'Cause I've Always Wanted a Monkey

Somehow or another, Romi actually turned two. (If you ask him how old he is he puts up an index finger on each hand. No, he doesn't really get it, but it's awfully cute.) I know there are many parents out there who can't believe their baby is graduating, getting married, turning 40, etc., and I get that, but I'm still freaking out that my baby is two!

And along with two comes all sorts of new things. Romi has completely and utterly mastered the word no, which he says with his very own special accent. He even has many different versions of it. There's the regular, everyday, single-syllable "no" to use for mundane things. Then there's the emphatic repetition "no, no, no" for the more important stuff. And finally, for the truly horrific, there's the long, drawn out "noooooooooo." Funny thing is that I think they are all wonderful.

As of late Romi is really into babies. He can say the word "baby" and points to them anytime we see one. He loves to look at pictures of babies and has a baby doll. Of course, his favorite baby is Jacqui, our dear friends the Hoffman's six-week old daughter. He kisses her, touches her head, taps her on the nose and tries to generally love her up. We hope she's strong enough to survive Romi's love and devotion.

Romi has also taken to covering his eyes. He does so when he doesn't want to do something so we can't find him, to play hide and seek, and when he's afraid (especially of the tortoise, which is about 4-inches long and terrifies him). It looks like this:

He likes to drag our stuffed bear Bermanese around by the dog leash, and he loves it when Abba and Ima fight over him (and I mean that in a truly physical sense of each taking half and pulling). I began giving him rides throughout the house on a towel, which gets us the best smile, but I did get a bit annoyed when he decided to read on the trip. He still loves the car, school, his shoes and animals. He is obsessed with his chickens and they are actually far less afraid of him then they are of Rob or me. He lets us know when he has a dirty diaper (potty training here we come?) and his undying love of asparagus has been thrown over for a new obsession: mushrooms (he prefers them sauteed but will also pick them off everyone's pizza to eat). I tried to give him cotton candy at the Keep On Truckin' festival, but he refused to eat it and insisted on an apple. The things that give him the most joy in life are watching his parents ham it up for him, getting all three of us under the covers, and tormenting his beloved mother with a stuffed monkey.

I love two.

Chickens, Snow, Auntie and Romi's Tush

My friends all find it funny that a few weeks ago, early on a Sunday morning, Romi locked me out of the house. I'd probably find it amusing too, if I hadn't been in my robe. It was about 6:30 a.m. and I was trying to let Abba get a much-needed break from the 5:00 a.m. wake up call that is the Romster. Romi likes to sit on the washer and dryer and play with buttons and knobs and the car keys, but I won't leave him up there unattended and it gets a bit dull so I figured I'd read the paper. However, when I went out to get it, leaving the main door open but the iron security door closed, he reached up those cute little fingers and threw the deadbolt. And it was cold outside. When he just looked up at me through the door I was pretty sure I'd soon be knocking on our bedroom window to wake up Rob, but after two a couple of tries my Little Manster managed to let me back in--cold, but no worse for wear!

Romi has been up to quite a bit these last few weeks. He is a busy hamster. He recently helped Abba wash the car, which he absolutely loved, probably because if it has to do with water, he's in. He worked hard, soaping up the car, rubbing and rinsing and, of course, getting drenched in the process. He especially liked it when he was inside and Abba pointed the hose at the window. Rob couldn't hear him from outside the car, but it was obvious what he wanted when he kept pointing at the window!

We have recently had the pleasure of some company, and Romi was just thrilled to see his grandmother and auntie. He looks after my mom quite well and if I serve him something on his plate for dinner, he makes certain she gets her fair share too, even if it's something she doesn't like or want (like couscous). Although he's smart enough not to share too much of his new favorite: asparagus. And, of course, Romi will do things for Grandma that he will do for no one else. She loves to see him naked (which resulted into two accidents on our carpet while she was here) so whenever he gets out of the shower, he immediately runs to find Grandma so she can kvell over the naked baby. And when she asks him to get over to her so she can pinch his tush, he turns around and backs up so she can do it. For us, he won't even pick up a toy.

When his auntie came to visit the two hit it off fabulously. She taught him how to splash in the bath (thanks Jodi) and they had many long conversations, often about a bee-in-the-car incident on the way back from Mount Lemmon. Speaking of Mount Lemmon, I was more than excited to take Romi to the snow. We loaded up clothes and gear and sleds and headed up the mountain. Granted, I hadn't been on a sled since my infamous accident in D.C. 14 years ago, but I was willing to give it a try and I wasn't about to deny Romi the opportunity. Turns out I didn't have to worry. After weeks of trying to find the perfect day and then us driving all over the top of the Catalina Mountains searching for the perfect sledding spot, Romi absolutely hated the snow. He liked the sled ride, but after five minutes kept he just kept asking to get in the car. He was quite insistent, so while I do have video of both Romi and his auntie on a sled (no, really, Jodi went sledding!), we didn't stay long. Good thing we live in the desert!

As for the latest news, Romi is getting used to the baby chickens. He was quite wary of them at first and while he still doesn't like to touch them, he is growing more and more fascinated every day. His new favorite past time is to have us take all three chicks out of the brooder so they can roam the sunroom. He isn't petting them yet, but he loves to watch them run around.

From left to right: Buffy, Heather and Loretta

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Romi never fails to continue to amaze, entertain and delight his parents. Fortunately, we were able to share the wealth at the end of the year with Nana and Papa, who came to stay for a week. Romi absolutely loved having his grandparents around and found a reliable playmate in Nana. He soon discovered that he could literally lead her around by a finger, and found many an occasion to drag her into the living room to play. It was a wonderful visit...we can't wait to make it permanent!

Romi and Nana playing on the couch

Romi's bag of tricks is rapidly expanding. He knows a plethora of body parents, can pick out his loved ones by name (including the dog and himself) and can do a pretty credible "moo" when asked what sound a cow makes. He likes to clink glasses when we eat, clears his plate, and still loves doing the dishes. He's getting smarter about holding on to what is his and has taken to putting valuable cookies in his mouth and not his hands to avoid them being stolen by Miriam. Depending on the circumstance, Romi remains either as cautious or as brazen as ever. He's still a pretty careful kid, watching his keppie (head) when crawling around, checking things out, and taking his own time to warm up to strangers. But when it comes to slides or swings, he's a crazy man. He recently had the opportunity to show of his daring-do at Ellis' birthday party at Pump It Up, where he went down the big slide the first time with Abba but quickly abandoned him on the second trip, independently turning around and racing down, hair waving in the wind, smiling all the way.

Our day out in Phoenix with the Ellentucks and Hoffmans

One of my favorite Romi stories of late is a few weeks ago we were on a walk, Romialicious in the stroller on a beautiful warm desert day. He fell asleep in his stroller and I continued on, enjoying the exercise, until Romi clapped three times in his sleep and woke himself up.

As of late, Romi hasn't been feeling all that well, and his mood and behavior have reflected that. Lucky for us, Grandma headed into town and he was mid-cry when he spotted her walking into the house. He was instantly transformed into a smiling, content little man, just thrilled to see her. We celebrated Chinese New Year with Grandma and our Cleveland cousins in Scottsdale. Not only was it a lovely visit, but Romi got the traditional long noodles, and oranges to ear and a red envelope to mark the occasion. A great way to start the year of the tiger!

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!