Sunday Pictures and Open Adoption Roundtable

First, open adoption. Second, photos with captions.

Heather, at Production, Not Reproduction, has posted Open Adoption Roundtable #6: write about names and naming in open adoption.

While I considered using M's name as Lucy's middle name and R's name as Evie's middle name, the idea never had much support from other members of the family. We would have been open to either M & T or R & G choosing their own names for their babies on the original birth certificate, but both couples were happy to put the names we chose on the babies' birth certificates at the hospital. There is really only one thing I can think of to write about this topic: we ran our name ideas by both couples and seriously considered their input. We were considering Olivia for Lucy, but M & T didn't like it and we dropped it from consideration immediately. With Evie, we ran the name by G and he said that he not only liked the name, but also liked its origins because he considered naming Evie after his own grandmother, if he and R had decided to parent. That information sealed our decision that Evie would be Evie.

Now for photos and captions!

Evie might be transitioning to one afternoon nap. During the transition, she's been cranky on and off during play times (but won't fall asleep if I try to put her down). So I created a nap nook in the playroom with a play tent, blankets and stuffed animals. I'm going to try to show her that if she's playing and gets sleepy, she can crawl in there and rest for awhile. Right now, however, it is just a super cool new toy:

I may have successfully begun Evie's love affair with books (crossing my fingers). She has been diligently practicing turning pages by herself and likes to babble to herself in a tone of voice that mimics mine, as if she is reading. This, of course, is absolutely adorable. Here she is reading with her Daddy:

Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I see a baby torturing me!

Our little monkey climber. One of these days she's going to figure out how to scale this gate and get to the "doggies!"

J's version of babywearing; taking Evie on walks with the dogs. He has gotten a few comments from passersby about "multitasking:"

This little armchair from BRU is an early birthday gift from Evie's grandma. We've placed it in the kitchen next to a bookcase that holds several of her board books. Now she can read to herself like a big girl:

And use it to read in...creative...ways:

AND use it as a step stool to get to her books:

I read somewhere that this is a good time to introduce Evie to the idea of using a spoon and fork to eat. She's been playing with spoons for months, but we've never done this before! Recipe: mix one baby, one bowl with a suction cup bottom, one toddler sized spoon and a serving of cream of wheat with agave nectar and cinnamon sugar mixed in. Result? She did actually use the spoon to transfer food from the bowl to her mouth a few times, and got cheers and claps from J and me in return:

Last, Evie's hair is getting longer. In the near future I envision tiny pigtails. But for now, it's just long enough for her Daddy to give her horns in the bathtub:

Tomorrow I'm sending out invitations to Evie's birthday party!