I've Created a (Super Adorable) Monster

Marcus loves to play by himself. He does it great. He constantly is checking in to make sure someone is still there and whoever is there will talk to him, make some comments about what he is up to, etc. Then he will go back to playing with his toys alone. There are times when Greg and I try to play with him and he would be happy about it for about five minutes and then he would scoot away and get involved in something alone. Don't get me wrong. We don't ignore him and we do play with him. I am just saying that a lot of the time he is quite content doing his own thing.

Ever since these temper tantrums started, I have made a really big effort to hold him more. Even if he is content playing with something, often times I have just been scooping him up, along with the toy, and letting him play with the toy on my lap. He still is throwing plenty of temper tantrums but not like it was. Besides, it is obvious that he loves all the opportunity to be close to us. He has never been much of a snuggler, but suddenly, he is crawling into my lap, giving me hugs, and just being really darn cute. Greg suggested changing his name from Greg to Jim, as in Jungle Jim (gym). We are now the most exciting thing to play with in the house. I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy every minute of it.

We are still waiting to get an update about Alejandro. Our case worker said that it would be this week. I am being patient because I know that there are things much bigger than just my case going on right now. I have been avoiding posting because of it. Long story short, because of the illegal actions of one person in the Guatemalan adoption community, the fate of adoptions is at risk. As of right now, the US Government and the Guatemalan Government are just talking about ways to make the process more strict (as if some of the stipulations aren't crazy enough) to avoid any repeat offenders. Yesterday a protocolo was brought to the table in Guatemala proposing many things, including immediate shut down of adoptions. Thankfully, the result is a giant announcement that there will be no immediate shut down. This is not to say that there won't be major changes in the future, but for now we can all breathe a sigh of relief. I want Alejandro home. I said I wouldn't get impatient but this is different. Mostly I just hope that whatever the outcome of all this, those in charge remember to put all the children who need loving families first. There is no alternative system in place right now to take care of all these children if something would happen to the adoption community. (For more information on what is going on with adoptions right now, visit guatadopt.com)