Chat 'n Play at the Library and Progress Report (long)

Today we went to our first Chat 'n Play at the local library. This is something, along with Mother Goose Time, that I have been wanting to do for some time. The programs just started back up since school is back in session so today was our first day. I wasn't sure what to expect so off we went. I was pleasantly surprised by the room we had to play in. There was a mat with lots of soft shapes to build things with, a tunnel to crawl through, cushions to tumble on, books and a rocking chair, a trampoline with handles for the child to hold on to, blankets with toys, tables set up with puzzles, ink stamps and paper, and my personal favorite, shaving cream. What a great idea. We smeared shaving cream on the table and used popsicle sticks to draw in it, and of course our fingers too!! It was loads of fun. Daniel played with several children and I got to talk to several moms and just be a regular mom myself. With me being the fabulous mother I am, I forgot my camera so at the end of the post you'll just have to settle for pictures from the other day!!

As for progress I thought I would try to list out some areas of improvement.

Attachment:

Just today at the library Daniel fell backwards on the mats where we were all sitting and right into another mother's lap. She instantly put her arms around him and swung him side to side being playful and he started arching his back pointing at me going, "Mama, Mama". They all thought it was sweet (and so did I), but also secretly I was cheering him for only wanting me. He also backs away from other women now when they want to hold him unless he knows them (family).

Speech:

"Fantastic" is his new favorite word and mine. He is starting to initiate conversation now for basic needs and to tell me something he sees. He still doesn't understand the concept of answering a question (just repeats the last few words I say), but we are working on it. Just today I pointed at something and said "How about that?" to which he repeated the same words perfectly! We also taught him how to ask for help with something by saying "help, please" instead of crying when he wanted something. Now he'll run around the house saying "help, please, help please." It's pretty amusing!! We are still working on colors and numbers but we think he's come a long way.

Potty Training:

We've just started and so far we are not getting anywhere very fast. He will go when we put him on the potty to which he gets an M&M, a sticker to put on his chart and he gets to (are you ready for this) flush the toilet. Flushing the toilet is great incentive. Of course the M&M seems more important because when I ask him if needs to go potty he instantly says "M&M?" Wish us luck!

Sleeping:

Still a good sleeper although we're figuring a few things out. The biggest thing is he hates to be woken up. Talk about not a morning person!! I only wake him up on the days I have to go to work and even then I try to bang around and make alot of noise so he'll technically wake up on his own. He likes to wake up and play then he's ready to get up. If he isn't totally awake and done playing when I go in there, he pretty much gives me the evil eye and crys when I take him out of the crib. I guess it's too bad for me, who is a total morning person!! His naps are getting shorter but still decent. I usually have a couple of hours to get a few things done in the afternoon.

Eating:

Hmmmm....this goes back and forth. Since trying the tea with milk I've been able to transition him to just milk at mealtime and he drinks it!! Although he drinks it slower than juice it still goes down and he tends to eat a little better. We still have days where he decides he doesn't like anything. We're also having days where he just wants to play with his food. I don't mind a bit of playing but lately he's been banging his fork alot and squishing his food up. Yuck!! Table manners are cinsidered an ongoing learning process and of course he is only 2!

So there it is! The update I've been wanting to post for a while but just had not gotten to it!
The pictures below are of Daniel on our new play toy that I picked up a yard sale for a whopping $10.00~~I was so excited to find it and couldn't believe the price when I saw it. I even had to go home, get Troys truck, go back load it up, tie it down, get it home, spray it off and then I put it back together again all by myself!! I don't think before becoming amom that I could have done all that!! It was worth all $10.00 and then some!!

From Easy to Please to Picky & A Funny

I thought I would start out by sharing a funny story from trip 2 in Russia. We had our son for the very first night in Moscow (and with us) as we picked him up and immediately boarded the plane to Moscow. We arrived at the hotel and put our things in our room. I had to go right back downstairs to fill out paperwork with the representative and Troy stayed in the room with Daniel. Fast forward to me arriving back to the room. What greets me?

Our son lying on the bed with a blanket over him holding the remote control calm as can be. I say something to Troy to the effect that I can’t believe he’s just laying there so sweet and then I look towards the TV and I think I said something to this effect, “Troy, you might want to take the remote control from him because from the looks of it, he’s about to buy us an adult movie.”

Needless to say Daniel has a remote (without batteries) that he plays with at home!!

And here he is shortly after the remote was taken away...


Wow that seems like so long ago!

On to the real topic at hand!

Our son has decided to become picky about his food. From what I’m reading though it seems like this is pretty much the norm. Daniel knows he can be picky now. When we first picked him up from the orphanage and arrived in our hotel we gave him a drinkable yogurt and he sucked it down like it was going out of style. Once we were home he would cry when he finished a bottle for more. Now, he won’t touch yogurt in any shape or form. He also has decided against applesauce as well. What child doesn’t like applesauce?? Mine!!

Milk is another disaster. He will literally shake his head no as soon as he sees it and won’t touch it with a ten foot pole. I’ve tried Hershey’s chocolate syrup, Butterscotch syrup, Strawberry syrup, Ovaltine...nothing will make this child like milk. One thing I’ll never forget was when he took a sip of the milk with the butterscotch. He stood there with this shocked look on his face and then just opened his mouth and it all came running out everywhere. I think it was the one time he didn’t look in the cup before shoving it in his mouth expecting juice. I just stood there dumbfounded as the milk came out and hit the floor. I had no idea he could put that much in his mouth! The only way to give him any milk is in his morning oatmeal which I make with the milk and mix a fruit yogurt in. He’ll also eat cheese...for now.

He also has now decided he hates corn and peas. He used to love them too. What happened to my fantastic eater? A life with lots of choices, I suppose!!

Have a Happy Fourth of July!!

Keeping It Small

I can’t even believe Daniel has only been with us for a little over two months. It feels like he’s been with us since day one. I can’t imagine life without him now. At the same time, it feels like just yesterday we left Russia with a squirming child on an eleven hour flight. What were we thinking?!

I looked through pictures from our second trip to Russia a few nights ago and it really surprises me that in a way it all seems like a distant memory. I have this odd feeling that it is almost like we never even went to Russia. I think it’s because I realized that no one will ever really know what it was like for us except for those who have been through it themselves. I also realized that I never really wrote much on my blog about our visits to the orphanage on trip one or on trip two and the circumstances we went through there. For example no one knows (except family) that Daniel was held in a hospital for the month between trips as on trip one when we said goodbye to him we said goodbye at the hospital where we were lucky enough to accompany him and a caregiver so he could have his routine check up done. Then there was a chicken pox outbreak at the orphanage before his return so they moved him to another children’s hospital so he would not get the chicken pox and be unable to travel to the US. Most think we picked him up from the orphanage on what some call “Gotcha Day” but instead we went the children’s hospital. I didn’t write much about court or why it lasted four hours or anything else for that matter. I did send more detailed emails home of course along the way, but mostly I kept a lot of what went on just between Troy and I. To remedy that, I’m hoping to write a newsletter to our family and friends this year of a more detailed account of our trip so they can feel more involved in the process and maybe understand more our time there. I find it hard to express the feelings we went through in Russia so it will take some time. Words just don’t seem adequate.

Our daily schedule is getting better since I’ve gone back to work. It was hard the first couple of weeks to get everything just right and we’re actually still working on it. We’ve overcome the “I’m starving” issue we had when I would pick him up in the evenings and then listen to crying while I frantically tried to cook dinner. I’ve finally found an afternoon snack that seems to hold him over ---- a cereal bar. Applesauce just wasn’t cutting it! That only took a few days. We’ve also overcome the “don’t wake me up in the morning, I want to wake up on my own” issue in which when I would try to get him up in the morning he would crawl as far away as possible and lay back down and squeeze his eyes shut and then when I would pick him up and start dressing him he would whine the whole time. Now I simply pick him up and make a big production of yawning and stretching and helping him stretch in my arms every which way and morning hugs and morning kisses and so on and so forth. It’s amazing what a silly song will do for a child and what they will do for a silly song!!

Last week I got my first big cry and “please don’t leave me today mama” whine from Daniel when I dropped him off one morning. I was so sad to leave as the sitter had to pick him up crying and take him to another room so I could get out the door, but at the same time all I could think was “He really loves me, he really, really does!!!” I know, silly me!!

Lately we’ve been working on Daniel’s name with him. He knows who he is and he answers to Daniel, but we want him to be able to tell someone else his name. We’re only working on the first name right now but finally just yesterday in the car I asked him, “What’s your name?” fully expecting to get a grunt back. Instead he said “Aniel” Close enough. I about drove off the road clapping and carrying on!! Just kidding – I promise I didn’t even go over any lines!! But I did clap and carry on!!

Lastly meal time has gone from being wonderful to being well...not so wonderful. We never bought a highchair for Daniel and instead used a portable booster seat that strapped to one of our chairs. Daniel started out as a champion eater but has now become ancy in his chair, tries to kick away from the table, bend his spoons in half (soft plastic) tear his bib off, smear his food, move it around on his plate and even throw it once or twice. After thinking about this and talking with several people, I decided we did need a highchair after all and that I needed to cut back on the food available on his plate at any given time.

You see, I’ve been so worried about giving him enough to eat and making sure he knew he could have plenty that I think I was actually overloading his plate and therefore his giving him too much to handle. It was just way too exciting for him to see all that food. So yesterday I started off with our old breakfast of the champs –oatmeal with raspberry yogurt mixed in. That was it, no extras and guess what-he ate nicely and he ate all of it! Then last night I made him chicken nuggets and macaroni salad with veges mixed in and instead of giving him a bunch I started him with only two nuggets and a very, very small portion of macaroni salad. At first he looked at his plate like, “Hey, wait a minute. Are you cutting me off?” Then he ate every last bit so nicely and when I asked if he wanted more, he said, “more” and I gave him two more nuggets and another tiny amount of macaroni salad. That went down nicely too. Then he banged his spoon on his plate, so I just took everything away quietly and on we went with our night. Mealtime was great!!

This morning he sat in the highchair for the very first time and although he tried to kick the footrest, see his feet over the edge of the tray and of course try to take the tray off, he ate nicely again with small portions. The highchair also forces him to sit up straight, instead of slouching way down and so he spilled less and the morning was pleasant!!

We’re figuring things out slowly, but surely!!

I’ll leave you with some pictures of Daniel playing tug of war with his favorite doggie, Ruby or as he says “Ruuuuuuuuuuubeeeeeeeee”. And yes – we let our dogs on one of our couches – what can we say – we’re suckers!!

Another Week Gone By

This past week was a very busy week for our little guy and I am hoping this week is a little quieter. As you already know we had our International Adoption Clinic visit which went very well (as did the Burger King stop afterwards!). We also made our first ever big grocery store expedition. Papa went along for this one. We have run in to the store before but this was one of those the cuboards are bare, need to shop desparately moments and it took a little over an hour. Daniel was so good. He sat in the cart and his Papa pushed him all over the place while Mama threw things into the cart. We were so pleased with how he did.

We also found out that our boy will eat almost anything. And I do mean anything!! He was fussing at me in the kitchen the other night while I was making salad for Troy and I so I gave him a piece of the dill pickle I was cutting thinking he would take one bite and spit it back out. Troy and I stood there waiting for the funny face we expected and instead we got a hand stuck out for more. He loves dill pickles!! He definitely gets that from me!!

One of the most endearing moments of the week was when I was rocking him to sleep for his nap. He had his head on my shoulder and all the sudden he leaned up to look at me and patted my face softly and said "Mama" and then gave me the best ever lip kiss. All this out of the blue with no asking and I just about cried in the chair. It was truly the most sweetest thing!!

We had a nice Mother's Day as Troy got up and made breakfast for all of us. Then we headed to my sister-in-law, Amber's house and had a play date with Daniel's cousin, Parker. They had so much fun and also a lesson in sharing. We think they did pretty well. Amber took some great pictures, which I'll pass on once I get them!! We even have an adorable one of Daniel sitting in his Uncle Stephen's lap and Parker sitting in his Uncle Troy's lap helping them play Wii together!!

Here are two of our funnier moments this week!

Can we say I'm cute?!?!

Can we say future plumber?!?!