A Day of Firsts

One thing many adoptive parents regret is missing out on "firsts". It's as though your child is experiencing life, and you are missing out on it. But I'm convinced that once they are home, life is so full of firsts that you simply cherish the "firsts" that you do have.

Alberto is an amazingly resilient child. He is more than a survivor; he's a victor. When he falls, he doesn't just get up, he keeps on going . That is a very good quality to possess. At this very moment, I wish I possessed that admirable quality.

With Alberto's health issues over the past couple weeks, I have gotten little sleep. And as is well documented, I don't function well without my sleep. One would wonder why I am not sleeping right now -- it's called Diet Pepsi finally kicking in. Between the sleep deprivation and the pulmacort and xoponex inhalation, I'm a mess -- just exhausted. See, it's right now that I wish I possessed Alberto's admirable quality!

Alberto started off a couple weeks ago with a nasty cough, a horribly stinky, funky diaper, and then started vomitting at night. He went to the doctors three times, decided he was barely hungry to not hungry for over a week, and was subjected to nebulizer treatments. Even that didn't stop him! In fact, I had a hard time convincing anyone that he wasn't feeling well. That was until he puked all over the place and then we had some sympathy.

But that was then; This is NOW. Which brings me to OUR FIRSTS....

Today, Alberto is the same old "the most wonderful" child on the planet. Yes, he's sleeping, eating and playing. He's full of energy and spunk. He's all boy and enjoying life -- that is until he's not getting his way.

We went to Publix after daycare for some groceries. He was fine until we entered the produce section where he attempted to climb out of the cart (FIRST)-- he wanted blueberries. He has this SuperMan/Eagle eyesight. So, I end up cleaning blueberries on my clothes (FIRST) as he pretty much consumes half a container of blueberries while at the market. Everything is fine until he notices the chayote that is in the cart. He wants to hold it (FIRST). I didn't have a problem with that. So, I let him hold it. Well....

Whatever happened to my mild mannered little man? We had to let the cashier ring up the chayote. I still have ringing in my ear from the screams he let out (FIRST). Piercing. Certainly everyone in the store turned around. I didn't notice their reactions because the sound was so sharp that my brain was incapable of processing onlookers; it was trying to recover my hearing abilities.

He wanted out of the cart. What was this? He's never been like this. (FIRSTS) So, I'm still deaf in one ear an as I go to pull him out of the cart, I notice that he's wet, his seat cover is wet and now my shirt is wet too. Yeah, I wouldn't want to sit in that either. Mind you, while all of this was happening, the bag boy -- which was a man -- was packing our bags in slow motion and then did not have the decency to offer to help me with my groceries. There I was carrying a toddler with wet shorts and now a stinky cart pushing it into the parking lot. It's moments like these that I swear I'm on candid camera.

Hum, why I didn't have that well stocked diaper bag with me? It was in the car where it did not belong. I thought it was just one more thing to carry into the store. It wasn't necessary. I mean, really, what could possibly happen that would require me to need the diaper bag? Um... THIS. Note to self, take the bag out of the car. It's full of all the necessary gadgets, and the Super Diaperbag does no one any good sitting in the car.

I changed his diaper in the front seat (FIRST). He wasn't really thrilled about it and neither was I. Today, I have the MOM Battlescars. And I wear them proudly. I survived and so did Alberto and we are better for it today!

The Diet Pepsi is wearing off and Sleeping Beauty here needs her rest because Prince Charming is going to be up in 6 1/2 hours all full of life and energy and ready to start his day.

Cutest pictures coming soon....