Two Years!

We arrived home with our first son two years ago last week!  In honor of the day, Josiah received a Go, Diego, Go! digital camera (I'll share some of his pictures later :-)) and chose to go to Sakura for dinner.



He looks so grown up in this picture!

 What a blessing it has been to watch him learn and grow!  Josiah is 38 1/4 inches tall and 29 pounds in weight.  While that is definitely small for his age, he is finally on the growth charts!  :-)  He has grown 8 inches since coming home, 5 in the past year!  He's gained about 9 lbs., 4 of that in the last year. 

Josiah continues to progress with his development.  He can say the letters of the alphabet.  He can verbally spell his name, and recognizes those letters in written form.  He is working on recognizing the rest of the alphabet.  He counts to twelve on his own and can count to twenty with a little bit of support.  He knows the names of colors. 

Physically, Josiah is developing well.  He has abundant energy and uses it to run, tumble, jump, and continually move. His coordination is improving.   He is learning to ride a bicycle.  He has been learning about throwing and catching a ball.  It took us a while to find a left-handed glove in his size, but he is really enjoying playing catch with Daddy!

 Josiah is a great helper.  He is growing more and more to see Isaac as a friend.  He loves playing with Elizabeth, and is still a bit lost without her right now.  Josiah does get into his fair share of trouble.  We are really working on listening skills and thinking before acting.  He is more open about disagreeing with us and saying "no."  But while these acts can be frustrating, I really feel that it means he is comfortable with us and trusts us to love him no matter what. 

In one of his favorite places...Grandma's Mustang!

We celebrate Josiah being a part of our family; we are so blessed to have him!  We celebrate the bonding and growth over the past two years.  We celebrate that our family is forevermore part Ethiopian.  We also remember Josiah's Ethiopian family.  We remember that it is only through loss that Josiah is here.  We look forward to growing and learning together.