Daniel's in Fine Form this Morning!

Daniel's is in fine form this morning - even surprising his Momma:

He woke up earlier than Maria and Momma was sweeping the kitchen. He came and took over the broom and helped me get our floor cleaned.

Then at breakfast he noticed that his favorite breakfast drink, Danimals yogurt drink was named for him. He held up to the "i" and covered up the rest and said "it says Daniel's yogurt". Momma was very impressed. I told y'all he loved his name - he likes seeing it, saying it.....and now looking for it everywhere!

Then, also at breakfast, he heard Maria asking for "gelp" - what they both asked for in the last few weeks instead of "help". Then, he held his throat and pointed at Maria and explained that it was "help" and not "gelp" trying to even demonstrate how to make the sound. I've been correcting them both on that one, but clearly Daniel now has got it down - not sure where holding your throat helps.

Oh, and at the conclusion of breakfast, Daniel came and jumped in my lap and pointed to himself and said "Baby Jesus". He wanted to be Baby Jesus and sat in my lap for me to rock a while. How I wish I could've rocked him when he was baby Daniel but I'm so glad that I get to love all over he and Maria now!! Every day I love them more and more and appreciate so much the Lord calling me to bring them home.

Hmmmmm.....back to regular life

Today our schedule was back to semi-normal....at least as normal as it can be after having nearly a week off of school for Daniel and Maria. Maria got a little hair cut at school....from Daniel. Guess I should've stopped and explained that we don't cut hair when they started playing barber with the remote control as the razor. Damage is undetectable, but no mom likes being greated at the preschool with that.

Daniel was so cute tonight as I was putting him to bed that I had a hard time leaving them. I showed Daniel and Maria that when our clock says 8 that they have to go to bed. They were not quite ready for bed, but did go sort of happily. But, Daniel kept calling in very crisp English, "Momma, come here please". Who couldn't go at least the first time?! I was expecting a little tattling or something (sort of a new phase for both of 'em now that they can do it), but Daniel was wanting to count to 10 for me. Yes, its 50 minutes later and he's still wanting me to come back. And, no, Maria is not asleep either. No, normalcy has not returned yet. In the good old days last week they'd at least go to bed and be asleep within 15 minutes. We'll keep plugging!

The Swimming Pool Story

On Christmas Eve while doing an ornament exchange at work there were some men's ultra bikini panties thrown into the mix. I couldn't help but laugh, and knew I had to go back and add this story to the blog since things were way too crazy at the time. This blog is something that I want to print out for Daniel and Maria some day, so you'll never get to read anything that I'd rather everyone forget, but this one might embarass Daniel but he'll probably laugh, too - probably would already!

Back in July on the day that I met Daniel I got to watch him swim in the orphanage pool. I was horrified to see that they had all three of them in girl's panties. And, I was so thankful that Daniel didn't have pink floppy ears attached to the back like the other little boy. Naturally, I was happy that he loved the water, but was horrified that they had the boys in girls panties! When I went back for court (trip 2) I took a LOT of boys underwear so that the boys didn't horror of horrors have to wear girl's panties! Fast forward again to trip 3 and picking them up. Once we got to Moscow, we'd brought their swimming suits to entertain them in the few days of waiting around to go home. On our first day there I conveyed that we were going swimming - still not quite sure how I did that now, but Daniel definitely got the message. Daniel immediately stripped out of his clothes and grabbed a pair of Maria's underwear and put on. I rolled - and realized that had I not been there in July to see him swim I would've been scratching my head for sure! We finally cheated and let him keep on Maria's underwear but putting on the swim suit over it. This was a fancy hotel - $600/night but we got to stay free on points - and we were not sure what would happen when we got down the fancy pool area. Sure enough, when we we open the door to the pool area, Daniel is thrilled and immediately strips down to Maria's panties. Babooshka and I were thrilled that the lone swimmer there was a man (ok, we'd have preferred that nobody be there but it was probably better that it was a man by himself once we thought about it). The man didn't speak English or Russian but somehow we managed to get him to show that he was wearing a swimsuit like Daniel had on. Problem solved! We had a great time, but it cracks me up when I think about what would've happened had I NOT seen him swim back in the summer. And, with all of those little boy underpants I brought on trip 2 to keep Daniel and the other boys from having to wear girl panties, Maria was wearing two size too big boy's underwear on the second trip - they were putting them in whatever was handy - except to swim of course!

Our first Christmas!

Daniel and Maria spent 5 days at Grandma and PawPaw's for Christmas including the first day without Momma! They had a great time playing with cousins, opening presents, learning more about the reason we celebrate Christmas, and enjoying the family taco tradition (ok...maybe they'll eat more tacos next year!). Here are some pictures including one that we took before church last Sunday (my favorite Christmas pic - and wish she didn't have on her glasses!).

Merry Christmas Eve!

Its sad. I spent my first night away from Daniel and Maria last night - and I think Momma was sadder than they were. OK.....they weren't sad at all. They were at Babooshka and Dyadooshka's house with all of the cousins, gifts from extended family, and every time I talked to them there was much joy and happy sounds coming to the phone. Daniel could barely break away from the fun long enough to talk to his Momma on the phone. It IS so sad!

Did hear a cute Maria story from the farm. My cousin brought all of the children chocolate covered apples and was coming to deliver them. Being a little shy because she'd not met him before, Maria grabbed hers and ran and said her new favorite words - "Thank you" and kept running. He rolled and everyone else did too - everyone told me THAT story! Hear the apple was a big hit, too!

We'll be reading the Christmas story tonight and opening the family gifts. In the morning we'll be seeing if Santa Claus knows where to find Daniel and Maria now (fairly certain that he does!) and enjoying five days of cousin fun before sadly returning home whipped Saturday night. Somewhere on Christmas day we'll be enjoying that great family tradition - Christmas tacos! I'm sure we'll be back on the blog on Saturday or so with tales of great joy (pictures, too!) and much fun, but internet access will be slim to none over the next few days - they have a great connection but it is locked up and the key well hidden while there are so many happy children around!

Merry Christmas!

Daniel's name

We successfuly navigated church today without my cell phone ringing one time - my first time to make it through church or SS yet. Momma must confess that I wanted to go check on 'em a few times but I resisted. And, it was GREAT to hear them sound like they'd enjoyed it. I've not left with that feeling before, so I'm thinking that they must be adjusting to it - just took a while longer than school since they go less often.

The funniest thing today definitely had to be Daniel fussing at Maria for calling him Yuri (Yur-ya). He told her Daniel a few times. Daniel's very proud of his American name. Yesterday we were playing with sidewalk chalk and he had me write his name a bunch. He kept saying his first and last name (left out his middle name, Yuri, completely. Momma does find it funny that the things I was so concerned about the most - changing his name at 5 to a special family name (my dad's name is Daniel). Now, the things that I had an idealistic view of what motherhood was going to be like, those were shot on Day 1 - before we even made it back to the US. I just laugh from time to time - and enjoy where we are! This is fun now, but I'm thinking its going to keep getting better (and I hope a little easier) for a while!

Interesting Day

Today was an interesting day. I thought we'd need to use our pediatrician's Saturday service for a quick in and out visit with Maria's first sinus infection. She's had allergy issues the whole time she's been in America - imagine that in Louisiana. Well, the quick trip turned into a 3 hour experience - wiping out much of our day. Naturally they'd woken up at 6 since it was Saturday and they could sleep as late as they wanted - and needed to eat, get clothes on, and have breakfast immediately. Momma was once again thankful for Aunt Gay Lynn today, since she cooked and played with Daniel while Momma and Maria went to the doctor. I'm so thankful that I had my less active child to entertain for what seemed like a forever wait! I'm fairly certain Daniel and I would've both had to be peeled from the ceiling if he'd had to have sit still for hours of waiting! Antibiotics and some cough medicine and Maria should be good as new.

We played playdoh tonight - they loved it! Interesting that I'd taken it to Russia the first trip and they had zero interest. I wasn't sure how they'd react today, but we're trying to work with sensory stuff, so I wanted them to like it. They did. When they lost interest, I put it up and naturally they wanted to come back 5 milliseconds later to do it all again. We'll be doing it again soon.

They're just plain old sweet!

This morning Momma couldn't find her glasses. I'd ended up finally on the couch during the night and was looking all over around there. Daniel took up the search and was looking high and low for them, called Maria to help. Maria took off for Momma's bathroom and quickly returned with the glasses in hand - quite proudly of course. Daniel was totally crushed that he wasn't the one that found them - falling to the floor sadly. I wanted to pick 'em both up and love them. Momma was so glad to see how much they LONG to please their momma. We are a family!

Things I've learned this week

Momma's learned a few things - this first one even tonight:

1) Never point out the neighbor's cats in the driveway when we come in after dark. Normally, Maria needs help getting out of her chair, but not tonight. I went to the door and had a heart attack when she wasn't there. Daniel and I were frantically calling for her - Mom was checking the fence gate around the pool to be sure it was locked. Alas, she heard us calling and came. Maria had been playing with the cats. Momma has more gray hair.

2) It is totally inappropriate to use the television as a babysitter if there is any show they like on. I turned on Little Einstein (their favorite which we DVR daily) while our fish was in the oven. I turned it off when it was time to eat, but neither child (even my eater, Maria) was hungry at all - and Maria was even sort of feeling Boolit (sick) cured I'm quite certain by laying on the couch watching TV.

3) Daniel gives really sweet kisses when you train him to not be so rough. He even kissed my hand tonight - wonder where he saw that. My little guy is definitely practicing to be a charmer! We've been working on a few things at a time since I didn't want to overwhelm them. Now, we've gotten to the not playing rough part. He's a toucher and Momma definitely loves all of the extra hugs and kisses now that are substituting for the rougher hands around the neck, crawling on my back, etc. Momma can definitely get used to this!

4) Tell them they can't vacuum and you'll have two children fighting over who gets to vacuum. Perhaps I should ask Santa for an extra vacuum cleaner for my little ones - certainly hate to waste such ambition - might need some stilts too though - they can't quite reach the vacuum to the floor when they hold the vacuum cleaner. They love trying though!

5) Christmas lights are much better observed while walking - where you can walk up and touch them. Perhaps its a good thing that we only put up a tree this year. They love going up and touching the neighbor's snowmen, Santa Clauses, and pretty lights. Yes, we are training on this as well because we definitely enjoy going for walks to enjoy the lights.

6) It is so much fun to see the first Christmas of Daniel and Maria. We're enjoying walking in the neighborhood! Aunt Gay Lynn and Reagan came with us tonight. Tonight as we walked around the neighborhood, we heard "No Touch" a lot - at every house where they'd touched or tried to last night. That is so cool to see how they're learning. We're both on the same page on this one - learning every day - them how to live in a family and to speak English and Momma how to be a Momma, teach English, life and all that entails. Thinking Momma has at least as much to learn as Daniel and Maria!

Attempted reindeer cookies...and other Christmas fun

....all those things I just knew we'd do at Christmas together - baking cookies, doing crafts, etc. Tonight we made cookies. OK - we sort of cheated and used the kind with the trees already in the middle but it definitely counted for Daniel and Maria. We had two chairs next to Momma, ate at least one piece of cookie dough each, and Daniel even took all of the hot cookies off with the spatula while explaining that they were "hot, hot, hot".

Mom had seen cute little reindeer cookies made out of Nutter Butter cookies, M&M's, icing, and pretzels. What's not to like about that? I knew they'd love making them! So, I bought enough to make a bunch (be prepared Babooshka - this may have to be a project for all of the children next week) - Momma made exactly four reindeer cookies. My helpers were far more interested in eating the ingredients....actually only one ingredient - the M&M's in copious quantities but who could blame them.

After this - and a little supper, we went for a walk to enjoy the Christmas lights in the neighborhood and even sat in the driveway enjoying the stars for a while. We had a great evening! We'll definitely have to go for some more walks enjoying the lights and the stars!

Daniel - my showman

Daniel's program last night was a wee bit stressful, but I'm smiling tonight looking at the pictures - he actually DID end up doing the same thing as the other children sometimes. Daniel is doing so well with his English that Momma thought he understood that after school, Maria, Aunt Gay Lynn, and Momma would come watch him be a shepherd and sing all of the songs that we've been practicing since the first week of November - and I mean faithfully practicing! So, 45 minutes before program time and time to get in his shepherd outfit, we had many tears. He clearly did not understand, and I didn't know how to explain it. He wanted to go home - and Momma was praying for wisdom - do you just go home and try again next year or would that mean that we leave anything we don't want to do. We stayed. This has definitely been a big learning week on just how much is involved with being a mom - didn't realize quite so much of what my momma did until I walked through this week!

Eventually Daniel wanted Maria to be back there preparing with him (now, that was sweet!) and he ended up coming out OK when the time came to start (and they weren't sure they wouldn't need to slap an angel outfit on Maria - I know she'd have done fine if they had!). There were only 8 pre-K students in the program, and Daniel decided it was quite all right to be in front of the crowd immediately. He pointed to the solo instrumentalist (ok, with everything he had), checked out the microphones to be sure they worked adequately (they did), and was just not nearly the wallflower Momma might've hoped for and expected. Next year I'm hoping we have a great time singing about "baby Jesus" at church, school, and anywhere else we get to. Enjoy some pictures of my best little shepherd and friends along with his Aunt Gay Lynn.

Maria's Christmas Program

Today was Maria's Christmas program at school. It wasn't a huge deal - a 15 minute program in their school. They all wore their shirts they made (of course, Momma didn't realize that they were going to wear them and had to hurry home to get it). Maria was so proud to be singing in front of her momma - lots of smiles. Of course, she didn't really sing.....or do many motions for that matter. She smiled and smiled and smiled. And, Momma smiled and smiled and smiled back at her. Here are few pictures. We'll get to hear her sing next year. Daniel's program is tomorrow night, and I'm looking forward to that as well.

And a few more pictures....

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend. We're up to a bit more English with Daniel and Maria every day. So, tonight I decided to ask Daniel what he liked best about America. I loved his answer - HOME! Now, that will make a Momma's day for sure! Clearly Daniel and Maria both love lots of things about America - family is high on the list. They cry every time we leave Aunt Gay Lynn's and Grandma and PawPaw's. They jump up and down every time they get to talk to Callan and Kenna (their cousins that don't even speak Russian - but of course, it is always sweet to hear "ya tibya labloo" from my end because I know they learned "I love you" just for Daniel and Maria). The things we take for granted (my house for me for sure) they hold precious. How much fun it is to see the world a bit through their eyes. It is getting more fun when they can TELL me about it - Momma loves it!

Have I told y'all late how glad I am that my answer was "Yes" when God asked me about adoption and about Daniel and Maria particuliarly? What a blessing it is to see how God weaved Daniel and Maria into our family like they always belonged there - just liked He chose us before the foundation of the world. I'm getting to see real life illustrations every day of how God is so big yet cares about two little children on the other side of the world that would: enjoy our family farm, fit in GREAT with their cousins, love dogs and have an aunt just 10 minutes away that has the most docile of dogs and loves Daniel and Maria, love having a Momma who'd love them back...even as the story continues. God's design is definitely enough to keep me enjoying the journey and knowing even in the rough parts (there are rough parts, too) that God called me to this and He will be faithful to complete the good work He began and He didn't call me to leave me hanging out there on my own. God is good! This week I'll get to go hear Daniel and Marie sing about just how much He loves us in their school Christmas programs - and I'll enjoy it all some more!

A few pics from the weekend

After school on Friday, we went to Grandma and PawPaw's for the weekend. We one action packed day: Arrived to a beautiful Christmas tree with two trains set up - we had to play a long time with those. Saturday included haircuts for Daniel and Maria, playing on the Gator, going to the Boyce, LA Christmas parade (it looked like Halloween they got so much candy!), then we went to Natchitoches for their great lights and Saturday nights in December fireworks. This was great and unfortunately I didn't get to capture the shocked and amazed looks on Daniel and Maria's faces, but it was fun to watch. They loved it all! We headed for the 3 hour drive home starting a little after 8:30. Fortunately they slept most of the way home.

All dressed up with no place to go!

Daniel put on his suit for church this morning complete with his cute new red and green tie. Yes, I'll definitely have to take pictures. During breakfast, Maria kept saying (and acting) like she didn't feel good - if she's not eating and wanting to lay around at breakfast she's not feeling too perky. We decided to stay home since Maria didn't feel well. She's now asleep on the living room floor - that is definitely out of character. Daniel won't take off his suit. My young guy LOVES to be dressed up and he's really proud of his new tie. So, we'll be enjoying being dressed up at home for a while longer.

Pictures will be definitely be forthcoming. We went to the farm on Saturday (and to a small town Christmas parade and the Natchitoches Christmas Festival fireworks), so there are definitely pictures to show the fun they had!

Its the once in 20 years day! - Snow in South Louisiana!

We've got several inches of snow on the ground. We were up before daylight playing. They didn't call off school until we were a block from school, so home to play we came after a few minutes of Momma trying to get a few things done at the office. Even though it snowed where Daniel and Maria used to live they were still very excited about the snow - guess that would make them like every kid in the entire world! Here are some pictures from the day.

A few things Momma is wondering....

...will Momma ever get tired of Maria taking off my glasses so she can hug me close? I'm thinking not at all.

....wondering if when the doctor said to feed Daniel whatever he wanted and would eat if that means let him just eat only the cookies that he and Aunt Gay Lynn made. So far that's pretty much what he's wanted to eat this week.

....wondering how long the battery life is in real life like crying baby dolls.

.....also wondering on the afore mentioned dolls if children ever get annoyed by the continuous goo goo gah gah and crying of said baby dolls.

....wondering if we're going to get snow tonight in Baton Rouge. That'd be fun and exciting, but I'm sure no big deal to my Daniel and Maria - know they'd think what's the big deal if we got a few flurries - they're used to tons.

....wondering if my song birds will really sing at their Christmas programs next week. They sing so well in the car but I'm wondering if I'll get the silent treatment next week.

Sleeping is improving

I'm thinking we're starting to turn the corner on the sleeping thing. Maria woke up at 4 and I put her back to bed (I was already awake and probably woke her up really). It made me think how much improved they're sleeping and I'm hoping the other adjustment issues follow right along. The last couple of days I've gotten to wake them both up!

This morning I let 'em take their dry fruit loops to eat on the way to school - they'd not really eaten much at breakfast. We won't be doing that again. That nice plastic cup that I set in each of their cup holders was inadequate - they poured the fruit loops in the cup holder itself and let it spill over on the seat, floor, and anywhere else gravity led them and tossed the cups in the cargo area (how I realized what was going on). What were they thinking? And, what was Momma thinking bringing so many pieces into the car? I think we'll let 'em wait for snack at school the next time they choose not to eat. I'm sort of thinking this morning's challenge had nothing to do with being from Russia and everything to do with being the mom of two preschoolers. Momma definitely has a lot of learning to do!

Daniel's grown an inch!

This afternoon I was watching Daniel and Maria play with Reagan and it just seemed like Daniel looked taller compared to her. So, I took him inside and compared the mark on the door frame we made on November 11th (a couple of weeks after they got home) and he's grown more than an inch! That's shocking - must not have to have protein to grow - or at least yogurt and chocolate milk must provide adequately for the required protein. Just at lunch Aunt Gay Lynn and I were noticing that he was taking out the tiniest pieces of meat out of his beans to not eat the meat - talking less than small fingernail size!

So, now Momma is thinking all of my concern about him losing weight may just be that he's growing fast and maybe just looks to be thinner. We shall see. He IS thin. He wore size 3T shorts today and they fit fine in every way. He could wear a 3 in pants if it weren't for the length. Guess I won't have to worry about having to hem stuff for a little while at least!

Momma Laughs

After church this morning, I was trying to get a very excited Daniel to change his clothes - or at least settle down enough to let Momma help. So, he stands up on the bed and eyeballs me very close and says "Look me in the eye" - plain as day and very articulately where I did not have any doubt what he said. I laughed because of all of the things I've told him to get him to settle down, that is not one of them. I started quizzing him about who tells him that, and guessed right on the first try - school. Its nice to see when training is working!

Thought y'all would enjoy some pictures from last week's decorating the Christmas tree. Pre Daniel and Maria I had a small artificial tree with jingle bells as the ornaments. I figured for our first Christmas that it would be an appropriate tree to use again and it has been great. We take the jingle bells off and put 'em back on where they really should've gone at least daily. Its fun to watch them enjoy it!

Oh, Maria was particuliarly proud of her Cat outfit to go to church, so we've got an extra picture for Maria's Great Grandmother. Hopefully Maria's Babooshka and Dyadooshka can make sure she sees it.

Sweet sounds coming from the bedroom

Daniel and Maria still do a little rocking and chanting - less rocking all the time. Tonight's sweet song from Maria as she rocked to sleep was "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus" - definitely a wonderful name to know. Sure am excited to get to teach them about Jesus this Christmas.

This was a good day!

Today has been a blessing. Daniel and Maria slept all night without waking up!!! It was so nice to see their door closed just as much as I'd pulled it shut when I put them to bed. I'd told them to stay in bed until Momma came to get them up when I put them to bed last night. Perhaps they're just really obedient children - I can certainly hope that's what it is! But, I'm hoping that is the first of many nights with them sleeping.

Then, we went to school singing their preschool songs. I noticed I was getting a lot more words than normal and I heard a lot more English words on the way there as well. It seems this week has been somewhat of an English explosion - way more words in English. When we get to the parking lot of their school they were both saying they loved school - mixed English and Russian - don't think they know what school is in Russian - they'd never been. Daniel ran up to give Maria's teacher a big excited hug when we got there. It made me feel great that they do love where they're spending their days - and clearly learning and enjoying it in the process. Maria even had to bring her art project from the day before back to school because she was so proud of it - it was cute, too!

This afternoon I did get a call from Maria's teacher saying Maria wasn't herself. The problem was that they couldn't get her to eat - she normally eats all of hers and tries to take everyone else's food, too - at least at school. I've noticed she's eating less at home most days now. I suspect she realizes that there is plenty to eat and is toning things down. We'll see. I hope its something like that anyway.

When I went to the school to pick them up, one of the teachers was leaving and told me that Daniel was in the office stapling papers with his teacher. Imagine my surprise when by the time I got there he was clear down at his room jumping excitedly. Mystery was solved when his teacher said that he saw me coming on the security camera in the office and ran to go get his papers to go home. I got grand hugs as usual from Daniel and Maria both when I got there. That's fun.

On the way home, Maria wanted to see our Thanksgiving picture book - probably 100 pictures from last weekend. She looked through it about 5 times. It was priceless when I turned around once to see her waiving at a picture of her PawPaw and the rest of the cousins on the four wheeler. She was waiving with her whole arm. It was so precious - I'm getting mushy.

Still going to have to work on Daniel and his eating what is served. He really wanted fruit loops instead of his fish and potatoes. He did eat extra of his favorite part of dinner - prunes. What child likes prunes?

Maria and I had a nice little English lesson. She wanted me to come with her and took me to the bathroom. She pointed to every single thing in the bathroom and asked what it was. She repeated every English word. Clearly she is really wanting to soak it all in!

Yes, today was one of those days - ordinary that it was - that I'm so happy God chose me to be their Momma. I'm so thankful I said "yes"! Better run go love on 'em some more. Bedtime comes way too early on work/school days......looking forward to a fun weekend - going to see Aunt Gay Lynn sing in the Twin Living Christmas Trees at church.

When does the sleeping line out?

It is 3:00 AM and starting at midnight, Daniel and Maria both have been up and sent separately and jointly back to their beds. At 2:30 when I sent them both back to their beds I rolled over and went back to sleep - waking up a few minutes ago when I heard a clicking sound......not sure which toy it was, but all of their lights were on in their bedroom and playroom and Maria was heading down the hall with her baby carriage. This mom is ready for them to sleep!