Climb Aboard the Adoption Roller Coaster!

Last week was supposed to be the week that our dossier was registered in Moscow. Unfortunately, we received word last Wednesday that the Moscow City region had temporarily closed. This closure was in response to a little Russian boy that was killed while in the care of his adoptive mother a couple weeks ago.


On Friday, a new adoption friend, Jules, emailed me that Moscow City didn't really close and that perhaps things would start moving again this week. Our agency's director in Moscow plans on stopping by the Ministry of Education offices to discuss what new requirements might be implemented in response to this tragedy.


One of the requirements that will be enforced is that everyone will be required to have oodles of educational hours. We were able to send off a document from our social worker that outlined our 20+ hours of adoption education. Check.


Another requirement may be to have a psychological evaluation done prior to our court date. People have posted having to do personality and ink blot tests to pass their psych exams. Ink blot tests? Didn't that go out of style when Dr. Freud died? Surely we must've found a better way to diagnose issues than staring at an ink mess on a paper and saying what you think it is. What if I don't see anything? What if everything looks like some sort of insect? Or butterfly? "Hmmm .. that looks like a monarch. That looks like a gypsy moth. Ooh . . that's definitely a luna moth." Will I be counted down for a lack of creativity and limited perspective??? We've read that we shouldn't respond with dark or scary ideas like "it looks like Satan eating a baby's brain" (we didn't make this up, this is actually written on a site that tries to explain the ink blot test). It's good to know that this is not a good answer as I don't think I would've been capable of seeing that in the ink blots.


The other test that is given frequently is the MMPI or MMPI-2 which is considered the leading personality test. There are 567 questions and it takes a couple of hours to complete. By the end I probably won't know what I'm thinking. Perhaps that's part of the challenge. One of the questions asked is "You want to be a singer - true or false"? Hmmm ... are they talking about when no one's in the car, with the radio cranked up on a sunny day? If I say that at times I want to be a singer does that mean I suffer from delusions of grandeur?? And, if these are the type of questions and there are 567 of them, how on Earth will I score?? Oh ... and the cost to take this fabulous, insightful test?? $450 a piece!


And, as if my paranoia wasn't substancial enough over these random tests, you might imagine how much Nathan is looking forward to sitting with a complete stranger and answering personal questions for hours. Nathan barely enjoys talking to people that he knows. And, if he says very little or worse yet, nothing at all, does that mean that he's hiding something?


So ... we're awaiting the requirements for our psych exam. Should be interesting I suppose .. but hopefully not TOO interesting.


On a positive note, last night we received a call from Lorien (our agency's director) and she told us that the director in Moscow has a little girl in mind for us and is working to get us travel dates by the end of April (yes, April this year). Wow. After our roller coaster ride getting to Sasha, we're just not emotionally on board that this will actually happen this quickly. Perhaps I won't believe it until we're sipping our celebratory champagne at O'Hare prior to our flight's departure. It's just moving so fast, it's hard to believe that it's real.


Hopefully our dossier will get registered next week and we'll know more specifics about our first trip to meet our daughter.

The Racine Zoo

This was spring break week for Sasha. It seems odd talking about spring break for a three year old but alas.



We decided that we would do some fun things that Sasha would enjoy. It turned out that it was quite an exceptional week after all. First, we departed from 'Ice Iowa's' house on Monday after spending Easter weekend in Davenport. Fortunately, the Easter bunny knew where to find Sasha and many yummy treats were delivered.





On Tuesday, we visited Dr. Pomeranets. Sasha had a big 'owie' on his finger that was infected. Sasha loves to visit Dr. Pomeranets. I think this love is primarily motivated by suckers but no matter. He talked for an entire day about going to see Dr. Pomeranets.


On Thursday afternoon, Gddaddy arrived after a business trip to Indiana. He quickly re-assembled the GeoTrax and he and Sasha laughed and played all afternoon. At 5 p.m. we headed off to swimming lessons followed by a good meal at Max and Erma's (a fav of Sasha's due to the huge sundae bar). On Friday, Gddaddy headed back home to Texas and we went geocaching in pursuit of our 800th find (which we hit by the way).


Saturday was an outting to the Racine Zoo. It's a small zoo and many of the animals were still wintering indoors out of sight. The Zoo is built on the coast of Lake Michigan and offers spectacular views. As we walked along the lake front, Sasha kept lamenting, "I need a boat. I need a BOAT. I need the BIGGEST boat'. When he saw the smaller lake in the front of the zoo, he informed us, "I need a -new. I need a -new" (which translated means I need a canoe). Too funny.


We managed to squeeze in a couple of caches en route to Marble Slab after the zoo where Sasha enjoyed a scoop of chocolate ice cream with M&Ms. He then informed me, "I want a cone". Now, here's a boy that manages to wear anything that he eats, how did he come to the conclusion that he needs an ice cream cone? We've never given him a cone so I don't know where he's learned about this. Ice Iowa only has bowls at his house. Is this what he's learning at school???


On Sunday, we went on a hike in Illinois State Beach. It was pretty cloudy and yes, there were five caches for us to pursue. Sasha likes to hike and now insists that he needs "a walking stick". He's really too funny.





All in all, it was a fun weekend for a little boy.

Hippity Hoppity Easter's on the Way!

Is that the Easter Bunny???

No, silly, that's the Easter Boxer!

Yes, any holiday where we can dress Blake up is just better.

We journeyed to Iowa on Thursday to spend Easter with 'Ice Iowa'. He greeted Sasha with a bowl full of ice cream which, of course, is just what Sasha has been talking about all week.

It was a beautiful day in Illinois - sunny and 50 degrees. A quick trip around our yard witnessed our tulips pushing their way through the ground. We planted over 700 bulbs so they should be glorious this year. They are every year. Unfortunately, on Friday, we received 11 inches while we were gone. I've let my friends know that I would appreciate them thawing everything out before we come back. Ugh .. I'm so sick of snow at this point. I love spring. It is absolutely my favorite time of the year and it shouldn't be shortened by yet MORE snow.

Saturday was spent preparing for the big bunny himself. What better way to spend the afternoon than painting Easter eggs? Sasha was so excited about the project. Even Ice Iowa leant a hand to the artistic endeavors. And, if you can believe this, Nathan actually attempted to create marbelized eggs which involved many different dyes, a plastic glove and a funky looking tray. We've decided that, as nice as the eggs looked on the box, these are not going to become part of our Easter tradition.

Saturday evening, we dined out at the Chinese buffet located close to Dad's house. Now, we've all been to 'cheap Chinese buffets'. This was not one of 'those' buffets. This buffet had a large central section with six different long buffets in the middle heaped with every kind of Asian food you could imagine. It also had a sushi bar, a mongolian barbecue (where you bring up a bowl of stuff and they cook it for you) and an ice cream dispenser along the side of the room. Pretty impressive. And yes, it was very affordable and very busy. It seemed that everyone in Davenport was there to dine on the feast. Some of the folks looked more 'colorful' than others.

We had the good fortune to catch up with Waltraud, a long time friend of the family. Waltraud, who is German by birth, is such an interesting person. Her husband, Dieter, passed away a couple of years ago and they, as a couple, had always impressed me with their ability to live life to its very fullest. Waltraud has continued that passion. Hearing her schedule - up at dawn to walk, go to the care center to visit people and deliver flowers, sing in a choir, take three children of her doctor to the children's museum and library then go to dinner - was incredible. Wow. What an amazing woman! We often times find it difficult to get her on the phone and, after hearing her typical schedule, we now understand why! We will try email in the future.

When Mom was alive, she had always hoped that Waltraud would feel a part of our family. Waltraud presented Sasha with a lovely gift bag with two cars that speed around the room, candy and a cool little pad that you can draw on. Such a nice gift and the cars helped keep Sasha busy. We hope that Waltraud will feel welcome in our family. After spending 18 months without any family, isn't it nice for Sasha to have so many people that care about him.

Sasha had a late night and had some trouble getting to sleep (I think the excitement of the big bunny coming to visit was too much for him). By 10 p.m., I had shared with him my concern that perhaps the Easter Bunny had already been to our neighborhood and had discovered that he was still awake and had to pass on Ice Iowa's house. Wouldn't that be tragic. Sasha finally went to sleep and indeed the Easter Bunny came.

Easter morning the hunt was on! Sasha dressed in his cute Easter outfit to find his Easter basket and all the goodies that the Easter Bunny had left. His Easter basket was filled with a couple of cards (one from Ice Iowa and one from Mommy, Daddy and Blake), a new shorts outfit (yes, we're still hopeful that one day we'll be able to wear shorts again), a beautiful egg from a local

confectionery that is milk chocolate on the outside and is filled with jelly beans and various kid candies on the inside, a Dora Easter DVD, and some various candy.

Sasha quickly cleaned out the basket so that he could go on the big Easter egg hunt. He tried eating his way to clean out the basket but Mom suggested taking a couple bites of candy and then proceeding after all we had to pace ourselves since the day was still so young.

The hunt turned up a ton of eggs including some larger eggs that had various favorite characters in them like Pablo and Terrance (the Backyardigans), Dora and Boots (Dora the Explorer) and Diego (Go Diego Go).

Very fun! He had SO many eggs and he dashed about trying to find all the hidden treasures. We sat back and watched wondering how crazy next year would be with a little sister added to fun.

Waltraud had helped Ice Iowa have a special treat for Sasha. She put together this beautiful Easter pail which is still being used at this very minute to 'haul' stuff around in. There were SO many great goodies to choose from but Sasha went immediately for the rabbit.

I told Sasha that Baba's favorite way to eat a chocolate rabbit is to start with the ears. Poor bunny! He thought this sounded like a good approach and quickly unwrapped the sweet morsel.

Hmmm ... good stuff! We were able to get the rabbit away from him before the whole thing was consumed. He had other things he wanted to try - a chocolate egg, a chocolate candy, a couple peanut butter cups, a few Hugs, a bag of jelly beans ... oh so many things to sample!

Sasha helped deliver other Easter treats that the Easter Bunny left. This present was a big dark chocolate egg with various yummy chocolate candies inside.
Ice Iowa will have plenty of 'heart medication' to snack on.

We spent the rest of the morning opening Easter eggs and dumping out their sweet contents into a bowl. The remainder of the day was spent eating his way through the candy while his parents went geocaching (we hit 780 this weekend!). We had a lovely dinner of prime rib. As you might imagine, Sasha wasn't hungry. Easter was indeed a hit with a little boy who loves candy and loves his grandpa, 'Ice Iowa'.

Happy Easter to all!

Second Swimming Lesson

Sasha has been asking to go swimming ever since returning home from his first lesson. We scheduled one for today since we'll be in Iowa next Thursday. He got to play in FitKids first while Nathan and I did cardio and then we picked him up to change into his swimming trunks and go to the pool. He was SO excited!

He waited patiently while Donnie finished his lesson with two cute little girls. He's been talking about Donnie all week. Once Donnie was ready, he was quickly into the pool. I don't think I've ever met anyone that likes the water more than Sasha.

I guess we knew this from the first bath time in the Marriot Grande in Moscow. We had heard horror stories of how frightened other children were of the water after living in the baby home. We had heard that they would scream and cry. So, Baba and I were ready for the worse. We let the water start filling up and Sasha started squeeling with delight and jumping up and down. Once in the water, there wasn't a dry surface in the bathroom and every night he would try to get back in the tub. This was for him!

By the middle of the lesson, Sasha was finally putting his ears in the water which is unnatural for people and one of the hardest things to learn. He also would blow bubbles and get his face completely wet. He was doing SO well!

He loves jumping into the pool and would get more and more of his face wet. Sasha's biggest challenge seems to be keeping his mouth closed. He keeps jabbering the whole time he's in the water so he ends up drinking the pool occasionally. He doesn't seem to mind and he 's already asked if we can go swimming again and we've only been home a couple of hours.

As we left, he waved his little hand and said, "Bye bye, Donnie" in his sweet munchkin voice. He can be very cute and sweet. He can hardly wait to go swimming again!

Dino Days

This month's parent interaction was Dino Days. All the kids from the three morning classes and their parents were able to do Dino related activities. Nathan was able to attend as well so it was another family affair that we hoped would go better than bowling. Sasha tends to be very reserved in large settings so he wasn't as into this event as we had thought.

He made various crafts, sang songs, played with slime, participated in a dino dig and, I think his favorite part, he ate 'mud' which was chocolate pudding with crumbled oreos, fruit dinos and malted Easter eggs (you could totally see why this would be his favorite part).

Livia's Mom was there (from the birthday party last week) and she gave us his first ceramic art - a glossy red car with blue and black stripes. Of course you know he would pick a car. It turned out really well.

Next month's parent interaction will be the end of year picnic.

First Swimming Lesson

We have been talking about getting Sasha some swimming lessons for a while now. He is only three but we think it's SO important for young people to know how to swim. We of course have every intention of taking Sasha into Scouts where swimming is critical to your success.

We weighed all our options - the YMCA, the park district and private options and decided to get private lessons from the Lindenhurst Health and Fitness Club which is across the street. We joined this club a couple weeks ago. It's great! It has FitKids where Sasha can play with other kids while Mommy works out. Finally, I have a way to get my exercise in and I can actually get my skin and hair care in as well! It's fabulous!

Tonight was his first lesson and we were excited to see how he'd do. I had been talking to Sasha all week about going to swimming lessons and he was thrilled. Sasha LOVES water so he should really enjoy this experience. The first six lessons are a gift from Great Aunt Karen also known as the Godmother for his birthday. What a great gift!

He didn't have any problem going with Donnie, his instructor. And he let out a shriek of delight when he demonstrated how he could splash Donnie. He is not fearful of anything and soon was jumping into Donnie's arms from the side of the pool. His favorite game included running along the pool to make Donnie really work for his money when he jumped in. The folks sitting pool side to support their children were treated to quite the comedy act. People kept asking us if he was an only child (apparently all photographs stop once you get the second one. I hope that's not true. I don't want her being angry when it comes time to do a photo montage for her wedding and the only pictures we have are of her holding a GPS :). We were also asked how old Sasha was. Apparently starting at three is young but each of the instructors that I spoke with thought that if a child loves the water that you should start them out as soon as possible and three is the youngest they will accept.

So .. there he was kicking his little blue aqua socked feet and squeeling with delight through the pool. He's been asking every day if we can go swimming. Sunday will be his next lesson to make up for us departing for Iowa on Thursday for Easter.

Ready, Set, GO!

Last week we received word that our agency is accredited. All the documents necessary to get a referral are being hand carried to Moscow with week. Our dossier should be registered in Moscow the end of the month. Wow ... it's incredible to think that this is really going to happen ... and SOON!

Our agency thinks that we'll get our referral in April. The process for Moscow is different than our first adoption. For Sasha, I was at my Mom's house when I got 'the email' with the two photos and medical information attached. Despite being warned not to open the photos until after a specialist had reviewed the case and told us to travel, I couldn't resist seeing this little boy. It was so amazing! This was the little boy that had been in my head since we started the journey. I had a long conversation with my Mom the previous night about naming, we talked through how if his name was Boris then we'd likely change his first name but if his name was ... umm ... say Alexander then we would keep his first name. And, as you know the story, his name was Alexander. This was our son.

This time around we won't get anything except the promise that they have located a child for us that meets our specifications which is a girl under 2. We will travel about 10 days later for the first trip in May and the second trip in June or July (yes, summertime in Russia again for us) to bring her home. We are hoping that Grandpa Tom and Uncle Bryan (the Sasha's Godfather who has agreed to be our daughter's Godfather as well) will join us for Trip 2. We want to work a trip to St. Petersburg this time as it is supposed to be spectacular. Baba will join me to pick up her granddaughter and to help me bring her home. She probably deserves a medal for volunteering again for this duty. It' not glamorous work let me tell you but it will create a lasting bond with her granddaughter that's priceless.

This morning we chatted about making a welcome home banner for his sister. We talked about the awesome banners that Grandma Jan made for his homecoming. I admit to crying as we talked about what a wonderful woman Grandma Jan was and how much she loved him. We talk about how she was the best Grandma ever and that now she's an angel in heaven that watches over him every day. And I'm sure she's helping guide us to our daughter and to his sister. She would have loved to have a little girl in the family. I will miss her always (more tears).

We then talked about how he'll come to the airport and help with the balloons and banners to welcome his sister home. Then Mommy, Baba and his sister will come through the doors at the airport (smelly, tired and beyond DONE I'm sure) and be so glad to see everyone.

Now the challenge of this quick process is that we have NOTHING done. If she came home tomorrow, she'd sleep on the floor and wear Sasha's old clothing! So ... this weekend we're planning on painting the room and trim. We still need to purchase the bedding which we've picked out from Babies R' Us. Too cute! The room has sage curtains, the room will be painted yellos and Sasha's stuff has some overlapping colors ... well not the pink but the other colors. The pattern is called Tiger Lily which is the PERFECT set for a future gardener. I think that Sasha will be a future gardener as well. Each morning when our Aero Garden comes on, he says quietly, "Wake up little plants". Too cute. We've been talking about how when the snow melts and it warms up, we'll see all the plants outside begin to awaken for spring. It is my favorite time of the year in Illinois.

We still need to purchase a crib as 'beaver boy' has chewed on the top of the crib and broken a slat out. We're not sure if it's possible to repair the crib but wish we didn't have to buy another one that will only be used for 6-12 months.

We have found a couple of clothing items at Sam's. I know folks keep telling me that little boys clothes are cute but come on, they're not really THAT cute. Little girls clothes are too cute! Everything from the tights to the hair ribbons to the cute little dresses with matching bloomers - CUTE! Nathan has decided that he will never be on little girl hair duty but I'm sure he will learn how to do pony tails just like every other father of daughters have done over the years. With the right training, Nathan will be mastering french braids and reverse french braids in no time!

(Yes, photos will be posted of this great event!).

And so ... the journey to our daughter is in full gear now. I have a mental picture of her in my mind so we'll see if that turns out to be her.

Bowling

Our first parent involvement was in February. We had the chance to go bowling with Sasha and his classmates. I was excited ... visions of my bowling league days oh so long ago came to mind no, no .. not a great bowler more of a 'social bowler'). Should I bring my own bowling shoes? Would I wish I had a bowling ball?


We arrived at the bowling lane which I'm sure must've been really nice in it's day possibly during the horse and buggy era. The bowling alley aroma hits us as we struggled to open the doors (and we have a no smoking law here so it must be risidual). We quickly locate Sasha's class. He is in a desparately foul mood (this is two days after POOP ... see previous post) so my thoughts of a great family outting were quickly vanishing.


We grab shoes for all of us and proceed to talk to Sasha about how special shoes are needed for bowling. He sees the bright orange bowling shoes and wants no part of them. He protests "Yucky". I explain that these shoes are not meant to be a fashion statement while distant memories of a similar conversation with my Dad about snow boots comes wafting through my head ... thank God for Uggs. We put the shoes on his feet while he squirms and screams. I look around at his angelic classmates wondering how we ended up with such an uncooperative child. He starts to scream louder with tears streaming down his face as the shoes become firmly attached. He then proceeds to throw his little body on the floor. I turn to the mother of the most perfect little girl and her equally perfect baby and explain that he's having a bad day. Okay ... so it's almost a lie as I think this may be a permanent part of his personality. He is a very stubborn boy and who seems to have a very strong sense of which fashions he likes and doesn't like (vests - yucky, jeans - yea, jacket - yucky, thomas light up tennis shoes - yea).


I keep telling Sasha that we have to use these special shoes to bowl. He's not impressed or convinced. He keeps crying. We drag him out to the line with the ball and attempt to force his little arms to push the ball while he goes limp on the floor (note: this is a very difficult maneuver) while Nathan tries to get a good blogworthy photo. We cheer when the bumpers cause his ball to roll toward the pins. It hits a few pins. We cheer louder and tell him how great he did. He stops crying. We try it again. He is less limp and allows us to push the ball with him.


By the third frame, he wanted to do it all himself - get the ball, walk to the line with the ball, push the ball - everything. The challenge is that he's three and he can't carry the ball himself or pick it up himself. Wow ... this is a lot of work! Perhaps we should try this again when he's 17.

Then, the guy from the bowling alley whom I'll call Cranky Old Guy started fussing at us for Sasha crossing over the line. We thanked him for his safety tip, explain that he's three and we're trying our best while thinking that crossing the line is much prefered over going limp and screaming and proceed to the next frame. I stood by the ball return to get the ball and COG started yelling at us that Sasha would crush his fingers. I'm afraid that was more that we could take. It was time to leave.

So with the promise that we wouldn't be back to bowl in Antioch ... ever again ... and that perhaps Parent Involvement Days weren't going to be as much fun as we had hoped, we left.

A couple of weeks have passed and our next PI is next Friday - Dino Days. The bad memories have faded a bit and I hope that Sasha will be in a better mood. It could be fun ... or ... it could be very bad. We'll see.