Nate turned four yesterday. Four years ago he was being born, and I didn’t even know. I didn’t know he existed or that he would one day be ours. Since we adopted him at eight months old, we’ve been there to celebrate each subsequent Birthday, but we missed that first one. It’s funny how a day that went from having no significance became so important months later.
I was lucky; I happened to remember exactly what I was doing on that day. I was driving home from La Beauce after a weekend with relatives at their cabane à sucre. I remember it well because it was the first time I’d spent April Fools around my husband’s Francophone relatives.April Fool’s is called poisson d’avril (April fish). The tradition is for kids to colour fish on paper, cut them out and tape them to people’s backs. I think the more fish you tape to a person’s back without them knowing, the more of a fool they become. I of course, not being accustomed to this tradition, had lots of fish taped to my back.
As a child, the idea of ‘tricking’ someone was equated to the idea of surprising them. Every April first, I would round up my younger siblings, wake up early doing our best to be quiet, and we would make breakfast for my parents. I can’t remember what we were able to make them at that age, but I remember how happy it would make me to surprise them.
So, four years ago we were driving home from this weekend away and back in Montreal Nathanael was being born. I must admit, for the birth of my son, it was quite painless on my part, but I do wish I could have been there on that special day… I don’t have any pictures, any memories of him on his birth day. After adopting him, I asked the family he was living with since birth if they had any pictures I could have. They had five – five pictures is all that was captured of his first eight months of life, but I treasure each one. But he’s with us now, and he’s ours and we love him… and I take faaaaaaaaaaar too many pictures of my little guy, if that’s at all possible. ;)
Nate and Michaela LOVE the swing set we bought them as a joint gift for both their Birthdays. Some of you might remember that we wanted to buy them a swing set for Michaela’s Birthday last fall, but couldn’t find any, it being too late in the season. So we waited and bought it in time for Nate’s B-day. Thank you to everyone who contributed! We were able to get a very good quality swing, and hopefully it will give them years and years of fun. Thank you all!
We also gave Nate a tricycle, because we thought it was about time!
And Dad asked for more pictures of Lulu. She's doing so well, and we love her to bits!
