HoHoHo Meddy Kissmiss

Good gosh, it’s been a whirlwind since last time I wrote. It all started with my friend Carson coming for a visit. She left her kids at home in Florida (a first) and spent the whole time playing grandma to Rinat. She brought a ton of gifts and every time I turned around, she was giving him candy and cookies. He of course adores her and still talks about the choochoo she gave him. After that came a visit from my friend Eileen. She, her husband, and two kids (ages 5 years and 20 months) stayed with us for a few days and the kids had fun just hanging out. And so did the grown ups. The next week we went out of town for the week and we went to not one but two Thanksgiving dinners in two different cities. Then a week off (but, sadly, I was sick and didn’t get to enjoy having time to relax). Then off to Richmond for my SIL’s graduation from nurse practitioner school. And now, of course, here we are at Christmas. Yikes! I feel like I have run a marathon. Rinat has taken things pretty much in stride except for the fact that he is no longer willing to let me sleep through the night when he is anyplace but tucked into his own little bed. He woke up at least 4 times a night when we were out of town with an all time high of 7 times in Richmond. Ugh. But, even being completely sleep deprived, we have had time to fit in lots of fun stuff along the way. We’ve had trip to the zoo (of course), the natural history museum, a first ride on the carousel, the Baltimore aquarium where he got his new fave animal ‘sea lion’ from Auntie Ann and is still talking about the dolphin show, cooked a Thanksgiving of our own here at our house with Ann and MattMatt, a ride on Santa’s train at the mall, a photo op on Santa’s lap, and, for me, a couple more preschool open houses. And speaking of Santa, I can’t even tell you how excited his is about ‘HoHoHo” coming. Did I mention that we wrote a letter to Santa a month or so ago asking for a train? Well he mentions it constantly. We got a dusting of snow about a week ago and Rin was so excited and he was saying “HoHo, Mama, HoHo!” Sadly, I had to tell him it’s not quite time for HoHo to come yet. I’m really amazed at how much he understands how it all works already. We went to visit Santa when we were in Richmond and I wasn’t really sure how it was going to go so I did a lot of preparing him and telling him what to expect. Well, he did great. He wasn’t a bit scared and just sat there on Santa’s lap like a big boy and let us take photos. I think he enjoyed the HoHo Bear that they gave him best and he still sleeps with it. I have been playing Christmas music a lot lately while we are hanging around the house and he has started trying to sing it. It started with “Fooootee Maaaan” (Frosty the Snowman) that he loves because we have a Frosty movie that he likes to watch. Then I realized that he was playing while singing “Saaadda Baaaybee” (Santa Baby). But my favorite is the “Dindle Bews, Dindle Bews” at the top of his lungs in the back seat of the car as we were driving home from getting fingerprinted at CIS today. Oh, and then there is the very annoying “HoHoHo Meddy Kissmiss” that he shrieks periodically while I am on the phone or trying to talk to the mailman. He’s definitely two and wanting as much attention as possible (being fawned over by family and friends constantly for the last month doesn’t help). He is quickly turning into the textbook two year old. His new phrase is ‘NatNat self’ because he wants to do everything himself. And oh boy the tantrums- he will stamp foot or fall onto the floor screaming when I say no. But I don’t have enough patience to put up with it so I just put him in the other room and tell him to let me know when he’s all done. And he actually does it- it’s amazing. He comes back once he’s no longer screaming and says “All done, Mama”. I mean, really. I never expected it to actually work. But he is mostly a really sweet boy. He loves his cars and lines them all up in a row, lies down on the floor and kicks his little legs, asks me to lie down next to him, and says “Oooo, neat!”- and then thanks me for all of them- “Dat do Mama choochoo, Dat do Mama pupul toe tuck, Dat do Mama white cah, Dat do Mama dump tuck…” I love it. Then he puts them in the little basket I gave him to carry them in and takes them off to line them up somewhere else. No matter how crazy he drives me sometimes, all he has to do is flash that little smile and I melt once again. What a sweetie. Well, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and bring in 2009 with a bang. I’m sure we’ll be in bed by 9:30 J -m

Cutest Mouse EVER!

Hi Everyone- I always tell myself that I will not let so much time pass without posting. So much happens that I want to document but I just don’t get to it somehow. So, again, this will be a long one. Forgive me and enjoy my random thoughts and declarations of adoration for our little one. So, right now, I am watching the Amazing Race on TV who is traveling to Almaty, Kazakhstan on this episode. It is so weird to see the babushkas, clothes and faces that remind me of the place that our boy comes from. I know it’s strange, but it makes me feel kind of homesick somehow. I also find myself looking around us wherever we are in DC for the same. Today at the zoo, I heard a man speaking Russian and immediately spun around so I could see if it was someone who looked like Rin or like any of the other people in KStan. And I looked at the faces of the people visiting the Kazakhstan horses there and wonder if they, too have a connection to that part of the world. That’s just another reason that I love DC- all of the different people with a connection to places all over the world. And it makes me even more anxious to get to Kaz again before to long. But more about what is going on with that at the end of this post. Let me start with our little mouse. He had an absolute blast on Halloween. The day before HDay, we had baked cupcakes to take to the park for a Halloween party there and so he was just about bouncing off the walls with excitement the next morning- he knew it was a special day and he was eager to get it started. He was absolutely terrible all morning but I can’t really blame him. It’s hard to wait when you are not quite 2 years old! And when he woke up from nap, he raced over to his little costume and started trying to put it on himself. He was totally into the whole idea of dressing up. He thought that the whiskers were absolutely the best part and keeps trying to get my to paint them on him again just for fun. He basically ran all of the way to the park saying “SQUEEK! SQUEEK!” while Peter and I ran behind him with the cupcakes trying to keep up with our little scampering mouse. We ended up trick-or-treating at a few of the houses on our block after the park and it was more than enough for a little tyke who didn’t really get it yet. Just wait until next year though- he’ll be unstoppable in his quest for candy. Although, I think our guy is a pretty good eater. I think it stems from the fact that I have him hooked on cooking. He carries around one of my pots with some dry pasta in it and ‘cooks’. He asks for specific things like the potato masher or the cupcake tin to make it a little more authentic. And he really does help me cook sometimes. When we made the Halloween cupcakes he counted out 2 eggs, helped stir the batter, put the papers in the cups, told me which ones needed more batter, told me when the timer went off, and helped put decorations on top. He gets so excited about it that he jumps up and down yelling “Cooking, Mama! Cooking!” I don’t think Peter likes the idea, but I really want to get him a kitchen for him to play in. But I am really enjoying not cooking on our ‘Take-out and a Movie” Friday nights. So far, we have watched the Wawa movie (Ice Age: The Meltdown), Gasgar (Madagasgar), Pumpkin movie (Pooh’s Heffalump Halloween Movie), Cars, and Elmo Saves Christmas, and we have gotten takeout from Italian, Indian, Thai, Pizza, and Chinese. It’s my new favorite night of the week. Sweet Rinat is doing a ton of talking these days. I actually have people ask how old his is pretty often and comment that he’s a good talker. It definitely makes my life easier when he can tell me what he wants. Some of his new words are crocodile, shovel, wallet, hummus, heavy; and even better, he’s speaking in semi-sentences like “Bubby tayoh why” (Bunny’s tail is white), “Sitting NatNat” (Rin wants to sit here), “Dada soo bown” (Dada’s shoes are brown), and my fave “Dah duh Dada Mama” (can you guess what that one is:-)? Yes, he is really into naming the colors of everything these days too. I think he knows all of the main colors and I don’t know what he’s going to learn next. Peter and I have started applying to preschools for him next year and it is kind of sad and exciting at the same time. I can’t believe that it is already time for me to let him start leading his own life. Here in DC the process is insane. I think we are going to try and find 6 schools to apply to after going to open houses and we are hoping to get into one 2 days a week starting next September. I know I am going to bawl my head off when I drop him off for the first time. But that’s next year… And who knows what we’ll be doing by then. And this post really long already so I will give you a (relatively) quick sister update and then sign off. We started down the road in Feb and it has been crazy ever since- closings, slowdowns, policy changes, new agencies, and generally not knowing what was going to happen. I’m glad I was so naive the first time around or else I would have gone crazy- I just assumed that everything would work out (and it thankfully did). It was so easy last time and this adoption is so full of ups and downs. We don’t really have any idea how things will go but we are being told that it will be at least two years and we cannot be guaranteed a girl or a child under 1 year. It will get to a point that our papers will have been sitting over in Kaz long enough and they will tell them to send us to Kaz and get us a child or they will send it back. But we are almost done with the temporary dossier that our agency is requesting and then it is just a waiting game. We have to wait for the OK to get the real deal dossier done (apostiled & updated), and then we turn it into the consul and wait yet again for them to send it to Kaz, then wait again for them to assign us a region, and then again for a specific city and a date to travel. We will most definitely let you all know when we have any news. And, in the meantime, we will be enjoying the gorgeous cool weather that we have been having. Happy Fall! -m

Today's Excitement

Hi everyone! I was reading a magazine the other day and there was a quote from one of the Winnie the Pooh stories. In it, Piglet asked about the first thing that Pooh thought about each morning, to which Pooh replied “What's for breakfast?” He asked Piglet the same question and he replied “I wonder what's going to happen exciting today!” That’s exactly how my sweet pea seems to wake up each and every morning. It’s pretty infectious. And usually we do find something that is worthy of excitement. Sometimes it is a walk to the community gardens nearby where we find tomatoes, flowers, butterflies, peppers, squash, praying mantis, melons, a giant fig tree, and usually someone who is willing to share whatever it is that they are growing. Sometimes it’s a trip to the park to watch the kiddie baseball league. Sometimes it's class at Gymboree. Sometimes it is just a walk around to see what we can see- the city taking down a tree, a squirrel searching for nuts, or a friendly grandma type to give us much needed (yeah, right) attention. Well, today’s excitement was a trip to the pumpkin patch. I can’t believe that it was only a year ago that we took Rinat for the first time. He had no clue what was going on then. Well, this time, he absolutely got it. As we were eating breakfast, I was telling him where we were going to go and what we would see. He immediately told me he was all done with Bfast and “GO CAR!” as in NOW! When we finally did get him fed, clothed, packed up, and ready to go, he was standing at the door jumping up and down (sort of) saying “GO GO GO GO GO GO!” The longish drive didn’t bother him at all as he was busy making animal noises at the top of his lungs the whole time. And the patch definitely did not disappoint. There were pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, bunnies, and peacocks. There were multiple giant slides to go down. There was a rather scary hayride. There was music to dance to. And there were many many photo ops with the cutest child in the world. I know, I’m just a bit biased but tell me- you think he’s pretty adorable too don’t you? I know you do. Happy Fall and go pick out your pumpkins! -m

All Boy

Hi- I am not sure where it came from, but our little ‘NatNat’ (as he calls himself) is absolutely, 100% boy. He loves all things sports (OK, Peter has influenced him a little in that department). He has little plastic golf clubs and balls that he plays with 24-7. They are the first thing he goes for in the morning and the last thing he puts down at night- in the house, in the yard, and in the car. He also has a football that he loves and he carries it tucked into his arm as he dashes across the living room saying “Runnin’! Runnin’!” We even took him to a UVA football game which I think he enjoyed but didn’t really understand that we had to stay in one seat for 4 hours and couldn’t just crawl around wherever we wanted. To be honest, I think 4 hours in one seat is too long also. But it was still fun (well, maybe not so much for the people in front and behind us). And when football is on TV he watches intently until someone gets tackled and says “Uh-Oh! Uh-Oh, Mama! Boo-boo.” He cracks me up. But the one that took the cake the other day was when we went to the grocery store right next to a school where they were having soccer practice. He insisted that we walk over and watch them for a minute and he kept saying “Football, football!” and pointing to the field. When I corrected him and told him it was soccer and they kick the ball instead of running with the ball, he paused for a second and I could see his little face scrunch up in concentration, and he said “NatNat? Soccer? Kick it? Please?” He is sooooo cute. Have I mentioned how wonderful the internet is? Not only am I able to broadcast all of the adorable things that my little boy does, but I have also found it incredibly useful in trying to figure out what in the world to do about finding a sister for Rin. I joined several Yahoo groups to do some research and have, in the process, found a couple who we met in Almaty the day before they were off to meet their little one. I remembered them well because I felt so much sympathy for them since we had been in their shoes only 6 week before- terrified of the unknown- just like they were. It’s strange how you can run across someone anywhere now. The Yahoo group has also been really great for my sanity and I feel like I have finally found a group of people who can truly understand how exciting getting past each small step in the adoption process is and can offer guidance and support when I need it. It’s a lifesaver. And I have also, through Facebook, found some of my friends that I had when I was growing up and it has got me wondering who Rinat’s lifelong friends will be. One of the friends that I found was my best friend from the time I can remember until almost college and it has been really great to find out what she is up to and share some of the funny things that we did as kids. And I have found myself wondering who Rinat’s lifelong friends will be. Will they be the kids that we play with now? Someone he meets in school? Who knows, but I hope that he also finds someone who knows him through and through and can share all of those crazy childhood things like sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags, cooking s’mores over a campfire, spending hours and hours having Big Wheel races in the alley, running around the neighborhood like hooligans, going on vacations together, and having someone who feels like family- someone that truly understands what he’s about. I don’t wish for him a big house or fancy cars, I can only hope that he finds good friends to help him through the things that I can’t. And while we are on the subject of family, here’s a quick update on a sister. After researching every country that allows adoption, we are back to Kazakhstan. Yes, we are insane. We had considered Kyrgyzstan and Taiwan as alternates but my heart is in Kaz. I may come to regret it, but there we are. I waffled back and forth (and back and forth and back and forth). I have actually had our contract for two months and had not sent it in because I didn’t know what to do. I even put away all of the paperwork and took a break from it. But I decided to just rip off the bandaid and send in our contract so we hope to be moving forward with our dossier soon. I will, of course, keep you all in the loop. Cross your fingers for us because I think this time around is going to be a bit bumpier. But we have finally taken the next step. I hope that you too can soon rip off the bandaid of something you have been putting off. It’s really liberating! I feel a lot better about finally making a decision- whether it turns out to be the right one or not. Good luck! -m

WHHHHEEEEEE!!!

You all may have a Nintendo Wii at your house but we have a whole different kind of Wii. It is the new fort that we bought Rin for the anniversary of the day we met and he calls it The WHHHHHEEEEE! It’s really cute because he will go to the door and say “Mama, wheee! Mama, WHEEE!!!” when he wants to go outside and play on it. It has a sandbox which we loaded up with a digger truck and all kinds of shovels and buckets, a climbing wall, a ladder, a covered part, and a slide. He loves it and it has led to many a screaming meltdown when it’s time to say goodbye to the ‘whee’ and go inside. We also have had men working on our house lately and so he has become completely obsessed with tools- screwdrivers in particular. He likes to take a toy and turn off the power switch and then proclaim “Uh-oh, Mama, babbie” and try to use the screwdriver to take off the back and change the battery. He is always doing something that is so grown up and I can’t believe that he was a baby just one short year ago. I remember last September 8th when we got home from Kaz. Our first night home, after everyone had left and Rinat and Peter were asleep, I remember wandering around the house with just a feeling of finally being fulfilled. All was right in the world and our journey was finally over- not just the trip to Kaz but our journey that started years ago to make a family. And I still find myself, late at night, listening to the sound of quiet and thinking the same thing. All is right in the world- I have a wonderful husband, a whip of a son, and couldn’t be happier at what my life has turned into. I hope all is well in your world. -m

Court, Beach, The Day He Became Ours

Hi everyone- I know that I have fallen way way WAY behind on posting but I haven’t really forgotten about it. I just have kind of a backlog of entries that I never posted for whatever reason. I also have a list of things that I have not yet written about which I will hopefully have time to write up this week sometime. In the meantime, here are some of them below:
Aug 13th- Court Day- I remember a year ago Baheet saying “Today is a day that will change your life forever- it is the day that you are parents.” But it didn’t really feel that way at the time, I was still afraid someone would come along and take Rinat away. It was not until we got on the plane to Germany that the anxiety was finally completely over and I felt like I could finally let down my guard and give my whole self to our little boy. But as I went back and read the post that I did back then that detailed our court date and how it felt and what we were thinking, I guess it did feel at least a little bit like an important day in our lives. And she was right- it has most definitely changed our life. I can not even count the number of things that our sweet boy has taught us. He taught us how important it is to have patience, that there is no limit to how much you can love someone- it just keeps growing every single day, he gave us the knowledge that our lives are meant for something good (him), and that our purpose is to give one more person to the world who has an open mind, open heart, is joyful, and responsible. I can’t wait to see him grow up and see the man that he will become. He has also shown us we have an amazing family that will continue to grow and change and we only increase our strength when we face challenges together and we become all the better for it.
Aug 16 to 23- We drove down to SC to go to the beach (Rin’s first time!) with Peter’s Dad’s family this week and it was tons of fun. It ended up being a 10 hour drive down (with a short stopover at Auntie Ann’s house) and Rinat did absolutely wonderfully. He did not cry for one single second the whole ride and he spent literally hours playing with a golf club and ball. Unbelievable, right? As a matter of fact, every time we got out of the car to change his diaper or make a bathroom stop, he would just say “Go Car! Beach!” I guess he knew that we couldn’t’ get to the beach until we got back in the car and drove there. Rinat had an absolute blast when we were there. The first time we headed down to check out the beach, he had no fear as usual. I should have known. He just walked right out into the waves and laughed his head off at the water rushing between his feet. When he got knocked down he wasn’t scared at all, he just kept right on jumping in. And he, of course, enjoyed lots of quality family time- especially with Granddaddy. Big Pete took him for at least a couple hours a day and played with him down on the beach so I got a vacation as well (and poor Peter had to head up to PA for a meeting for almost the whole trip). We also got to see Walt/Nan/Sam/Sara and as usual Rinat had a blast with them. He always learns something from them and this time it was how to jump off the side of the pool. All in all, it was a great trip. I did, however, get some bad news mid-trip in the form of an email from the agency we were using to adopt our next child and it made me really sad for the last few weeks. Basically it led me to believe that Kazakhstan is not where we will find our next child. So I took some time to mourn the fact that we have to leave Kaz behind and rethink things and I think we are now ready to get started again. A new agency and a new country, but we are on our way. I think so anyway. Of course it’s never a done deal until we bring the baby home so we’re just hoping we are doing the right thing and working on making sure. I am watching the Yahoo groups and blogs like a hawk and it looks like I will most likely be doing it for several years as we work on the next member of our family. But we’ll get there eventually.
Aug 29th- The Day He Became Ours- I was watching Run’s House on MTV recently (yes, of the rap group Run DMC) and just happened upon the episode when they brought their adopted daughter home to join their family and it was so similar to the day that we brought Rin home to our apartment. I remember being so terrified but so unbelievably happy at the same time. It was just so overwhelming but I wanted to soak up every second and not forget anything at all. It was a good natured competition between Peter and me as to who got to give him his first bath, first feeding, first reading books before bed, first getting up in the middle of the night, who slept next to him the first night, who could make him laugh the most or who he would crawl to first. And now, a year later, not all that much has changed. It is not longer a competition but I have yet to get sick of it. Instead of giving him a bath, I love to have him play on the floor of the shower while I wash my hair; instead of feeding him, we eat all of our meals at the table where we really do hold something like a conversation; instead of reading to him before he goes to bed, he hands me a book and just climbs right into my lap when he wants me to read to him; rather than sleeping next to him I am still 100% awake and out of bed the second I hear his cry in the night; and we still try to get him to giggle nonstop and he rather than crawling to us, he now runs. So different yet still the same. The only thing that has changed is that Peter and I love him even more than we did then. I never thought that would be possible but I constantly find myself just watching him concentrate so hard as he pretends to measure something with the measuring tape, mirrors the mommy face that I sometimes make as he shares his snack with Blue Bunny, says ‘mama do it’ when I ask him to put something away, and I find myself just unable to take my eyes off him, staring at him- literally fawning like a teenage girl over a boy she has a crush on. It sounds bizarre and slightly weird but it’s true. I’m obsessed. I have trouble completing an email, reading a magazine article, or having a conversation that is not interrupted by me watching him, amazed at the person he is turning into. So to commemorate bringing him home to our apartment in Astana one year ago today, I declared today to be Rinat Day. I did not do anything that was not Rin-related. I didn’t answer the phone, check emails, do laundry, cook, run errands, or any of those other things that keep my from focusing on my sweet boy. It was a good day. But then again, any day that involves donuts for breakfast and cupcakes for both lunch and dinner is always good J Yup, I let Rin make all of the decisions today. We started with a trip to Starbucks to get our sugar (and my caffeine) fix, then watched the Wawa movie (aka Ice Age: The Meltdown). Then he told me “Go car” so we got in the car and I asked him where he wanted to go he said “Cupcakes” so we drove to the grocery store to get some. I’m not sure where the idea came from but I was happy to go along with it. Then we played, ate, read, did puzzles and just generally just enjoyed hanging out all day long. As I said, it was a good day. I hope yours was good too. –m

I’ll post more fun Rinat stuff soon so check back.

When We Met

Good Morning Everyone! I woke up to the sweet face of our little boy today and, as always, it’s the best sight I could imagine first thing in the morning. And to think that I first saw this face only one year ago today. The second that I saw him then in Dr. Alma’s office in Astana, I was overtaken more by uncertainty than anything. Was this the child meant for us? But Gulsanna, with a raise of her shoulders and a nod of her head, told us that he was ours and the confusion turned adoration. How could anyone not fall in love with this face? The caretaker passed him to me and I can truly say it is the most surreal, most amazing, most terrifying , and most wonderful moment in my life. And when I looked over at Peter, I knew he felt the same. Every day Peter and I say to each other at least ten times “Do you think he’s the best baby ever?” The answer, of course, is always an emphatic “Yes.” -m