6 Mos. Home ~or~ Christmas Season Starts

Today marks six months since we arrived home with Henry. Six months on American soil for our little Asian son. It's hard to say if the time has passed quickly or not, but when we look back at how things have changed for him and our family alike, we've come a long way.December has arrived, and the Christmas season is gearing up at the Gates home. We bit the bullet and bought an artificial tree this year. Jenn was tired of cleaning up needles, and we were tired of paying for the size tree that our room needs. This will prove to be a good move after just a few short years. And it's really pretty, too.Lincoln was way into decorating the tree this year. Lydia was into it for a brief period, but was less than helpful. Henry likes to look at it, but he doesn't quite grasp what it means to hang an ornament.
Oodles, our Elf On The Shelf, has come back for another time of pre-Christmas Observation, and he's less interested in hiding this time around. One never knows what one may find Oodles doing when one comes down the stairs in the morning.And with Christmas and with pre-schoolers comes Christmas crafts. Today Lincoln made some reindeer to hang on the windows in the kitchen. He's getting awfully good with scissors from his practicing at preschool, and he's not too bad with a glue stick, either. Also with Christmas comes eggnog.Lydia's latest "thing," in addition to climbing out of bed in the middle of the night and either coming into our room or calling to us asking for stories, or Lady Bug, or lunch, is "washing the dishes."Some of the things coming from their mouths lately have been funny, too. Henry is actually starting to expand his vocabulary. Most wouldn't recognize his words, but we are starting to understand him, and he's showing initiative to repeat words more willingly lately. My goodness, he has a long way to go with his sounds and verbal skills, but progress is being made. Lydia has been cracking us up.

Me: "Lydia, come to the bathroom so I can brush your teeth."
Lydia: "No. Me brushed teeth last week."

And Lydia has officially entered the "Why Phase" of life. It happened just two or three days ago. Everything now is, "Why?" It's fantastic!

And Lincoln has been funny, too.

Lincoln: "Why can't we take Henry back to the orphanage even after we paid for him." That prompted a short, informative discussion.

Jenn booked a vacation for us in the beginning of January (Grandma Laura is going to take one for the team and stay with the kids), and just yesterday she (Jenn) found out that she's been summoned for jury duty the week before. Hopefully the first question they ask the pool is, "Who here has travel plans in the coming weeks?" We're praying that this particular week is uneventful both in Summit County and within our home.