Moritz Adoption

Recap of the last month....

There's nothing like watching all 4 of our children play and sing
together. This morning they were all doing Barbies together. Now
they're doing Ring around the Rosie. I think they are all starting to
look at one another as real siblings. They play, yell, laugh, hit, and
love one another.

We've been home for 8 weeks now. We have experienced many things
together in that time: 2 year old tantrums, bed making, bike riding,
stroller walks, girl vomit, blowing kisses, Sesame Street, and
haircuts...just to name a few. Regina has decided to start throwing in
her own choice of toys and gadgets into our cart at Target (we had to
have a little talk about that one). Lilia finally stopped picking the
scabs on her face so she looks somewhat normal again. We're going
through 4-5 gallons of milk a week! We never have leftovers at
mealtime. We found out the girls will eat pretty much anything but
veggie burgers do not top the list.

Hayden turned 9 last Friday. It was really fun to watch the girls
experience the cake and candle thing. Although we had HoHos because I
just didn't have the energy to make a cake. Turns out that was a huge
hit. I think they'll really get it by the time their birthdays roll
around again.

We have decided to send Holden to full day kindergarten in September.
We presented him with this option and he was SO excited. This will
allow him to go to the same school as Hayden and ride the bus with
him....and eat lunch at school. I think he's only going for the cheese
pizza, but hey--that's a 5 year old's perspective. ;) It feels like
such a good decision for our whole family.

Regina's language continues to take off. She mostly speaks English
now...words or sentence fragments. This morning I heard her say to
Lilia, "Stop following me." I think Holden has said that to her one too
many times! She's smart enough to know that if she wants time alone
she should go up to her room and close the door. Someone brought a
bunch of Barbies over for us and she has been busy for hours dressing
them, putting shoes on them, and combing their hair. It's cute. She
prefers if we do not speak any Russian to her. I think she's already
forgetting some of it. It's amazing what she remembers and how smart
she is. The other day she pointed at her bandaids from her three shots
that morning and held up three fingers and said "three"...all on her
own. I wasn't even asking her about it. The language has been so
gradual that we probably don't even realize how good she is. I
sometimes just take note and think to myself that she's really doing
well. We can definitely communicate with one another. Lilia even says
about 6 words now. She's starting to repeat us.

Things are looking up again. I just got completely overwhelmed and had
to re-evaluate my life. We have hired a 20-something 'nanny' for me to
get out 4 hours a week for the rest of the summer. That in itself has
been such a treat to dream about. I kind of lost myself for awhile
there with taking care of 4 children. At least everyone is sleeping
through the night most of the time. That helps a lot.

Today we're meeting Dan at Old Country Buffet for lunch. It will be our
first outing at a restaurant as a family of 6. Wish us luck!

posted by Dan @ 10:57 AM