Hi Everyone! So what do you do when you are stuck in the house with a 3 year old for almost 2 weeks with close to 4 feet of snow and the snowplows aren’t even trying anymore? Well, let’s see… you clean out every closet and have a fashion show trying to figure out what to give to GoodWill, cook everything you have in the fridge in case the power goes out (again), watch hours of YouTube videos of jellyfish and octopi, play the WowWowWubbzy Make a Robot Game at least 400 times, develop and appreciation of for Jazz music (Rin’s new fave), make use of every tub of Playdoh and every grain of Moon Sand, take at least 2 baths a day, drink 10 tons of hot chocolate (or really just eat all the marshmallows), order new cute boots for myself off the internet, use up every single piece of railroad to make the ultimate train track, line up every car that we own in one long line and see if it will reach all the way into the other room, eat an entire bag of Milano cookies by myself, and finally just give up and say “OK, you go upstairs and watch Finding Nemo while I stay down here and watch a dumb made for TV movie” just so we don’t kill each other. Yup, I gave in to the power of the idiot box for a little peace and quiet. I have to say though, that we have a pretty amazing little trooper here. He has been entertaining himself pretty well. It’s me, however, who is starved for some companionship. Peter was gone for a week of the snowstorm and all I wanted was a friendly voice to tell me that there is an end to this before I started losing my mind. There was the possibility of going outside to play but it never lasted long when it was blowing snow at 40 miles an hour and up to sweet little Rin’s waist so he couldn’t actually walk out there.
One of the days he decided that he absolutely HAD to go outside and I was so exasperated that I told him that he could go if he got himself dressed and then I walked upstairs to recompose myself. A few minutes later I heard him say “I all ready Mama!” and looked down the stairs thinking he may have put on his gloves or shoes and was claiming to be ready. Well, I never would have imagined that he would actually get it all on by himself - bibs, puffy coat, ski coat, snow boots, hat, and gloves. He had every single thing on the he needed to go outside. It’s crazy what you learn about your child when you are stuck with them for that long. He’s a determined little bugger. I tried to see this time with him as a flash forward as to how it will be in Kaz and it’s taught me that I think it will be a challenge and we will surely get sick of each other but that we will have a good time anyway because there was most definitely more laughing than fighting going on during the whole time. And, being as uncoordinated as I am, once the snow finally stopped I went out to shovel and ended up bashing myself in the face with the handle and putting my tooth through the inside of my lip and out the other side. My first thought as blood was running done my chin and dripping onto the snow was ‘oh my gosh, what if I need stitches? My car’s under 3 feet of snow!’ I was apparently cursing quite a bit because I realized I could hear Rinat’s little voice telling me ‘dat not a very nice word’. Oh well, sometimes it’s warranted I think. It turned out to be fine but I do look a bit like Mike Tyson at the moment. And sweet Rin kept asking if he could give me hugs and kisses and bringing me Blue Bunny to make me feel better. There are some times when I am with him that I am absolutely certain that I have done something right.
And I do have some news on the adoption front. We got our last piece of paper in our little hands right as the snowstorm hit and got it notarized literally when the notary was getting to walk out the door to go home as the snow began to fall. We then had to wait another week for the government to open back up before I could get it apostilled downtown. And, in typical adoption fashion, it wasn’t easy. A trip that should have taken 2 hours max took us almost 6. A derailed train, a shuttle bus that took and hour to go half a mile due to the snow, another train and we finally got home with all our stuff. BUT we got it done and now I am just waiting for Peter to get home to drive me to the shipping place to send in our big, fat packet of papers to the agency (I still haven’t dug my car out of the snow and now ice). And then it’s just a waiting game (well, that and we have to get our immigration stuff renewed, get Rin a US passport, buy gifts for everyone in Kaz…) But you all have to promise not to ask every day if we have heard anything because, believe me, you will know it when we do because I will be shouting it from the rooftops. Happy late Valentines Day! -m
Hi Everyone! So what do you do when you are stuck in the house with a 3 year old for almost 2 weeks with close to 4 feet of snow and the snowplows aren’t even trying anymore? Well, let’s see… you clean out every closet and have a fashion show trying to figure out what to give to GoodWill, cook everything you have in the fridge in case the power goes out (again), watch hours of YouTube videos of jellyfish and octopi, play the WowWowWubbzy Make a Robot Game at least 400 times, develop and appreciation of for Jazz music (Rin’s new fave), make use of every tub of Playdoh and every grain of Moon Sand, take at least 2 baths a day, drink 10 tons of hot chocolate (or really just eat all the marshmallows), order new cute boots for myself off the internet, use up every single piece of railroad to make the ultimate train track, line up every car that we own in one long line and see if it will reach all the way into the other room, eat an entire bag of Milano cookies by myself, and finally just give up and say “OK, you go upstairs and watch Finding Nemo while I stay down here and watch a dumb made for TV movie” just so we don’t kill each other. Yup, I gave in to the power of the idiot box for a little peace and quiet. I have to say though, that we have a pretty amazing little trooper here. He has been entertaining himself pretty well. It’s me, however, who is starved for some companionship. Peter was gone for a week of the snowstorm and all I wanted was a friendly voice to tell me that there is an end to this before I started losing my mind. There was the possibility of going outside to play but it never lasted long when it was blowing snow at 40 miles an hour and up to sweet little Rin’s waist so he couldn’t actually walk out there. 
One of the days he decided that he absolutely HAD to go outside and I was so exasperated that I told him that he could go if he got himself dressed and then I walked upstairs to recompose myself. A few minutes later I heard him say “I all ready Mama!” and looked down the stairs thinking he may have put on his gloves or shoes and was claiming to be ready. Well, I never would have imagined that he would actually get it all on by himself - bibs, puffy coat, ski coat, snow boots, hat, and gloves. He had every single thing on the he needed to go outside. It’s crazy what you learn about your child when you are stuck with them for that long. He’s a determined little bugger. I tried to see this time with him as a flash forward as to how it will be in Kaz and it’s taught me that I think it will be a challenge and we will surely get sick of each other but that we will have a good time anyway because there was most definitely more laughing than fighting going on during the whole time. And, being as uncoordinated as I am, once the snow finally stopped I went out to shovel and ended up bashing myself in the face with the handle and putting my tooth through the inside of my lip and out the other side. My first thought as blood was running done my chin and dripping onto the snow was ‘oh my gosh, what if I need stitches? My car’s under 3 feet of snow!’ I was apparently cursing quite a bit because I realized I could hear Rinat’s little voice telling me ‘dat not a very nice word’. Oh well, sometimes it’s warranted I think. It turned out to be fine but I do look a bit like Mike Tyson at the moment. And sweet Rin kept asking if he could give me hugs and kisses and bringing me Blue Bunny to make me feel better. There are some times when I am with him that I am absolutely certain that I have done something right.
And I do have some news on the adoption front. We got our last piece of paper in our little hands right as the snowstorm hit and got it notarized literally when the notary was getting to walk out the door to go home as the snow began to fall. We then had to wait another week for the government to open back up before I could get it apostilled downtown. And, in typical adoption fashion, it wasn’t easy. A trip that should have taken 2 hours max took us almost 6. A derailed train, a shuttle bus that took and hour to go half a mile due to the snow, another train and we finally got home with all our stuff. BUT we got it done and now I am just waiting for Peter to get home to drive me to the shipping place to send in our big, fat packet of papers to the agency (I still haven’t dug my car out of the snow and now ice). And then it’s just a waiting game (well, that and we have to get our immigration stuff renewed, get Rin a US passport, buy gifts for everyone in Kaz…) But you all have to promise not to ask every day if we have heard anything because, believe me, you will know it when we do because I will be shouting it from the rooftops. Happy late Valentines Day! -m