Mama Memories

Adam was a little dishrag again today. Fever, chills and nausea on and off all day. We had to take all the kids in for some shots, and thankfully he was able to do that without any trouble, but when we tried to stop at the grocery store this evening, he let us know that there was no way he would make it. John and the girls shopped while I sat in the car with Adam. He's got a great sense of humor. We silently watched as a lady pushed her shopping cart *really* hard into the "cart corral" and then the cart at the back started rolling out the other end. It kept right on rolling into the parking lot. Adam broke the silence with a "bye-bye."

That just reminded me of another little story that none of you will care to hear, but I want to jot down so I don't forget it. We were getting into the car the other day when an empty Mt. Dew can rolled end over end all the way down the street headed our direction. The kids wondered what it was, so we paused at the edge of the lawn to wait for it. The Mt. Dew can stopped dead in its tracks right at our feet, with none of us saying a word until Adam piped up, "Privyet!" ("hello!") as if it was a little puppy. (Ok, I told you you wouldn't care about that story. Had to be there, but I really want to have that little memory etched somewhere, and here's my spot for that!)

We had to exchange our Leap Pad thingie for the second time today. They keep breaking. Not sure if it is our kids, or the toy, but this is the third one in just a few weeks! We love it, so we don't want to be without it, but it is getting embarrassing to walk into Walmart these days!

Speaking of breaking things, I was checking in on a website of a family in our adoption group today and noticed that they have a separate section called the "Destruction Calendar." You click on the individual days and you get to see what the kids broke that day. It cracked me up! I can SOOO relate to that! (And I might just have to start paying more attention to what things our kids are breaking!) Here's the link if you're interested. They celebrated their "two months home" the day after we celebrated our "one month."

The kids' English is coming along sooo well! More and more words are being replaced all the time, and their comprehension is really expanding to things outside of what is right there in front of us. Like while I was doing laundry today, I told Liana that I wanted her to bring me her blankets and sheets and without any hesitation, she went and got me just what I asked for. I was really surprised, since her blankets and sheets weren't right there to point at and then talk about. Can't remember if I've mentioned it or not, but the kids can say their ABC's for the most part. They need a little coaching right around the letter H, but after that they're home free. Except for Liana; she can cruise through the alphabet and then say the whole rest of the song too. The other two come awful close, but not as clearly and consistantly as Liana. One day they can all do it, the next day they stumble. So, they don't have it down pat yet!

Speaking of songs... (boy, and I thought I had nothing to write about tonight!), tonight as I was tucking in the girls, Liana asked me to sing the song about the "sky." I thought a minute and then remembered that "Twinkle, Twinkle" has that word in it, so I started singing it and both girls heartily started singing it soooo sweetly. They didn't get the words right at all, but it brought me back to somerthing that one of the people in our adoption group had written a while back when he heard his son sing that song in bed, and how thankful he was to have adopted an older child and what an amazing experience it was. I couldn't agree more. All these wonderful "firsts" we're experiencing are so precious to me, and to get to hear their reactions to their new world is amazing. Like when Liana held her first gooey marshmallow at the cook-out a few weeks ago and said it was like boogers. How hilarious, and how cool to get to be the one to introduce such "wondrous things" as marshmallow snot! (Hope none of you are eating while you're reading this!) ;O) I look at my kids now and think, "Yikes, I was soooo against adopting for so long, (it took me a few years before I could even SAY the word 'adopt' without bursting into tears), but if things would have worked out and I would have gotten pregnant, I would never, ever, ever have had these amazing, smart, hilarious, and completely adorable little kids." Good thing God is such a great family planner! We couldn't have ever had three kids that we could love any more. We're very, very blessed.