6 years ago today...

It was Saturday. I don’t remember many of the details of the day, unfortunately, but what I do remember is that we got the call that the birth mother had finally completed the harrowing experience of giving birth to who would come to be our child through the institution of domestic adoption. Over the years we’ve found that we’ve been given the gift of a wonderful, healthy, smart, and strong boy with whom we get to spend time with, learn from, be perplexed and frustrated by, and love on a day to day basis. It’s been a wild ride and I can’t wait to find out what’s next!

Today we will celebrate his birth, a delivery story that matched Ethan’s almost to the detail save for the fact that he had a different birth mother! We’ll start out by going out to breakfast - a buffet at the local brewpub. Quin would have rather gone to Noodles, his favorite, but we convinced him that their breakfast wasn’t very good… After breakfast we’ll go to the Lego Movie, then home for some sledding as the weather is continuing to cooperate with the winter outdoor enthusiast this year! Finally we’ll retire to the home for some spaghetti and “mozzallalla sticks” with some friends. It should be a rollicking good time, to be sure.

Beyond birthdays, Quin continues to keep us on our toes. I’ve told the story of how he frequently tells us about getting a new mom whenever he sees a lady that he finds attractive (I still can’t believe that’s a thing for a 5, well 6 year old). Lately he’s switched this up by simply saying something like, “Ooh, there’s a sexy lady!” He also likes to tell us that he knows how “sexy ladies dress,” after which he will lift his shirt and show us his midriff. And if I haven’t blogged about the “big long boobs” story yet, remind me to tell you the next time I see you. I think I did write about it, but it deserves multiple mentions… All of this may be an indication that he’s starting to have some empathy, however. The other morning he started saying that he wanted a new dad, but caught himself mid sentence and amended his statement to say, “Dad, I don’t want a new dad, but I wish God had made you so you didn’t fart so much.” See? Empathy…

It’s not all about the ladies, though, he’s also quite curious and thoughtful. I believe I’ve discussed his deep questions about how remote controls and light switches work. His latest query was asking how puddles disappear. That’s one benefit to having children that I never would have thought of - they actually force you to relearn and understand the things that you had cursory knowledge of in the past. I’m actually embarrassed how little I knew the first time through school, but am happy for the opportunity to go through it again through my kids’ experiences.

Quin certainly appears to have an interesting inner dialog going on at all times. He’s very much enjoying playing sports video games (FIFA 14 is his favorite right now - thanks uncles Blaine and Bryce), his 3DS, and Floppy Bird (sadly he was able to download it before the developer took it down). Yesterday when he was playing Floppy Bird and trying to beat his record, he kept chanting “Believe in yourself, Quinton!”

I’m also fairly convinced that Quin may be the black Bart Simpson sometimes. Last week he was doing some homework while Ethan and I were tossing a ball back and forth (yeah, I’m a good roll model - tossing a ball around in the house). Jenny helped him get started on the assignment which was to copy four new sight words which were provided on the left into a space on the right. Then below those words he was supposed to write out four sight words that he had learned in the past. As an aside, it constantly amazes me what Kindergarteners are doing now versus when I was a kid. I’m pretty sure the most complex thing I did in kindergarten was to cover a pinecone with peanut butter and roll it in bird seed. But anyway, Jenny left for a couple of minutes and came back to check up on Quinton’s progress when she exclaimed, “Butt!!?” I looked over at the page and all he had accomplished to write in the provided spaces was “butt,” a word that one of his buddies had just taught him to spell the day before. Being the good father I am, I managed to almost make it out of earshot prior to cracking up so Jenny could dole out an appropriate response.

Lastly, this one just cracks me up so I need to put it in here somewhere. I get a kick out of people that mess up the lyrics to songs. One of my favorite ones was from Tim Z’s brother who used to sing “Big Ole Jed Left the Light On” instead of “Big Old Jet Airliner.” Quin has his own version of Maroon Five’s “Move Like Jagger” where he sings “Move My Pajamas.”

Well, he’s up now, so I must close this out. More updates on “big meathead” and on our continuing attempt to get Mireille to the states in my next installment. Peace.