2009, a Recap

December 2008 and December 2009

This past year we had the blessing of watching Romi go from an adorable crawling eight-month old baby to an adorable walking, talking and dancing toddler of 20-months. It proved to be fun, exciting, hilarious, exhausting and the best year ever.

In January, we traveled to SoCal for Grandma Garcia's memorial service. Along with commemorating her long and full life, we got to spend time enjoying family and friends and showing off the Romster. As Romi's first birthday approached, he went from crawling to pulling himself up, gave up bottles for sippy cups, and expanded his impressive food repertoire. We celebrated his first birthday by sponsoring the Shabbat Passover kiddish (remember all those meringue cookies!) and officially naming the little guy. Romi enjoyed his first camping trip in May to Mount Lemmon, and we headed off to California in June for more adventures, including a lovely weekend at the cabin in the Sierras with Romi's Nana, Papa, aunt, uncle and cousins. Austin and Sabrina were charged with teaching Romi to walk and they did a spectacular job! In July, Auntie Jodi and Grandma came to visit. We then headed off to Cleveland, me for a conference and Rob and Romi to play at Camp Roth. After a wonderful week in Flagstaff with the Burgs and Werbows, enjoying the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Slide Rock, and being together., we returned home for Framily vacation with the Brunks and Dinsdales , which was in Tucson this year. The Bermans came to visit before we headed off to Pacific Grove for Tessa's Bat Mitzvah and a wonderful visit with the family.

In August, Romi started preschool. He goes two mornings a week and while it took him a bit to get the idea, he now loves it. He especially likes music and Gymboree. I like his art projects and Rob likes having two mornings a week to get things done. In October we celebrated our one-year anniversary as family. Rob likes to call it Family Reunification Day, but I just think of it as a day to count our myriad of blessings. Aunt Kim, Austin and Sabrina came for a visit in November, Grandma came for Thanksgiving and Nana and Papa are here for the last week of December.

We will be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary on the last day of 2009. To commemorate the event we bought bedroom furniture (not very exciting, I know, and it gave me a concussion, but we like it) and are going to a movie (which we are ridiculously and disproportionally excited about--welcome to parenthood!). Not sure what 2010 will bring, but with Romi around it's sure to be great!

Our Hamster Is a Turkey

The other morning, as Rob did the dishes, he heard Romi happily playing in the living room, singing to himself. After a few minutes, Rob decided he should poke his head in on the little guy only to find that he had successfully climbed into the dining room chair, had swiped a bencher (a little small prayerbook) off the table, and was imitating his parents benching (singing the blessing after a meal). Rob decided that Romi decided to get away with a little something and left him to his own devices. The singing continued and a few minutes later Rob again poked his head into the dining room to check on the Hamster. He was still singing and still holding a bencher, but he had migrated from the chair to sitting smack-dab in the middle of the dining room table. Hey, at least he was praying.

Romi's vocabulary is still sporadic, but he makes his needs and wants known. He recently foraged open the pantry door and brought Abba a bag of uncooked noodles, so we cleverly figured he wanted pasta for dinner. When he runs to the sunroom and takes hold of a black folding chair, we know it's time for him to do the dishes. He has mastered shaking his head yes and no, and he still uses the emphatic finger pointing when necessary although he has also started saying "yeash" for yes.

Recently, Romi enjoyed a wonderful visit from his Aunt Kim and cousins Austin and Sabrina. Romi loved playing with his cousins, especially on the swings in the park. The higher the better! And he looked absolutely adorable in the turkey hat he made with Aunt Kim.

Last Sunday afternoon, Romi and I walked across the street to see the rather extraordinary display of Christmas decorations on the neighbor's front yard. It literally stopped Romi in his tracks as he took it all in. He was intrigued by the lights and couldn't figure out what they were (they were off). He pulled on them, touched the large plastic colorful bulbs, and when all else failed, he carefully leaned in to smell them.

I eventually coaxed Romi over to a blow-up bear that didn't move. He was quite tentative and when I asked if he wanted to touch it he emphatically shook his head no. When I asked if I could touch it he was equally against the idea, but he did smile when I patted its nose. He eventually work up the courage to touch both the bear and the penguin, but Santa still freaks him out!

It seems unbelievable, but Romi has been home for over a year! We celebrated Family Week (Rob likes to call it Family Re-Unification Day) by making a rainbow cake (thanks Miriam!), having family photos done with a wonderful, local professional photographer, and reading this blog to remember our amazing trip to Taiwan and how that time was exciting, exhausting and exhilarating. On Family Day itself we went out to breakfast, played at the park, had pizza for lunch and took a nap.

News on the Romi front: we have his Social Security Card! Rob was so happy he hung it up on the fridge for a while. Abba also insists that Romi said "I love you" twice, clear as day, but in typical Romi fashion he has not repeated the miracle (nor has he ever said "banana" or "mine" ever again). Romi seems to have no trouble communicating however. When he really wants something he points and emphatically bends his index finger (really). And when he wanted to listen to some music, he looked at grandma, pointed to the iPod and started dancing. She got his meaning.

The little guy is enjoying school (and smooching with Jacob while there) and his favorite things to do are Bim Bam and Wheels on the Bus. He's beginning to distinguish between shaking his head yes and shaking it no, which helps a lot. He's growing and playing and getting into stuff. He eats beautifully, but sleeping is not his favorite activity. He likes to check things out but has a cautious side. He's simply wonderful.

A Triple Blow Out

Our cake of baby goodness

Things have not been easy around the Gludt household. Friday night, Romi forgot how to sleep. We've been working hard on putting the kidlet to bed, but having him put himself to sleep. We had been making progress until Friday, when our nearly-18-month-old boy wonder decided to outsmart us. I tried to relax him and then put him in his crib, but he would have none of it. As a result, I even pulled my back, so I handed him over to Rob and went to bed myself. At about midnight Romi implemented stage two of his plan and began crying. Rob went to check on him and I headed for some Advil for my aching back. Now, in my defense, our room is dark and our furniture is new, so it makes perfect sense why I forgot about the nightstand and quickly bent down for my water bottle with such a rapid velocity...and why it hurt so much when I smacked my forehead straight into the hard furniture (which I can now attest is absolutely solid wood and well made). Ten minutes later, Rob came in to find me perched on the edge of the bed, holding my head, not moving and trying valiantly not to barf.

Being a loving husband, he helped me take the Advil, got me ice, and listened for an hour as I gave him a blow-by-blow (no pun intended) of my head (i.e., the ice is too cold, my head is too hot...). But the fun did not stop there. Romi decided to teach us a lesson once and for all and proceeded to get up about a zillion more times that night, when at last, defeated and exhausted, Rob brought him to our bed at 4 a.m. where I tried to sleep but kept worrying that a cute little arm or leg would whack me in the forehead. It was a fun night.

Saturday my head hurt and felt tight (the swelling, or as I like to call it, my own personal Botox treatment) but we persevered and enjoyed the Sukkah and the weather, as did Romi, who ran around like a maniac with Jacob all day. In fact, he had so much fun he fell into an exhausted nap at 4:00 in the afternoon, which meant at bedtime he was far from tired. We tried milk with no luck. We gave him a bath and he just squealed with delight. In our second act of desperation that weekend, Rob put him in the truck and FORTY minutes later the little bugger finally fell asleep--at 9:20 p.m., a mere two hours after his bedtime.

In our parental ignorance, we assumed the weekend from hell was done. But then came Sunday night. Romi went to sleep well and stayed asleep well--until 2 a.m. At this time not only did he have a dirty diaper, but Rob discovered his nose bleed, which had left both his face and his sheets covered. We cleaned up the little guy and although Rob urged I leave the bed, I insisted on changing the sheets. The result of all this activity? Rob was up with Romi until 4 in the morning and I was up with my concussed head for two hours, trying not to barf from all the bending over.

Like I said, loads of fun in the Gludt household. It's a good thing he's this cute:

The Manster Hamster Baby Lambster

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

Rob returned this week to the local Social Security office in downtown Tucson. He was armed with all sorts of official documents: formal request for a Social Security Card, birth certificate, certified adoption decree, passports, and the formerly missing proof of citizenship. Rob walked in early on a Wednesday morning, prepared for success in our quest for Romi's ever elusive Social Security Card. And there was good news to be had: Rob only had to wait 45 minutes to be waited on by Mr. Clark, who decreed that all of the paperwork was--at long last--in perfect order. The goal was completely within Rob's grasp when Mr. Clark then asked to see our son, who was at that exact moment having a perfectly wonderful time at preschool.

It turns out that no one ever indicated that the minor actually had to be present. Our good luck continued, however, and all Rob had to do was to present Romi to Mr. Clark that same day, and he wouldn't even have to wait in line. Now all we have to do is wait for them to verify his citizenship and the card should arrive in the mail within four weeks. Here's to hoping....

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back....

Adopting a baby always requires an ungodly amount of paperwork, and an international adoption all the more so. Paperwork and forms and waiting have been a constant part of our lives since we started this process. However, we have been particularly anxious about receiving Romi's birth certificate (an anxiety that you may be able to relate to but only Heather truly understands). The birth certificate is the key to so many things. On a strictly practical level, it's the easiest way to get Romi on a plane. It allows us to apply for his social security card, which will in turn enable us to claim him as a dependent on our taxes. We need it to issue him a passport. On a strictly emotional level, there's just something about seeing an official United States government document listing us and only us as the true, forever, natural, legal mother and father to Romi Amiel Gludt.

We've been waiting and waiting for the right forms since May 11, 2009, when we formalized his re-adoption in the States. Of course, the promised document never arrived in the mail. We proceeded to establish a phone relationship with the Office of Vital Records in Phoenix. We mailed forms, called, waited, called some more, made no progress and, eventually, in an act of aggravation and desperation, Rob strapped Romi into his car seat and drove the two hours up to the state capital to procure the longed-for document. It worked!

Our next goal: the Social Security Card. Armed with completely filled out downloaded documents from the website, an official certified copy of his adoption and the golden birth certificiate, Rob headed to downtown Tucson and waited the two and a half hours for his turn, only to be told that we also needed to present proof of citizenship, a form sitting in a box at home that no one ever told us we needed. So Rob will try yet again this week to attain more elusive documents, although we are concerned that all of Romi's documentation is in his English name and his proof of citizenship is in his Taiwanese name.

And so on and on it goes...one step forward and two steps back!

Romi's First Day of School

Romi's First Day of School

Monday was the big day: Romi's first day of school. It was hard on all three of us. I'm still not convinced that my little guy needs socialization just yet, but he does love hanging out with other kids, so we're going to give it a try. He spent a good portion of the day with his buddy Jacob. They know and like one another, so that helped. His teachers said he did really well, enough so that we are going to bring him back for another day, although we'll see if his Ima's tough enough to handle it! Of course, his emotionally and physically trying day meant he was absolutely, completely exhausted, and he fell asleep shortly after pulling out of the synagogue's driveway. He proceeded to take a wonderful two-hour nap, so maybe this school thing isn't so bad!

Tessa's Big Day

We capped off a summer of simcha celebrations, friends, and family with one more big to-do: Tessa's Bat Mitzvah. On Thursday the three of us headed back out to the airport for our flight to San Jose. Interestingly, the check-in counter attendant actually asked for proof of Romi's age--the first time that's ever occurred. Luckily we had gone back to the house for his passport. The flight was far from full, so we were able to schlep the car seat with us, and Romi did beautifully on both the flight from Tucson to LAX and from LAX to San Jose. We arrived, got our car, grabbed a bite to eat and headed toward the coast, arriving at the Marriott in the early evening. Monterey's chilly temperatures were welcome after our hot Tucson summer, but Romi was most impressed with the pillow presentation on the king-sized bed.

We headed over to Dave and Deb's early Friday morning so Rob could begin his day of baking (he made all the challah for the weekend). We had a wonderful day hanging out, running errands (taking and printing photos of Tess, picking up the cotton candy machine from the correct rental store, hitting the supermarket multiple times, etc.) before running back to the hotel to get presentable for Friday night services. Of the three of us, Romi looked the best.

Shabbat services were lovely and Tessa did a fabulous job. We can't beleive how late Romi stayed up, but it was a special occasion. Before servies we lounged about in bed on Saturday morning, eating our picnic breakfast. I spent a good portion of Saturday morning chasing Romi around the synagogue, who wanted nothing more than to get up on that bimah just as he does at Ima's shul. Luckily the building is small enough that I missed very little of Tessa's bat mitzvah; she did a truly outstanding job.

My favorite parts of Saturday morning are when we arrived and got to see everyone: Matt, Dana, Sarah, Lindsey, Scott, Pam, Alex, Ben, Edna, Jean, Gloria, Taylor and a myriad of friends and other family. As a group we sure clean up well! At one point during the service I let Romi wander into the Sanctuary and toward the front of the room. As he neared the bimah I grabbed him and sat down next to his Uncle Scott. I stood him up on the pew so he could say hi to his cousins behind him and they en mass leaned forward. I have no worries about his being the littlest cousin of all. During lunch the little manster finally crashed, and Rob gently laid him on a pew in the sanctuary, where he slept peacefully under the watchful eyes of the photographer and all his cousins.

Following a fantastic lunch spread put on by Dave and Deb, we headed back to the hotel for a Shabbas schluff. When we got up we trekked over to the house to enjoy a really, really fun afternoon with the family. A slew of us took a walk down to the beach, which turned into quite the excursion. Uncle Matt was quite helpful with the stroller and Romi absolutely loved walking on the boardwalk. It was a completely enjoyable afternoon, spent visiting and eating and enjoying being together. Dad would have loved it.

We had to head out early Saturday morning. We stopped by Dave and Deb's to say goodbye and thank you and to kiss all the cousins who had spent the night. It was hard for all of us to leave because the weekend had been so truly wonderful.

Framily Vacation 2009

Our trip to Flagstaff blended in with another wonderful summer tradition: Framily Vacation with the Brunks and the Dinsdales. The three of us got home early Sunday morning (the freeway was closed in Phoenix) and after returning home from doing a wedding, I found my house full of Brunks! It's amazing that although our three families split up geographically in 2000, we have managed to see each every year for the past nine years. This time, the gang decided to brave the Arizona heat in August and to enjoy the screaming good deals. The Brunks began their week-long Tucson trip at the Lowe's Vantana. They spent their days enjoying the pool and the luxury and still managed to meet up with us at least once a day, either for dinner at our place or out. Rob and Romi played tour guide on some of these days, and the Brunks got to enjoy Sabino Canyon, Mount Lemmon and Bookman's.


The Brunks checked out of Lowe's on Thursday and into Hotel Gludt. Heather and Mark arrived that afternoon, and the mayhem began. The kids were thrilled to see one another, as were the adults. That night we all headed to the Gaslight theater for another hysterical production. Heather said she smiled and laughed so much her face actually hurt. We enjoyed the food (thank you Terry family), the atmosphere, the show and just being together.

Kartchner Caverns was on Friday's agenda, although I had to skip out after spending the night sick. Everyone else had a wonderful time, once the tickets got straighted out. It wasn't Romi's favorite, but he did pretty well. Jacki came with me to Tot Shabbat and we returned home to an amazing Shabbat dinner of turkey and fixings. Heather and Mark joined me for services on Saturday morning, and Shabbat lunch was leftovers, seeing as we had left lunch out all night. Bob came with me to afternoon services, and we returned home to laugh and play and to head out to enjoy Frost.

Sunday morning saw the Brunks heading home. Heather and Mark hung out for a while and we went to lunch, after which Heather decided to get sick, so we canceled her plane reservation. She hunkered down at our house and a few hours later the Bermans arrived for their visit., another awesome tradition. It took a couple of days for Heather to bounce back, but she toughed it out and went home the next day. It was a great Framily visit, sickness and all.

Some Random Stuff
Mark and Max were sitting on the couch with Romi when Lauren, unbeknownst to the guys, came up behind them and said, "What's up?!" Mark couldn't believe that Romi could talk like that!

When I told Max he couldn't sit on the glass table he actually asked me, "Then what's it there for?"

Romi's new things include bouncing his head in time to music, swinging his right arm vigorously when he walks, and saying banana, although he's only done that once.

Family Vacation 2009

Our (hopefully!) annual trip with the Burg and Werbow families took place this summer in Flagstaff, AZ. Rob, Romi and I set out early on Sunday morning to make the trek to greener and cooler pastures. We made a few stops on the way, including the outlets in Casa Grande and a great lunch with Mike, Kristen and Connor in Phoenix (where I ran into someone for the synagogue. What are the odds? Oh yeah, even money.) The drive was long but beautiful, and Rob and I enjoyed watching the truly stunning change in environment as we climbed out of the hot desert and into the forested areas of Flag. We had very little trouble finding the house, a large Victorian on a corner within walking distance of downtown. We stayed home only long enough to turn on some fans and to touch base with the others, who were a few hours behind us in a van. Rob strapped on Romi and we headed to town for some food.

Flagstaff is an adorable college town with bars and restaurants and bars and shops and trains. The railroad is alive and well in this corner of Arizona, and for safety's sake, the trains blow their whistles as they go through town, which is every 10 minutes. (It's either for safety or because they really hate the residents of Flagstaff.) In any case, we found a pizza place and enjoyed walking around, looking at the people and the dogs and listening to the free concert in the plaza.

Shortly after we got home the troops arrived and it was hugs and kisses all around, especially for Romi who had yet to meet the Werbows or Daniel. We claimed our respective spaces and relaxed until bed. We had an easy day on Monday, all of us recovering from our respective days of travel. We walked into town and enjoyed lunch at a tasty albeit slow vegetarian restaurant. We had homemade Mexican food for dinner, although I forgot the tamales, and everyone slept a bit better on night two.

Tuesday, Elle's birthday, we all headed to Slide Rock, a beautiful area in a mountainous area. The kids loved the natural water slide, although Romi proved a bit too young for the adventure. The rock formations and water were beautiful, although you definitely need to wear shoes for this outing. It was crowded, but everyone was having a wonderful time and no one got hurt, so we call it a successful day. We headed into Sedona for lunch, admiring the rightly famous red rock and all headed home for a relaxing evening of birthday dinner and rainbow cake.

Wednesday was the big day--we all got in the van and drove up to the Grand Canyon. It had only been one year since we had been there, but your mind just can't retain the majestic wonder of it. I honestly think I could go once a year and still be completely in awe. We enjoyed our picnic lunch, walking along the rim, various performances and, of course, some ice cream. Melissa chose to forgo the sugary treat and opted for pretzels, which Romi decided he wanted. Melissa gave him a pretzel of his own, but he clearly indicated how we felt about that and threw it on the ground, continuing to insist through words and gestures that what he really wanted was Melissa's pretzel. She eventually gave in, because as we know, the force is strong with this one. But what we didn't know is that he would throw that pretzel on the ground too, look Melissa straight in the eye and then laugh at her. She claims it was the first time she ever got laughed at by a 15-month old.

After locating the wandering Shamir, we made our way back to the van, back to Flagstaff and back home.That night began Tisha B'Av and Daniel and Mike took turns chanting Eicha by firelight. It was wonderful. Rob, Romi and I stayed home for a quiet morning, breaking our fast at a local Mexican restaurant that got a bit of monsoon. After meeting up with the rest of the gang, we again piled into the car and headed to Sunset Crater, which turned out to be even cooler than it sounded. Only pictures can really do it justice.

Friday we cooked for Shabbat and then headed to the Aquaplex, where Romi was in his absolute glory. The city's pool is indoors and has fountains, wading pools, slides, a lazy river, a vortex and lots of lifeguards, which came in handy when Shamir fell, hit his head, shut down the pool and went to the hospital. Luckily he was just fine. In the meantime, Romi had the time of his life, and even though he cried whenever we took him out of the water, we decided when he turned a dark enough shade of blue that enough was enough.

It was a wonderful Shabbat together, with great food, good friends, and loads of laughing. On Saturday we schlepped to a park where I mistook Miriam's Burt's Bees diaper ointment for Melissa's Burt's Bees sunscreen, lathering Romi up in a thick white coat. Rob, Romi and I headed home late Saturday night, physically and emotionally rested but sad to say goodbye to such good friends.