Folks, We Have Us A Walker!

Yes, yesterday afternoon, Andrei took his first steps by himself!! It took going after his daddy's OU cap to do it (and I do not at all agree with his choice of enticement), but by the end of the afternoon, he was taking up to 5 steps at a time! He's got a serious Frankenstein gait going on, but I am so proud of our big boy! :) We think the sudden interest in trying to take a step stems from him partying with his 2 year old cousins the day before. He got to watch "the little people" walk and used them as his inspiration! Thank you Fischer and Blake!

He visited out pediatrician for a well visit this week. He has gained nearly 4 pounds and grown an inch. He is now in the 50% percentile for weight and 60% for height. Not bad for growing up in an orphanage! I realize that most of the Russian children are at the bottom if not below the growth charts, so we feel blessed that Andrei is so big. Either his biological parents were huge people, or God was making sure he was getting every calorie available to him until we could pick him up.

He has started throwing some wing dingers of temper tantrums. Our pediatrician said he is probably feeling comfortable enough with us to do that. Joy. His favorite position for his temper tantrums is to have his forehead on the ground and his rear in the air. He has figured things out rather quickly, and now puts his head on a couch pillow. Annsley walked by him the other day while he was in the middle of one of his tantrums and I heard her say, "Andrei, don't you know Mom is not going to give you anything for throwing a fit?" She knows! :)

I just want to say a big, huge thank you to our veterans and service men and women. Because of you I get to enjoy living in the awesome country of ours. I also want to thank the families of these men and women because they are sacrificing their family so my family can enjoy our freedoms.