Charlie and M building with magnet blocks.

Charlie and M and S are getting along quite nicely. Some of the initial shock and anxiety over sharing attention and space and toys has settled down and they have found the playful in each other. Take a look.

Charlie showed M how to make mud!

Charlie at the “office” working. Because that’s what Papi does when she works, talks on the phone and writes on paper.

More photos are here.

Today we went to Bolsa Chica Ecological Reserve. Charlie loves running around the wetlands trying to find sharks in the water (seriously…there is, in fact, a sign that lists sharks as one of the inhabitants). M is in love with birds, so he is in heaven there. We walked around looking at Terns and Pelicans, saw two pretty large fish that we decided were actually sharks. After snacking on a bench, we ran around a plateau area with views of the whole reserve playing monster and chase. S spent the morning snacking and watching the birds from the stroller. Quite a fun day.

Charlie: Papi, that school is not going to work. It’s about to be funny, and if it’s awesome, it will fall down again!

building continues…

Papi: Why isn’t it a good school?

Charlie: Because! It doesn’t have enough… oh Papi, that is not going to work.

school falls down…

Mama: What happened to Papi’s school, Charlie?

Charlie: It fell down!

Papi: Why?

Charlie: Because it was awesome.

Deciding to adopt two children was a huge decision for Papi and I. We talked a lot about how it would change our lives and how to prepare ourselves to take care of children who may have a lot of hurt and fear, as well as a lot of questions growing up. We also took a large amount of time preparing Charlie. As it turns out, no amount of preparation on our part could actually prepare her for the sudden introduction of two children to the household, but we limped along none-the-less.

It started out with a big baby and a little baby, as we called them. We thought we would welcome two small children and we told Charlie one would be a big baby and one would be a little baby. We talked about the different things a big baby could do verses a little baby. We talked a lot about toys, who has them, who gets them, what happens if Charlie takes them away, what happens if the big baby takes them away… what happens if the little baby slobbers on them – you get the idea. From our first conversation to our last, Charlie’s attitude continually warmed to the idea of having more kids come to live with us.

The first few weeks were very rocky. Like any older sibling, Charlie had a lot of angry (and also playful) feelings toward the boys. After 2 months, she began calling them her brothers all on her own. It wasn’t that her angry feelings went away, I think she just started to love them more. Today when the boys and I picked Charlie up from school, she asked me if we could keep M and S forever. She even said, “please.” It was awesome. It made me think that we had, in fact, done the right thing – not just for us but for Charlie as well.

Charlie holding S the day we brought him home.

M trying to feed S his bottle a day or two after he came home.

2010 was a year of huge changes for our family. While most of you already know about the changes, I have not written about the single most important thing that happened to our family over the past year. Last spring, Papi and I decided to adopt. Many factors went into our decision and we excitedly began taking classes with a foster family agency last May.  After months of classes and going through the home study process, we were licensed as fost-adopt parents at the beginning of September. Shortly before Charlie’s 3rd birthday party, we got a call about two little boys, brothers, and immediately said yes.

The boys were 14 months and 2 1/2 months old at the time.  M, the oldest, came to us first, and was soon running all over the house, getting into mischief and giving us sly smiles that said, “I’m about to start some trouble and you’re just going to think it’s charming.”  S, the youngest, came two weeks later.  S quickly fulfilled his place as the baby of the family (and I think he knows it) and is perhaps the friendliest baby we’ve ever met.  While the boys are still currently dependents of the juvenile court system, I will not be posting their actual names or pictures of their faces to protect their privacy.  But I hope to start posting again about their hijinks!  M just turned 18 months and loves dressing up, running and eating.  S just turned 6 months and loves rolling around, biting and, well, eating.

Charlie is adjusting as well as can be expected. The first few months had a lot of ups and downs as Charlie gained two little brothers but lost being the sole focus of our attention.  She is starting to proudly call herself “a big sister” and treat the boys as such, complete with getting them something to drink, trading toys with them and yelling, “GET OUT OF MY ROOM!”  Papi and I are adjusting as well.   It’s exciting, fun, silly, hard, exhausting and wonderful all at once. We always wanted a big family, and now we are five…

A belated Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all!