'You My Friend'

Cereal with milk equals friends.

This past week I have let the children eat cereal with milk. I guess I've never introduced this before mainly because they never asked for it, and for obvious reasons there is the potential for spillage. But Anna began asking for it. And of course Alexander followed. I let them feed themselves soup, and they do it pretty neatly, so I figured this could be no messier. They really like it, so now we have a new breakfast menu item. I have no plans to introduce the sugary cereal. They already eat too many Dum Dum suckers, and I really need to schedule their first dentist visits.

After presenting her with one of her bowls of cereal this week Anna said "You my friend." Awww.

Like with this cereal stuff, I've noticed that Alexander is going to be starting various things at an earlier age than Anna will have had. I'm sure that happens a lot with younger siblings in most families.

Playdate

We finally got around to hosting a playdate at our home on Tuesday. Four moms and seven kids sure make the house feel really small! Oh, and then there was Shreve barking non-stop due to all the new people running around and kids eating food that he wanted, so he really added to the stress level. Our guests were here for only about 2.5 hours and it zipped by so quickly. I felt like I didn't get to visit with the moms at all.

It's amazing how kids can entertain themselves. The other children came right in and went right to it. You didn't have to try to direct them to any toy or activity because they immediately started running all over the place: upstairs to Anna's and Alexander's rooms and downstairs to the play area; jumping down the stairs, etc. They all seemed to have fun, though. There were only a couple of cries, including one caused by Anna, who had turned a cartwheel and kicked one of the boys's lips against his teeth to make some blood.

After a while we had a light lunch of dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, carrots, cheese and juice boxes. We have no room in our home for a big table (it's really too small for our family of four), so I spread out an old vinyl table cloth and let the kids have a picnic on the floor. Then we let them run off a little energy outside before everyone left.

I'm looking forward to hosting some summer fun at our home with our big front and back yards.

Hey, Wrong Holiday!

The neighborhood turkeys obviously have their calendars all mixed up. Someone forgot to tell them today is Easter, not Thanksgiving.

This was the scene in our backyard as we got ready for Easter church services. When the males fan themselves like this, I think that means it's mating season.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter, everyone!


The Easter bunny was good to the children this morning. First thing we let Anna and Alexander open their Easter baskets filled with chocolate bunnies (white chocolate for Alexander who doesn't much care for the dark stuff), egg-shaped lollipops, other edible treats and small toys. After emptying their baskets, we put on our boots and headed outside to hunt the eggs. We did both the dyed boiled eggs and platic eggs with jelly beans inside. The bunny decided to hide eggs around the front porch area and on the back deck. As the children get older, we'll let the bunny hide them further out into the yard in more difficult-to-find places.

As a tradition, we also hid some treats for Shreve inside and helped him find the treats by directing a little wind-up chick to hop toward them. Shreve was our first baby and we celebrated all the holidays with him in those first years as a family of three. We can't deprive him now! The kids liked watching him get all excited about his Easter goodies.

After the bunny fun, we went to church. For the past two weeks we've let the children sit with us in big church instead of the nursery. They've done really well.

Ready For Easter

This afternoon we dyed eggs for Easter. There are so many different kinds of dye kits you can purchase nowadays — glitter eggs, tie-dye eggs, hologram eggs, etc. But I settled on the simple type we used to have, the kind where you can write your name or draw pictures on the eggs with a wax crayon before dipping them into the dye. These days this kit comes with little stickers that kids can also put on the eggs. I don't remember having that option when we were kids.

I also made sure I purchased enough pickles (I like to make my own relish) and other ingredients so that I can make deviled eggs on Monday.

Seizing The Moment

Shreve paws the table hoping for a crumb. Shreve settles back to rethink his strategy. Shreve seizes the opportunity.

After breakfast this morning I dressed up the children in their Easter finery and headed to the mall for a sitting with the Easter bunny. They're both so darn cute, if I may brag. And, I'm so pleased with myself for being such a bargain shopper. They both looked so adorable and everything I got them was on sale big time. They were even sort of coordinated, as Alexander sported a light green necktie (with velcro to hold it up around his neck; so cute) and a baby blue sweater vest; and Anna wearing a light green bow in her hair and a blue dress with lots of pretty flowers (she also has a matching dress for her baby, which she held in the photo). Anna is quite photogenic but when you tell Alexander to smile he just repeats the word "Smile" without actually smiling. We finally got one good photo.

This morning at breakfast we were talking about the Easter bunny coming to hide eggs Sunday. Anna asked me if the Easter bunny drives a car. I told her I wasn't sure and that we'd have to see if Daddy knows. I'm sure I'll have many similar responses to such out-of-the-blue questions in the future in order to buy some time to come up with an appropriate response. I don't think that good on my feet.

After the mall I decided to brave a grocery store outing so I wouldn't have to go back out this evening after Mikel gets home or over the weekend. I was sure to take them to a grocery store with a fun double steering-wheeled kid car attached to the shopping cart. The children were pretty good; no fighting with each other and no running out, though they did stick their heads out the car a few times. Toward the end of the shopping trip they were pretending to be firemen heading to a blaze and were quite loud with their siren sounds. We got a lot of "aww" looks, especially from the ladies both old and young.

Overheard coming from Anna's room the other morning while I was still in bed:
"Barbie likes to dance. Barbie likes to jump. Barbies like to spin. 'Do you like Barbie's outfits?' "

Why, if it wasn't for the word "outfits" instead of "costumes" I would have sworn she was actually reading her new Easy Reader book. Otherwise she remembered the sentences word for word. She's gotten to where she likes to read books to Alexander. It's so cute, and he lets her. Even though she's not actually reading, this form of going through the pages and retelling the story is a very good sign as far as being ready to learn how to read.

A Thing For Slippers

I got a call this morning from Anna's school. An "older" boy in her class, a kindergartener, had taken one of Anna's slippers home with him several weeks ago. He'd also taken another little girl's slipper. His mom apparently found them in his backpack over the weekend and made him write apology letters.

I was called because the boy's mom really wanted the other parents to help participate in the correcting of his behavior.

Let me back up a bit. Students wear slippers inside school to help with the noise factor and also the dirt factor, I'm sure. And, no, the ones shown in this photo aren't Anna's school footwear. These are Anna's and Alexander's slippers worn around the house. For school, she wears simple pink ballet-style slippers.

Her school slipper came up missing several weeks ago, actually. She and her teachers were looking for it the day we were there to celebrate her half birthday. I hadn't bought her a new pair right away because I figured the other one would be found. In the meantime, she's been getting by in her sock feet. Wouldn't you know it, however, I'd finally purchased her a pair of new slippers over the weekend (and I can't return them because her name is written on the bottoms)!

So when I picked up Anna, the teacher walked the little boy over to me and he read me his apology letter, "Der Ana, I'm sory sinn yor sliprs I wot soel yor sliprs." Translation: "I'm sorry for stealing your slippers. I won't steal your slippers." You can tell he wrote it all out himself by sounding out the words, as opposed to his mom doing it for him. It was written on the big lined paper that kids use when they're first learning to write. He is also supposed to reimburse us for the new ones with his saved up money in the piggy bank. I told him I found the new pair for $5, which wasn't too far off the mark anyway, and he said: "Then I will pay you $5." I was supposed to put on a disappointed sort of face and thank him for his apology and make sure he understood it was a poor choice on his part. I felt uncomfortable about being a meanie about it so I put forth my best effort and made sure I shook his hand at the end. His mom really wanted to follow through with this to such an extent because, apparently, he's been taking a lot of his older sister's things and getting her into trouble (because her parents think she's being irresponsible for losing stuff).

Snow Day

We woke up to beautiful snow showers this morning. It was coming down hard early and accumulated to about 5 inches in our yard. So, after church and naps the children got some quality sledding time and a lesson in building a snowman. Afterward, the whole family warmed up inside with hot chocolate. It was so much fun.

Unlike the last time we went sledding, we found a spot for the kids to get some momentum — down the private, gravel driveway/road on the side of our house. It's pretty steep so Mikel hung out at the bottom, while I pushed them down from the top. Most times the kids veered off into some high, dead grass on the side about halfway down. But they had a few good runs.

After sledding we built a little snowperson in front of our house. Mikel gave it some legs to make it appear to be sitting. Anna insisted on a carrot nose, so we gave him a little mini carrot from the fridge, pebbles to form a smile and larger rocks for eyes. I found Anna's old mittens and a hat that no longer fit and gave him a scarf that has yet to be used. He's cute.

I spent their naptime digging through adoption paperwork and enjoying some memories from Russia. We're visiting an attorney in the morning to initiate the readoption process. It's not necessary, as the children are legally ours, but this allows them to be issued American birth certificates which might be helpful someday. And this will also be the time to legally change their first names (they already legally have our last names). We had to wait until the children had been home for a year in order to do this. It should be quite simple and relatively fast. It's hard to believe we've only had them for a year and a half!

Lagniappe

I don't know why, but I feel like I gotta post a photo or five with every entry. So here are some extra photos from our trip down South. They include opening some treats on Valentine's Day; getting some love from my Aunt Cynthia; helping mom celebrate her birthday a week early; and getting a night-night story read from Miss Pamela.

In other news, Alexander's potty training is going great! After nearly two weeks of accidents in his big boy underwear, he now seems to be able to recognize when he has to go and takes himself into the bathroom, pulls his pants down and sits on the toilet seat all by himself. He usually announces his plan and I've gotten to where I know he can do it by himself without me having to monitor him. Of course, when he's done he walks out with his pants down to his ankles to tell me his accomplishments, basically asking me to come see. So I do and then we celebrate! He hasn't had an accident in days. When we leave the house, however, I'm sure to put pull-ups on him. I don't think we're all ready for that.

I know it's supposed to take longer for boys, so I wanted to make sure he had plenty of time to train before his preschool starts next year.

Speaking of school, we're so happy with Anna's school and the progress she's made that both children are already signed up for next year. In fact, the school already has waiting lists, so we had to register them at the end of January when they opened up the process. Anna will graduate up to five mornings a week while Alexander will attend three mornings. We wanted them both to go five mornings but the school really discouraged us from that because the "older" kids get more intense curriculum on the Mondays and Fridays (three-day kids go Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays) that help to better prepare them for kindergarten. We were told the 3-year-olds, especially the young ones with summer birthdays like Alexander, might not handle five days well. We left it with the possibility that maybe we can get him in five days after the Christmas break.

When He Was Called Ruslan

Look at my beautiful boy when he was a little baby back in Russia.

Some man who has something to do with some orphanages or baby homes (so vague, I know) in the Novosibirsk region posted a link to photos on a Russian adoption message board that I still check in on from time to time. I think the man is in some sort of management position at one of these homes and offered the link for parents who may have adopted children from the homes between certain dates to see if their child/children made it into any of the photos. Many of the photos were snapshot style color shots of visitors interacting with children who may have been putting on a show or volunteers who may have been putting on some sort of a show for the children. One black-and-white roll was called Daily Life 2006 and dubbed as being professional, and I believe it. Look how nice this photo is. All the b/w pics are sort of artsy looking.

As soon as I saw the photo I knew it was Alexander. However, before I allowed myself to say for sure it was him I had to study every aspect (even the way he tends to curl the end of his pinky) very carefully and compare it with his referral photo and others we took ourselves of him. I don't know how old he was here. It was sometime in 2006. But it was before September 2006, as that's when we first met him and he was definitely bigger/older looking than this photo shows. Born in July '05, he'd be at least 6 months old, probably more like 8, 9, 10, 11 months?

Isn't he a doll? I'm so grateful to have found this photo. I also included his very first photo, which was the referral photo we received of him from Russia, through our adoption agency. Again, I have no idea when this referral photo was taken. But you can see that they're the same little boy.

Unfortunately, none of the photos offered were from Anna's baby home. She lived about 2.5 hours away from the city where Alexander lived. Most of the pics offered up seemed to be from baby homes within the city of Novosibirsk.

Flipping Fun

The extracurriculars have begun. The children are enrolled in gymnastics class for what will no doubt be the first of years of carting them off to this or that extracurricular. I'm sure I'll soon be an actual soccer mom.

We had the children both enrolled in the same Mom-and-Me gymnastics class, but it turns out that there really needs to be one parent per child. During the first class I took them to last week, the teacher had to act as Anna's mom while I helped Alexander through the motions. Obviously that's not going to work long term. So, as Anna is old enough and potty-trained, we bumped her up to a Turbo Tots class, which turns out to be a much better fit for her anyway. The parents aren't even in the room for this class, though I did pop in to snap some photos. Her first solo class was Saturday, and she seemed a natural! The last 20 minutes of the class was a ribbon ceremony (not sure if this is held once a quarter or what). Even though it was her first day, she got to go up on the podium for a ribbon. Mikel found this amusing, as we've talked recently about news stories and studies and such that characterize this me-generation as kids who hardly hear the word no, are spoiled because they don't have to work too hard for anything and, as a result, haven't a good work ethic and may be lacking in other fine attributes.

As for Alexander, he got to participate in that first class and seemed to love it. I really hated taking him out, but I had to change him over to a class that goes on while Anna is in school so she's not left unspervised while I'm in with him. (Her new class is on a Saturday morning, so Alexander can stay home with Mikel.) Unfortunately, Alexander's new class is full and he's on a waiting list. Hope he doesn't have to wait too long. Anna only has 3 more months of school left and we've got other summer plans for them.