Seen: walk from orphanage to Metro on 9/14/2008 AM.
Door Decorations Using Cars
11 years ago
Friday, January 26, 2024
Thursday, August 9, 2012
I'm Serious This Time
I've been on a hiatus for a while now. We've been home nearly four years now, and a lot has happened in that time. I've gotten a Masters of Science in Historic Preservation, which I haven't been able to use. I'm working on how to get a job in my field and still give these kids what they need. How do you do that when you have to stay on top of figuring out nutritional therapies, neuro therapies, psych therapies and occupational therapy? I have no idea!
My latest endeavour, after Sophie's psychiatrist and Liam's neurologist wanted to prescribe yet another medication for them, is to try to address some of these negative behaviors with alternative therapies, mainly nutritional therapy for both and neuroreorg for Liam. So, begins our journey with a gluten-free, dye free, preservative free diet.
Today I ordered these natural dyes for baking.
I love to bake my kids' birthday cakes, and it's even more important to do so now that we are gluten free and dye free. I'm a bit leery of some of the natural ways to impart color to frosting, although I know these are vegetable based. I mean really, do you want your cake frosting to taste like turmeric? I sure don't. I'll probably do some kitchen testing anyway with the berry based natural dyes. I can deal with my cake frosting tasting like blueberry.
I'm also trying Michigan Door to Door Organics. I've heard really good things about this and it seems a cost effective way to get locally sourced, organic produce. We grow our own tomatoes, basil, oregano, chives, mint and beans. I'm not sure if my broccoli and carrots are doing what they are supposed to do though. I'm going to have to do a comparison with my last Trader Joe's trip to see if the cost is in line, but I like that it's local.
Last night I introduced my kids to quinoa. It wasn't a success.
My latest endeavour, after Sophie's psychiatrist and Liam's neurologist wanted to prescribe yet another medication for them, is to try to address some of these negative behaviors with alternative therapies, mainly nutritional therapy for both and neuroreorg for Liam. So, begins our journey with a gluten-free, dye free, preservative free diet.
Today I ordered these natural dyes for baking.
I love to bake my kids' birthday cakes, and it's even more important to do so now that we are gluten free and dye free. I'm a bit leery of some of the natural ways to impart color to frosting, although I know these are vegetable based. I mean really, do you want your cake frosting to taste like turmeric? I sure don't. I'll probably do some kitchen testing anyway with the berry based natural dyes. I can deal with my cake frosting tasting like blueberry.
I'm also trying Michigan Door to Door Organics. I've heard really good things about this and it seems a cost effective way to get locally sourced, organic produce. We grow our own tomatoes, basil, oregano, chives, mint and beans. I'm not sure if my broccoli and carrots are doing what they are supposed to do though. I'm going to have to do a comparison with my last Trader Joe's trip to see if the cost is in line, but I like that it's local.
Last night I introduced my kids to quinoa. It wasn't a success.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Slamming Doors and Tony
Slamming Doors
Our morning began with both kids crawling in bed with us. Eventually, they got out of our bed and started playing. This is when doors started slamming. We are officially entering the dueling siblings years of parenthood including arguments, threats of loss of friendship and slamming doors. I think we have about 13-15 more years of this to enjoy before it subsides. After Liam telling Sophie off for not sharing, during which he was actually very cool, calm and collected, the door fireworks began! In the end, Sophie relented, taking the toy Liam wanted ( I might add that there were two of said toy, so she could have easily shared from the beginning) to him and apologizing. As always, there was a motive behind this for her. She wanted something from him! It worked, and I stayed out of it. That's my new goal- let them work these things out for themselves.
Tony
Liam still has problems with language, especially with proper use of who and what and sentence structure. It can be very frustrating, as we have been working with him for the last 18 months or so on this and he just doesn't seem to get it. We often get completely non-sensical questions from him. Sometimes you just have to laugh at it and move on. Today, Pete had found a watch beeping in a bag on the couch and was turning if off. Liam came up to Pete and asked, "Who is that?" Firstly, there was the who/what thing. Secondly, Liam knows perfectly well what a watch is (another frustrating thing- he often asks questions to which he already knows the answers.). After giving Liam a bewildered look, Pete replied, "Tony. This is Tony, Liam."
Our morning began with both kids crawling in bed with us. Eventually, they got out of our bed and started playing. This is when doors started slamming. We are officially entering the dueling siblings years of parenthood including arguments, threats of loss of friendship and slamming doors. I think we have about 13-15 more years of this to enjoy before it subsides. After Liam telling Sophie off for not sharing, during which he was actually very cool, calm and collected, the door fireworks began! In the end, Sophie relented, taking the toy Liam wanted ( I might add that there were two of said toy, so she could have easily shared from the beginning) to him and apologizing. As always, there was a motive behind this for her. She wanted something from him! It worked, and I stayed out of it. That's my new goal- let them work these things out for themselves.
Tony
Liam still has problems with language, especially with proper use of who and what and sentence structure. It can be very frustrating, as we have been working with him for the last 18 months or so on this and he just doesn't seem to get it. We often get completely non-sensical questions from him. Sometimes you just have to laugh at it and move on. Today, Pete had found a watch beeping in a bag on the couch and was turning if off. Liam came up to Pete and asked, "Who is that?" Firstly, there was the who/what thing. Secondly, Liam knows perfectly well what a watch is (another frustrating thing- he often asks questions to which he already knows the answers.). After giving Liam a bewildered look, Pete replied, "Tony. This is Tony, Liam."
Friday, May 20, 2011
Random Pics from 2011
Let There Be Snow- January 2011 Sledding
February Pictures
Valentine's Cookie Making
A snow day resulted in a pajama party and cookie making. We had a few snow days this winter and it got harder and harder to get creative inside!
This is the beginning of the process- cookie dough is made and ready for cookie cutters.
Finally, cookies to ice! The kids told me how to color the icing. I think Liam wanted more of a red color, but I couldn't get it.
Enjoying the fruits of their labor!
Big Black the Cat- One of our "temporary" outdoor brood of cats. We have two black cats that are "ours" for the time-being. Nicest cats ever- and available for adoption to a good home.
Snow Day Part 2
Valentine's Day Dinner
Pete is icing the heart-shaped red velvet cakes that are our tradition. I added heart plates for dinner too.
February Pictures
Valentine's Cookie Making
This is the beginning of the process- cookie dough is made and ready for cookie cutters.
Big Black the Cat- One of our "temporary" outdoor brood of cats. We have two black cats that are "ours" for the time-being. Nicest cats ever- and available for adoption to a good home.
Snow Day Part 2 
Valentine's Day Dinner
Pete is icing the heart-shaped red velvet cakes that are our tradition. I added heart plates for dinner too.
Toads
Sophie loves animals, bugs, snakes, toads and basically anything that moves. We were on day 4 of success of no underpant accidents today when I discovered that indeed she did pee herself today. Here's how it went:
Sophie is playing in the great climbing tree at the bus stop with Erin, Paul, Kate and Liam.
Me: Sophie, did you have any accidents today?
Sophie: {mumbles something I can't hear}
Me: Was that a yes?
Sophie: No, I didn't.
Me: Yay!! Good job.
{she goes for a high five I was not expecting and basically slaps me}
Me: Ow!
Erin: What happened? {Erin is sitting in the tree in a spot below Sophie. She's in 4th grade.}
I explain what happened.
Erin: Ummm...It looks like she has a wet spot.
I look up. Yup. She was lying.
Paul: Is that why she has to sit at the front of the bus?
A conversation ensues, where I found that the safety guards (Erin and Paul are safety guards) are afraid of Sophie and think she's mean! She also called a boy, Tony, who told her he loved her last fall, that he was a jackass. Apparently, she told him over and over again. I'll admit she got that word from me. It's one of my favorite phrases, though I try not to use it around the kiddos.
We play for a few minutes then come home and play at home. Sophie and Liam are toad hunting in my vegetable garden, with good success when I discover that Sophie is burying the poor toads alive.What alerts me to this is that she is saying something about "when they die". I don't think she was trying to kill them. I think she was pretend burying them and just didn't get what could happen. It still frustrated me.
I promptly rescued the poor toad struggling under the soil and freed both of the toads she was holding hostage. Liam and I had already hidden his toad so that it could be free without Sophie grabbing it. Sophie is currently suspended from my garden for trying to kill the residents.
Sophie is playing in the great climbing tree at the bus stop with Erin, Paul, Kate and Liam.
Me: Sophie, did you have any accidents today?
Sophie: {mumbles something I can't hear}
Me: Was that a yes?
Sophie: No, I didn't.
Me: Yay!! Good job.
{she goes for a high five I was not expecting and basically slaps me}
Me: Ow!
Erin: What happened? {Erin is sitting in the tree in a spot below Sophie. She's in 4th grade.}
I explain what happened.
Erin: Ummm...It looks like she has a wet spot.
I look up. Yup. She was lying.
Paul: Is that why she has to sit at the front of the bus?
A conversation ensues, where I found that the safety guards (Erin and Paul are safety guards) are afraid of Sophie and think she's mean! She also called a boy, Tony, who told her he loved her last fall, that he was a jackass. Apparently, she told him over and over again. I'll admit she got that word from me. It's one of my favorite phrases, though I try not to use it around the kiddos.
We play for a few minutes then come home and play at home. Sophie and Liam are toad hunting in my vegetable garden, with good success when I discover that Sophie is burying the poor toads alive.What alerts me to this is that she is saying something about "when they die". I don't think she was trying to kill them. I think she was pretend burying them and just didn't get what could happen. It still frustrated me.
I promptly rescued the poor toad struggling under the soil and freed both of the toads she was holding hostage. Liam and I had already hidden his toad so that it could be free without Sophie grabbing it. Sophie is currently suspended from my garden for trying to kill the residents.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Pics 2011
England- first day of our trip in April. This is at the pub in the village where we stayed.The Hiatus Is Over
Today, after the kids came home from school, we read a version of The Very Hungry Caterpillar that Sophie created in Kindergarten. It was very cute, and led to Liam asking me about whether I smiled at him when he was born. We have had many conversations about them being adopted, not being in my belly etc, so I was a little thrown by this. I told him that I would have smiled at him when he was born if I had been there, but that I wasn't. I told him that I certainly smiled at him the first time I met him, and proceeded to tell them about the first time Pete and I met them, including them running into the room, screaming with joy. I thought I had video of this on my blog, so we sat down and looked at this blog, and looked at pictures.
As it turns out, there wasn't a video of that moment on the blog, but there were plenty of other videos and memories that we all enjoyed seeing again, or for them, experiencing them again without the benefit of a clear memory of it. They watched videos of themselves speaking Russian, and asked if they were speaking Russian. This was another potential revelation, as I have believed that they actually do remember Russian and are pretending not to remember it. Maybe I'm wrong? They acted pretty amazed to see themselves speaking a different language.
Regardless, it made me realize that I should really keep up with this, not so much for others, but for us. I stopped posting because I just got too busy, but it's definitely worth the time. Expect lots of posting- I'm going to schedule a time each week to post updates, or possibly more often.
Coming Soon: 21 months captured in pictures!
As it turns out, there wasn't a video of that moment on the blog, but there were plenty of other videos and memories that we all enjoyed seeing again, or for them, experiencing them again without the benefit of a clear memory of it. They watched videos of themselves speaking Russian, and asked if they were speaking Russian. This was another potential revelation, as I have believed that they actually do remember Russian and are pretending not to remember it. Maybe I'm wrong? They acted pretty amazed to see themselves speaking a different language.
Regardless, it made me realize that I should really keep up with this, not so much for others, but for us. I stopped posting because I just got too busy, but it's definitely worth the time. Expect lots of posting- I'm going to schedule a time each week to post updates, or possibly more often.
Coming Soon: 21 months captured in pictures!
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