A great weekend!

What a special weekend with our little boy. Every weekend is fun, every weekend is special. We are just counting our blessings that the Lord brought us such a great kid. He contantly overwhelms us with how sweet he is, how perfect for us, how much we love him. Here is the rundown of another fun weekend in the life of Daniel.....

Saturday took us to Huber's Orchard for strawberry picking, or should I say strawberry eating? We picked for about 2 minutes and then he realized eating (and throwing the stems) was much more fun. I don't think I have ever seen him eat so many strawberries. We had a grand time!

Sunday morning was his very first school bus ride. We parked across the street from church and rode over on the bus. He didn't want to get on at first, but once he saw that mama and papa were coming too - he climbed right up. He kept smiling at me the entire time!

Then on Sunday afternoon we went out to Uncle Jon's place to visit the horses and do some fishing. It was his first time fishing. I got him a little Shrek fishing pole on clearance and he has been dying to try it out. It was the perfect spot for a 5 year old with a short attention span to fish. As soon as your line dropped in the water, you got a bite. They were small fish, but we pulled them out one right after the other. He kept yelling, 'Hooray!'

It feels like we are finally settling in to a routine with our weekly schedule. He always asks me what we are doing tomorrow - over and over. He will say, 'Mom - tomorrow?' and I will tell him and he'll say, 'and then? and then?' We go over the entire week. I don't know if that's just a little kid thing, or if he is wondering how long this will last. I forgot to learn how to say, 'You're here forever!' in Russian. Over time we are seeing that he is becoming more and more secure. He is able to play in his room by himself for short stretches, and go to the bathroom by himself. Not that I think he should be independent at 5, but it is good to see that he feels comfortable and not constantly looking for us to make sure we are still here.

We feel so fortunate that he has had such an easy transition. Preparing for an adoption, I did a lot of reading about possible 'issues' - behavior issues, attachment, etc. It's good to be informed and we certainly could have things come up in the future, but for now he seems like a well adjusted kid. He sleeps great at night - no fear of being by himself. He eats well, but we don't have any food issues. We feel like any issues we have had are just normal parenting things. He is pushing his boundaries to see what he can get away with. We have spent some time standing in the corner for hitting or not obeying, but that is just normal kid stuff. He seems to be attaching to us well. He is a lovable little guy and loves to give us hugs. He seeks us out when we are in public and comes to us for comfort. Whatever they did in the orphanage, they certainly brought up a well adjusted little boy. What a delight! Thank you Lord for giving us abundantly more than we could ask or imagine!!