for books three four and five after Justin told us he wanted to finish the second book by Friday so he could go see the third movie when it opens this weekend!

I remember MY first books. Strange Companion by Dayton O. Hyde. My Side of the Mountain. Encyclopedia Brown. The Luke Skywalker Chronicles. The Hobbit. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

As an adult, I'm discovering The Chronicles of Narnia, Doctor Who tie-in novels and rediscovering Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. One does not SIMPLY walk into Mordor, y'know...

After finishing her degree, Cathy was reading like there was no tomorrow...well until lately but she still gets in a bit of reading every day.

These are the last couple of firsts. We may be surprised by other firsts in the next couple of weeks...but once we celebrate his second birthday with us it's just a matter of time til we're up to our first full year together. Right after his birthday visit, we got our invitation to go over and bring him home. He was HERE three weeks, we were THERE six...and there you are...

August 10th.

October 23rd.