Turning into a regular toddler

Andrei's first swim! He loved it! It took him a few minutes to start splashing as it gets him out of the tub at night, but once he realized that rule wasn't here, he had an awesome time!

I believe Andrei is adjusting rather well. He seems to be acting like a normal toddler would these days....not at all happy to be the only one in the living room, temper tantrums, deciding to eat all of his peas one day and not touching them the next. He has also started to put his head on my shoulder when he is upset and not wanting me to put him down. The hitting me in the face has become non-existent in the last month! Yeah! Whenever he sees you talking on the phone, he puts his hand on his own ear. So cute!

He was running 102 fever Sunday afternoon, and he's been tired ever since Annsley's birthday party this weekend (yes, I have a 7 year old--yikes!). He slept until 9:30 this morning, but he needed every bit of the slumber. I think he did remarkably well with all the excitement at Annsley's party. Usually we see his serious face (the same one we got daily at the orphanage) but this time he actually loosened up seemed to have a good time. He thought Annsley's cake was the cat's meow!

He loves, loves, loves his daddy. I am toast the minute he hears his voice when Doug comes home in the afternoon. (As it was--still is--with my girls. (sigh)) He loves to sit in your lap, and if you're on the floor, he will come over to "sit." And he wants his back up against your stomach; the closer he can get to you the better!His speech comes and goes. He will go days without "practicing" his words, and then a few days later he'll say some of his regulars. He does understand "nyet" and "no"--they usually reduce him to tears. Annsley noticed this the other day, and then just went around the room saying "nyet Andrei" to see if she could make him cry. It didn't, but let his mother say it and out come the waterworks. Notice I said "his mother"--he doesn't hear those words from his father...

Deal of the Day! ***SOLD!***

EDIT: The Russian Adoption Travel Kit and Miscellaneous Items are sold! Thank you Ashley and I am excited to see that they are going to a good home! :)

Here is the "I'm Going to Russia and Adopt Travel Kit." Seeing that I've only made one international adoption run, all products are in excellent used condition and yours for a bargain basement price! The retail of all products combined would total over $175.

First up, what I would consider the "don't go to Russia to adopt without it" piece of equipment: the universal power adapter strip. The cord is fitted for Russia, so you don't even need an adapter to plug it into the wall. I paid $40 for it.

Teresa Keheller's adoption language kit. Well worth the $45 I paid. You will get the CD Rom, booklet with phonetical spelling, flash cards, and a language CD with court phrases.

BUT WAIT..... There's more...

Adapters with a cute little carrying case. I didn't end up using these since I had the power strip, but these would be great if you wanted to dry your hair and not stand next to the computer while your husband was trying to SKYPE. ($18)

If you've read the blog of our travels, you know that this little book got us our mustard among other things. Another travel essential!

I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING--IT CAN'T GET ANY BETTER--BUT WAIT--THERE'S MORE:

Russian Pimsleur CDs. Great for those wanting to really learn how to converse in Russian.

10 Steps to Successful International Adoption Workbook--unused. Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child book.

AND JUST WHEN YOU DIDN'T THINK IT COULD GET ANY BETTER...

Focus on the Family CDs on adoption topics. I think there are about 8 or so total here. They range from Steven Curtis Chapman to just question and answers from their radio broadcast.

No, you're not going to pay $150, or even $100. No, you'll get all this for only $80 AND I'll throw in the shipping for free!

I will even throw in a very used copy of The Complete Book of International Adoption by Dawn Davenport if you want it. I would recommend that book to anyone adopting internationally.

Contact me by email and we can arrange payment and shipping details! This stuff is just sitting in a corner and not getting used, and at my age, I don't anticipate using it again (ha! ha!) so I'm making it available to anyone who would like to have it!

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.

Picture Post

Riding the rockin' horse!

Beautiful face!

Gettin' the hang of this feeding yourself thing!

I love hats! Any kind of hat!

Shaggy Boy!

Handsome Boy!

Playing in the tent with Kennedi

Come on, Andrei! Stay awhile!

Let me out of here!

Escape at last! Whew!

Is Leopard Print Girly??

Well, is it? The reason I'm asking is Andrei is using Kennedi's old car seat. It has a leopard print cover. I kept wondering why everyone was asking me if I wanted a new cover for it. I kept saying, "no." I mean, it is in great shape. Why would I want to foolishly spend money that doesn't have to be spent. This morning Annsley sees her old car seat in the barn and says to me, "Mom, I think we need to start using mine. It looks more boyish." It was at that moment that I realized what everyone was trying to say to me but I was in La-La Land. I asked her, "You think leopard is for a girl only?" My husband, who overheard the conversation, said loudly, "Uhhh...YEAH!" Oh jeez....if I keep him in the leopard print, will it mar him for life? I really, really like it....

Andrei is suddenly big into copy-cat. We were all eating supper the other evening, and Doug was sitting at the table with his hand on his chin listening to Annsley tell a story, and we look over at Andrei. He has his elbow in the middle of his lovely Gerber Pasta Pick-ups and his food infested hand is resting on his chin watching his daddy. Oh I wish I had had my camera ready! At some point during the meal, Kennedi starts clapping with her hands over her head. Andrei follows in suit. This morning he was out on the porch, and Kennedi yells loudly, "Mo-o-o-o-o-m--a-a-a-a-a!" Andrei, in that loud loud voice of his, copies her. (And yes, he really said, "Mom!")

He loves it when you praise him. I often wonder how often he heard praise in the orphanage. One place it has a big pay off is in the high chair. He devours the food he likes first, and then his enthusiasm waffles at the veggies or non-banana fruit. I've learned that I can feed him one piece, say "Yeah Andrei!" and clap, and then he will pick up the food on his own and feed himself it. I say, "Yeah Andrei!" and clap again. By the third bite he is clapping for himself when he puts a piece in his mouth. And he continues to clap for himself until everything is gone. Hilarious!

He has started this reclining thing when you're on the floor. He will push himself up against you and sit or stand next to you. I mean really push. It's like he's trying to make himself stick on you like Silly Putty. If he were any heavier and I any lighter I'd topple over like a bowling pin. What is he doing??? I think we're also starting to experience the separation anxiety phase. He's getting to be that age, and it has really taken a hold of him the last few days. All of a sudden I can't go to the bathroom without him having a break down. Stepping over the gate to get something cooked in the kitchen brings tears. Putting him down on the floor and walking away is murder. I suppose that is all good and well in the adoption world, HOWEVER, I find myself trying desperately not to roll my eyes in exasperation. This too shall pass....this too shall pass... this too shall pass...

As I've mentioned before, the boy is loud. This high volume primal grunting comes with everything he does. At the time of this writing, he is currently in the living room doing his "business" in his diaper. He is grunting so loudly that people would have to turn down their hearing aids if they were in the vicinity of my house. And no, he's not constipated--trust me on that one. I finally got his name letters up in his room, and he now points to them and thunders something about them daily. He grabs his wrist when I change his diaper, and he blows his own raspberries on it. I consider it a good day if I can go all day and not pick up something saliva ladened.

In adoption news our homestudy agency has contacted us about setting up an appointment this summer for our first post placement visit! Yikes! Time is flying! By the way, his name is pronounced Aun-dray. We never thought in a million years that people wouldn't know how to pronounce his name by the "common spellin" we used. So much for that thought... :)

Big-Huge successes!

Andrei has FINALLY begun taking naps on a consistent basis over the course of the last week and a half. He really hasn't been consistent since we left Krasnoyarsk, and he is so much more of a joy to be around when he's rested. He's in that difficult in between stage now of sometimes 2 naps are too much and 1 nap is not enough, but AT LEAST HE'S NAPPING! 60+ days without any type of consistency of day time sleeping for a 14 month old wears thin in a hurry. He's been taking two 1 1/2 naps or a 2-2 1/2 hour single nap these days. HALLELUJAH!

I had asked God for a laid back child--a phlegmatic. I don't have much experience with this personality type as I'm not one, Doug isn't one, Annsley isn't one, and the world knows Kennedi isn't one either, but I knew in order for me to survive I couldn't entertain a demanding child. One of my friends from high school who has a baby girl Andrei's age thinks that it just God being nice to us "older" folks. What ever it is, I'll take it. That being said, I'm starting to think Andrei is really going to need to work on the "git" in his git-along. Point one: The boy can stand without holding on to anything for a good 5-10 seconds. Does he try to take a step? No. We try to coax him to take a step to one of us, and he just grins, drops to his knees, and speed crawls to us. I've never seen anyone crawl so fast in all my life. I wish there was a Toddler Crawl Race somewhere. He'd clean up. Point two: I decided last week that he should really be moving past the pureed stage of mom feeding him and on to feeding himself. Yes, pureed food is easy, not messy, and probably it's number one selling point...it's fast. But toddlerhood is calling. I tried hard to think back how I transitioned the girls to finger foods, and I kept drawing a big blank, so I came to the conclusion that it must have not been a big deal. I figured the same with Andrei. After all, he handles the Puffs, potting soil, and rocks from the yard with ease.

The boy just sat there. Literally. Didn't put his hands on his food--nothing. Five quiet minutes went by. I picked up a piece of carrot and tried to put it in his mouth. He just pressed his lips together. I tried having him pick up a piece with his hand, but again he just pressed his lips together. I gave him a spoon. He just pulverized his food with it. I finally got out a spoon and offered the carrot in the spoon. Ahhh....success! Yes, he was waiting for me to feed him, and he was ready to refuse to eat otherwise. Unfortunately, I'm as stubborn as he is, and after basically skipping his lunch in lieu of waiting for me to feed him, he wiped his tray clean at snack time of cut up cheese, toast, and yes, those carrots all by his little ole self. It's taken about 5 days, but he is finally feeding himself for the most part of the day. He's still getting Mom to feed him his cereal because I load it with all sorts of vitamins and other stuff that most adults would turn their noses up and his yogurt because I mix fruit with it to make sure he gets some kind of fruit every day. He gets broccoli/avocodo fed by me once a day to make sure he's getting his greens, but other than that, he's taking care of his own business which also means I'm having to clean the high chair after he's used it. (One more caveat of me feeding him pureed food....) He's even taken to eating Yogurt Melts now, something that he has adamantly refused for two months.

His favorite finger food so far? Hands down a Tyson frozen chicken nugget. He scarfs those things like there is no tomorrow. I'm not too crazy about some kind of processed food being his "go to" meal, but at least bananas seem to be pretty cool too. Can a toddler live on those two things? He did, however, have about 5 pieces of his peach at lunch today, so maybe he's starting to branch out and enjoy the array of fine food his mother prepares for him daily!

Boys are nothing like girls!

Are boys just LOUD???? Andrei is so loud! We are going to have to work on some serious voice control soon. He has one volume---ear splitting! I can't even hear myself think some times, let alone try to read the girls a book with him in the same room. And the spit! Raspberries are spewed all over the place all day long. He makes truck noises even when there isn't a truck to play with in sight. He does everything with noises--from sitting in his high chair to crawling across the floor. Oh my! It was so different with my girls!

I think he may be an early NASCAR lover. I had him in the stroller the other afternoon, and the girls were wanting to ride their bikes. They wanted to race me up to the road. I said, "On your mark...get set, GO!" and the second I said "GO" and started running with the stroller, Andrei starts squawking (loudly of course) like he was saying, "Go faster! Go faster!" As soon as both girls left us in the dust, literally, he stopped talking and looked up at me like, "That was all you could do???" I thought it was just coincidence that he acted like that, but later Kennedi wanted to race me again. Same thing happened. He was kicking his feet and chattering up a storm until he saw that he was getting dusted, and then he settled back down. Maybe I should introduce him to the story of the Tortoise and the Hare; he's obviously dealing with some issues of perserverence.

We're going to have to get Andrei to the barber. We need a professional to take a look at his hair. The orphanage buzzed it down pretty well, but it has always had strange growth pattern. We have the Justin Bieber look going on as it seems to naturally want to grow forward towards his face. Then we have the section that is growing straight out. I mean, straight out. Doug calls it "hedgehog" hair. I'm not too sure about that term, but all I know is it's about 2 inches long, and grows at a 90 degree angle out. Water will not tame it. I'm not sure even bubblegum would. Doug tells me I should be combing it backwards if I want him to have a part--that it's not girls' hair. I thought hair was hair and I could train it to do what I wanted. I guess not...So, in preparation for his first official American hair cut, Doug's been asking me, "Do you want something like a 1 block and fade in to a 1/2 or go with a 2?" Huh????? What ever happened to scissors?

We got our paperwork and Andrei's Russian passport back from the Russian Consulate this week. So, we are now officially registered with them. I found it interesting that while in Russia, everyone carried their "legal" or important papers in plastic files or plastic sheet protectors. Every time we got a document in Russia, the secretaries always handed it to us in a sheet protector--like those that you'd put in a 3 ring binder. We were never given any papers without some sort of protective covering. Low and behold, the letter we got from the Russian Consulate, which is written in Russian and I have absolutely no idea what it says, came in...drum roll.....a plastic sheet protector! I am now the proud owner of enough sheet protectors I could set up a kiosk on a college campus and have quite a little side business.

And in other news...Annsley was asking me the other day what kind of candy they had when I was a kid. I told her my favorites were Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups and Willy Wonka's Wacky Wafers. Do you remember those? I'm drooling thinking about the green apple and banana ones. Do they even make those any more? Anyway, she'd never heard of the Wacky Wafers, but she did recognize the Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups (maybe because her mother still has a penchant for them today??). She wrinkled up her face and asked, "They had those way back then? That is some old candy, Mom!" Yes, my dear, and I can still remember the TV commercial jingle..."Two great tastes that taste great together....Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups!"