Home Sweet Home!

Dear Elijah,

Today, we returned home to India after two months away. During our two months odyssey, you moved around eight times and stayed in six different places. Through all the transitions and changes, you continued to amaze us with your flexibility. Mommy and daddy are so thankful and proud of you. We have at times wondered what it has been like for you to move from one place to another, to say good-bye frequently, and to not have a "normal" routine that most kids at your age have. In the last two months, you got to see and experience so many new things! (Mommy is going to try her best to record some of those things here in the blog for you so that you can one day look back at them.)

It was great to see you so happy today being back at home. We woke you up early at 4 am to go to the airport. You seemed to understand that we were getting on a plane. You were pretty tired by the time the plane left Bangkok and you managed to sleep for most of the flight. When we arrived in India and got inside our car, you stopped for a few seconds and seemed to remember that it was the car that you had ridden in many times. You have played in that car lots of times with daddy and it was clear that you were remembering something. Then, when we got home, you saw Sparky, our neighbor's dog, and you immediately got excited. You saw Elizabeth and seemed a little hesitant at first, but it seemed though that as we ate together, you remembered her and realized that she was the same "auntie" who came to our place to work and who ate lunch with us every day. Once that realization clicked, you got really happy and immediately began engaging with her in ways that you had done in the past. But, the most delightful part for mommy and daddy were going through our regular nightly routine with you for the first time in two months! You were so ecstatic! Somehow, you remembered our fun nightly routine at home and you were having so much fun as we went through each of the elements. Mommy and daddy really missed being able to do the whole nightly routine, although we tried our best to keep some elements of it wherever we were. We missed giving you a nightly bath, singing "naked baby man," throwing you on the bed, and playing "where is Elijah?" with the towels. But, tonight, we got to the whole routine and boy, were you excited. It was so fun for mommy and daddy to see that you had remembered and enjoyed your bedtime routine as much as we did. We are looking forward to a more regular night time routine with you at least for a few months! Welcome home, sweet son!