Everytime our little guy sees President-Elect Obama on tv,newspapers, magazines, etc. he has to point him out to us. He refers to him as OMama. Recently, however, when he sees him he says OMama and then he says his name. Hmmm, do we have a future president in the making? (Is it time to amend the constitution to allow foreign born citizens the right to run for president?)
As you can see, Santa's busiest elf was the highlight of our holiday season this year. We are trying not to be over indulgent parents so on Christmas morning Santa left an Elmo chair for him and Elmo Live. As we walked down the steps the first thing he saw was his chair so he exclaimed, "Elmo, Elmo!" Everyone had already told us he would probably find more enjoyment from the packaging, so I probably could have wrapped up empty boxes :-).
This weekend I received the perfect gift to mark our referral anniversary. A friend of my mother's is a quilter and when we first heard about the little guy she said she wanted to make a quilt for him. Once we decided on a pattern for the room she started working on his quilt. She usually works on several quilts at one time and as she quilts she keeps a journal about the process. The words in her journal brought tears to my eyes. It was filled with her thoughts about his future and on being parents. She explained the meaning of the symbols on the quilt and she placed a pocket in the back to hold the journal. The quilt squares she used were from the pattern used on a quilt presented to Nelson Mandela.
It looks absolutely wonderful in the room. It was truly the perfect referral anniversary gift!
We got our referral call on the day before Thanksgiving last year. It is hard to believe that a year has passed. We spent this Thanksgiving with my parents. Last year we passed around his referral picture and this year our little blessing was being passed around.
We did go to a Fall Festival at a local elementary school the week before Halloween but this year I decided not to take the little lion trick or treating. He stayed at home and helped pass out candy , when he wasn't trying to eat it. Everyone who came to the door remarked at what a cute lion he was...I guess even when he tried to roar he couldn't look ferocious. 
Well since I started working again in September I have not had time to post as much as I would like. I have so much more respect for all the working moms in the world (especially the working elementary school teachers). I am not organized (I thought I was) nor can I multi-task (I thought I could). Perhaps going back to work wouldn't have hit me as hard if I hadn't started graduate school at the same time. I already have a Masters Degree and National Board Certification, so it's not like I had to put myself through this- but it's that first born child, overachiever syndrome. I can't even imagine working on a PhD (Girls, I can't join you- I have much respect for my sister, my aunt and my friend Morgan) but once I finish this Educational Adminstration Certificate I think that's it for me (at least I say this for now:-)
Our little guy is in great hands at the Pamper Me Child Care, a home daycare with one other child (actually it's more like staying at a surrogate grandparents house.)
The little guy had a fun summer. He spent the 4th of July in NC with the Ellis family where he had his first try at 4-wheeling. At the end of the month, he took his first trip to Disney World with the Turner family. He had fun splashing in the pool. He also loved It's A Small World, but Disney World with a 1 year old isn't that fun. We will have to take him back when he can enjoy more rides. The main purpose of our trip to Florida was to go to the Delta Convention and of course he had his first introduction to Greek life at the stepshow.
