Thursday, February 18, 2010
The joy of a bucket of water
Things we like to do to cool off. This was a favourite past time of Finn's as well!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Trudge Trudge Trudge
The miracle of stair climbing. I no longer require three trips up and down to get them to sleep!
Two steppin', literally.
Alright -- big news on the baby front: Will is practicing taking his two steps pretty well all day long now.
But Charlie surprised me yesterday by taking his very first step.
In 24 hours, he has exceeded his brothers practice over the past two weeks. I do believe that Charlie will master walking before Will as his entire awake time (6 hours maybe?) has been dedicated to free standing and wiggling his feet forward. He gets in about two steps before laughter takes over and he lands on his bottom.
Will also thinks this is a great game only he now uses Charlie as a balancing board while he takes his steps.
They spend a lot of time laughing, serious belly laughing, at each other (or with each other). I am beginning to see how the whole twin connection works.
What is new on our return home? Not much, but my brother Ian should become a professional publicist. During the time of global disaster (Haiti) and local media frenzy over the Olympics, our story has managed to take up not an insignificant number of minutes on the CBC!!! There was a 6 o'clock news story, and three CBC radio interviews. Global TV has now called our house, and both of Bowen Islands newspapers are running a lengthy account of what has been going on.
I consider Ian's efforts to be nothing short of heroic. The results have not only been journalistic, but people are now reaching out to us via email and facebook like crazy. Suddenly we've got connections to a vast number of Canadians At The Top. This can only be considered a good thing.
I did what some might feel is a bit of a crazy thing, but desperate times call for drastic measures. I presented myself to the Head of Anti Human Trafficking department at CID (Crimes Investigation Department) here in Ghana. If immigration feels that something fishy is going on with regards to the boys birth mother, then by all means, investigate me.
Funny thing is that when I presented myself to the anti trafficking Unit at CID, the woman made a few phone calls and responded to my presence as "What is the problem, exactly? The department of social welfare knows about the issue with the death certificate? They still recommended a full adoption and still give their authorization for you to leave? What exactly do you need?"
Good question. What exactly do I need? I'm working on that. I guess I need someone to explain to me how I can explain something unexplicable, except to say, in Africa, things like this do happen. In Canada, mistakes in documents happen. They just do. And it happened. So instead of wasting all of this time wondering how on earth I could have possible come by a fake document, can we please just come home now??
I guess not. But I'm working on it. And I will keep you posted.
I'll try uploaded some ridiculously cute video of the boys to keep everyone occupied while I trudge around Accra trying to solve this mystery of mysteries.
But Charlie surprised me yesterday by taking his very first step.
In 24 hours, he has exceeded his brothers practice over the past two weeks. I do believe that Charlie will master walking before Will as his entire awake time (6 hours maybe?) has been dedicated to free standing and wiggling his feet forward. He gets in about two steps before laughter takes over and he lands on his bottom.
Will also thinks this is a great game only he now uses Charlie as a balancing board while he takes his steps.
They spend a lot of time laughing, serious belly laughing, at each other (or with each other). I am beginning to see how the whole twin connection works.
What is new on our return home? Not much, but my brother Ian should become a professional publicist. During the time of global disaster (Haiti) and local media frenzy over the Olympics, our story has managed to take up not an insignificant number of minutes on the CBC!!! There was a 6 o'clock news story, and three CBC radio interviews. Global TV has now called our house, and both of Bowen Islands newspapers are running a lengthy account of what has been going on.
I consider Ian's efforts to be nothing short of heroic. The results have not only been journalistic, but people are now reaching out to us via email and facebook like crazy. Suddenly we've got connections to a vast number of Canadians At The Top. This can only be considered a good thing.
I did what some might feel is a bit of a crazy thing, but desperate times call for drastic measures. I presented myself to the Head of Anti Human Trafficking department at CID (Crimes Investigation Department) here in Ghana. If immigration feels that something fishy is going on with regards to the boys birth mother, then by all means, investigate me.
Funny thing is that when I presented myself to the anti trafficking Unit at CID, the woman made a few phone calls and responded to my presence as "What is the problem, exactly? The department of social welfare knows about the issue with the death certificate? They still recommended a full adoption and still give their authorization for you to leave? What exactly do you need?"
Good question. What exactly do I need? I'm working on that. I guess I need someone to explain to me how I can explain something unexplicable, except to say, in Africa, things like this do happen. In Canada, mistakes in documents happen. They just do. And it happened. So instead of wasting all of this time wondering how on earth I could have possible come by a fake document, can we please just come home now??
I guess not. But I'm working on it. And I will keep you posted.
I'll try uploaded some ridiculously cute video of the boys to keep everyone occupied while I trudge around Accra trying to solve this mystery of mysteries.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Changes...
I promised to write about happy things -- try to reveal some good times amidst all of my complaining and absolute panic.
Well, I am ecstatic to report that Will is a walker!!! Two days ago he took his first two steps. Then the next morning he took 3 steps. Back down to 2 steps. Then 6. He is now shuffling his way taking anywhere between 2 and 6 steps before sitting down, cautiously, the laughing his head off at the miracle that standing on your own two feet really is!
Not to be outdone, Charlie found himself in a bit of a sobbing state the other day. Charlie is at that "My Mama has walked around a corner and I will never see her again. wahhhhhhhhh wahhhhhhhhh wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Oh, here she is....". I had run up the stairs to grab some diapers and in the nano seconds it took me to leap three steps at a time to the top, grab the diapers and hustle back down, Charlie had worked himself into a frenzy of tears. He saw me start up the stairs, and trucked right on up after me.
Voila. Charlie does stairs. Although once he realized that he had accidentally climbed the stairs with no idea how to climb back down, this started a whole other sob story.
Now, the walker, not to be outdone by the stair climber, now also climbs the stairs - but only when I am not looking.
And I have never seen such a sight as the two of them at the breakfast table placing milky cheerios into their spoons (using fingers) and shoving the spoonful of cheerios sideways into their mouths. The sounds of frustration while they try to sort out how to get this puzzle of spoon and mouth figured out is nothing short of hilarious. And loud. They are very, very loud!
Lots of new skills from our wee ones.
Now onto Finn - who is happily at home, back at school and Tae Kwon Do and planning how to sneak into Olympic events. He is absolutely thrilled at the idea of the Olympics and is completely confused as to why he can't just go and see the snowboarders. The excitement of the games is not lost on one so young, even though his parents weren't lucky enough to get tickets to anything. He is pumped for sports! He wants hockey lessons, snowboard lessons and thinks that the idea of a toboggan hurtling down ice is the best idea the world has ever come up with.
I'm sorry he won't see any of the events, but I am thrilled by his excitement over the games, which is something I hope he remembers his whole life long.
Michael and I are coping with the flock in our respective nests. Mom has, once again, saved our bacon by practically moving in with Michael to help with the logistics of Finn's life. I have to give gratitude to my Dad for making the perilous boat trips and having the patience with this situation as it drags on for all eternity. We all say "where would we be without our parents" (or at least some of us do. I do.) Michael and I would be in hell. Thank God for Ma & Pa Bastin.
We've got a lot happening in terms of getting our tails on Canadian soil. We've launched an official appeal of the High Commissions Decision, gone back to court in Ghana and obtained a full adoption order, prepared documents for direct citizenship and I am researching how difficult it could be to obtain tourist visas for any country other than Ghana while we wait out any or all of the above processes. I am a bit like a border collie - I have to work, work, work or I will go insane.
Wait. I could be insane. Anyway, dreaming about a place away from here keeps my light bulb burning, so I'll stick with that.
No pictures because MY CAMERA WAS STOLEN. I can't believe it. But it is gone. I had some great shots on that thing, but now it is gone. Another indicator that it is time to leave - I can no longer have photographic evidence of my stay, so it is time to go!
Well, I am ecstatic to report that Will is a walker!!! Two days ago he took his first two steps. Then the next morning he took 3 steps. Back down to 2 steps. Then 6. He is now shuffling his way taking anywhere between 2 and 6 steps before sitting down, cautiously, the laughing his head off at the miracle that standing on your own two feet really is!
Not to be outdone, Charlie found himself in a bit of a sobbing state the other day. Charlie is at that "My Mama has walked around a corner and I will never see her again. wahhhhhhhhh wahhhhhhhhh wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Oh, here she is....". I had run up the stairs to grab some diapers and in the nano seconds it took me to leap three steps at a time to the top, grab the diapers and hustle back down, Charlie had worked himself into a frenzy of tears. He saw me start up the stairs, and trucked right on up after me.
Voila. Charlie does stairs. Although once he realized that he had accidentally climbed the stairs with no idea how to climb back down, this started a whole other sob story.
Now, the walker, not to be outdone by the stair climber, now also climbs the stairs - but only when I am not looking.
And I have never seen such a sight as the two of them at the breakfast table placing milky cheerios into their spoons (using fingers) and shoving the spoonful of cheerios sideways into their mouths. The sounds of frustration while they try to sort out how to get this puzzle of spoon and mouth figured out is nothing short of hilarious. And loud. They are very, very loud!
Lots of new skills from our wee ones.
Now onto Finn - who is happily at home, back at school and Tae Kwon Do and planning how to sneak into Olympic events. He is absolutely thrilled at the idea of the Olympics and is completely confused as to why he can't just go and see the snowboarders. The excitement of the games is not lost on one so young, even though his parents weren't lucky enough to get tickets to anything. He is pumped for sports! He wants hockey lessons, snowboard lessons and thinks that the idea of a toboggan hurtling down ice is the best idea the world has ever come up with.
I'm sorry he won't see any of the events, but I am thrilled by his excitement over the games, which is something I hope he remembers his whole life long.
Michael and I are coping with the flock in our respective nests. Mom has, once again, saved our bacon by practically moving in with Michael to help with the logistics of Finn's life. I have to give gratitude to my Dad for making the perilous boat trips and having the patience with this situation as it drags on for all eternity. We all say "where would we be without our parents" (or at least some of us do. I do.) Michael and I would be in hell. Thank God for Ma & Pa Bastin.
We've got a lot happening in terms of getting our tails on Canadian soil. We've launched an official appeal of the High Commissions Decision, gone back to court in Ghana and obtained a full adoption order, prepared documents for direct citizenship and I am researching how difficult it could be to obtain tourist visas for any country other than Ghana while we wait out any or all of the above processes. I am a bit like a border collie - I have to work, work, work or I will go insane.
Wait. I could be insane. Anyway, dreaming about a place away from here keeps my light bulb burning, so I'll stick with that.
No pictures because MY CAMERA WAS STOLEN. I can't believe it. But it is gone. I had some great shots on that thing, but now it is gone. Another indicator that it is time to leave - I can no longer have photographic evidence of my stay, so it is time to go!
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