My Day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Whoa, this has been some week for me.

Mommy took the day off and we all went down to Monterey to the aquarium, that's a place where they keep fish and things. It was really cool. I got to look at all these fish and other stuff up close.



We then went outside for a snack and saw some more stuff. This is a tide pool exhibit (that's a fancy name for a place for sea stuff). We kept getting splashed with water and Mommy wasn't too into it, but I thought it was awesome.


Then we went and had lunch at this cool restaurant right on the water. And I could look out over the whole bay. It was so sweet. That's me holding my new otter that Mommy got me. We saw lots of otters at the aquarium and some penguins too.


Then Daddy took me down to the beach and I went into the water. Jeez it was cold. It felt like I was back in Siberia or something. This whole sunny California thing is totally bogus.


By the way, this is my second post on my blog that Mommy is doing for me. I write pretty well for a 22 month old, don't ya think? I even got the correct diction for the whole good/well thing. On the way home I watched my favorite DVD: The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Mommy calls TV "baby crack" but I don't understand why.

My First Easter Egg Hunt by Andrei

Well this was my first Easter Egg Hunt and I was pretty excited. We had to travel pretty far in our car to get to the cool people's house where it was. But that's okay, I love my comfy car seat and Dad kept trying to make me laugh on the way there. Plus I had Elmo with me and that makes any ride okay as I'm sure you know.



When we got to the house there were tons of kids around. I was a bit shy at first. Cause most of them were bigger than me, but there were lots of cool toys to play with and they had some of my favorite food so pretty soon I was having a great time. I pigged out on ham (get it, that's a toddler joke).

The big kids got to look for eggs first, I think it was because they move so fast or something. Anyway, then it was our turn. After all that good food, I was ready to roll and tried to inch my way to the front of the line.



Mommy came with me and helped a lot. She pointed out where the eggs were and then gave me some really good ideas, like putting the eggs into my basket.

Oh yeah! Do you like my basket? I picked it out myself at Target. I picked that one over an Elmo basket. It was a really tough choice, but I just so love cars that I had to ditch the Elmo one and go with this bad boy. I really made the right choice because all the boys at the party were looking at MY basket. I bet you think it's cool too, huh?




Egg hunting is hard work and after getting my fill I decided to play on the outside toys they had. They have two boys so they had tons of cool things I could play with. Now we all know how much I enjoy pull toys. But they had this totally awesome type of pull toy. My Dad called it a wagon. Well, whatever you call it, it was sooooooo cool. It was really big but I was able to move it around all by myself. I kept pulling it around and around hoping my parents would figure out that I really want one. Cause you know my birthday is coming up.



It was a huge day and I had a great time. I can't thank Gillian and Keith enough, those are the parents who had the Easter Egg Hunt. You know this was my first official "party" and I have to say it was a blast. I couldn't stop talking about it all the way home. I was so excited I didn't even sleep in the car, but boy did I have a great nap when I got home!

Halfway thru a busy weekend

This Easter weekend is already a busy one for Andrei. Today we took a bike ride in the morning. This shot might not convey it, but he loves riding around in his bike trailer. He doesn't like wearing the helmet but so enjoys the bike rides that he puts up with it. Today we gave him a special treat and took the dog with us.



After the ride we played a bit in the pool. And then we broke into his Easter basket and he got to play with some of his toys (sidewalk chalk). Of course he's a bit too young to understand holidays are really only on a specific day so cheating and giving him some toys or whatever early is cool.



Plus it allows us to stretch out the happy time. And he's been exhibiting some pretty solid terrible two's behavior lately so having a good weekend is something we're trying to achieve as regularly as possible. And having him in an attitude like this next picture is a whole lot better for all concerned.



And we're only halfway thru the Easter weekend. Tomorrow we're headed to a friend's house for his first Easter Egg Hunt. Stef was practicing with him today to show him that you put your Easter Eggs into your basket. We'll see if he gets it.

Lifebooks

Back in October you may have remembered that I attended a lifebook event hosted by our local FRUA (Families for Russian and Ukranian Adoption) chapter. I was all ready to get Andrei's lifebook started and have it mostly done by the time we got him home. Of course that didn't happen, but my new goal is to have the first version of his lifebook done by his birthday and am going to start this weekend (Steve stop laughing).

A lifebook tells the story of your child's life and how they came to be a part of your family. It should start with their birth and contain the details of their story in an age-appropriate manner. A lifebook for a two year old will look very different than a lifebook for an older child.

A lifebook should not focus on the parent's journey through the adoption process although details should be included especially as they relate to your child. Your lifebook also does not need to be an elaborate scrapbook, remember it is a tool to tell your child their story.


Adoption Lifebook Resources:

Beth O'Malley's book LifeBooks: Creating a Treasure for the Adopted Child provides guidance on preparing a lifebook specifically for adopted children and you can sign up for lifebook tips via email through her website.

Scrap and Tell sells products to help with creating your lifebook including country specific items. They also have a great gallery of example layouts.

You can also buy pre-made lifebooks that let you just fill-in the blanks.

Do we have a potential food critic?

Ever since we've brought Andrei home, we've tried feeding him what we're eating for dinner or a close variation. This has led to some interesting eating habits. Not the usual issue of only eating a single food every day for a week and then change, but he really likes non-traditional toddler foods.

Here are some of his favorites:

- Guacamole - This all started as a joke. We kept asking Andrei if he could say certain words, car, ball, hi, bye, etc. and weren't getting any response. Certain he thought we were not providing enough of a challenge we asked "Can you say guacamole?". We still didn't get a response, but at the next opportunity at our favorite Mexican restaurant he had the chance to get a taste (after I forgot to tell the waiter - no guacamole for me - I hate the stuff). Now there's no stopping the boy, he LOVES guacamole. He won't even eat the chip, just eats the guacamole off and asks for more.

- Fish - I'm not talking fish sticks (more breading than fish), this is honest to goodness fish filets, mahi-mahi is his current fave. This is funny because when we were picking him up from the orphanage the director insisted that they tried to feed them fish twice a week, but the kids didn't like it. Apparently not this kid.

- Gnocchi - granted this is pasta so should be a slam dunk, but still not that common. Usually we'll share a bag from Trader Joe's and he'll eat his portion and keep asking for more.

Some of his dislikes:

- Jello - this was a huge surprise. How can a kid not like Jello?

- Ice Cream - even with chocolate sauce

- Peas and Corn - silly me thought these were the go-to vegetable for toddlers.

Beddy Bye Time

One of our nightly routines is to look in on Andrei after he falls asleep. He likes to have his door closed to his room when he goes to bed but we like to open it up after he's asleep to be able to hear him if there's an issue (nightmare, etc.) and also to know when he wakes up.

So we typically go in about an hour after bedtime and open the door and then take a look to see what interesting sleeping position he's in this evening. As you can see below, it's always sure to be interesting to say the least. The other thing is that he likes to have his favorite stuffed animals in the crib with him. The problem is that the "A list" is getting quite large. Currently it consists of his Winne the Pooh, his GloWorm (which we had for him in Russia), his Elmo (his A+++ toy), 2 teddy bears, a cat that looks like our real cat, and an elephant. As this list grows, he may have to sleep on the floor.

A short "talkie" video

Here's just a little sampling of a few of Andrei's favorite words. Currently "All Done" is one that is said no matter what the activity and no matter who is ending what (Mommy finishing her meal, daddy getting out of the shower, Andrei done with a toy, you name it).

Enjoy.

Words, words, words

Just a follow up to Stef's post about all the words Andrei uses currently. Most of them are not the best pronunciations and some are only spoken with just a consonant or two and perhaps a vowel. For example Jeans are said as "Jeezz".

But what is really interesting right now is how much he wants to try to say new words. We may be having him say too many words and as a result he isn't refining the ones he says most often. I say this because his first word Bye originally came out as "Beh" but after saying it over and over again he refined it to an incredibly accurate "Bye".

So I think I'm going to take Stef's list and try to work on saying just a few of the words each and every day to help his pronunciation. We never tell him "no" when he's said a word incorrectly. Instead we merely repeat the word for him with the correct pronounciation.

Catching Up

Unlike the shows affected by the Hollywood writer's strike, our life didn't stand still while our strike was going on which leaves lots of updates to deliver. I'll start with how things are going now that I'm back at work leaving my two guys at home.

We are all adjusting well and getting settled into our daily routine. Andrei's easy going personality really is making the adjustment easier than we expected. Don't get me wrong, we still have our challenges, but he just naturally is a go with the flow kind of guy and until a few days ago answered "yes" to just about anything.

The biggest change since coming home other than general growth has been in his speech development. The guy has quite a vocabulary going. He still converses in his own language with furniture, our kitchen appliances, the dog (especially when the dog has done something "bad"), and the pediatrician. But his English is improving remarkably.

Here is his current vocabulary (I'm sure this list is longer but I'm having a lack of naptime mommy brain moment):

Bye
Hi
All done
More
Car
Up
Down
Jeans
Tickle
Cup
Elmo
Good - comes out like goodgoodgoodgood
Mouse (as in Mickey)
Bath
** adding these next few that I forgot
mama
daddy
ball


Animal Sounds - loves doing these
Sheep - Baa
Pig - Oink
Dog - Bow Wow or Arf - depending on if Chianti is outside barking or not
Rooster - Cock a doodle doo
Cat - Meow
Monkey/Gorilla
Cow - Moo

And now for the obligatory picture:

Starting A New Chapter

Now that we've been home with WonderBoy* for three months, it's time to start a new chapter and a new blog.

Steve's blog focused on our adoption journey from a dad's point of view and this blog will focus on stories and adventures of our day to day life which may or may not have to do with adoption. So pull up a chair as I have a lot of catching up to do.

*Today he's WonderBoy but can take on different superhero personalities based on the day.