A week at home, and 19 months yesterday

Van's daycare provider went on holiday last week so we had him all to ourselves. I took today to recover lol. It is definitely a work out chasing after a toddler everyday trying to think of ways to keep him entertained and happy. He was great and only had a few grumpy moments. Lucky us :) We took him to lots of play groups and enjoyed him at home as well. The week actually went by very quickly. On the weekend we were meant to meet up with some other adoptive families but we only managed a pot luck on Sunday evening at Sam, Woody, Max and Vanh's. Between canceled events due to the weather and Pat falling down the stairs on Saturday (he is still recovering but thankfully there was no permanent damage!), we just couldn't make things happen. The pot luck was great fun though and it was nice to see a few people we don't see very often. Pat managed to get a few pics:

The boys before the other guests arrived:



Playing with Sadie and Ben:


Adorable Ben:



Gorgeous Sadie:



Playing with Ben's mom Bev (note Van in the background who found the twins having their bath absolutely fascinating):


More Van hanging out in the bathroom shots:




Baby Teo Bao :)


Ready for bed:


Van was 19 moths old yesterday! He's been with us for almost 9 months!! Crazy. Time goes by so fast. He is doing really well. Still not using a lot of words but meeting all other developmental milestones. He has recently developed stranger shyness which is great. He went through a biting stage a couple of weeks ago but seems to have moved past it. Pinching, particularly Pat, is an ongoing battle. Has anybody in a two parent household ever experienced that dichotomy? He very rarely shows aggression with me but with Pat it is a different story. He will often pinch and lash out at Pat. He will also often not listen to Pat whereas he almost always responds to me in attempts to discipline (i.e. asking him to stop a behaviour). It is frustrating as I hate to see Pat unable to control Van's negative behaviour. Pat and I are identical in how we deal with Van so it is not like he is overly permissive and I am the opposite. We are both middle ground disciplinarians, firm but not aggressive. We have our stern voices that we both use when he is acting out. We both utilize time outs. Anyway, if anybody has a similar experience let me know. Other than that he is a funny and happy little guy that brings us huge amounts of joy. We are so thankful to have him :)

Here are a few 19 month pics: