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".