The Charlie I've Always Known

What a sweet little boy God has found us!
For months, I've been looking at the one picture we had of Charlie, dreaming about what he might be like, how big he might be, how he was doing. Being here has been entirely surreal. This dream I've been dreaming can't possibly be real. But it is, and he is, and he's wonderful. Charlie is exactly what I expected, even though in many ways he isn't. I know that's not logical! It's hard to explain. He's just Charlie, he's the Charlie I've always known, even though I've only "known" him for a little over a week. He's the Charlie my heart has always known.

For the first 2 or 3 days that we visited Charlie, we were strangers to him. We were all right, in his book, because we brought fun toys and paid attention to him. He preferred to lay on the floor, because that's what he was used to, and he was quite happy there.
But now we have a different Charlie. A Charlie who is excited to see us, who reaches for me when we come to visit. Now, when we lay him down to play, he fusses and gets upset. He prefers to be held! So we hold him - who can deny a child who's been waiting 3 years to be held? We'll spoil him til he's rotten, and by then he'll be ready to crawl and then walk anyway, and won't want so many snuggles. His nannies have held him, of course - but that's nothing compared to a Mama Snuggle.

Today as Charlie's nanny was getting him ready for our visit, she could see the excitement in Charlie. She turned to another nanny and told her, "He understands - it's his Mami and Papi."

Yep, Charlie, we're your Mami and Papi. And we love you!