Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Happy Birthday to Cainan

Today is Cainan's third birthday. I cannot believe he is 3 years old already! Yesterday (June 1st) two years ago was the day we found out we were going to be Cainan's parents. We got the call early in the day on June 1st 2007 that said that Cainan was ours! The day before his birthday - we always thought that was very special.

Cainan was about 3 days old when he was found and brought to the orphanage in June 2006. He was found on June 5th. His birthday is just a guess, but I think they were pretty accurate. Here is the earliest picture we have of Cainan.



This picture was taken the day he was brought to the orphanage. We feel very fortunate to have this picture because not everyone gets such young pictures of their babies. Cainan was in a program called Half the Sky. Every 3 months they would write an update and take a picture of him. So we have a lot of nice pictures of him from when we was younger. I don't have a small picture of his "referral" photo to post, but if you go back to the very beginning of this blog, you can see what Cainan looked like on "Gotcha Day".

Anyway, on to present time! Here is our boy now!



Almost two years since we became a family - how much he has changed! This year has been the biggest growth we have ever seen in Cainan. A timid, shy, almost non-verbal baby has turned into a talkative, inquisitive, outgoing little boy.


He runs, hops, gallops, rolls in the grass, plays in the dirt, plays in the sand, gives hugs and kisses, can speak in 5-7 word sentences, counts to 10, knows all of his colors and shapes, talks, talks, talks!!! For those of you who didn't know him when we brought him home, all he could say was "eh". Now I can't get him to be quiet. But that is wonderful.


And he is getting better with textures and closeness. He is very lovable and sweet, and just the best little boy. We are so lucky to have him as part of our family.

Today he had a little party at school with ice cream and singing. He told me all day "I am three! Now I can ride the school bus!" Poor thing. Thought now he was going on the school bus with Arlington. But he knows how old he is! That is progress.

We had pizza for dinner (his favorite food these days) and ice cream for dessert. We are pretty much a non-cake family. Finley and Arlington can't eat it and Cainan doesn't like it, so we had ice cream instead.


He got a few presents - a movie from Finley.


A bulldozer for the sandbox from Arlington.


And a big pirate ship from Mat and I. The pirate ship is going back only because someone else already bought it for him, so we will get him something else. (Daddy wasn't listening when mommy gave him the list).

Plus thank you to Carol for the wonderful Monkey and book - he went to sleep with both of those tonight! And thank you to GiGi, Elda, Grammy and Gramma (and Pap-pap, Papa, and Pappy) for the money. He will be using that to buy text books in college. (ha)

Cainan will be having two more family parties - one when my family visits, and one with Mat's family when we go to the lake in July. So he is going to get to party all summer!

Feel free to leave us a comment by clicking on the "comment" word at the bottom of this post. This blog started as a journey to Cainan and we would love to share your birthday wishes with him someday!

So our "middle child" is officially three years old. Cainan, we love you more than anything and we are so happy to have you as our son. Everytime we look at you, we can't help but feel so happy that you are ours forever.

"Your first mother gave you a need for love, your second mother was there to give it"

11 comments:

The Kovalls said...

Happy Birthday, Cainan! You are the sweetest member of our whole family, I think! We are so glad you are here! And, tell your mommy that she is looking a WHOLE lot like Grammy in that picture!

Hunan Travelers said...

Happy Birthday Cainan!!
From your Chinese cousin-Zee Pearson(and his parents)
What a handsome boy!

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAINAN!!!!!
We love you!!!!

xoxo
Kirsten and Sean

Anonymous said...

Cainan was found on June 5th- that is our wedding anniversary. From the day Dad and I pledge to spend our lives together 6/5/71 we have felt so blessed with our children and now our beautiful grandchildren. And we feel especially blessed to have the gift of Cainan as part of our family to love forever. He has made such amazing progress. We can't wait to see the future evolve for him. And he is a lucky little boy to have loving parents and sisters to share his life with him.

love Mom and Dad Kovall

Anonymous said...

Hope your birthday was filled with fun and big blessings,
Ana Santiago (WPB PPEC!)

Joanne said...

HAPPY, HAPPY B-DAY CAINAN! What a beautiful post and what a special & adorable boy!
Love this post - I learned so much about him :)

Michelle said...

Happy birthday, Cainan! I don't see you too often, but whenever I do, you've always grown so much and made such leaps and bounds!

Thelongs said...

Happy Birthday Cainan! You are one handsome boy!

Lesa said...

Happy Birthday Cainan!! How wonderful to have such a loving family!

Proud Grandparents said...

Happy Birthday, Cainan! It is hard to believe that you are a big 3 year old already. We love you lots and are so proud to say you are our grandson.

Gramma and Pappy Pletcher

Holly Staszel Berecz said...

My heart flutters with happiness for all of you! What a lucky boy. What lucky parents and sisters!