Sunday, March 27, 2005

Happy Easter!



Another one of those days where I just can't believe I'm a mama. It was so fun to play dress-up with the kids today as we celebrated Easter.

After church we went to the Fishers' house and Grandpa and Grandma hosted an egg hunt. Fun!

Here are some pics of us all in our fancy-schmancy duds. Enjoy! (Sorry this post is so short - I'm exhausted.)

John and Adam
Me and the Girls
Sweet Sisters

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Funny Hair



This has been a busy few days. Auntie Sharon came to town on Thursday and we all colored eggs at Grandpa's house, and decorated some cupcakes. (Really cute ones. Frost them with green icing, then put some jellybeans on top. Then stick both ends of licorice twist as a handle. Adorable.) Sharon was such a sweetie - she gave Adam a new fishie! His name is David, I think. Though we all still goof and call him "Adam." So, maybe Adam will always have a fish named "Adam." We'll see... She also gave the girls a cross necklace. Everyone was very excited! (Understatement... the kids were rather wired with all the sugar from the jellybeans)

Yesterday we went to our Good Friday service at church, and Grandma gave us the girls' Easter dresses she made and also a nice shirt and tie for Adam. I can't WAIT to post pics of everyone all slicked up. The dresses are absolutely adorable.

Today I picked up the girls' Easter shoes and tights, and I also got John a shirt that will match Adam. That made Adam feel really special. It wound up to be the same brand and everything. Adam helped me iron the shirts. He's really excited to match Papa at church tomorrow.

The highlight of the evening, however, was putting curlers in the girls' hair, and Adam's haircut. Let's start with the girls. They are just as proud as punch about the prospect of waking up with curly hair. Who knows if their stick-straight hair will actually take a curl or not, but it was worth it to see their excitment over little pink spongy-curlers!

Then Adam's haircut. I was doing dishes tonight, and I asked John if he would cut Adam's hair. No problem. The next thing I know, the girls are asking John why he was shaving their brother's head, and John was explaining that everyone who is a soldier looks like that, etc. Finally, I turned around *big gulp.* Pretty much, Adam ain't got no hair, Mate. John had grabbed the 1/8" blade guard instead of the 1/4" one. We learned that an eighth of an inch is really important. (!) Poor kid. After John was done, Adam waltzed down to the bathroom for a shower, and as soon as he flipped on the light, he let out a Macaulay Culkin "Home Alone" scream. I didn't blame him!

I almost forgot to write about our trip to the library today. The children's room at the library has an emergency exit. We didn't know that before today. (!!!) Liana found it, and while John was saying, "NO, don't touch that, don't touch that!" She touched that. Set off an alarm, and sent a librarian running across the room. Hopefully that helped our cause in teaching Liana that there are reasons that Mama and Papa say "no." She was pretty sheepish for several hours. Freaked Her OUT. (Between the door and the bathroom, she's going to have a complex about libraries when she gets older!)

Can't wait til tomorrow! HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!! Kristos Voskres!

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Adam the Fish Dies! *Gasp*



Sad boy at the Fisher house tonight. Adam the Fish died. This afternoon Adam the Fish started looking rather ill. Adam (the Boy), started getting concerned about his little friend and cleaned out his aquarium, cooed over him, pet him, etc. trying to make him feel better. I took the most pitiful video of Adam with Adam today. Adam was petting Adam trying to be all parental, and part of the fish's fin disintegrated in his hand. Not a happy boy...

He wants to bury him in the yard. John tried to talk him into flushing him, but he wouldn't hear of it. We'll see.

Poor kid!

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Liana's First Loose Tooth!



Very exciting stuff at the Fisher house this week. I must be breaking a record for how many pictures I've posted lately!

Tonight Liana was almost in tears complaining that her tooth hurt. We took a closer look and sure enough, one of her lower front teeth is loose. When I started to get all excited and told her that she was loosing her tooth because she was getting to be a Big Girl, she about bounced off the wall she was so excited! She giggled, and danced, and hopped, and skipped, and hugged and, and, and... It was one of those moments where I sat back and said, "Yaaaaay! I'm a Mama!!!! I get to share the excitement of a 6-yr-old's first loose tooth!" I've been having a lot of those moments this week. When she told John about it, she said, "PAPA! My tooth shakes!" (I'm sure gonna miss all these little goofs with their English. They're coming less and less all the time!) (Aleksa just sang, "Bah, bah, black sheep, every little wolf..." this morning, though, so I'm sure she'll keep 'em coming for a while yet for me!)

Tonight Adam came into the girls' room to give them their nightly hugs and kisses good night, and he accidentally burped when he gave Aleksa her hug. Well, that ignited a 5-minute giggle fest among all three kids. No sweeter sound than your children laughing! I even teared up. I just can't believe they're MINE! What a happy Mama I am! :O) :O) :O)

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Before/After & Fun Snow Day





We had such a fun day today!

Yesterday it snowed 12" here in the area. Adam shoveled us out, much to John's relief when he got home from work. It took the kid about 4 hours to get it all done. John looked into his wallet and pulled out all he had - a measly $7 and gave it to Adam, who promptly let out a "Yippee!" He was thrilled. Later, John said to me, "What a pitiful hourly wage!" I tried to ease his conscience by reminding him that most people take advantage of immigrant workers, so that was ok. ;o)

Anyway, this afternoon we went to Grandpa's house. He made us all some snow ice cream! He used to make it when I was little, so I was tickled that he made it for our kiddos. Great stuff. I took lots of video and pics of that. Fun!

Then we went for our weekly library run and after we got home, we all made a gigantic snowman in the yard. Actually, it was more John's project, but it was fun to watch him! ;O) As we played in the yard, I couldn't believe how much Adam has grown these last few months. That's when I asked John to take a picture of us. I knew I had a couple pics of Adam and I standing together in Ukraine, so I had to see the pics side by side to see the difference. It's just amazing to me that it is even POSSIBLE to grow that fast! Great reminder to seize the day!

Thursday, March 17, 2005

Aleksa's Q's!



Tonight as I was cutting John's hair I mentioned to John that Adam could make pretty nice "Q's" and that he should show him. Adam proudly got out his paper and demonstrated. Liana was already at the table making one of her gazillion paper/marker/paste projects, and Aleksa was also playing with her pencil and paper. She decided that she was going to make a Q too, and out of the blue she drew one. It was rather lopsided, so John showed her how to make a better one, and then she decided to go to town. I couldn't resist taking a few pics. Maybe her doodlings are chicken scratch compared to other 4-yr-olds, but to me, she has made the most beautiful things in the world! Especially when she can also tell me "what Q says!" Just a little proud tonight! :O) (Also notice that she can't button her shirt quite right...)

Aleksa's Q's
Great Grandma Reading
Great Grandma Reading
Great Grandma With Kids

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

Seven Months Home

Seven Months Home. Can't believe it. Tomorrow is the day, but since I can't guarantee that I'll have the energy tomorrow to blog, but I do tonight, I figure I'd better jump on the opportunity.

This month has seen some major changes in everyone. Some good, some bad.

Adam has been testing us more definitely than he has in a long time. Not sure if it's the hormones, or what. They say that for every year a child is old, it takes that many months to fully bond. I've found that definitely true with Aleksa, not really true for Liana (she bonded the fastest, though of course that bond is still strengthening). With Adam, I really think it will be true. He's ten and we haven't been home 10 months yet. There are lots of things that he needs to learn to trust us with, and while he's doing Beautifully compared to some of the other horror stories I've heard about, I do know he has a way to go yet too. The more we've gotten to know Adam and the more we've learned about his Previous Life, the more amazed we are that our kids have pulled through smelling as rose-like as they do.

Adam is emotionally about age 7, I'd say. Maybe even 6. He gravitates toward the way younger kids, and plays like a little kid. He doesn't mind playing with Aleksa's tricycle instead of his scooter. He comes off rather annoying to the older kids... and that's partly because he simply has no idea how to play like older "nice" kids who have been here all their lives. If he does play with older kids his age, he gravitates toward the wilder ones. Instead of going up to another child and asking them to play, he'll grab them, yank their arms up and down and getting in their face thinking he's "playing." Just tonight we had a "family meeting" to teach the kids how to ask other children to play with them. Hopefully they caught the lesson... I really fear that Adam is going to shoot himself in the foot with his playing techniques. He has lots to learn and a giant span to cross emotionally.

Physically, however, he continues to shoot up. Last Sunday, his Jr. Church teacher told me after church that Adam proudly came up to her and said, "Mrs. ---, look! Pimples!" And then he also pointed to armpits. Oy.

He has gained over 15 pounds since he came home from Ukraine, and I have no idea how many inches. At the end of August last year he was 60 lbs. He is now 75. We "started feeding" the kids when we took custody of them on August 12, and he ate nonstop for those two weeks, so who knows how much weight he gained from then until the end of August when we finally weighed him in at 60 lbs.

Adam's English is progressing slowly but surely. His Russian is gone, but he will remember if we ask him specifics. Of course none of them have been speaking Russian to eachother for months and months now. Adam's sentences are still not complete, but they are filling in more all the time. He seems to struggle less and less when we make him repeat the correct way of saying what he's trying to articulate. There is nothing wrong with his comprehension, however, and can define some pretty obscure words. In Sunday School, his teacher told me that he could tell her what the word "famine" meant, for example. All our reading is starting to reap some benefits. I thank God every day that our kids love to be read to as much as they do. Adam is reading more and more all the time, and he is really good at figuring out how to write the words he hears. The stories in his readers are getting longer and longer all the time. We've been working "overtime" with Language class with him - I probably have him do an hour and half or two hours of it scattered throughout the day (that includes penmanship too though). He doesn't mind. He's very anxious to be able to pick up any old book and be able to read it without waiting for someone to read it to him. John and I also think that him being able to read has helped his speech since he can see what he's supposed to be saying. We've seen that happen at least a few different times that his articulation of a word changed for the better once he saw how it was spelled.

Liana's English continues to strengthen and her comprehension and articulation are really great. She is this month starting to ask lots more questions about what different words/expressions mean instead of letting them go over her head. She doesn't want to miss ANYTHING now. Like the other day I mentioned that Papa was going to swing by the library after work, and her eyes got big and she said, "HOW?" Tonight she asked why we didn't get any gas for the car, and her string of "why?" questions in the end had John explaining that gas makes tiny explosions and that's what makes the car go. We finally had to make her quit asking. Liana is SMART, and extra curious about everything. She's also a jabberbox, and there is rarely a quiet moment when she's around. That's good; I'm naturally more quiet, so I appreciate the good conversationalist to keep the topics coming.

She continues to seek to control everyone around her. Tonight when we were getting ready for church, she started screaming for me at the top of her lungs, and even sent Aleksa looking for me. I was getting dressed, so I couldn't just "go." Finally, I was ready enough to go find out the problem, and meanwhile, she had gotten so fed up, that she boldly waltzed into the livingroom NAKED and mad at me for not coming to her when she obviously made it clear that I was needed. Evidently she was looking for something to wear(!) When she got in trouble for her streaking, she made ME into the bad guy for not coming when I was told. Obviously we have a long way to go with her...

Great Grandma Fisher has been her two days this week, and Liana, who will speak her mind to a fault, asked questions like, "Why do you have whiskers, Grandma?" and "Why do you have a hole in your dress?" and "Why does your breath stink?" and my ultimate mortification came when Liana asked me, "Mama, why isn't Grandma dead yet?" LIANA VALENTINA!!!!!!!!!!

That old nursery rhyme that goes, "There was a little girl who had a little curl right in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good, she was really really good. And when she was bad, she was horrid," fits her pretty well right now. Big contrasts, but truthfully, they are mostly on the good side. It's just that the "bad" stories are more memorable. She really has come a long way though, and she actually is turning into a really nice kid. Thankfully her faults are obvious though. That makes them easier to deal with sometimes.

Aleksa has made HUGE changes this month. She asks to be flipped upside down now when she's playing with John. (MAJOR progress). She was sooo freaked out when we first brought her home. Everything scared her. She's pretty brave these days.

Also, she knows almost all of her letter sounds now! I haven't been able to coax any more letters than just an "A" out of her with her writing, but even that is major progress for her. It seems like a fog has lifted from her this month, and she has been revving up to really take off. I was soooo worried about her last month, but it really looks like a lot of my fear was unfounded. Maybe now that her language is more solidified, and she is more firmly bonded with us she is allowing herself to open up her mind a bit more. She is even sitting with Adam and Liana and I as we read our chapter books now. We're reading Stuart Little this week and two days in a row she was the one that begged for another chapter after I thought we were done. She's come a long way, baby! She's still a really good little girl, and very seldom gets into any kind of trouble. The most "naughty" thing she's done lately is eat Susie the Hamster's food. Gross, but not naughty.

Pretty much, we have three great kids. They're still learning the ropes of what it's like to live outside of an orphanage, and to live under the umbrella of a family structure, but they've come so far! They're three really wonderful kids. I can't imagine life without these guys.

Monday, March 07, 2005

*Very* hot chocolate

Yesterday was certainly blog-worthy.

The kids were outside flying kites for a while (nice spring day here in WI), and when they came in, they asked if they could have some hot chocolate. (I kinda spoiled them on the h.c. this winter, can you tell?) No problem, I said. They've been making their own the last few times with just hot tap water, so I didn't even think twice.

Well, I happened to mosey on into the kitchen in time to see Adam hiding his mug. I made him fork it over and it had *maybe* two tablespoons of water on the bottom, and then was filled the rest of the way with the powdered chocolate. We had a little chit-chat about that, and while we were doing so, Liana made hers.

Liana's chocolate though, was much more exciting. She got down a crystal glass, filled it will powder (no water), and then put it in the microwave. Because my brain was engaged with talking to Adam, I didn't even hear the microwave at all. We had lots of excitement though, as the microwave smoked and sputtered and consequently stunk up the entire kitchen/HOUSE and cracked the crystal glass. Freaked Liana Out. Totally. She cried and cried as billows of smoke wafted out of the microwave. She even hid in the corner while I was surveying the scene. Poor girl thought we were going to have to buy a whole new house. Adam was just happy that he wasn't the one in trouble anymore. Liana didn't need any further scolding though. She knew she wasn't supposed to touch the microwave, and she isn't about to do it again. She said she doesn't even want to come near it anymore. (Fine with me!)

Still kinda smells like s'mores around here this morning...

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

Monsters All!

It was just one of those days.

Adam decided to find the one red marker in the house that isn't washable. It wasn't a Sharpie, thankfully, but it definitely wasn't washable. He then decided to pretend he was putting lipstick and rouge on. He had fire-engine red lips for most of the day. He scrubbed and scrubbed his cheeks, and his poor pimply cheeks got rather irritated. Finally right before leaving for church tonight he got it all off. Not only was it on his cheeks and lips, but he also took the cap which had ink on it, and put it on his nose. So, there were red circles all over his nose too. It made it rather hard to teach him math and reading when he looked so clown-like. At least it came off before it was time to leave the front door though.

Adam is sounding out words all over the place and is blowing us away with how easily he is sounding things out. He can read words like "said," "little," "this," "was," "she," etc. I should get up and get a copy of the story he read today, but I'm too lazy. Trust me, he's doing great!

Whereas Adam's lipstick was fake, Aleksa had an episode with some Real make-up today. Hers was a cake of lipgloss/stick turned upside-down onto the carpet and then smoooooshed into the fibers. It's still a little pink, but this is the same carpet that Adam squirt-gunned the red ink onto the floor last summer, so undoubtedly this carpet is going to need replacing before we sell our house. We're gonna have to replace a TON of things around here before we sell this place. I sure hope we don't have to move anytime soon! Oy.

Liana was just Liana. In other words, instead of doing what she was asked right away, she took the scenic route any possible way she could. She's our strong-willed one. After church I was mortified to see her banging wildly on the grand piano in the sanctuary and the pianist trying to shoo her off. She knows better. *sigh*

Aside from all that, it was a pretty good day. Did I mention that Aleksa can draw "A's"? I probably did, but I don't remember. That's enormous news at the Fisher house and I've been on Cloud 9 for days. She can also say the sounds of several letters. (Thanks to the Leap Frog Letter Factory dvd!) Today I caught her drawing pictures at the kitchen table without being cooerced! It was a monster, she said. Complete with eyes, ears, nose, etc. It's like now that she knows she can "make" something with that crayon or marker, she's more curious and excited about using them. Yay!

Also, John and I noticed tonight that Aleksa can say her r's without rolling them. Not 100% of the time, but she does it right quite often now. She was the only one who could roll them to start with. Adam says his "r's" right too a lot of the time. He didn't roll them before, but he wasn't saying them correctly either. Not really sure how to explain what he was doing before.

Headed for bed. Today's stresses have rung me out.

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Sewing again

Today was a fun day of cutting out pattern/fabric pieces for making myself a dress. Mom Fisher and John's sister Cara came over to help me. I'm a bit green at this stuff yet.

Guess what else? I've also got fabric for making matching dresses for me and the girls. *big grin* Aleksa liked the fabric for those dresses so much that she pet it. Liana didn't seem to remember saying she didn't want to match her sister anymore once she heard that I would also match. (I said, "Liana, I didn't think you'd like a dress like Mama's. You didn't want to wear dresses like Aleksa's!") She grimaced and said she didn't remember saying that. (GOTCHA LIANA!!!!!) (*tee-hee*)

Now, to figure out how to sew these things. I was reading the instructions tonight, and it didn't sound terribly promising when I couldn't understand Direction Number One: "Stay-stitch front and back neck edges..." and then later, "The stay-stitching stays in permanently." (What on earth is "stay-stitching"!? Aren't ALL the stitches supposed to stay?!) Might have to schedule another afternoon with my sewing tutor...