Another Monday update

Andrei still isn't walking, and really he doesn't have much interest in trying to launch out from the couch on his own. He still prefers crawling and "cruising" around the furniture as his means of travel, but I know it won't be long. Both my girls were late walkers, and quite frankly, once they start walking, there's a whole lot more baby proofing that has to be done, so I'm OK with him being on the floor for now!

He's starting to talk a bit. He gets in trouble pretty regularly for hitting on the face, and we always repeat "Be soft" to him, so he now says "off" whenever he touches my face--whether he's being "soft" or not. He says "duck" whenever we read this touch and feel book to him although he consequently calls the hen, sheep, and goat "duck" as well, but it's a start. Doug just knows he says "Daddy" and "Doug", but I have my serious doubts about that. He's drinking his milk cold now. I'm sorry, but I just couldn't do the warming up thing forever. I think warm milk is gross anyway. He's not a big fan of green beans, and he's still not too sure about ice cream, but I have no doubt that his sisters will be teaching him about the joys of the frozen confection. He's not too sure about grass yet. We put him on the ground in the back yard, and he sits with his feet off the ground. It's hilarious. He doesn't crawl; he just sits balancing himself on his rear. He does have a strong attraction to dead leaves and bits of grass around him, so he's getting his "greens" you might say. This boy has gone from putting absolutely NOTHING in his own mouth to eating rocks and anything he can get his little fingers on. I was so hoping he was just one of those kids who didn't eat paper and such, but it was all wishful thinking.

He's starting the phase of throwing things off the high chair or out of his crib. I tell him that I didn't pay extra money for him to have a SuperMan blanket, and it's not coming back to him, but so far he hasn't caught on. I watched him yesterday take every one of his Puffs and one by one drop each one on the floor--all 25 of them. He'll be rationed to 5 at a time from now on. I've always wondered just how long it takes them to figure out that gravity works EVERY TIME!! His volume of poop has drastically reduced from 6-8 times a day to maybe twice a day. That's so good to someone who doesn't like changing diapers. Maybe all those toxins are finally getting out of his little body--or maybe he's getting used to American food. I don't really care as to why, but less poop is always a good thing in my book, so I won't ask questions. Andrei is finally starting to protest when someone besides Doug or me wants to hold him, so I guess in the adoptin world that is a good thing!

Nobody has thrown up in my house for 9 days now, so we're on the downhill run for that--praise the Lord! Andrei is still on breathing treatments 3 times a day, and the coughing is down to maybe once a day or not at all, so I know we'll be able to ditch the breathing machine soon!

Moving on the other world shattering events, I cleaned my coffee pot for the first time since we got back from Russia. I wish I could say it was a black one, and I couldn't tell just how nasty it really was, but sadly it is white. My bed has actually gotten made twice this month, and I set my alarm this morning for 6:00 and didn't turn it off and go back to sleep. Perhaps a somewhat normal life can be seen returning one of these days!

And for the most exciting news of the week...Annsley decided she wanted to be baptized, and so Doug baptized her at our church's Good Friday service this weekend. I was so proud of her wanting to make a public profession of her faith. Yeah Annsley!