Three Months Home

I can't believe it has been three months already, and I can't believe it has ONLY been three months. Haven't we *always* had an Adam, Liana and an Aleksa running around?

I think the biggest changes so far have been in this month. Their language is taking off first of all. They can hold intelligible conversations with non-family members now, with only occasional translation helps from John and me. They just keep getting better and better each day. The older two can count to 100 with a little help here and there, and I think I have mentioned elsewhere that they can say their days of the week and they've almost got the months of the year down.

Adam is still intrigued by water, soap and bubbles. Just tonight I had to ask him why the ceiling in the bathroom was soaking wet after his bath... And yesterday I burst into the bathroom after hearing the toilet flush four times. I figured there was an emergency in there, but instead it was Adam, sitting on the throne flushing after each "plop." (Sorry; too much information, I'm sure!) I also have to make sure the kitchen sink stays free of dishes or else Adam will, like a magnet, wash up the dishes using half the bottle of dishsoap.

Really though, Adam is a GREAT kid! I took all three to the grocery store today to pick up a few things, and Adam held both girls' hands, and cooed over his "sistrichkas" telling them that they were his baby sisters, etc. If we ask him to help do something, he does it whole-heartedly and takes pride in his job. He loves to help make John's lunch in the morning, loves to open doors for people, carry in bags, vacuum, dust, do laundry, etc. Pretty much a mother's dream. (He even gives great massages!) If I'm exhausted and want to lay down with Aleksa for her naptime, Adam will play quietly with his legos or cars in his room.

Liana is starting to mourn her past life. She's talking about the orphanage and her old family more and more, and will tell us she feels bad about different things and miss other things. Adam did this more his first month home, but I think Liana is finally feeling like she's not ever going to leave here (that's just a guess), so maybe that's why she's talking about Ukraine more now. I wish John and I had a better idea of what exactly her past life was like, but from what we've heard and seen, we know that all three of our kids are really remarkable, brave little people.

She has really taken off with her school stuff too. She doesn't do as well as Adam with letter-recognition, but she can out-count him very easily, and can remember and articulate words a lot better than Adam. For instance, Adam might mumble the words in Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, but Liana will belt out every word. She's been able to say the "Now I know my ABC's" part of the alphabet song since last month sometime, but Adam still mumbles most of the words. She's a smart cookie, and I think this has caused a little competition between Adam and Liana in a lot of areas. They both like to be top dog, and Liana gives Adam a run for his money at everything.

Aleksa! What a sweetie! Because I call all of our kids "Sunshine" in the morning, Adam has started calling Aleksa this too, as well as "Leksa Lou." She just has a way of wrapping everyone around her finger! She has really learned a lot these last few months about how to love people. She loves a good tickle, a good cuddle, a good snuggle, etc. When I lay down with her at naptime, she has to hold my cheek to her cheek, and she has to stay with her palm pressed on my cheek. She loves to pat my head, stroke my hair, give me kisses (one on each cheek), etc. and that is an enormous change from when she first came home. She doesn't push my hands away when I touch her anymore (that's been gone a while though). She loves to talk to us and will make things up to chat about if it means we will stay an extra minute to talk to her at bedtime. She is still way behind most other kids her age, but she has come sooooo far! She loves to cut and paste, but doesn't really enjoy coloring, which is weird to me. She just makes little circles on a page if we give her a blank page to draw on. If I ask her to draw a head, then draw eyes, a nose, etc., then she'll do so, but they are still only circles. She loves Color Wonder markers/paper though, and that's been the only way I've found to get her interested in any colorbook type coloring. She's a cutter though (as are the other two), and loves to take a pencil and pretend-write on a little notebook. She's definitely not a color-er though.

At month one, I thought, "wow, I'm busy, but am I a happy camper." At month two, I thought, "wow, I'm busy, but not quite AS busy, but I'm a happy camper." Here at month three, I look back and think, "Boy were month one and two stressful! This month has been so much easier! I'm a happy camper!"

Everyone is getting to know everyone by now, and the major boundaries have already been discovered and tested so there isn't the stress of constantly correcting and teaching everyone simple things that most other kids their age learned years ago. Month three has been the month to really relax and enjoy everyone. We've all learned a good routine, and though that still needs some refining, it is good enough for the kids to feel safe and relaxed. School has been great; they've learned a lot, and we've gone to great lengths to keep the goal of their first months home to be to feel safe and learn how to be a family. We could very easily have completely overwhelmed our Adam especially. Adam clams up when he feels any kind of pressure, especially with numbers, so there is no doubt that our approach of keeping things light has been wise. (We haven't always been successful at that, but for the most part, we have really tried.)

Anyway, I can finally look back and say, "Boy, I'm glad we're not still in that super-newly-home stage of the game anymore!" This was a great month, and with the holidays coming up, next month is going to be WONDERFUL! Can't wait!!!