Today is Luke's birthday. Exactly 5 years ago I was anxiously sweating in the heat of an Astrakhan courtroom to learn whether I would be permitted to be his mom. Those ealy days are a blur as he was like one of those fightened little monkeys who was removed from his mother and given a stuffed monkey to attach to. It was the look of fear in his eyes and that desperate clinging I remember most.

I took a mom and me gymnastics class with Aleks during those first few months. My little monkey was in the baby sling during the class, sometimes he would sleep. I remember thinking that at least when he slept he was relaxed. Otherwise he was tense, demanding, crying, banging his head on the floor, pulling his own hair and thus his crew cut was born. He was a child that was literally sucking the life out of me. Then at about 6-8 months home, he started to ease up. He cried less, he stopped banging his head, but he still needed that crew cut. He slowly began to bring my very serious oldest son out of himself. They could laugh together, they learned to play together and eventually they even loved each other. My six year old has a belly laugh that is soooo infectous. He loves with all his heart. He is sensitive and in command of his emotions as much as any 6 yr old can be. He is a good friend who shares his candy with kids he does not know at the pool. He shares his toys with friends. He even occassionally shares with his brothers. He is fun. He lives life big and has a great smile...He has a crew cut, but only cause he looks so darn cute---he no longer needs it.