Right or Left?

Is Daniel right or left handed?? Well, we just can’t decide. He tends to eat with his right hand, but we wonder if he was taught that because when he scribbles or works with toy, he tends to use his left hand. He also seems to have more strength in his left hand. I suppose he could be ambidextrous, but I really think he will begin to use only one hand after a while. For now it’s interesting to see which hand he uses more.

He is now pretty consistently saying the words “up”, “juice”, “knock, knock”, “rock”, “light”, "scoop, dump" (Water play) and “boo boo” on his own. He also says "Ruby" one of our dogs name. Pretty much all the animals are Ruby now, but he does know the difference if I tell him to give Elka a pat, or Jerry, or whichever one. He also loves to feed the dogs. I make the bowls and he gives each dog their bowl. It's too cute!! With help he will say “please”, and “thank you”. Last night something must have clicked with him because at dinner when he finished his plate he pushed it to me and very clearly said "all gone" and then he repeated everything I said including “Woo Hoo!” “Uh Oh”, and when I said “I love you” he responded with “la lu”. I have it on video camera and if I ever figure out how to get it on the computer I’ll share!!

We find that he understands tremendously more. He knows where to head when I ask if he wants a bath or to brush his teeth. He even does the teeth brushing motion with his hands that I used to do when we first started. He understands all the basics like stand up and sit down so I no longer use the Russian versions at all. He also knows when I ask him if he wants to put on shoes to go find his shoes and then he pines a way by the front or back door waiting for Mama to be ready.

He will say “cheese” when I pull out the camera but inevitably will say it when the camera isn’t quite ready. He also knows how to fake snore sleeping and he is such a comedian with it. I took him into his room to rock for nap and as soon as he got comfortable on my shoulder he started fake snoring and I just had to laugh. He also plays a game with Papa that Papa isn’t to thrilled with. I got to listen to it over the monitor last night and it cracked me up. He pats Troy when Troy rocks him at night and says “Mama” and Troy counters with “Papa” (Daniel smiles when he does this) and this went on about 6 times when finally I hear Troy say “I’m not your Mama boy!!” followed by a giggle and then Daniel’s out. It is so funny!

We go for our first set of vaccines on Thursday – Yuck!! I have to go by myself and am not looking forward to it. We are only doing two shots at a time though. Everyone thinks I’m crazy but I really don’t want to overload his little system with 4 or 5 shots in one day. It means more doctor visits, but hopefully less reaction!!

Finally on Saturday night Troy gave Daniel his bath while I changed sheets in our bedroom. I heard him get Daniel out of the tub and then “Go find Mama.” This is what greeted me in the bedroom. It was so cute I had to run for the camera!!

Here’s a few more pictures from our week.







Lastly – I’ll be watching Becky and Keith’s blog all day to hear about their referral!! I can’t be happier for them to finally be in Russia!!