4 Months already

Today marks 4 months almost exactly to the minute that he walked through the front door of our home, had his first bath, demolished a wonderful car cake, opened some presents and passed out from exhaustion in his bed for the first time.  Four months ago I worked hard to bridge the language gap with "Russian For Adoptive Parents" learned from a CD and augmented by 5 weeks with Anna in Russia and chose to lay beside him sleeplessly at night rethinking this whole "co-sleeping" business and if it was for us.  We muddled through our days and Corbin bravely ran headlong into his new life.  Gone is the Russian, gone is the quiet little boy who took everything in, gone are the pants that fell down, gone are 2 pairs of shoes, gone is the "liver yuck", gone are most of the eating battles, gone is the tricycle, and gone are any questions of how he would manage leaving the life he knew behind.  We've said hello to so many family, friends, experiences, so much laughter, so many cute sayings, so many skills (like riding his 2 wheeler like a mad man after just one kick at the cat - ok yes it has training wheels but it only took about 200 meters to figure out how pedaling back made the brakes go or that he had to watch, steer AND pedal all at the same time - now it's look out world.)  So many people have chuckled and commented that he is SO much like me in the way he tackles life - the jumping in and swimming, the bike riding, the running, the walking without a stroller for 3 1/2 hours at the zoo (and by walking I mean running amok where he can and being reigned in where he can't), the quick smile and sense of ha ha, the I'll try anything once - maybe twice after a hug and probably most strongly as of late... the way karma comes around to laugh HAHA HA!!! as this child of mine talks NON STOP!!!  My friend Kari said something that touched me today when she said, "If you and Scott were to have had a child, it would have been him..." (we had been talking about the stuff he "just does" and the fact that I needed a quiet, padded room from the incessant talk - and I do mean INCESSANT!!! The questions, the color commentary, the requests and ongoing noise from him is incredible).  So that's four... come and gone just like that.  So many memories, so much fun.  I'm exhausted. I'm happy.
This week my little guy will be filled with your first time on skates, watching your first hockey game (which will "star" Mama playing, singing Mama happy birthday, Halloween and more non stop commentary of it all.  Just like the last one, it's gonna be a great week :)