Ben: One Month Post Adoption Update

I am taking a break from posting updates from our China trip (I'm working on catching up!) to give a quick one month update on Ben :)

I cannot believe that one month ago we were in China getting ready to meet our little guy for the FIRST time. I can still remember all the nerves and excitement I felt getting ready that morning and driving over to the government building to meet him. And now, here we are, one month later with him in our home. Sharing a room with Jake. Hanging out in our yard. Eating with us at the table (and eating all the food our wonderful friends have been bringing us!) I really still cannot believe that since 2014 we have been preparing to bring Ben home (even though we didn't know the specifics then!) and he finally is here. It's very humbling to stop and take a look back at how far God has brought us not just a month ago- but years ago when we started this process.

This first month has been fun because we are learning SO much about our little man! With a newborn you are staring at their teeny mouth and learning their cries, but with Ben there is so much more to learn! There were so many questions to ask his nannies like his favorite foods, favorite toys, sleep and nap schedule, favorite things to do, what is he scared of, etc. And now we get to see everything first hand- and every day we learn new things about him and every month he grows more and more in understanding English, our family schedule (like Dan going to work, us picking up and dropping off Jake from school) learning more about Jake and Cole and their specific personalities, where the food is, what toys he likes, etc. It's been so much fun watching his little personality emerge and I know he is going to learn more and more in the months to come. Here are some fun things about this FIRST month with Ben :)

We found out early on you are VERY fond of bubbles and it brings me so much joy to watch you run after them or try to blow them on your own!
You love toys that light up or sing and you almost immediately start dancing whenever you play with them
You have a very silly personality and we have discovered the more tired you get, the sillier you get! You will tickle us, roll around, try to grab our noses, giggle, and jump around. And running around in your monkey towel with your brothers after bath is probably one of your favorite things to do (no pictures of that though as you can probably guess why lol)
You love following Jake around :) And I am starting to see glimpses of you enjoying hanging out with Cole- even though they aren’t often they are starting to happen!
You are very willing to try new foods but still loves rice and noodles the best though :)
You also love to snack and could probably eat crackers (basically goldfish and veggie sticks!) all day long!
You are VERY animated and likes to say “woa!” or point at things like birds or airplanes
You also are very particular, if there is something out of place you wants to make sure that it gets fixed- like a noodle that fell off your plate or a crumb that fell on the floor.
You are very intrigued and scared by the vacuum all at the same time :)
You don’t mind car rides which is such a breath of fresh air compared to our other two boys
You love to ride in the toy jeep outside
You still like us to lay with you until you fall asleep, but overall you have made huge strides in this since we got home :)
You loved your first Easter and now give a confused face when every egg you open up doesn’t have a piece of candy or chocolate in it lol
I gave you your first haircut and you did great! You weren’t scared and didn’t cry you mainly just wanted to run out of the chair to play with the toys!