Mom - look what I can do!

I hear that, look over and boom - he's standing on his head. Whoa! Am I a bad mom for letting him do this? It can't be good for his neck, right? What do I know? It was so cute!



Maybe we have a future U of L Cardinal on our hands? He's totally stuck on basketball lately. I think Jason and I are both exhausted with it. He gets stuck on something and that's all he wants to do. He's totally OCD, just like his mom:

Slip sliding around before school....

We like our strawberries for breakfast:

Tonight after his bath he tells me, 'Mom - how about this, brush teeth, and then you and Pop can come to my room and tickle me? Isn't that a great idea?' Sure, it's a great idea. Then we get in there and he goes, 'Pop - tickle Mom!'

15 minutes of tickling then we say our prayers, and off to sleep..........

What a doll! For all of the standing in the corner, reviewing the rules and attitude (including a frowny face today from school) - he's such a sweetie!

Report Cards!!

We had our Parent/Teacher conference yesterday at Daniel's school and got his report card. I am proud to report to you that he got 7 A's, 1 B and 1 C (in math). We couldn't be more pleased. Out of necessity, we have focused more on English than on math so we weren't surprised that he got A's in reading and writing and a C in math.

We are so impressed with his progress. He is actually reading! He started out in the reading group for kids that are behind and he has moved up to the group of readers 'at grade level'. His teacher said he would be in the advanced group, but he has trouble staying on task when they are in groups and that's one of the requirements to be in the advanced group. He is also writing in full sentences. WOW! His teacher told us that she goes over their learning objective for the day (capitalization or spacing or whatever) and then she models it for the class and then tells them they can write about whatever they want. She said they think it's so cute that Daniel ALWAYS writes about how happy he is with Mom and Pop. She sends home his writing work. I have the cutest papers that say 'I Luv Mom and Pop' or 'I wuz hapy wen I frst saw Mom and Pop' or 'I wuz hpy to go Prk with Mom and Pop' (insert beaming smile here!)

One Year Ago

Exactly one year ago today, we met this little boy:

It's really amazing to think back to that day. We were so tired, running on nervous energy and stepping out in faith - believing that God picked out this child for us. I will be honest, there weren't bells and rainbows and a swell of dramatic background music. It was just us, sitting in a dark office in Ukraine, meeting a total stranger. But there was also a calm certainty. God lined everything up to bring us to this day and what an awesome feeling that was!

So here we are - exactly one year later:

And we are more certain today than we were a year ago. God picked out just the right child for us. He is our boy through and through! We are so blessed and feel truly fortunate to parent this sweet child. He's been so fun. We've done more running, tickling, hiding, laughing, chutes and ladders, Phineas and Ferb, making PB&J, throwing balls, counting, spelling and hugging in the past year than I don't know when! Don't get me wrong - we have our moments. He is still getting in trouble in school. We have had more than one note from his teacher. He's being defiant, saying no to the teachers, full of attitude, putting his food on the floor in the cafeteria, and today - pinching a kid. We work through the things as they come and celebrate when he gets a smile! (which he does - it's up and down!)

The stuttering is almost completely gone (for now). It was so bad a few weeks ago, I thought we were going to need to get him some therapy and now it's gone. Huh!

We marvel at how far he's come in a year! He's learned so much and his English is great. But, he's still learning new things every day. He doesn't yet have enough English to really tell me a story. He wants to tell about something that happened at school, but he doesn't have enough words. He'll get half way through a story, and then just say, 'I don't know.' He gives up. But he can do way more today than he could even a few months ago. He can actually get on the phone and have somewhat of a conversation with you - it's pretty cute. I usually always know what he's trying to say - even if someone else doesn't. Check this out:

Thank you Lord for making us a family!

Happy Valentines Day

No new pictures, but I have to share with you these 2 cute things..........

The other night I was putting Daniel to bed. He says to me:
'Mom, do you want to sleep with me? My bed is warm and toasty!'
'No Sweetie. I am going to put on my pj's and then I go to sleep with Pop.'
'Why, mom?'
'Because I am married to Pop - so I sleep with him.'
Pause.....
'Mom'
'Yes?'
'Tomorrow - do you want to marry me?'
(how sweet is that?)

Last night, we went out to the Hopeful Hearts gala. That is the organization through our church that helped us with our adoption (link on the sidebar). They have one fundraising dinner a year. We always make it a point to attend, and that's our fancy valentine date too! So, I was getting all snazzed up - putting makeup on in the bathroom and Daniel was watching. He was watching me put on my lipstick and he goes,
'Wow Mom - you're pretty!'
'Thank you, sweetie!'
Pause....
'Mom, don't kiss me with that stuff on!'
:)

So, immediately I had to chase him around the house making kissy noises. What a crack up he is!

Snow fun

First snowman:

First snow angel:

We had a big time in the snow and then came inside for some hot chocolate, hot soup and a much needed nap. Some things I learned today:

1 - building a snowman is waaaaay harder than it looks

2 - it's only fun for about 5 minutes, especially if you're 5 years old!

3 - Celery doesn't stick to snow (we didn't have a carrot for his nose)

4 - a good use of old halloween candy is for a snowman eyes and buttons

5 - Daniel would rather throw snow than anything. Throw snow, throw the shovel, throw the bucket - it's all about throwing really. Maybe baseball is in his future?

Happy 70th Birthday Papaw!

100th Day of School

Today was the 100th day of school. It's hard to believe Daniel has been in school for 100 days. He has really enjoyed it and has learned an amazing amount in such a short time. He is starting to recognize words and read a little bit. It's just a miracle to see. For the 100th day, they had to bring in 100 things to count (we took macaroni) and wear a shirt with 100 things on it. Check out his cute shirt we made. He put it on this morning and said to me, 'Mom, this is very special.'

Homework

In Social Studies they are learning about timelines. Daniel's homework this week was to do a timeline about himself and tomorrow he is supposed to get up in front of the class and tell everyone about it. We were practicing tonight. How cute is this.......

If the video isn't showing up (technical difficulties) - here is a link to it on you tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WN14rcWxmw

One of the interesting things about this video is that, in person Daniel's stutter is really getting bad. Having a conversation with him can be painful at times. You can see the vein popping out on the side of his neck as he strains to get a word out. But, it comes and goes. Sometimes he speaks as clear as a bell. Like in this video - I don't think he stuttered one time! I don't get it. We are hoping if we ignore it, it will just go away. If not, we will have to get some speech therapy. It seems like it will go away, because it disappears often but as soon as we think it's gone - there it is!

Bowling and SNOW

We had a wonderful, magical, fabulous Christmas!! We just took the tree down yesterday (yikes!) so we streched it out as long as we could. Daniel was so excited and it was really sweet to see. We also enjoyed our 2 weeks off school!! Jason and I had some time off work so we could have fun as a family. We took Daniel bowling! Finally an activity where he can throw and not get in trouble. What could be better? These are the only 2 good pictures - the rest were just a BLUR. He was running back and forth the entire time...

Then he went back to school and we had a big SNOWSTORM and a day off!!! He was really happy. We were looking out the window at the snow and he said, 'Thank you Santa for snow!' I told him that God sent the snow - not Santa! He thought that we were going to have Christmas again, since there was snow. He couldn't believe we have to wait an entire year for Christmas again. The sadness was quickly alleviated by his first snow sledding experience. It was great! We went down to the big hill at the park and when I sat on that sled with him and looked down that hill my first thought was - I am too old for this! We really flew down the hill. I don't know if Daniel or Mom had more fun! The next day Pop was on deck for sledding and I was able to get some pictures....

We are having such fun. It seems like each new day brings a new adventure. Daniel is doing fantastically well in school. We are so amazed at how smart he is. He is still testing us and standing in the corner as needed. (and whoa - what a stubborn streak!) He's not perfect, but neither are we. We're figuring this parenting thing out as we go.

He has picked up a bit of a stutter, but we're hoping that will fade away over time. I read that 2 or 3 year olds will often pick up a 'psuedo stutter' as they are learning to talk. We are hoping the same applies as he is learning English and it will not become a permanent thing. Over the break we had our follow up evaluation at the International Adoption Center and they were very pleased with his progress - physically and developmentally. He is a bit behind, but has made great strides and everything is on track.

We survived Christmas!

One more day!!

I know, I know - no updates at the most exciting time of year. How rude! Who has time for updating the blog? Between shopping, wrapping, baking, decorating, singing, working, school, dinner, parties.....who has time for anything? Not me! I need about 2 more weeks in December and MAYBE I would be ready for Christmas. But, whether I am ready or not - it's coming. I am trying not to get too stressed out thinking that it's DANIEL'S FIRST CHRISTMAS and has to be perfect. He has no expectations, so whatever happens will be great.

We both had strep throat right after Thanksgiving. Did I mention that? It really put me behind. But, we are having such a fun December. We had our first snow a few weeks back and Daniel was so excited. I woke him up for school saying, 'Look Daniel, it snowed!' He jumps out of bed and runs to the window. 'Mom, where's Santa?' (I guess he thought snow and santa went together) He insisted on wearing his mittens to eat breakfast. He was really excited - too bad we only had a dusting!

We have been telling Daniel the Christmas story. I got a kid's nativity at the book store and we look at the figures and talk through the basics. He definitely knows it's Jesus' birthday. I don't really know what he thinks is going to happen on Christmas. We don't talk about it much because I don't want to focus on the presents but it's everywhere. My eyes have really been opened to how much our culture focuses on presents - from the commercials on TV to the fact that everyone he sees asks him, 'What's Santa going to bring you for Christmas?'. I have been telling him that the reason we give presents on Christmas is because the Wise Men brought presents to Jesus. I don't know if he is making the connection.

We decided that we would tell him Santa fills his stocking, but all of the presents on Christmas morning are going to be from mom and pop. We are still a bit uncomfortable with encouraging the whole Santa thing but he already knew about Santa when he came to us, you see Santa everywhere, and we don't want him to feel left out. But, we want the presents to be from us. We felt that it would be hard to explain why Santa never brought him a present before and now all of a sudden he gets presents. So, Santa will fill the stocking with mostly candy and small items (that's what he got from Santa at the orphanage - candy) and the gifts (not too many, but enough) will be from mom and pop. I am so excited to see his reaction on Christmas! It is going to be such fun! I have really tried not to over do it in the gift department. It's so hard! I just want to get him everything and totally spoil him. Yeah, he is due a little spoiling but we don't want to ruin him! It's a fine line!

One Sunday Pop was sick and didn't go to church so I thought it was a good opportunity to introduce him to the joy of giving so I told him we were going to get a Christmas present for Pop and it would be a surprise! We went to the mall after church and picked out something great. I really talked it up that it was going to be a surprise so we can't tell pop. It's a secret until Christmas. We came home and found a great hiding place. A few hours after we were home, I popped my head into the bedroom to see how pop was feeling. He said, 'Apparently you got me a watch and it's a secret.' WHAT?? That little stinker marched right in there and told him immediately! I went to him and asked, 'what happened? I thought we were going to surprise pop?' He laughed and said, 'Mom, I'm silly!' OK - lesson learned for mom. Apparently 5 years old is too young for a secret. Oh well!

We wish you - all of our blog friends - a very Merry Christmas! As we work with Daniel on focusing on the true meaning of Christmas we hope that you can experience Christ in a fresh new way this year. I am reminded of a line in a song:

"His ways are higher, His ways are better - though sometimes strange. What could be stranger than God in a manger?"

We praise you Lord for your strange to us, but oh so brilliant ways! Thank you for sending your Son in a way that would make him approachable to anyone, from all walks of life. Thank you for sending Him in such a strange way that we would know it can only be a miracle from you. Thank you for moving in our lives and building our family in such a strange and beautiful way. I can't imagine a child that could be more perfect for us than Daniel Anatoly. It's been a strange, painful and surprising road. We are so humbled and blessed!

Merry Christmas!

Moving Day

I talked to Daniel's teacher when I dropped him off at school yesterday. She told me they were in their reading group and she read a story called 'Moving Day'. She asked the kids, 'Has anyone ever moved?' Daniel raised his hand and said that he had moved so she asked him to tell them about it. He said, 'Mama and Papa came to get me. They took me to the park. I called her Mom. And then we got on a plane and came to America.'

As he gets more English we are hearing more about what he remembers. I'm sure he remembers more, he just can't articulate it yet. It's nice to hear the bits and pieces as they come out.

We are still having some behavior issues, but it's mostly just due to the fact that he is settling in, learning the rules and testing his boundaries. We couldn't be prouder about his accomplishments in school. Academically he is doing amazingly well. He'll be reading in no time. They did some testing the 2nd week of school and we just got the results in the mail. On the letter recognition part of the test they would expect a child his age to get 8 right (remember, it was only the 2nd week of school). Daniel got 31. WOW!!

We are looking forward to Christmas and we are focusing on the reason for the holiday. He knows what a birthday is, so we are really talking up the celebration for Jesus' birthday. It gives us such a thrill to hear him singing Christmas carols. Sure, he hmmms over a lot of the words but it's so sweet and he loves to sing!

Hello Santa!

Today at school they had a wedding!! The kids are learning their letter sounds and they are up to Q. In order to reinforce the point that Q is followed by U - the Kindergarteners had a wedding today for Q and U. They are were all supposed to dress up and they had a ceremony. Now U is moving on up the alphabet train to be next to Q. How cute is that?

Since he was already all dressed up, I took Daniel to the mall to see Santa. I still think he has no idea what's coming. While we were waiting in line I told him, 'Santa is going to ask you what you want for Christmas. What are you going to tell him?' 'Um, Candy?', he says. 'Anything else?', I ask. 'I don't know', he says. I don't think he knows he's going to get presents. He is excited about Christmas, just because we are - it's fun. He doesn't know yet about all the loot he's going to get. We're going to try to keep it low key but I am really excited to see his reaction. Here is our happy boy with Santa. He was saying, 'Merry Christmas Santa!'

Oh Christmas tree

Daniel has his very own little Christmas tree in his room. It's pretty cool! I got some ornaments for him from the vendors in Ukraine. (you adoptees know those vendors - outside the SDA) Now that we put them on his tree, I wish I had gotten more! We also have some great handmade ornaments from when I was a little girl and a cool new 'I'm 5 years old' ornament from Babushka and Dadushka - Thanks! It looks pretty great....

Happy Thanksgiving!

I think Dad's Thanksgiving prayer sums it up perfectly, 'What last year was just a hope and prayer this year is our sweet little Daniel and we are so thankful.'

Here are some other photos to catch you up on our beautiful day......

Daniel was so amazed at our 4 turkeys. Here he is helping Pop prep them the night before:

And then getting ready to fry them up on the next day. That's right - we have a totally redneck (and really yummy) Thanksgiving of fried turkey:

It's been a crazy, busy, happy, stressful, surprising, and completely blessed 7 months. We are so thankful for our many blessings and for our favorite little boy.

Busy Days

We are busy just getting through the routine of our week. Daniel is still doing really great. He has grown almost 3 inches since he has been here and such a big boy. He zoomed right through 4T and are on to 5Ts. So tall - the 4s are too short!

School is going well. His English is improving in leaps and bounds and we have had such fun seeing his sweet personality blossom! We have been working on obedience, which doesn't come naturally so we've been standing in the corner a bit, but that's to be expected. We are finding that some of the things we let go in the beginning (when we were focused on NOT hitting!), now we are starting to focus on. We don't want to be those parents that tell their child 8 times to pick up toys before they actually do it. We're working on - Mom and Pop say it and Daniel does it. He's been getting in trouble a bit for not listening at school, so it's a lesson that will be good for him to learn. He is pretty strong willed and some days we stand in the corner several times but we're seeing progress. We know he's not going to be perfect so we're happy with improvement and I was proud today to see him doing a great job sharing at the playground.

Here are some pictures to catch you up:

Helping mom All dressed up for church

Riding a pony at a friends birthday party

With Curious GeorgeHaving a bad hair day

Playing at the park

Halloween 2009

Our little pirate had a great Halloween! Since this is his first year, I decided that the grandparents all needed to see him. So, we did a little bit a trick or treating on our street with the neighbor kids and then we loaded up and headed over to Mammaw and Pappaw's and then on to Omah and Foffee's. Whew! By the end of the night he was tired, mom was whipped, and we had a huge bowl of candy to show for our efforts. We'll be eating all this candy until next Halloween!

In the car on the way over, I opened the sun roof so he could see the moon. He's never really out late enough to see it - so it's amazing! He says to me, 'Mom, the moon is far away.' 'Yes, it is!', I reply. 'Ukraine is far away', he says. 'Yes it is - Ukraine is far away', I reply. 'Ukraine is on the moon', he said. That's pretty good logic! I told him that even though we can see the moon and we can't see Ukraine - Ukraine is closer. How cute!

The other night, putting him to bed I was telling him how God brought us all together. God brought Daniel to Mama and Papa and God brought Mama and Papa to Daniel. He said, 'God fixed it.' That's right big boy. God fixed a great family for us all.

Annual Gun Shoot In Missouri

About once every year, Jason gets together with his buddies from St Louis Rich, Jake, Bernie, and Brett for a full day of shooting guns. Unfortunately Bernie wasn't able to attend this year's edition due to a prior commitment but that didn't stop the rest of us from blazing away.

The Shooting Gallery

A well-armed tree

One can never have enough ammunition....

This year Rich and Jake fabricated some fairly elaborate target stands and several different sizes of 3/4" steel plate affectionately known as "gongs". Every year we try to see how much damage we can do the gongs and this time Jason brought along 200 rounds of 30.06 armor piercing to show them who's boss. While nothing else would fully penetrate the plates, these rounds went through them like a hot knife through butter. One of our victims...

Also we tried our hand at "bumpfiring" some of our weapons which is a method of simulating full-auto with a semiautomatic. Here's one of the results:

Anyhow, it was another successful day of shooting. Hopefully Bernie will be there next year to lend us a hand.

Santa Claus

After our fun time at the zoo, we stopped by a friend's house to show off our cute little pirate. While we were visiting with her in her home, Daniel saw a picture on the end table. The picture is of her grandkids sitting on Santa's lap. That night, when I was putting him to bed he asks, 'Mom - will Santa come here?' I didn't know what he meant at first. I said, 'It's not Christmas, it's Halloween. We are going to go trick or treating.' In a very confused voice he says, 'Mom, teacher in Ukraine say Santa no come here.'

Let me pause for a moment while that sinks in.

How sad. We have heard stories from other adoptive parents about their kids being told strange things to try to make them not want to leave Ukraine. How sad is that? That an adult would tell him that Santa doesn't come to America? So, he wanted a family so bad - even thinking that Santa wouldn't come here, he came home with us anyway.

It totally put me on the spot. We hadn't really decided yet if we were going to tell him about Santa or not. (you can visit Jason on Facebook to join the rollicking debate on if you should tell your kid the truth about Santa. If they find out you lied about Santa, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy - what will they think about Jesus?) That's a whole other debate.

I told him yes - we will have Christmas, just not yet. In a few months it will be time for Christmas. We will put up a big huge tree, and we'll celebrate Jesus' birthday, and we'll have presents. I love you. Good Night! I totally evaded and avoided answering the actual question. The bottom line is - Christmas here is going to blow his mind. (just like everything else up to this point) It is going to be so fun and magical and we can't wait to share it with him!

Halloween party at the Zoo!

We took Daniel to the Zoo for the biggest Halloween party in town. He was the cutest little pirate you ever did see. I explained to him what Halloween was all about - you're going to dress up like a pirate, and we'll go to the neighbors and knock on the door, and the lady will come to the door, and you will say, 'Trick or Treat'. I had his rapt attention. He says, 'And then, Mom??' And then she's going to give you candy!! His eyes got as big as saucers. Let's Go!! He said.

So our first round of trick or treating was at the zoo. He's not scared. He walked right up to the lady and said 'Trick or Treat' and held out his bag. When she put something in, he was rooted to that spot. He didn't move. He pulled out the candy and gave it to me and said, 'Mom, open?' We ate it right there. It was yummy! He had such fun seeing all of the characters and getting candy. We've been enjoying it all week. We are looking forward to this weekend and seeing our cute little pirate again....

Pumpking carving

Saturday was a slow day for us. We laid around and tried to get over our colds, watched the Cards lose at football and then went out and got a pumpkin. Daniel had no idea what was to come next.
When I cut off the top and told him to stick his hand in he goes, 'Mom, I'm scared!'. After a bit of coaxing, he finally went in and pulled a few seeds out.

I carved and let him poke out the pieces from the inside. Then he said, 'That's Cool!'

We put it out on the porch and admired our handiwork.

He had to give it a BIG HUG before going off to bed....

Field Trip!

Friday was Daniel's first field trip. All of the places around town that he's never been, and we went to the farm. He's been there twice! (for strawberry picking and peach picking) That's OK. The farm in the fall is great fun. We were really looking forward to it. It rained several days this week and turned cool. They sent home a note saying the trip would happen - rain or shine! So, we bundled off to school in the drizzling rain.

By the time they sorted us into groups and bussed everyone over there, the rain had stopped. It was still chilly and overcast, but I was thankful for no rain! We loaded up on the wagon and rode out to the Cartoon corn maze. The farmer met us out there and told all about the history of the farm, which was great unless you were five. Then it was totally boring and long. After the farmer's chat - we headed into the Cartoon Corn Maze. There were cartoon characters hiding and we were supposed to find them.

After 3 days of rain - the cartoon corn maze was a solid mud pit. I can't believe they actually sent us in there. It was unbelievable! They didn't even put down straw and try to minimize the mess. There were big huge puddles of mud that there was no hope of going around. Can you imagine 5 year old boys in all that mud? They were stomping. They were jumping. And by the time we emerged at the other end - they had mud everywhere. It was crazy! We picked out pumpkins, took a wagon ride and had a great big farmhouse lunch. They all had fun - and fell sound asleep on the bus on the way back to school.

Finally - an update!!

I know - it's been forever, right? I have been sick, so that's my excuse. I feel like I have been sick on and off (mostly on) ever since Daniel started Kindergarten. My immune system is a big wimp apparently. A gal at work told me it takes the first 6 months to build up immunity to all of those little kid germs. If I have to be sick for 6 months - I don't know if I can stand it.

The good news is - Daniel is healthy!! If one of us has to be sick, I am glad it's me! He is doing really great in school. He got his first report card. I am proud to report that he got all A's, with the exception of a C in PE. We expected that. He is behind the other kids in his strength and abilities. We are seeing leaps and bounds in progress though. He is able to do things now (like climbing etc. on the monkey bars) that he couldn't do when he first came home. We are so very proud of him. He knows all of his letters and numbers and the teacher said that they are very impressed with how great he is doing! She actually told me that he is a 'gifted' little boy and they expect big things from him. WOW! I mean, we thought he was smart but we don't have a point of comparison. For her to confirm it, is amazing!

God has blessed us with such a sweet boy. Tonight when he was saying prayers he said, 'Thank you for Mama and Papa and Daniel. I love all this.' We love you too sweet one. Life has changed completely since he has joined us and we're so happy with our new family.

We're so amazed at what a good sleeper he is. We put him to bed - and that's it, we don't hear from him again for 10 hours. A few times he has gotten up to go to the bathroom or to ask for a bandaid, but that's very rare. Usually he sleeps all the way through.

Jason had a surprise last week. I had set out Daniel's warm coat for a cold day and when they came down and saw it sitting there, Daniel said, 'That's not my coat. Daniel's coat is purple.' Who remembers the pictures from the orphanage? His famous purple coat? He never says anything about it, so we didn't know if he remembered it or not. Jason told him, 'No, this is your coat. You don't have the purple coat any more.' Daniel says, 'Oh - the purple coat is in my far away home.' That's the first time he's said anything about the orphanage. Once he gets more English, then more may come out. It was good to hear him speak about it.

I can't find the cord to upload pics from my camera so I will have to do that later. Tomorrow is Daniel's first field trip. I am taking a vacation day for the grand event and going with his class as a chaperone. I should have some good pics from that!

Gooooooooo CARDS!

We took Daniel to his first U of L football game this past weekend. It was big excitement - not just for Daniel but for Mom and Pop too! He has lots of U of L sports in his future. We had a great time, but it was a late night. The game didn't start until 8:00 and he's usually in bed by 8:30. He hung in there for quite awhile, but then he crawled up in mom's lap and fell dead asleep in the third quarter. I couldn't believe in the midst of all that cheering, whistling, jeering and whooping - he was sleeping! It was time to head home. Even though the Cards lost in a big way, we had a great time. See for yourself....

Ready for Halloween!

He was hoping that the kids at school would be scared of his creepy shirt!