Sasha's First Christmas

With all the best of intentions, we envisioned many wondrous things for Sasha's first Christmas. Unfortuntely, we didn't envision all of us coming down with the flu and Sasha coming down with the mother of all colds. Ah yes, we spent most of the holiday trying to figure out items we could eat that wouldn't 1.) make us sick and 2.) drain us of the little energy we had. Ugh .. not the magical holiday we had wanted.

Sasha was .... overwhelmed. Each gift, despite our decision to limit his gifts (yea .. right!), received little attention from Sasha. He finally got the hang of opening gifts but after the third one, just wanted to play with his shoes (yes, he still has a complete obsession with shoes. We think that this is because he never had his own shoes in the orphanage. I really think that his fancy is more deeply rooted than this. I think he may be the next Imelda Marcos but in a male form.) His fav from this round was a caterpillar from Uncle James that says the alphabet, colors, songs, numbers - basically each of its many legs says something. It can also be dragged about. I think James actually purchased it with the idea to send me over the edge with all the noise that it makes. He obviously hasn't heard the phonics bus that Baba already unloaded at our place. "B says buh ... B says buh ... every letter makes a sound. B says buh." This also did not fit into the cubby on his car. (Note: when I told my cousin Jason (who is another uncle for Sasha) about the caterpillar he immediately thought James had given him a piece of farm equipment. Come on Jason - you know me ... farm equipment?? I think someone has spent a couple too many days in rural Florida.)

We decided to save a few gifts back for his upcoming birthday (January 29) and spread some of the other gifts out over the next week including a teepee from his great Aunt / Godmother and his great Uncle and great cousin. (Yes, a teepee. He's a long way from his orphanage days isn't he!) After Baba opened her Cuisinart, Sasha discovered the very best of the holiday season - playing in the gigantic box. He soon retrieved all his treasures, placed them in the box and proceeded to climb in and out of the box. Ah to be two! Next year, perhaps we should just get a refrigerator box and be done with it.

Yes, Toni G. does have the best legs in town :) Now she has a shirt to let others know.

Christmas morning included a haul that must have really weighted Santa's sleigh down. Sasha once again opened a couple of presents and discovered the box that our new toaster over came in. Yes, you guessed it, the highlight of Christmas morning was hopping in and out of this new found box. Next year, just send boxes ;) We're looking forward to 2007 Christmas when he's a bit older, we're well and he can begin to understand a little more about the holiday. He did enjoy carrying the yarn cow from the manger scene in his room but I think it had less to do with the baby Jesus and more to do with the fact that the cow goes 'MOO'. Next year he'll understand a bit more.

At some point, Sasha Claus decided to strip off his shirt. It's really not a party until someone decides to get naked right?

Today, on the fifth day after Christmas, we installed the teepee in his room. Fortunately, this didn't require any 'skills' to put together. (Nathan and I are blessed with many skills and talents, unfortunately, we've never developed any mechanical skills. Yes, I know, it's not too late and I'm sure as Christmases and birthdays come and go, we'll be forced to acquire at least some basic building skills. Or, if I play my cards right, my Dad will be around to use one of his many skills :)

The teepee is very cool. I asked Nathan as we cleared an area for it in Sasha's room, how many children did we know that owned their own teepee. We just couldn't think of a one. Sasha quickly crawled in and started loading it up with his upstairs 'treasures'. He thinks this is a far better place for treasures as he can get them all in the teepee and still be able to get in himself.

We know that this is a perfect gift for someone who is destined to be an Eagle Scout and in the Order of the Arrow (Scouting's National Honor Society that recognizes people who are dedicated to cheerful service). It has a ton of cool Indian symbols and a brochure was supplied to help us know what each means. Obviously this wasn't necessary as I've come up with my own story ;) It has lady bugs on the front which is the Russian symbol for good luck and he's bound to love gardening and perhaps one day will be a master gardener (like his Grandma, Baba, Mama and Gardenia Aunts / Omis / Grandmothers. It has a wooded scene and water which depicts his upcoming lifelong love of camping and being outdoors. On one side it has a large bird which has got to be the Eagle that represents that he's going to be a leader and also an Eagle Scout. It also has two arrows that represent the straight path that he will take and that he'll be recognized by the Order of the Arrow. On the back, it has SASHA with a lizard and a snake. This obviously symbolizes his love for the outdoors and his love for Texas and Arizona (once he gets there). The snake comes from the large bushes in my folks yard where killer coral snakes hang out and that JP always warns us to steer clear of. Yick. The other panel has Alex and some fish and turtles. They symbolizes the transition that Sasha will ultimately go through when he decides as all young people do, that the nickname that their parents call them is no longer acceptable and that he'd be far cooler if he were called Alex. Hmmm ... that's about it for the teepee panels. Guess I'll have to go read the brochure to see what the creator had in mind.

We have one more gift to put together tomorrow. We have a variety of little toys that we're putting in a tub with a two humungous sacks of pinto beans. Strange you think? It's to help him with his tactile defensiveness. Most of the strange textured stuff, Sasha ultimately likes, he just hasn't been exposed to many things in his life yet. So, this tub has objects that have all kinds of textures so we can continue to build his skills. He really liked the tub that the speech therapist brought.

New developmental milestones this week include: saying Mama, Mom, Dada, hi, and bye. He can sign eat (of course!), water, more, and play. He understands everything that we say to him (now he chooses to ignore us sometimes but that's normal, right?). His latest thing is to be incredibly frustrated. When we try to help him, he gets mad. He obviously wants to do things on his own but doesn't quite have the skill set yet. It's a frustrating time for him but oh, so normal.

Thanks to our neighbors who have a three year old little boy, Sasha is sporting a quite an extensive wardrobe. This is good as he seems to require multiple outfit changes a day for a variety of reasons.

Our occupational and developmental therapist really feel that he's making big strides. Unfortunately, our speech progress is moving at a slower pace. I've been told that usually children don't make big strides in all areas, they usually make progress in some and don't make progress in others. I keep trying to figure out new ways to help Sasha learn to speak. It just isn't coming as fast as the other stuff and frankly, my assignments for Speech aren't as easy as the others (take a Nuk brush and touch various parts of his mouth and see if he can do the same. It's just hard to work that in while we're on the run.) The positive news is that I'm really picking up a lot of sign language which I've always wanted to learn. I don't have 250 words (which is needed to wear the BSA Interpreter patch for Sign Language) but perhaps in a few more months, I'll be there.

We'd like to wish our dear friend, Waltraud (and frankly one of the coolest chicks I know), a very happy new birthday year.

And, we want to wish all of you the brightest and most blessed New Year.