Wednesday was Tate’s Day!

The one year anniversary of Tate being placed into our arms!

Tate wanted his celebration to be exactly like Eliza’s!

Brownies, strawberries, ice cream, and a present.

Simple and the perfect way to celebrate!

He even told me we could not celebrate until after baths and pjs, because that is when we celebrated with Eliza.

SO sweet!

Tate opened his present! A puzzle and a matching activity!

Then he played with one of his new things.

We had our dessert!

And told Tate how very happy we are that he has been home one WHOLE year!

We stand amazed at what one year has done for this precious boy!! He is growing (yay!), healthy, gaining strength and coordination, speaks English very well, and is medically stable at this time! He smiles that dimply smile from the moment he wakes up and all day long! He is full of life and joy. We just cannot imagine life before Tate!!

I shared on Instagram about a rough morning we had with Tate this week. All the talk of this anniversary, of being in China, and his birthday coming up made Tate loose his feelings of security. He has been acting out all week long – BIG TIME.

What I did not say on Instagram is that when one of the littles has moments like the ones we are having this week, there is a lot of reflection going on for Blake and I. What was the trigger? What was said around them? What emotional need is needing to be met? How do we regain their feelings of security? And then we hunker down tight and focus on pouring out the extra grace and love to get things turned around right again.

So that is what our week has been about. Tate is SO smart. He is aware of every single thing going on around him. And he remembers most of his life in China before us. He can use these things to his advantage or his disadvantage. We are doing our very best to help him succeed!

Tate Owen, we love you!

Happy Tate’s Day!!