Beau is such a joy and we are so thankful that God chose us to be his parents! How blessed we are! We love him more each and every day! He is sweet and compassionate and tender and stubborn and fierce and determined. He is perfect. We pray every single day that Beau would come to know Jesus at an early age and walk in God's will for his life. While teaching him good manners and new skills are both things we try to do, we know that our most important job of all is to point Beau towards God.
Especially with Mother's Day last weekend, Beau's birth mother and foster moms are never far from our minds and hearts. We are so thankful that even though Beau's birth mother had other choices, she chose life for her beautiful son. We hope she knows he is loved and cherished. We are forever thankful to her. Beau's self-less foster moms stood in the gap for us and cared for Beau while there was still an ocean between us. Thank you Jesus for our beautiful son Beau!
Beau's favorite foods right now are blueberries and tomatoes. He also loves pretzel sticks as a snack. He is not a picky eater and will almost always eat what is served. He loves Chick-fil-a when we are out and about at lunch time. He is very good at using silverware. However, if he is really hungry at meal time he will resort to using his hands because it is quicker. He still loves milk and water to drink and will also drink orange juice. He is not a fan of apple juice. We still use sippy cups because of the no spill factor, but he also likes straw cups and we try to use those during meals.
Beau is really into watching his homecoming video right now. He will ask to watch it when he wakes up in the morning and at least once more during the day. He will point to us in the video and say mama, dada, Beau (his version of his name is close, but not quite a long vowel o sound). He also loves to hold family pictures that we have framed and point to us. This is a new interest as of a week or two ago.
Beau recently started blowing kisses, giving high fives, and waving to our neighbors. Every single night when Raleigh and I leave his room at bedtime, he blows us a kiss. He will also blow a kiss to you if he has done or is doing something he knows he isn't supposed to do. Example: We have a buffet in the dining room that holds several glass serving dishes. He likes to get those out, but he knows he is not supposed to, so he will blow you a kiss while doing it. What a sneaky little guy! He also likes to fold his hands to pray. When Beau wants you to come and sit beside him, he pats the space next to him. Ex. If he is sitting on the couch, he will pat the couch cushion, as if to say, "Come sit here."
Beau also really likes to wrestle with Raleigh. Each day when Raleigh gets home from work, Beau goes upstairs with him while Raleigh changes out of his work clothes. They spend a few minutes of "guy" time wrestling around. Beau thinks it is so funny and just laughs and laughs.
He recently discovered the blinds and likes to look through them when he is in his room alone during nap or bedtime. He will look outside a few minutes and then return to his bed to sleep. He still sleeps on a mattress on the floor.
Beau has excellent hearing (in my opinion...haven't had it tested) and he will stop what he is doing and run to the front door when he hears the garbage truck or school bus. If we are outside when the school bus drives by in the afternoon, he waves to the bus!
He is wearing a size 5 shoe. He was a 3 1/2 when he came home, so his foot has grown a size and a half. I can't wait to have him weighed and measured at his 2 year old check-up to see how much he has grown.
Beau still loves to play outside, especially with water. He also likes playing Raleigh's guitars.
Beau loves to play with keys right now! He also knows their purpose and will reach the keys to the car door to try to unlock the car. Also he now recognizes Raleigh's car. Beau and I usually go for at least one walk a day. Beau loves to watch the cars pass as he rides in his stroller. When he sees a jeep, he says dada.
He does not like wearing sunglasses or hats.
His imaginative play has come along way using his kitchen. He pretends to pour the "coffee" from the coffee pot into a cup. He also squirts the ketchup bottle and makes a /sh/ sound while squirting.
He loves to press the buttons to start the dishwasher and turn the knob to start the washing machine.
I am trying to work with Beau on his tone of voice. I always told my kindergarteners that their tone of voice was often as important or more important than their words. When Beau gets frustrated because he isn't getting his way quick enough, he uses a tone of voice that is not very pleasant.
We are also working on not going into the road. We live on a cul-de-sac. Sometimes the children that live on the street like to gather and play in the cul-de-sac, and during those times Beau is allowed to be on the road. But during the middle of the day when we are just playing he is not allowed in the road. I understand how that would be totally confusing to him and he just doesn't quite understand why sometimes he is allowed to play in the street and other times he isn't.
We only have one more music class, but Beau has really opened up a lot! The first class he cried a little and wanted me to hold him the whole class. Now he interacts with the other students and follows the teacher's directions. There is a funny thing that happened recently. There were 10 minutes left in class and he went and got his shoes out of a cubby and stood by the door as if to say, "Mom, I'm done here. Let's go!" The room was really hot that day and it was really crowded, so I think Beau was just tired of being in a warm, crowded space. I can't blame him. :)
Beau's receptive language is right on target. When he came home at 13 months old, he obviously didn't understand any English. Now he understands everything we say. Well, not everything. He wouldn't understand talking about filing our taxes or fertilizing the lawn, etc. LOL! But he understands everything that would be age appropriate. He also now knows all of his main body parts...head, nose, mouth, teeth, hands, fingers, feet, and belly button. There might be more, but that is what I can think of.
Oh, this is cute....when he hears the word "time" in conversation, he looks at his wrist like he is checking his watch for the time!
Beau's words at 22 months:
~dada (his first English word)
~mama
~Beau (his version is really close, but the long o vowel sound is cut a bit short)
~nana (nana...my mom and banana)
~mimi (mimi...Raleigh's mom)
~uh-oh
~wawa (water)
~we (wet...sounds like wet, without the final /t/ sound)
~ro (rock....sounds like rock, without the final /ck/ sound)
~may (mail...sounds like mail, without the final /l/ sound)
~duh (please and thank you...I actually read that toddlers say this in Korea for thank you, so I'm not sure if it is actually something he remembered from Korea, or if it is just a non-sense word he uses)
~buh (up...sounds like but without the final /t/ sound)
~baba (bottle and bath and open...vowel sounds like short vowel o)
~mmmm (the noise he makes while eating if something tastes good :)
~/sh/ (shirt and chair)
~na (snack...sounds like nap without the /p/ but the meaning is snack)
~bebe (baby....vowel sounds like short vowel e)
-awah (shoe...this was also one of his very first words...it sounds like "a walk" without the /k/, but it means shoes)
-yeah and oh yeah (yes/answering in the affirmative)
Raleigh and I think Beau is absolutely perfect, just the way he is. In fact I know he is perfectly designed by a perfect heavenly Father. We know he will learn and grow at a pace that is just right for him. That being said, as his parents it is also our responsibility to give Beau all the tools he needs to be successful. Since Beau's expressive speech is a bit behind what might be expected of a 22 month old, our pediatrician recommended we go ahead and look at speech therapy. We've made a referral to our state's birth-3 early intervention program. If we don't feel like that process moves quickly, we will look into other options. Raleigh and I would not love Beau any more or any less depending on his development and we love him just the way he is. He is absolutely perfect!
I will leave you with a few pictures from this week!
Earlier this week we had a fun morning with our friend Ollie! Unfortunately my camera was on a weird setting and this is the only picture that wasn't blurry. Thanks for coming to play Oliver!! I will definitely have to get better pictures next time!
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