Maria is something else

Maria's developing quite the personality in the last few weeks. She's becoming an individual and stepping a lot out of Daniel's shadow. She's been fixing Momma's hair, playing some really cool pretend games with baskets becoming boats - which get sent straight to time out if they throw her. But this afternoon I realized that she is the typical little American girl now. She was totally uninterested in her nap this afternoon and started doing a little of the chanting that she often does to go to sleep. Usually it is a lot more sylables than words - either Russian or English. On this day it was unmistakable- "Swiper no swiping". Yes, she is a little American girl - all interested in Dora like a lot of little girls!

A few quick updates

This has been a wild week - as they all are, but thought I'd share a few things. Yesterday mom was exhausted and thinking how the children were wearing me out - here it is Wednesday and I'm shot! Well, this morning when I went to take my medicine (I have resorted to one of those old people's pill things for expediency since Daniel and Maria's arrival) I realized I had to have taken today's medicine yesterday - which means I had to have taken my medicine twice yesterday. There I go blaming poor little Daniel and Maria for mom's fatigue....mom's fault!

Last night neither child slept, so today might be interesting - and tiring for real cause! Those times late at night are some of the sweetest though in terms of really getting to know Daniel and Maria though. Last night Daniel was really talkative about the Detskey Dome and how he got to America and what he liked and didn't there. I always love telling Daniel and Maria how much God loved them and brought us together. Daniel told me last night "Jesus loves me" when he started telling about coming to America. I'm glad he is starting to know just who to give the credit to for all He's done in our lives.

We got a new CD to practice for school and the first song on there is about how special they are. When it comes on Maria's face turns on the biggest smile - she loves it. It has to be the shortest song on there, but it makes Maria and Daniel both smile, ask to play it again, and makes Mom cry every single time. Daniel and Maria are special -nobody else is quite like them and Momma is so glad!

Maria likes crawfish & Daniel climbs a wall

We went to a friend's home this afternoon for a crawfish boil. Daniel and Maria had lots of firsts today - Daniel climbed a rock wall they had out there (well.....part of the way anyway), rode a razor (and was great at it - he'd tried it when he first got home and wasn't close - he's grown!), and flew a kite. Daniel had spotted the kites when we drove up and could hardly contain himself to give that a try. His kite bit the dust and he had it flying again on the first try so he probably thinks its easier than it usually is here.

Maria was a little more bashful about trying new things but she was not bashful about trying and enjoying the boiled crawfish. She ate at least 5 before Mom got to eat one. She even tried peeling them herself, but we don't quite have the hands for that yet. She's definitely the first four year old that I know of that likes crawfish - think she's going to make a great Louisianian. Daniel on the other hand was true to form - wouldn't even try it. He'd much rather play than eat every single time - and Mom is still trying to learn to be that way....and get him to eat!

Daniel is in more pictures because Maria pulled a little bit of a shy moment on us at first. Usually she rushed right into things but today she practically bruised my hand hanging on. This in contrast to her showing her toys to total strangers in the grocery store. Who can guess? She warmed up after a little while but was not at all as interested in getting too far away from Momma.

Daniel will deserve this to be recorded forever!

This week I have been admiring how far we've come. Today is our 6 month "gotcha day" - at least that's when the adoption decree said I was their mom. We have definitely come miles. For some reason I thought this afternoon would be a great time to go shopping - a full basket trip. I was beginning to realize that we have some more training to do very early when they went up to a lady they don't know who I just happened to know to show their cars and baby seal - and share their happiness with the fruit SHE was buying. Yes, it was that kind of day. We made our way to the end with one lady noting that children keep your mind so young - her grandchildren really help her with that too. She passed on by as I wondered to myself if she was thinking I was their grandmother. Off to the checkout we go and I had some help but was mostly loading the whole buggy worth of groceries on the checkout line myself. Guess Daniel wanted some payback for me for the grandmother comment from that lady. I catch a glimpse of him out of the corner of my eye poking on her bunion pad and then he says loudly "Look Momma - a bobo". I did want to crawl in a hole quickly but I'm laughing so hard I'm crying at the moment - now that the car is unloaded!

Lesson of this day: No matter how hard you try, you can not look at two children doing two different things at the same time.....kinda thinking that I need to be watching Daniel next time! Mr. Curiosity is surprising me daily - in my wildest dreams I'd have never dreamed to keep on the lady's bunion pads!

More Pictures from the Weekend

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend - haircuts, happy cousins, egg dying...... it was a good time!

Birthday dinner

Daniel's getting so grown. I've been asking him where he wanted to go for his birthday dinner telling him he could go anywhere. He wanted to eat outside, so we went to Izzo's and ate on the patio. He had chips and queso and some of Maria's quesadilla. Maria had quesadilla and drank plenty of Daniel's queso! That was funny - guess they're aclimating to Louisiana cuisine (hot stuff) slowly but surely. I got some pretty fowl faces when Maria tried the salsa, so we still have a little ways to go before anyone thinks their indiginous to the area!

The most fun was having them kick back and enjoy the birds building a nest in the fan, watching the cars go by on Bluebonnet Extension, and just visiting for at least a half hour. It is so fun to see him sit back and enjoy life! These days Daniel is telling a lot about the Detskey Dome and comparing it to his life now. I think he got this way when we started talking about his birthday. The worst evils of the Detskey Dome were: eating green soup all of the time, having to sleep too much, babies crying all of the time, not letting him go to sleep in Maria's bed with her and getting spanked for it when he got caught (and they make adoptive parents sign something saying they won't spank....hmm). He talks about all of this with a smile on his face - Daniel seems to know he's loved and staying in America with his Momma and Maria forever - and THAT makes Momma happy. I'm so glad that this is the first of lots of special days for Daniel and Maria!

Today is Daniel's Birthday!

Today I have a 6 year old. It is so sad to see him grow up so fast already, but exciting to see him enjoying his new life in America. As we drove to school he was singing a made up song about Detskey Dome Never.....doesn't like to sleep all day. Apparently they took way too many naps for him and slept too long anyway.

We had biscuits and chocolate milk for breakfast per his request. We took donuts to school (we'll do cupcakes next week so his special teacher, Mrs. Jamie, can be there for his school celebration). Daniel loves to share and I left him sharing birthday donuts with all of the children and teachers. I love the way Daniel shares - he almost spilled his donuts trying to share with another teacher as he walked down the hall.

Easter Weekend

We'll have to add pictures later but we had a great Easter weekend. We headed up to my parents on Friday morning and got a call along the way to find out if Aunt Markay would be "a responsible adult". I knew I was in for it then. PawPaw had set up a tent in the front yard for the children to play in and my nieces, Callan and Kenna, saw a camping opportunity. I was committed before we even arrived. When we did, the tent got immediate attention....before Daniel and Maria started getting serious about the bike riding and gator driving that they always love on the farm.

Later we went to get Maria a hair cut where her Grandma gets hers cut. They'd come up with a plan for a cute short haircut. Maria loved her new "do".

We grilled hot dogs out for supper and the children quickly turned their attention to camping - they were ready before dark! We did have to die eggs for our egg hunt the next day and Daniel seemed to really enjoy making "pretty eggs". He'd missed his egg dying day at school so this was his first chance. We dyed a lot of eggs and then it was time to move on to the tent. There were no complaints from any of the children that there was bedtime associated with this. We had air mattresses and not nearly enough covers! At one point I had four children on the same twin air mattress - and the floor was looking very attractive. We had a great time the next morning singing and making up songs with four happy children - in spite of waking up cold. They immediately started angling for staying out Saturday night, too. They'd eyed Grandma as a likely taker....and they were right! She spent the next night out. It was fun and I'd definitely do it again!

Saturday was filled with a family egg hunt and picnic. Daniel and Maria got to meet their big cousins - our family from Lake Charles that come out every Easter for an egg hunt. Daniel was very interested in playing with the older boys but everybody just had a great time doing their thing out in the country. There were four wheeler rides and mainly enjoying a beautiful day!

Easter Sunday we all went to a special early service at my grandmother's church. That was a nice service followed by a special breakfast.

Sunday afternoon was Daniel's 6th birthday. His birthday is tax day, but he wanted to have his party at the farm with his cousins, Callan, Kenna, and Carson. It was STORMING by the time it came time for the party. We had decided to move the party to the pecan shed across the street from my folks.....bad plan in a storm. It was so loud that we couldn't hear ourselves talk to the person next to us. PawPaw climbed up to a second floor roof on a ladder and that became the entertainment - the children lined up to climb the ladder and get their picture taken and take a peak around the shed. The cake was great. Daniel didn't quite have the concept of presents down - he went and gave all of them back to the person that gave them. It was cute. Daniel's thrilled to be 6 - or almost 6 as it is now.

Pictures coming shortly.....Mom has been working on taxes since we got home.

Easter!

This morning we saw some Easter baskets in the grocery store. Its Easter Egg Hunt/Party day at school for both of them. Maria saw one with a Barbie that she liked and Daniel saw one that had some planes and things. As we were on the way to school I was trying to explain the Easter Bunny coming to visit Saturday night. I was explaining that the Easter Bunny will bring all of the children candy and little things on Saturday night. Daniel responded "Jesus loves me.". I don't know what he meant by it, but it sounds to me like Daniel's picked up the real meaning of Easter in every way!

Happy Easter - and I am so glad that Jesus loves us!

The Day After

Yesterday was nearly as wild as Sunday.....although everybody was mostly feeling better. Daniel started looking a little green as we were leaving the house for school and Aunt Gay Lynn's (for him). So, I gave him the magic pill (Zophran ODP - a drug to prevent nausea for chemo patients). About an hour or so later, Gay Lynn called saying Daniel had chest pain....which Mom knew was one of the things that the info sheet had said to call about. So, I had to take Daniel in - to work on what's causing all of his nausea/vomitting (we've had a whole week of it off and on) -and to make sure the chest pain was not something serious. Doctor said to consider Daniel allergic to the magic pill because it doesn't usually cause chest pain in children.....too bad - it works great! So far we haven't had any more sickness since the pill yesterday morning, so hopefully we're on the road to recovery.

We had to make another trip to the hospital with Daniel for blood tests and an EKG. They had been to this hospital once before for blood work on the Monday after they'd arrived in the US on Saturday - so nearly 6 months ago. The minute we walked into the office where they take the blood, Daniel started squirming and saying "No, momma". He remembered exactly what they do there - and even pointed to the area where they took the blood. I couldn't believe since he's been exposed to so much since that day last October. I've always said he doesn't forget anything - and I believe it even more now! Maria went first then and we really needed Maria to get a little blood first to help Daniel out - she didn't cry and neither did he. This time there were definitely many tears from Daniel when he was on his own! Of course, he was more than happy to pick out stickers and some to share afterwards!

Aunt Gay Lynn ended up with both Daniel and Maria for the afternoon at her house - they planted some tomato plants, stuffed candy eggs, and had plenty of fun. They always love going to Aunt Gay Lynn's.

Maria came home with gum which she didn't want to lose at bedtime. I took it and threw it away in her trash can. Momma obviously needs some more training because I came in a few hours later to find Maria asleep but chewing and the garbage can out of place. I tried to retrieve gum that I thought might be there and didn't find it as she turned over a couple of times in the process. This morning.....yes, gum....fortunately still in her mouth. And, yes, it had come from the garbage can! At least it didn't get in her hair......sort of thinking gum may disappear from our house for a while!!

Our first ER Visit

This morning was totally wild. Daniel's been taking an antibiotic all week and has been sick off and on throughout. This morning when I got him up, it was clearly something else. He'd thrown up more than once and never even woken up. He was totally pitiful. He couldn't hold anything down, so it was pretty apparent after a couple of hours that we needed some help. We called the pediatrician, dropped Maria off in a friend's care at church without her hair even combed (she looks cute now, so looks like Kristi fixed her right up. So thankful for friends and aunts - on this and many days!

Off to the pediatrician's office we were. I had a pitiful little boy laying in my lap when he wasn't throwing up in the doctor's office while waiting for an hour in the waiting room. Then, as soon as the doctor saw him he said he needed to go to the ER for fluids. I got Kristi out of church to make sure that Maria could stay put - praying she could help (its nice Mom's already learned you always leave the car seat just in case). We got to the ER all the while throwing up continually. They hustled him in but let him lay there for a while. They gave him some great pill and then told us to start a little gatorade. It was like magic. They never eve had to give him the IV fortunately. Daniel was a great patient - and it was so interesting that they would've never known he wasn't an English speaker - he gladly picked out the frowny face showing how he felt (Mom was still proud even if he felt so poorly - it was obvious how well he was understanding and communicating when he felt absolutely horrible!). This was the pediatric ER at the Lake and we would definitely not hesitating going back - it was a great experience. Daniel's so much better and we have some more of the magic pill for home (Mom's not so secretly hoping he doesn't need it so we can save them for the next time!)

We've retrieved Maria so have a little Sunday left to enjoy on the couch as of 4 PM - what a day - and this all started at 6:30! I ALWAYS hate to agree with Hillary on anything, but it definitely "took a village" on this day!

Daniel's a born hard worker!

This week I've been blessed to see Daniel's compassionate heart. There ar e a couple of stories I want to record in their blog for Daniel to know about in the future - this blog is for them someday!

On Thursday in music they were singing about growing up. Miss Felicia asked the children in Daniel's class what they wanted to be when they grew up. Momma was happy to hear that he's going to take care of Momma and Maria when he grows up. Daniel's been a great big brother to Maria, and I'm so glad that he's wanting to be a good provider - hopefully for his own wife and children some day, but I thought that was such a sweet answer!

Daniel's always seemed to like work. This morning we were playing at the neighborhood school playground (the park was full!) and noticed an older man cleaning up limbs in his backyard across the fence. I asked Daniel and Maria if they'd like to go help him. Daniel was quick to say "yes". So, we found the house and went to his backyard. The man was surprised but glad to have the help. My Daniel would take a limb to the street, stack it, and RUN back to get another one. He was much faster than Maria and me - maybe 2 to 1. I love how much Daniel has such a strong work ethic. It will definitely be something that will serve him well for a lifetime!

Enjoying it as it comes

This afternoon about 1:30 I got a call saying that the power was out at Daniel and Maria's school and it was almost time for nap time to be over. They were going to close the school in a little while. So, at 2:40 their school day ended and we had all kinds of extra time to enjoy. First we went by and played with Reagan at Aunt Gay Lynn's and retrieved all of her garbage cans from down the drive and down the street (it was a powerful storm that lasted almost no time!).

Then I surprised them with ice cream cones at Sonic. We got out and sat at a table and we had a great time. The whole time they had their ice cream cones they didn't know anyone else was around. They loved every lick. Ice cream is definitely their favorite and it is way more special if it is in a cone. Maria eats every bit but Daniel won't eat the cone. We sang stores about the ice cream cones - making up at least 20 verses about how Daniel and Maria felt about their ice cream. I saw a few people come and go and I'm quite certain they should pay us to come every day and get ice cream at Sonic. Everyone that drove up seemed to really enjoy watching them as they waited for their orders.

After they finished their cones we had quite a learning experience. The lady from Sonic came to visit and Daniel was up being a boy - looking at all of the cars - and especially the trucks. A lady with a wrecked front came up within 5' of where we were sitting. Daniel loves to touch everything that interests him when he sees it - and we've been waiting for the perfect opportunity for him to learn that we keep our hands to ourselves. He started out saying "Momma it is broken" and pointed. Momma started getting a little nervous at that point. He got up and studied the car's bobo a little closer saying "Momma, its broken" with a very concerned look on his face. About that time the lady in the car yelled at him to get away from her car. She looked like the crazy one, but I think we learned a very valuable lesson that Momma's been trying to teach them. I think we'll be looking from a distance from now on.

Now, we're home and playing hard outside. I'm typing this post from the back patio and enjoying watching them at least as much fun as the ice cream spectators did watching them play. We've had a pretty steady variety of vehicles that we were driving (bicycles turned big truck, school bus, and little truck). Maria's got the sidewalk chalk painting our carport floor yellow. Daniel's now got his rubber boots on with his sword "making snow" - wiping out the rest of Momma's bridal wreath blooms for this year. He marches like a good soldier. Have I said lately how much I'm enjoying the longer days of late? Well, this one was extra long and extra fun - we've still got two hours of daylight left.

Tonight we're going to have a picnic outside of the Hurricane Gustave emergency meals. Daniel's excited because we're going to have soldier meals! We're definitely going to eat them outside without the benefit of electricity! This is fun!

I've found the wake-up trick!

Last night we had a little training opportunity so Daniel and Maria did not get to take their baths. Naturally they went out immediately and played with glitter, sidewalk chalk, and every other messy thing they could find to make Momma rethink the bathing "training opportunity". I was last night, but not this morning! Maybe Maria, but Daniel could NOT go to school with glitter, so when it was time to get up to take a bath I just went in and turned on the bath water in their bathroom. First came Maria saying "Kapatza" as she hit her door - light still off. At least 2 milliseconds later, Daniel joined her in the bathroom ready to hop in! No problem waking these two up this morning, and they had a great time as always in the bathtub!

They know that it is bath, but we love "Kapatza" so Daniel and Maria (and Momma) may take Kapatza's instead of baths for the forseeable future.

Today, Daniel's a Kangaroo

This morning all was wonderful until Daniel had to throw up on the way to school. So, Maria is off to school and Daniel is at home with a Mom that is scratching her head. Daniel acted like a very sick boy for two hours and he suddenly just now told me that he's a kangaroo and started jumping on the bouncing thing in his underwear (he's been watching the underwear dance on Wow Wow Wubzy). No.....he's not at all immitating a sick boy.

Looks like Momma might get to catch up on a little housework and Noggin (Wonder Pets and Wow Wow Wubzy are their favorites) today. Looks like Mom will be working this weekend.

Daniel needed a trim, but he wanted it cut really short. Check out his new haircut.

A Few Pictures

Here are a few pictures from the weekend with some explanations. Daniel and Maria both love to color. Thought it was fun when I saw them really coloring together - one on each side of the page. They did this for a good long time - cute! Daniel is doing some occupational therapy and he gets to play in shaving cream - here's a little practice at home - on the back patio. He enjoyed the shaving cream but really enjoyed the water hose afterward at least as much. The last picture was them sitting together waiting for Momma to leave for Sunday school. Daniel loves the life vest (except in the pool) for the games he comes up with and Maria was all proud of her pretty dress. As you can tell, they really enjoy each other. They often make their Momma smile .....and grab the camera.

Last night we went out to dinner with Aunt Gay Lynn for her birthday. We went to Texas de Brazil - Aunt Gay Lynn's favorite place. I'm not sure why they have so much on the salad bar and for the meat they bring around the table. Daniel and Maria would be perfectly content to have only the grilled bananas! They eat a few other things but there is no question what their favorite thing is! We had a good time with Aunt Gay Lynn. Daniel and Maria always enjoy spending time with their Aunt Gay Lynn.