Merry Christmas

A year ago

Just one short year ago yesterday in a court room on the other side of the world, Steve and I were named Andrei's parents. Looking back it is hard to believe he's only been part of our family for a year yet so much has happened in that year it's hard to believe it's only been a year. We didn't initially believe everyone when the said that the pain of the wait would go away with time but it does. It's really hard to remember back to those days of anxiously waiting for any type of news.

There are plenty of new challenges, especially to new parents of a 2 1/2 year old boy, but we are thrilled to take them on. Andrei is really turning into his own little person with his own ideas.

We spent our one year anniversay with a quiet day at home, just the three of us, decorating the house for Christmas with a "big, big, tree with balls" and "big, big, socks" which Andrei proceeded to try on his little feet.

So here is one picture from last year and another from this weekend just to see the wonderful transformation in our little guy.

I'm not doing anything...

Remember a few months ago - we put the toddler rail on Andrei's crib - not because he was wanting to climb out, but because we felt he was ready for the next step in his move to a big boy bed.

Andrei's been adjusting well and loves his new found freedom and ability to get in and out of bed as he wishes. This has been working pretty well except for a few nights when he gets out of bed and wants to keep playing all night long.

Except, the other day during naptime, Steve and I heard some odd noises coming out of Andrei's room. We walk in quietly and witness the following activity. We were able to stifle our giggles enough to run and get the camera to capture the moment on film.




As soon as Andrei heard the camera go off, we quickly get this look.



He's really getting the "I'm not doing anything I'm not supposed to what makes you think that" look down. Along with the shoulder shrug with a I don't know for selected questions from mom and dad. He's even realized that he can blame the dog for certain activities. Our little guy is really growing up fast, but where does he learn this stuff?

Welcome to our newest family member

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Originally uploaded by yorkiemom

Sasha the kitten -

We got Sasha last weekend from a rescue organization and he's a 16 week old kitten who is an absolute delight. What's best is he and Andrei occupy each other for hours playing games like hide and seek or chase.

Ever since we brought Andrei home, we've noticed that he is extremely gentle with animals including Chianti and our old cat Merlot. Unfortunately a few weeks ago we had to put our lovely kitty Merlot to sleep, she was 15 1/2 years old and was a great cat but getting old and had some serious health issues.

Since Andrei loves animals so much we decided to get another cat and again went through a rescue organization to add Sasha to the family. Sasha will definitely add a new angle to the Andrei stories.

Andrei's first pumpkin patch visit

A couple of weekends ago, we took Andrei to a local pumpking patch for his first visit. The story is best told in pictures:


First we started out with his first pony ride. When we saw the ponies, he really wanted to ride one, but once I paid for the ride and we were waiting in line, Andrei wasn't so sure. From the look on his face, it looks like he enjoyed himself.



Next we picked out our pumpkin. Boy this was a big one, but it was all Andrei's:



Since it was his, he wanted to pull the wagon himself. That is one determined boy.



In the end, that was exhausting work, so mom needed to help while the boy got to ride.

I've been tagged

I’ve been tagged by Dede to post 6 random things about myself, so here they are:

1. My first major in college was pre-pharmacy. I quickly changed majors once I realized it would probably result in a job where I would have to work weekends at a discount store.

2. I went to high school with the best man at our wedding but Steve met him when he was working at that big department store. When he was talking about him one day, I mentioned I thought I knew him (his name is very unusual).

3. My first date with Steve was for breakfast and neither of us are breakfast people.

4. When I was 10, I was in a professional ballet company's production of the Nutcracker.

5. When we were in Moscow, a Russian came up to me to ask directions to the Metro. I was able to answer (in Russian) and she headed in the right direction. All this with only getting through the first five lessons of Pimsleur Russian.

6. I am addicted to my blackberry.



And here are the rules!!!

1. Link to the person that tagged you.

2. Post the rules on the blog.

3. Write six random facts about yourself.

4. Tag six people at the end of your post.

5. Let each person know they have been tagged.

6. Let the taggers know when your "6 Random Things" entry is up.

Being the rule-breaker that I am (ooh a bonus seventh random fact), I'm ignoring rules 4 - 6. If you want to be tagged let me know and I'll tag you!

Catching Up

Now that my life is somewhat under control (Ha!) Here's a quick synopsis on what's been going on:

- Last week I was at a huge conference in San Francisco which was fun. Not only did I get a night out at the "appreciation event" which included a concert including Psychedelic Furs, Seal, and Elvis Costello (the other choice was Gin Blossoms, Alan Jackson, and UB40). But, my best friend from grade school actually recognized me and so we now have each other's contact info. How great is that. I'm really amazed that she recognized me and hope I've changed since 8th grade (about 25 years ago!). Even though I was able to stay at home in my bed, commuting into the city each day was exhausting and am glad to be back at my desk this week.

- The child got another cold this weekend. Luckily this one wasn't too bad, but he's really great about telling us when he's "sick" by pointing at his nose and saying "sick". I hate that he has a cold, but just think it's adorable how he's able to let us know.

- Andrei's really talking a lot more enough that others will notice. He's up to 3-4 word sentences and actually tells a story that makes sense to Steve and me. His articulation needs some improvement, but he's moving right along.

- Our one year post-placement visit is coming due. I can't believe that it's been almost a year since we made our court trip. We're busy gathering pictures and the other information our homestudy agency

Speaking of one year, here's a picture of Andrei trying on his snowsuit. When we picked him up, this was big on him and now it barely fits. We're amazed at how much he's grown.

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Originally uploaded by yorkiemom

Thank You Secret Blog Pal

Debbie B. setup a secret blog pal exchange. These are great fun with the secret blog pals supporting each other.

I just want to say thanks to my great SBP who sent a cute card from Shutterfly. When I get back home I'll take a post a picture.

Oh No

Oh No applies in so many ways right now...

Andrei has learned the phrase "Oh No" so whenever unfortunate things happen, he's trying to use the phrase appropriately. Like this morning when my alarm went off. The little guy next to me says "Oh No". I think he knows that this means I'm up and off to get ready for work.

On a side note, since we got the toddler rail for his crib he's fairly good at staying in his room until a reasonable hour. But, this week he (and his dad) have had colds, so he's been up earlier and comes and cuddles in bed before I have to get up (Oh No).

I must say he's quite diligent at using Oh No including when anything looks a little out of place. He'll also use Oh No when he thinks something bad has happened and there's no convincing him that it's okay.

Now for a bullet point update since it's been so long since I've updated the blog:

- Our refrigerator is finally fixed and working after about a month of having no refrigerator. There was a leak in the evaporator line (not sure what this means but it was bad). Luckily it was covered under warranty and we finally have a working fridge.

- Andrei's speech is really taking off. He's using three and four word sentences consistently with his favorite request: Apple Juice Box Please. The funny thing about his please is that it's a really drawn out dramatic please which is saved for those moments when he really, really, really wants something.

Not enjoying Time Outs...and that's a good thing

Andrei is in full swing of the terrible two's and with it brings a few trips to the corner (actually our front door which is the official Time Out spot). For awhile Andrei didn't seem to mind being in Time Out because the place we originally used allowed for visibility of the rest of the house. But now that he's truly isolated and doesn't have anything to do, he's recognizing that this Time Out thing isn't very pleasurable.

And that's a good thing.

He use to play during Time Outs. Now he screams at the top of his lungs showing us his displeasure.

It may sound bad, but I want him to be upset and, in essence, pissed off that he's in a Time Out. After all this is punishment. He's in Time Out (in our house) for doing something very objectionable, such as hitting (instant Time Out) or repeatedly throwing something (book, toys, etc.) when told not to.

So the fact that he's now getting really upset that he has to stand up against the front door for a minute or two is a damn good thing in my book. But the yelling he's doing now is almost comical. Plus it's now hard because I have to wait until I hear him quiet for a few seconds so he doesn't think the yelling is doing any good.

But Andrei is actually really good about the ending of the Time Outs. He doesn't hold a grudge at all. He's very sincere when we end them with hugs and kisses. He's not yet at the point where he can tell us why he made it into "time out land" but he does acknowledge when we tell him why (such as showing us a throwing motion and then says "no, no, no").

So at least we're making progress.

A house full of Russians

We had a little get together over the weekend to welcome yet another friend who just recently adopted their son from Russia. They just got back about a month ago and their little guy (I say that figuratively since he is going to be one big boy) is doing great.

We did a little playing and some swimming and it was a really great day. First of course were some snacks, that's our other friend's daughter (also adopted from Russia) with the new kid on the block.



When it was time to say goodbye, Andrei gave out his hugs (something he really enjoys doing) but of course his new little friend is a bit new to everything (not to mention under 2 years old) and so he's not quite sure why Andrei is grabbing him.

Andrei's Happy Mommy

Andrei has a very happy Mommy. Stef was buying some wine at Beverages and More (one of my favorite stores) and she was carded. Now, let me say that Stef does look very young for her age, although I'm not quite sure that young. But for whatever reason my wife born very late in the decade of the 1960's was in fact carded.

And yes, she is still beaming from ear to ear.

Mini vacation to LA

We took a little vacation down to LA so Andrei got a chance to visit both sets of grandparents as well as seeing some more aunts and uncles and cousins. On Saturday my sister thru a very nice pool party so Andrei got to play with all the cousins at the same time. We were so busy having a good time I completely forgot to take pictures but did manage to remember just as the party was wrapping up. Here's our happy hostess (Lesley, thanks again for a great day).



Here's Andrei's cousin Bellamy who is about to turn 4, Happy Birthday Beautiful Girl!


Unfortunately I didn't get any good shots of Andrei's only boy cousin Bennet (yep, the one with the back facing us in the last shot).

And here are Lesley's two daughters Sydney and Alyssa. These two cuties were just perfect hostesses and made sure all the little kids where happy and kept the entire group of kids playing and having fun.


Andrei also got to see his grandparents again. However, since this was his first trip down to LA to see them, and one group lives on the beach he also got his first trip to the beach. Yea, I know we live in the Bay Area but the beaches here a just a tad colder than those down in Southern California so we haven't yet taken him.

Anyway, for a kid who loves the water, he totally freaked about going into the ocean. I think he wasn't too keen on the water coming at him (aka waves). But he had a blast playing in the sand. He must have been thinking..."Gee Dad, why isn't my sandbox at home this big?"

First step towards a Big Boy Bed

We installed a crib rail last night onto Andrei's bed. The ordeal of buying the darn thing is a story in itself, but I'll let Stef tell that one as a follow up. We have been thinking about the move from a crib almost as soon as we had brought Andrei home (remember we're big on planning).

The debate for us was centered around the three options we determined we had:

1. A crib rail using his crib



2. A new toddler bed (using his existing crib mattress)



3. A full fledged Big Boy Bed (aka a regular twin or full size bed)

Like most toddlers Andrei is a creature of habit. And changes to his routine or norms are not always welcomed. So all of these options concerned us to some extent.

I should veer off and say that most of what you read about the move from a crib usually mentions that if your child tries to climb out of their crib they are probably ready for a toddler bed. However, in our case this was (and probably never would have been) an issue. Andrei likes his crib and is perfectly content waiting for us to come in after naps or in the morning and take him out. I think we've mentioned he has way too many stuffed animals in his bed and enjoys playing with them before he falls asleep and after he wakes up.

Having said that, our choice of moving out of the crib setup was more to continue to provide him with independence and self responsibility (that's the principled answer) and to help eliminate the need for one of us to go in and get him out of the crib at 6:50 in the morning, every morning, weekday or weekend (that's real alternate answer).

So we needed to determine which of the 3 options we wanted to try. We felt the third option (a twin or full size bed), although the least expensive (we have a full size bed we could use), was the most dramatic and might cause Andrei quite a bit of stress. The second option would require a new toddler bed frame but would use his existing crib mattress. But this too would be an altogether different bed and Andrei might reject it (and then we're stuck with a toddler bed frame).

But the first option seemed to most fluid way to progress out of the crib. We had to buy a crib rail for the bargain Pali crib we bought off Craigslist (we got it for $100). And so we went with this option and installed it last night. To say that Andrei was excited about it was an understatement. We recently added a pillow to his crib and he thought that was cool (I'm guessing in his mind his bed is beginning to look like Mommy and Daddy's bed). But the new crib rail which provides the opening to get in and out of the crib by himself was a huge hit.

Now for the nightly report.

We weren't overly concerned about him trying to get out of the crib, more just curious if he would. Which he didn't. In fact just before he fell asleep he dropped Elmo out of the crib (an all too often occurrence) and instead of climbing out to get it himself, he called for us to get it for him! So much for the worries about him climbing out and trying to get him to stay in the crib and sleep.

In the morning we were hopeful he'd recognize the fact that he could escape on his own and just come into our room. But alas, here to he waiting for us to come in and get him. Although Stef did show him that he could get out himself and made him climb out instead of picking him up.

During nap time later he did go into the crib by himself (helped by one of his step-stools). And as you can see, he sort of has the hang of this whole new "big boy bed" thing. Well at least he's using the pillow even though he obviously moved it from the position I put it in when the nap started. After the nap he climbed out himself so I have high hopes for tomorrow morning.

More words

So there is funny part about Andrei's growing language skills. Currently he is beginning to put together two and three word sentences (usually just a noun and verb). But the funny part is the choices of the words and how they sound when he says them.

The first major one he did was at bedtime. His current bedtime ritual (he seems to replace new things for old in the ritual every now and then) ends with both Stef and myself tucking him in. He has two blankets in the crib and, of course, each of us has a particular one that we must tuck him in with (no swapping blankets or else the world might end).

Anyway, Stef (per Andrei's strict requirements) is first and then I follow. So the other night after she was done with the tucking and the kisses that follow, Andrei sticks out his arm, points to Stef and says...

"Mama Go!"

Of course we both chuckle and Stef says "Well okay then, goodnight." I'm feeling quite lucky to be allowed to stay, that is until I finish my tucking in and kisses which then gets the arm pointing and...

"Dada Go!"

At least he's putting together formal sentences. And notice the correct noun/verb order in his commands requests.

Today for lunch, he went into the pantry took out a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese and went over to Stef saying, "Mama Go Cook". Obviously the Russian male-dominated culture has not yet been reconditioned within his brain cells. Thankfully we should be able to have that fixed before he gets to dating age.

Terrible Two's are tough

Of course I'm biased, but Andrei is a wonderful person. He is so helpful and even courteous and great at sharing (at an age when kids are not suppose to have learned that yet). But he is also getting into the full swing of the Terrible Twos. And I find them pretty difficult to handle sometimes. I think mainly because he is such a nice person that when he goes off and acts bad (or really just obstinate or I guess mischievous), it seems much worse than what it really is.

The other major issue currently going on is the miscommunication that happens due to his "growing pains" of language skills. He knows hundreds of words at this point, but the vast majority are very difficult to understand. Stef seems to understand a lot more than I do. She's probably at the 90-95% level while I'm only at the 70% level which is pretty sad on my part since I'm with him all day long.

Anyway, so what happens is we will not understand what he's trying to say to us and that gets him frustrated which can lead to a pretty big tantrum. The worst part being that sometimes we don't even realize that he's trying to communicate something (rather than just get out of doing something he'd rather not do: nap time, diaper change, etc.). And those are some pretty awful feelings as a parent when you realize that the kid was just trying to ask you a question or desire something and you took it as a "defiant move".

I know it's just going to take some time for Andrei's pronunciation to improve, but it is pretty hard to wait since I also know that once we're able to understand him better a lot of these situations are going to dematerialize.

One Year Ago Today

A year ago today, Steve and I let our agency know that we were okay with switching regions to Novosibirsk. A few hours after we let them know our decision, I got the call from Steve... Mazel tov it's a BOY! Yes, we received the referral of a sweet 14 month old baby boy in Novosibirk named Andrei.



This latest news started another flurry of activity including updating paperwork, correcting my passport, and getting ready to change our lives forever. You can read the whole story on Steve's original blog of our journey. Here's a link to the July archives since it took us a few days to write posts that were coherent enough to convey how we were feeling.

Today was a typical weekend day for us, Andrei was playing outside in his sandbox and got to go swimming, we ran some errands, and spent time with the three of us together as a family. It's really hard to believe that it was just a year ago that we found out about our little guy.

Throne of Destiny

A few months ago I asked our friends with little ones when they started the whole potty training experience and how they approached it. One of our good friends, who adopted their little girl from Russia, gave us some great info (as usual) and we decided to do a lot of what they did (btw, thanks again Nina). They also have a two-story home and made sure they had seats both upstairs and downstairs. And so we bought two of the Baby Bjorn potty chairs. They're actually pretty cheap which is quite a surprise from that company.

And Andrei has for the past couple of months been fine with sitting on them every now and then. Of course in Russia the kids sat on these potty chairs like 5 or 6 times a day, so Andrei knew immediately what it was for and wasn't really afraid of them or anything like that. However, he also wasn't all that enthusiastic about sitting on them on a regular basis and although he tried to go a few times (mostly with some very interesting facial expressions), he'd bail on the whole process after sitting there only a few seconds.

Well that all changed this weekend. Yes, our little guy decided he wanted to sit in the chair after his bath last night and after staying there for a much longer time than normal he pee'd!!!

Yes indeed, my little man let out a nice solid stream of urine that made me one proud papa. So proud that I'd be happy to share the details of the volume and "stream power" with any interested party. However, I doubt I'll get many takers on that generous offer.

Every other time he sat on the pot and did nothing we'd always say to him, "Oh good job Andrei! And you can try again later." But of course this time both Mommy and Daddy who were present at this most monumental of events couldn't help themselves from cheering and applauding. To which Andrei joined in with applauds for himself and a few "Yea's" to boot.

Of course he's only 2 years and 2 months and this training process will probably take many many many months more, but it's nice to get started. And we'll continue to take it slow and not going to press him. In fact, we probably won't even mention it at all and just continue to let him make the call as to when he wants to sit on the potty and give it a try. But being a stay-at-home-dad and thus the primary diaper changer...I AM SO EXCITED I may have to open a bottle of champagne.

First Aid - Andrei Style

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Originally uploaded by yorkiemom

One of Andrei's favorite books is Doctor Dan the Bandage Man which isn't the most politically correct book, but he loves it. It's a story about a boy, Dan, who manages his family's health care through the use of bandages.

Andrei feels he needs to channel Dan, so has started managing our family's health care based on the use of bandages. One key area of bandage usage is when you get water up your nose when swimming or participating in shower time. Oh, you must be thinking that a nose clip would be a better solution, why go nose clip when you can use a bandage.

Here's an example of the fashion statement you to can become if you opt for the use of a bandage for your water up the nose needs.

Can't believe he's grown so much in only 7 months

Andrei is really get to be a big boy in many many ways. First his physical growth is really becoming apparent. It's kind of hard to measure him with our growth chart that we put up outside his room. He either doesn't stand flat-footed, instead he stands on his tip-toes (maybe he wants to be taller), or he hunches over a bit or bends his head down.

So the way we actually measure him is similar to what they do in the doctor's office. We lay him down on his back and put his feet up against the baseboards of the wall. Then we stretch him out (yes, this is a two adult exercise) holding his head as straight as possible and mark a spot on the carpet and then take the tape measure and do the measurement. Then transfer that to the growth chart (we bought this in Russia so it's in centimeters, which we think is way cool by the way).



Anyway, he is now been home a mere 7 months and has grown about 4 inches in that time. He's moved from size 5 shoes to 8 1/2. But it's the things he is able to do that seem to marvel us. We were so excited when he was able to open a door by himself by standing on his tip-toes, now a few months later he does it flat-footed.

But his growth as a person is even more pronounced. Although his pronunciation of words is pretty rough (even we have difficulty trying to figure out which word he's trying to say), he reasons in whole sentences and is putting together two word sentences and more importantly multi word concepts. So even if he doesn't know all the words he will couple words with physical actions. For example, if he wants to put something back in a certain place he will say "Ah-ddrr" (Andrei) "ba" (back) and "Eh" (his word for something he hasn't yet learned) and then points to a shelf.

He understands the concept of time and knows if we say we'll do something "later" what that means and will often remind us of the promise (which is not always a good thing, since we use to say "later" to get out of doing something).

And his bonding with us is almost scary in both it's depth and speed. He will arbitrarily go up to Stef or myself and give us a hug or a kiss. Several times a day he'll go over to his (overly) vast collection of books and then bring a few of them to me or Stef to have us read to him. Not really for the story but just so he can sit with us and enjoy some quiet personal activity together. The kid is such a happy little boy but he is clearly most happy when the whole family is together (so when Stef comes home from work or the weekends).

The other thing I'm now seeing is how his sense of humor is expanding. He always enjoyed laughing. Usually playing silly or getting tickled. But now he seems to laugh at things that strike him funny. There's this show on the Sprout channel (that's the PBS children's programming channel) that has a cartoon called Pingu which is about a penguin. Well, he loves penguins and starts saying "peng-peng-peng" and pointing to the TV. So I start saying it just as loud "penguin-penguin-penguin" while pointing at Andrei.

He starts laughing so hard he almost couldn't get a breath. I have no idea why this struck him so funny but now days later I can say really fast "penguin-penguin-penguin" and he still cracks up.

The latest in Toddler Fashion

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Originally uploaded by yorkiemom

Why it is safety glasses with the Hawaiian print shirt (thanks again Uncle Jon)...

Ketchup or Barbecue Sauce??

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Originally uploaded by yorkiemom

Condiment boy truly wanted to test the differences, not only between the taste of ketchup and barbecue sauce, but on their effectiveness as a skin care product.

No answers yet as the test was stopped short by evil mommy and the baby wipes.

Andrei's First Fourth of July

Yesterday was Andrei's first Fourth of July. I don't particularly care for the holiday (fireworks scare the bejeezers out of me and Chianti) so we usually just stay at home and relax, comforting the dog.

Since it was Andrei's first Fourth, we felt there should be some celebration so he got a real American toy as a special gift, a tricycle. I must say that tricycles have come a long way, this one has chrome accents, streamers, and a bell.

Here's the boy enjoying his new toy.




One of the rules is that when he's riding around he needs to wear his helmet. He takes this very seriously. Here's a picture from today during our morning snack when he refused to take the helmet off:

Anything is a toy

So I was in my office the other day and Andrei is playing with some of his Mega Bloks and then all of the sudden I look over and....




This is fabric box that we store his toys (in this case his Mega Blocks) in which is then put into a big bookcase kind of thing in his room.

Phone Etiquette

Like most little kids Andrei likes talking on the phone. When we first introduced him to the phone he didn't realize you actually needed to talk back when someone said something to you. He thought they could see you. So someone would ask him a question and he'd shake his head "yes" or "no" instead of saying the word. However after a couple of times he got the hang of it, although until recently he would almost whisper the words rather than saying them in his normal volume.

Also like most kids he loves to push buttons. He's pretty sharp when it comes to figuring out which buttons do what and remember which ones we tell him to press and which ones not to. So he knows which button hangs up the phone and Stef calls us during the day, usually to see how things are going and then always once she's left and on her way home.

And of course I usually let Andrei "say hi to Mommy". She'll ask him a bunch of questions (mostly "yes" or "no" ones) and then she'll say "goodbye" at which point I tell him to "say bye-bye and then press the button." However, he's so focused on the fact that he gets to press the button that most of the time he neglects to say "bye-bye" and instead just hangs up on her.

So when talking to relatives I have to prep them by mentioning that when you say goodbye to Andrei you're not going to get a nice "bye-bye" back and instead just hear a click so don't take it personally. We'll be working on phone etiquette later.

Today's post is brought to you by the letter O

If you haven't figured it out yet, our child is brilliant. He now recognizes his first few letters with the letter "O" appearing to be the favorite.

He's been playing with his new Fridge Phonics toy (Thanks Kelly, Stephany, and Taylor) and is already learning the letters. Our first exposure to him knowing his letters came last night. Andrei is playing with the toy, says O, picks up the O magnet and puts in in the Fridge Phonics player. Steve and I were both surprised by this, so we rearranged the letters and asked him to show us the O again and he chose the right letter. I'm not sure why he likes O best but he does.

Tonight when we were reading his bedtime stories I asked him if he saw an O on the page, and he proceeded to point to all of the different Os that he could find. Like I said, our child is brilliant.

The Passport Story

We have lots of great "Russia" stories to tell so in this one, I'll tell you the story of the Russian passport photo of our little guy.

The day after court, we were scrambling with our translator to try and get the paperwork done so we could leave for Moscow about a week early. One of the items was to get the kid's passport pictures taken. We arrive at the baby home and wait downstairs for all of the little guys to appear but wait - there are four bundled up babies and only three families. Another family was showing up on Sunday for their court date on Monday, so their son was also joining us on our little adventure.

So the three families, translator, driver, and extra baby pile back into the van for a trip down the street to the grocery store/flea market/passport photo place. Let me try and paint a picture of the building - downstairs was a full grocery store which was packed on a Saturday night up some steep concrete stairs was a flea market type place with a bunch of little kiosks selling anything you might need with a passport photo booth as well.

So up the stairs we go with our bundled little guy and then need to take off the layers to get him into a state for his passport photo. Into the photo booth we go with a very unhappy guy, take his passport photo, dress him back in his layers, down the stairs and back out to the van to wait for the photos to be developed.

About 10 minutes later our translator comes back with the pictures, but wait there's a problem. The photographer accidentally deleted Andrei's pictures. So back up the stairs, removing layers, try to get an unhappy boy to sit still and look at the camera, dress him back in the layers, down the steep concrete stairs, and back into the van to wait.

Good News, this time the pictures are ready and here's what we've ended up with
(or is it really a young Uncle Fester?):

We're still here

Warning - this post is really just rambling thoughts, I'll try to put some organization around it, but I have to do this while I'm also trying to eat my lunch.

Yes, it has been more than two weeks since my last blog post, and there really isn't any good excuse. I've both had blogger's block and can't believe how much we had going on in May and so far in June. Andrei has quite the social schedule and keeps us all busy.

I was looking forward to May being over since that month had way too much stuff going on to keep track of what I was doing. Here's a list of what I can remember from May.

- First trip to Disneyland
- Mother's Day
- 2 friend's birthday parties
- His birthday party (first big gathering of the family)
- Oh yeah, our wedding anniversary (15 years) and I'll admit, I actually forgot the morning of the actual day but did remember later.

Now that May and half of June are over, I'm making a new commitment to blog more often so I'll stop getting the harassing emails and phone calls wondering if we've dropped off the face of the earth.

Now for the obligatory picture (this can't be comfortable can it?).

We Have Success

For the past week we've made huge strides in Andrei's eating habits. As we've mentioned before, the boy won't eat green vegetables except for avocados/guacamole. In fact, he would thoroughly inspect his food before putting it in his mouth. We finally got some spinach into him via ravioli, but other green vegetables were a no go.

The other day, when we were eating Chinese (not real Chinese but American Chinese) I was teaching him how to stab food to pick it up with his fork. Okay, these aren't the best table manners but allows the food to actually make it into his mouth and not on the floor. This was great fun for him, so I went out on a limb and had him stab some vegetables. Broccoli, Zucchini, and Carrot all went in without a problem. Mushrooms however weren't a hit.

Fast forward to Sunday dinner which consisted of cod and broccoli. I was really pushing my luck but figured with just the two choices, I had a good chance of success with the broccoli. Yep, the child went straight for the broccoli first and ate most of it. There were about three servings of the green veggie there and all but two little "trees" were eaten. The reason for success, cheese and letting him stab the food with a real fork rather than his toddler spork.

At this point we're at the whatever works stage of parenting. And this is a huge victory in my eyes.

Six Months Ago...

in a land far far away (Novosibirsk, Russia) Steve and I became the official parents of Andrei Nikolas.

It doesn't seem like it's already been six months, but looking back on our pictures and video from both our first and second trips we can see how much all of us have grown. We've also got our routine down and it really feels like little Andrei has always been a part of our family. I don't think Steve or I ever imagined how much bringing this little light into our lives would really change everything.

Here's a few pictures to show how much the little guy has grown and blossomed:

This is the first picture we ever saw of our little guy even before we knew he'd be our referral. Once Steve and I found out our region had been changed to Novosibirsk, we looked at the Russian photolistings and saw this little boy who looked like a baby chick.



Then we got his official referral picture:



In September 2007 we had our first visit:



Finally we went back in November 2007 and had court and were officially named as his parents.



My how our little guy has physically grown in those six months. From our first doctor's visit, he was 22.5 lbs and 30.5 inches tall. At his pediatrician visit last week, he's up to 26 lbs and 33 inches tall. Wow, no wonder he's grown out of all of his clothes.

His other areas of development are moving right along as well. He's speaking many more words and actually said his first two word sentence the other day (dada car), he's feeding himself and has refused to sit in his high chair, can throw a ball overhand (straight and gets some distance) and is really growing up into a little boy.

Here's another recent picture of our little guy:



We are thrilled and honored to have Andrei as part of our family and are looking forward to the future.

Sound toys

The bane of every parent, Toys that make sound are the ones parents hope or pray will break as fast as possible. Some parents even concoct the story that (once the batteries are dead) the toy is broken.

We found a brilliant suggestion from one of our most favorite websites Parent Hacks to use something to quiet the toys. The woman came up with, without a doubt, one of the best ideas ever. Merely fill up the slots where the speaker is with normal silicone caulk. The caulk (I use the clear kind) fills up the holes where the sound comes out and presto the sound is reduced significantly.

You can still here the sound so your child gets the pleasure of the sound toy, while the decibels are reduced well below the parent annoying level and thus you live your life without pulling out any more hair (or any more than normal).

P.S. Yes Uncle Jon we did this immediately with the Barney Trumpet you got Andrei.

They start so young

Boy, it seems like just about everyone is listening to an iPod.

Happy Birthday To My Little Man

Here's a picture from Andrei's party on Saturday. Like Steve mentioned this was a little get together for a few friends and family to celebrate his birthday and coming home. It's amazing how much he's changed since we first met him and then brought him home.

Setting up

We're having just a small B-Day party for Andrei tomorrow. His birthday was last week but of course we were at Disneyland that week, not to mention it was Mother's Day on Sunday, etc. etc. etc.

So tomorrow we'll have a little get together with some family and friends. Of course at 2, kids don't quite understand a real kids birthday party. At this age any party with people around and other kids and lots and lots of play satisfies. It's be unseasonably hot (like mid to high 90's) so the pool is probably where most of the kids will gather.

But mainly it will be adults some of whom have not yet seen Andrei. It's so strange to think that we've only been home 5 months. He's just grown so much in that time and it really feels like he's always been here.

Mother's Day

We had a very nice Mother's Day. It is of course Stef's first Mother's Day and naturally I felt we needed to make it extra special. In the morning Andrei brought Mommy her card and gift. It was actually in two separate boxes and he kept dropping them, but eventually they got to her. Later we (okay, actually it was I) prepared her elaborate meal.

He even managed to eat some which was quite a surprise since it was prime rib and asparagus with hollandaise sauce. He mainly kept licking off the hollandaise sauce, but did actually eat some asparagus especially after I put some ketchup and ranch dressing on his plate. Yep, there's nothing like asparagus and ketchup. But it was a nice day and Stef was able to play with Andrei throughout the day while I did the chores she usually handles.

He either had some bad allergies today or maybe just a little cold. He was sneezing quite a bit and was a bit cranky in the afternoon. But he finished the day well and made Mom feel good on her day.

TGWH

Which stands for Thank God We're Home. It was truly a magical time spending four days at Disneyland for Andrei's 2nd birthday. But as I mentioned, and I think most people feel this way, it always feels good to come home from even the best vacations.

Our final day in Disneyland was spent with the approach we found that made him happiest: letting him running around and going on rides over and over again. There are actually two different areas that are perfect for the toddler crowd. The first is Mickey's ToonTown that is in Disneyland and the other is A Bug's Land in the California Adventure park. The Bug's Land was actually a lot more fun because it was far less crowded and Andrei doesn't really know all the movies and such yet (the only Disney movie he's ever watched all the way thru was The Many Adventure of Winnie the Pooh).

All the rides are basically the same as Fantasyland and there is tons of fun stuff similar to Mickey's ToonTown. So we found that he actually liked it more. And that's where we spent most of this morning.

Overall the visit was far better than our expectations and we feel that future trips will be far more often than we originally planned. If you've read the blog in the past you know I grew up in L.A. and am an old Disneyland veteran, so additional visits are just fine with us.

Our drive home was actually painless and Andrei didn't seem to mind the 6 hour journey as much as he did the trip down there. He was able to get a 1 hour nap in the car and even seemed to be as happy as we were to be home.

But I will certainly always remember this visit (even with some temper tantrums) as a fantastic vacation. And I am so happy this was our first family vacation and that we did it in the way we did it (just the 3 of us, a short trip, and something that we knew would fill him with joy).

Disneyland Day 3

Andrei continues to have fun and why not, it is the happiest place on earth. Well, as long as we don't try to get him into the stroller when we wants to do more rides. Holy cow, the temper tantrums he does made us change our approach which had been to convince him (and most often it was true) that we needed to get into the stroller to go to the next ride.

But he kept getting more and more tired of being put back into the stroller so we decided to just do rides over and over again. Which was just fine with both him and us. It's strange but he really doesn't much mind waiting in line (which I would think he wouldn't like). I think it's because all the stuff around him just blow him away (for example in the Buzz Lightyear ride they have an animatronic Buzz, in the Monsters Inc. ride there's TVs showing funny little clips, etc.). Even at the older rides (the Fantasyland mainstays) there's plenty for little ones to look at. I'm sure older kids would lose interest after only a few seconds, but the little kids seemed to just be so amazed at just watching the Merry-Go-Round while waiting for the Dumbo ride.

Speaking of the Dumbo ride, it was clearly Andrei's most favorite ride in the whole park, with Buzz Lightyear, Pinnochio, and the Merry-Go-Round battling it out for number two. I think each of those was ridden at least 3 times a piece. Stef was pleased that on the third go around with the carousel she was able to get him onto the special Mary Poppins horse that Disney had just dedicated to Julie Andrews . Stef was even happier that I got some good pictures of Andrei riding it.

And he continues to love to meet any and all characters (as long as they're wearing a suit). Today he met Pluto and Chip of Chip and Dale (or was it Dale, I can never tell those two furry chipmunks apart). And now it seems his favorite thing to do is give them all a kiss on the nose. Meanwhile we were having lunch on Main Street and Mary Poppins and Burt were there but Andrei was far more interested in the piano player behind them who was cranking out some mighty fine Scott Joplin ragtime tunes. Again, any character who is just a real person in a dress is meaningless, but get a six foot chipmunk and he can't get enough.



Tomorrow is our last day and then we have the long drive home. Both Stef and I are pretty tired and we're going to just collapse once we get home. It's strange that we're so tired because we've been taking naps when Andrei takes his, but like all vacations, once they're over you need a vacation because of the vacation. Sunday I have a very special Mother's Day planned for Stef which Andrei is going to help me with. He really will help out, Andrei (and I think most little kids are like that) just love to help cooking or cleaning or whatever. I think they just like being a part of the action. Not to mention it keeps them busy, which as Andrei becomes more and more of a 2-year old is a major objective. I already have grey hair and would just like to keep it all on my head (read as: trying to keep myself from pulling it out).

Disneyland Day 2

We had our character breakfast today at Goofy's Kitchen. Andrei had a blast, but as you might expect with so much going on he didn't really eat very much. That was fine since we gave him some Cheerios later to make sure he at least had enough energy for the day. A nice thing about his age is that they don't charge you for the breakfast buffet. With everything else being expensive here at Disneyland that is indeed a nice "gimmie".

The funny thing about the characters stopping by for a visit is that Andrei was literally in love with Goofy and Pluto but didn't want anything to do with the "live people" characters (the princesses, etc.). Both Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother stopped by our table and sat down with Andrei for a few words and snapshots. But he was like "Who are you broads? The name on the restaurant is Goofy's Kitchen, so bring him on!"

Goofy as you can tell in these shots was clearly who he wanted to see. We think he just views the characters that merely dress up (like the princesses) as just regular people and doesn't get the fact that they are characters. Whereas the people dressed up head to toe in a suit (like Goofy or Minnie Mouse) are real characters (to him at least).




Oh, and the way we got him "prepared" for the characters was to have him watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the Disney Channel. Not my favorite in terms child programming, but it has all the characters and he instantly recognized the whole gang walking around Disneyland. It's not a big deal but it was just sort of nice that he didn't run away screaming at the site of a 6 foot tall Pluto. In fact, when we saw Minnie Mouse today he reached over and gave her a kiss on the nose.

We did more rides and he got to run around Mickey's ToonTown which is ideal for the toddler crowd. The rides were more of the little kid variety today (since we hit Pirates and the Haunted Mansion yesterday). It's just fascinating to watch him throughout a ride like Pinnochio. It's actually one of the array of books that Stef can choose from for her bedtime stories. So he basically knows the tale. But just seeing his face as he looks at the animatronic Jimminy Cricket or Pinnochio as if they are one of the seven wonders of the world is just priceless.



He gets a bit over-stimulated if he hits too many rides in a row and we're trying to manage that, not to mention trying to avoid too many pure sugar treats (thankfully he views Cheerios as mana from heaven so we carry a ziploc bag full of them during every outing). But a sucker every now and then is a nice treat. I just wish he'd get better at giving me a real smile when I say "smile" and as I posted before the "say cheese" also provides mixed results come picture taking time. Most of the shots I have on this trip are with a face that looks like he's back in Siberia or something. So shots like this are as good as gold.



But we are (happily) surprised at how much fun he is having and how good he's doing. Oh sure, there are a few tantrums about having to go back into the stroller every now and then. But we keep telling him "if you want to go on more rides we have to drive in the cart to get there." Which is what we call going in the stroller. Of course Andrei has been home only 5 months so there is a huge learning curve we are going through as parents. And there's nothing like a tantrum to have you say "Well, we're not going to try that approach again!" But we're getting there. He's having a ball and we're having a ball with him.

Disneyland Day 1

Sorry to coin the Disney phrase but it has been a magical day. But of course we're with a 2-year old and he did his part to remind us that even magical days have a few temper tantrums.

Even with the surprise of the event Stef got us well prepared the night before and so we actually left earlier in the morning than we had planned. As a result we made it to L.A. well before any rush hour traffic (just normal L.A. traffic which is bad enough believe me).

Andrei did pretty well in the car for such a long trip. We stopped at good old Kettleman City for lunch which is almost exactly the halfway point but after being stuck in the car for 3 hours he was none too happy to return and let us know in his special way (i.e., temper tantrum). Just as we hit the outskirts of L.A. proper he settled in for a nap. It was a pretty short one, just 30 minutes but it seemed to help out his attitude and once we hit Anaheim he was pretty cheerful.

As Stef did the checking in Andrei and I walked thru the lobby. We're staying at the Grand Californian which is a pretty nice hotel inside Disneyland. Expensive for what you get, but nice, but hey, it's Disneyland everything is expensive for what you get. There was a guy playing a grand piano and Andrei was captivated by this. Once we got to our rooms he was running back and forth and it was pretty evident he was ready to burn off some energy. So being that we arrived so early we decided to hit the park this afternoon (our original plan was to just walk thru Downtown Disney and hit the parks tomorrow).

As we enter Disneyland (with Andrei's head scanning the landscape back and forth) we see Goofy with an incredibly short line so we figure "Hey, let's give it a shot and see how he reacts to the 7 foot tall live character". In a word, we're amazed. As you can see from the shots, he throws his arms wide apart to give him a big hug. I couldn't even get a picture of Andrei's face because he kept hugging Goofy.





We then decided to hit a couple of rides. To start we decided to see just how fearless our little guy is, so it was off to the Haunted Mansion. I was holding him at first (before you enter the little cars) and he did give a little jump but that was only because the teenagers behind us gave out some hellacious screams at the usual part where the lights go out before you enter the main building. But he was great throughout the ride, waving "Hi" and "Bye bye" to the ghosts.

As we exited the ride we asked him "Was that fun?" and his response was one of his best pronounced words currently, "More." So obviously he wasn't too scared. But next we hit the Winnie the Pooh ride and of course his bedroom is Pooh themed and one of his most loved stuff animals is Pooh. Needless to say the ride put him on could nine.

Next came Pirates of the Caribbean which was a hit for both child and mother since the ride now features Jonny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow throughout. I couldn't tell who had a bigger smile on their face looking at the characters in the ride, Stef or Andrei.

We then just meandered through the park for awhile having a few snacks along the way. We also did the Buzz Lightyear ride which was hilarious because Andrei figured out that the knob on the car made it twirl around and while Stef and I tried to score points (if you don't know the ride has these laser guns that you shoot at objects and score points) he kept spinning the car around which really hampered our score.

Overall he was mesmerized by it all and we didn't want to over do it on the first day so we headed back to the hotel. But he got a good 3 1/2 hours of Disneyland for the first day and is sleeping pretty well as I write this. Tomorrow we have a character breakfast (a restaurant where the characters come by the table to say hi) and then we're going to let him run around Mickey's Toon Town which we understand is Toddler Mecca. After that we'll try to get in a few more rides before nap time.



And yes, that is his new Mickey Mouse which as you can see is instantly gaining a very special position in the pecking order since he's getting ready to put in on our bed next to Elmo. Mickey should be very flattered indeed.

It is interesting to see, and we've heard this from many people which is why we tried Haunted Mansion first, that 2-year olds don't yet fear things like scary rides and so you can actually take them on just about anything. And sure enough Andrei was fine throughout. The funny part of the Pirates ride was that he was more interested in seeing the animals than the pirates. At that one scene with the pigs and the pirate sitting in the mud, Andrei makes his "oink" sound while pointing his finger at the moving figures.

Birthday Surprise

For Andrei's 2nd birthday we were thinking about having our first family vacation. You know, the "Are we there yet" kind, but thankfully his language skills aren't good enough to say that yet. We're still going to have a regular birthday party. Or at least a 2-year old's party which is really more of an adult party with some kids around. We don't think Andrei needs a full blown kids party yet. He's only 2, so he really won't get it.

But we did want to do something special. And Andrei's B-Day happens to also be right around Mother's Day. And, of course, this is Stef's very first Mother's Day (talk about two major events). Thus I wanted to have something very special and fun for her as well. Something that we could all share. So I worked out a very secret and very special trip for us to Disneyland. And as I type this Stef and I are getting ready for tomorrow's 6 hour drive down south to Anaheim. The minivan is already loaded with the key items (plenty of toys, Elmo videos, and other minor stuff like luggage). Tomorrow we'll just finish off with snacks, etc.

I actually grew up in L.A. and have probably been to Disneyland at least 50 times. And both Stef and I are...well not huge...but pretty big Disney fans and have been there several times together. But this is what we will consider our first real visit since we get to have a kid along and not look like these two older people playing at being young. Again, we love Disneyland and have been there many times together but I always felt a bit uncomfortable with the whole "adults at Disneyland" thing.

So here's the plan. We're hitting the road right after breakfast, a 6'ish hour drive (thank God for the minivan's DVD player) and then Disneyland till Friday. It's sure to be a blast and we're all pretty excited about it. It will certainly be very interesting for us to see Disneyland through Andrei's eyes. We have a character breakfast lined up but everything else (rides, etc.) is all going to be on a play-it-by-ear basis. Whatever he seems to want to do, we'll give it a go. But based on Andrei's personality we're pretty sure he's going to be excited to do everything all at the same time.

1st Post Placement Report

For those not familiar with international adoption most countries require the adopting families to provide periodic updates on how the child is doing after the adoption. For some strange reason some people get upset that they have to do this. Personally, we're more than happy to show anyone and everyone how well Andrei is doing.

I mentioned in my blog the Russian government also uses these post-placement reports to discipline adoption agencies. If agencies are late or missing these reports, the Russians can (and do) pull the agency's accreditation. If you're unlucky enough to be with an agency and this happen, you're stuck (sometimes having starting all over at added expense with another agency).

This is yet another reason we've taken the approach of doing absolutely everything by the book for our post-placement report. Reminding everyone involved (our home-study agency mainly) of the new specific rules and requirements Russia has. I'm sure they think we're nuts since they do them all the time, but we wanted to make sure our report was done exactly as the Russians want it done. Also our placement agency was totally honest and up front with us and did everything you could expect them to under some pretty tough circumstances. No person or company is perfect, but we were happy with they way they treated us. During the accreditation mess last year, they were one of the first seven to regain accreditation. It's my belief that they did so because of their extremely ethical practices and their adherence to Russian law. And we wanted to help them keep that reputation intact.

So our case worker (the same woman who did our home-study report) came to visit us and see how Andrei is doing. Because we live in California and our placement agency is in Minnesota we use a different agency here in CA to do our home-study. They are also responsible for creating the post-placement reports forwarding them our placement agency (who then submits them to the Russian government).

Andrei was his usual happy self during the visit. He kept running back and forth between Stef and myself playing away while our social worker asked a bunch of questions. She asked just normal stuff: How have you been discipling Andrei?, Has he met the rest of the family?, What activities does he do?, How is this language skills developing?, etc. etc. etc.

Andrei is a bit shy with new people so he stayed pretty close to us which was fine because we think it also showed how well he's bonded with us. That was shown perfectly at the end of the visit. We asked him to give a hug to Natalie (our social worker) and he did but only for about 3 seconds before he reached back away from her wanting to have Mommy hold him. Keep in mind the bonding is still going on but it feels good to know we're his parents and that he views us as special (well, us and Elmo, but at least we're in there somewhere).

Photo Op

So it's getting to be that Andrei will try to say just about any word you ask him to. You say "You say it" to just about anything and he'll give it a try. And depending on the word, it can come out with some pretty decent pronounciation.

When I say pretty good I mean that we can understand it and be able to translate it to other adults. So it means that his vocabulary is skyrocketing to, and this is really only a guess, well over a hundred words. There are a number of words in which his pronounciation is good enough for any adult to understand, and one of them is "Cheese".

Now where this is going is that we've been having a tough time getting Andrei to smile for photos. Usually he just squints at the camera when we ask him to smile. Well, we figured, that since he can say "cheese" pretty well, maybe we should start getting him to "Say Cheese" to the camera.

The results are a bit mixed. Here's a shot with Andrei saying "Cheese".

Growth

I don't think I'm going out on a limb here when I say almost every kid brought home from an international adoption is going to be getting better nutrition, better physical activity, more 1 on 1 love, basically everything needed for growth. And I'm talking physical growth as in height and weight. And, again not too much of a stretch (pardon the pun), but most kids are smaller than their peers when they first get home.

So just about everyone you hear about says their kid makes a major growth spurt (larger than a regular growth spurt) 4 to 9 months after being home. Of course it's highly dependent on the genetic height the child will eventually grow to, so some kids are going to only have a modest growth spurt while others might have major ones.

We're not overly worried about Andrei's height because both Stef and I are short so even if he ends up being average height or even slightly below average he'll be taller than either of us.


But really seems to be eating a lot more lately and we've heard that a sign that they're about to get a growth spurt. So we'll see. We've been tracking his height, weight and head circumference since we got the referral. And like most of the Russian kids they start out pretty low on the percentile scores. Andrei was like in the 3rd percentile for both height and weight until we got him home. Although he always had a much higher percentile in head circumference, which was one of the things we were always thankful of. The concept being that the body takes care of the most important organ (the brain) by making sure it gets the lion share of fuel and thus grows the most even when the rest of the body doesn't.

We're nearly at his 2nd birthday (two more weeks, we're getting pretty excited around here) and Andrei has already moved up from the around the 3rd percentile in height to nearly the 15th percentile. So he's definitely growing up to whatever his normal height will be.

Interestingly his head circumference is at about the 60th percentile. But as I said, that was always doing well. In fact while in Russia and his height was around the 3rd percentile his head circumference was around the 45-50th percentile. The bottom line is that what all these numbers mean is that he is growing faster than the normal growth curve due to him catching up with his genetic growth expectation.

And until he levels off (i.e., achieving the same percentile month after month), we won't really know what that genetic growth expectation is. But remembering that I'm 5'6" or approximately the 10th percentile, he's certain to tower over me. As Stef says, "Well, at least someone in the house will be able to reach the tall shelves."

First Haircut

Of course in the orphanage they regularly cut Andrei's hair. Otherwise this referral shot at 14 months wouldn't have shown such short hair.


But we took Andrei for his first real haircut yesterday. One where the person who is cutting your hair actually cares about how you look and tries to make you look cool not like a...well...shaved sheep.

We weren't sure how he would respond to the haircut. First off he had a busy morning as it was the last of his swimming lessons and he was a major handful for Stef. He decided to do what he does at home and play the "Throw the pool toys out of the pool and jump out and get them to throw them back into the pool"...only to continue the cycle over and over again.

He was suppose to be learning things like blowing bubbles and such. But hey, he's a 2-year old so we basically let him have fun in the pool whatever way he wants (as long as it's safe). But on to the haircut. Here's a before shot of his hair on the way to the place.



Well at the hair salon he really liked the car and airplane seats and wanted to go into them right away, so we're thinking this is going to be easy. But after about 2 minutes he wanted out (this is even before the haircut chick, sorry, stylist even came near him). So we went with the sitting on daddy's lap approach.



And he was a perfect gentleman (as he usually is) for the duration. The stylist asked us if we wanted to "spike" his hair because she thought it would look cool. Of course she had tattoos up and down her arms. But, seriously, we do think it is kinda cute for the little ones, so we went with this look.



Which leads to a warning from Andrei to all 2-year old girls out there. "Watch out, I'm on the prowl."