Educational Websites

For all the moms out there that have kids toddler to preschool age, I am going to list some of the sites I have found or been referred over the past couple weeks. I am currently teaching the kids how to use a computer-basically using a mouse and using a keyboard. I searched high and low, and the best thing I have found is http://www.boowakwala.com/kids/boowakwala-homefirstclicks.html. They are on Lesson 2 now and its pretty comprehensive, starting with roll-over mouse games.

I like http://www.starfall.com/n/level-k/index/load.htm?f for ABCs. I have started to let them click through it, but I'm trying to concentrate on 4 letters right now, not all of the alphabet. Another website is pretty good, and it has numerous links to other sites for various learning games: http://www.uptoten.com/kids/uptoten-home.html. This site is how I found the Boowa and Kwala site.

A few others:

http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=2602&e=gamesLanding&mcat=game_infant,game_toddler,game_preschool&site=us

http://www.noggin.com/

http://home.disney.go.com/foryou/preschool/

MRI

Liam had an MRI last Thursday. Unfortunately, the neurologist did not properly educate me about the sedation and it was a bit of nightmare. I took Sophie along, and that was a mistake. If your child has to have a procedure involving sedation, do not bring any other children with you. Second mistake- going alone. Liam fought the sedative and had to be given more. In the end, a nurse was holding his legs down and I held down his upper body and tried to soothe him as he fought until he gave out and fell asleep. Not all children fight sedation, but it is also not uncommon.

The MRI itself went just fine. He came out of it and the nurse immediately started trying to wake him up. I had been given paperwork that indicated it could take up to 4 hours for him to wake up, so I anticipated that they would let him emerge from the sedation naturally, but apparently not. The same paperwork indicated that he could be "irritable". That was an understatement.

On the journey home, Liam fell asleep in the car. Immediately, of course, he woke up when I carried him inside at home. Keep in mind, the sedation has made him totally "drunk" and he can't walk for his life! So, Sophie was being difficult and not helpful and ended up locked outside our deck while I carried Liam inside and arranged him "safely" on the couch. I went out to fetch a crying sophie and was gone for about 2 minutes, but Liam still managed to fall on the floor (missing the pillows I had arranged for this situation) and hit his head. Fantastic! It only got better from here.

As I tried to get Liam to stay on the couch, as he would invariable injure himself otherwise, he fought me harder and harder. It started with scratching me, then biting and smacking me. Then he started hitting me. He was then counting, "one two three" and throwing himself on me. I was fully under attack, and he had adrenaline running through him giving him strength. Eventually I got Pete home and we were able to get things under control.

My advice: if you have to take your child in for a procedure involving sedation, anticipate the worst. DO NOT bring your other young children and have your spouse take the day off. You will most definitely need the help.

Finally, I got the results today and Liam's MRI came back normal. That's excellent news!

Conversation at the Dinner Table Tonight

Context- I was trying to persuade the kids to eat their delicious dinner, made by me natch, by talking about growing up to be big and strong like Thomas the Tank Engine (for Liam) and a princess (for Sophie).

Sophie: I want to grow big to grow cows.
Me: You want to grow cows at your princess castle?
Sophie: yeah.
Me: Will you be wearing a princess dress while you are growing cows at your princess castle?
Sophie: Yeah (as in yeah, what a stupid question).
Liam: I want to grow train tracks.


P.S. will postpics soon. I am newly mobiliy connected, and inventing words as I type.

Snyeg

That's Russian for snow. And we have lots of it. Its going to be a white Christmas here. We've got 8 inches on the ground, and

Santa

I have been trying to "educate" the kids about Christmas with Christmas TV specials, "The Polar Express" movie, "Elf" the move and books. I don't think they fully grasp what Christmas represent both on the spiritual level and on the festive level, but they are starting to recognize aspects of Christmas. A couple nights ago Dominic had his Christmas pajamas on, which had Santa Claus on them. I asked both Liam and Sophie who the person on Dominic's pajamas was, and they both knew it was Santa Claus.

I have planned all along to take them to see Santa, but sometimes things are difficult to do logistically. That seemed to be the case with finding a Santa, and going to see Santa. On Sunday, I enthusiastically asked Sophie if she wanted to meet Santa and she said she did. I did some things around the house and rethought taking them to see Santa for a few reasons- it was bitter cold out, it was getting late and Liam was napping. I made up mind that it really would be OK to not take them to Santa. Unfortunately, the next time I saw Sophie, she was talking about meeting Santa. That sealed the deal- we had to go.

So, it was about 3:45pm, and I had to wake Liam up from the short nap he had. He wasn't happy about this at all. Papa was feeling very ill and decided he was going to stay home and rest. I dressed the kids warmly, all the while Liam was whining. It was 8 degrees fahrenheit...bitter cold! We rushed the kids to the car, and it takes about 5 minutes to get all three kids buckled in. After much maneuvering, we were ready to go and quite cold.

The mall was packed, which was completely expected, but I had hoped that the cold might work in our favor on this front. Nope. I dropped the kids and Rachel at the door so they didn't have to walk in the cold and found a distant parking space. I froze! And Liam freaked out because I wasn't with him.

In the mall, both kids just stared at everything-this was their first trip to a mall or store other than a grocery store. When we approached the elevator to go down to Santa Claus, Liam had a meltdown. I wasn't totally sure it was the elevator, so we walked some more and tried another elevator. No go...so Rachel and Dominic took the elevator and I tried to take the kids on the escalator. He wasn't having that, or the stairs for that matter. So, I carried him down the 20 or so stairs and held Sophie's hand. I tried to be enthusiastic and calm with him about visiting Santa, and we got in line.

The Santa area was Polar Express themed, which was familiar to Liam and Sophie. Liam would be calm for about 2 minutes then melt down. This repeated. I tried to find out if he wanted to go home, and he said he didn't. In a last ditch effort, Rachel stayed in line with Dominic and we went to the play area. He was much happier here. Unfortunately, he pushed some kids and was being a bit aggressive, so our visit to the play area lasted about 50-60 minutes.

By the time we got back to Rachel, we were pretty close to the front of the line. Dominic, of course, was very cranky by this time. It was a little after 6pm when our kids got their pics with Santa, and then we had to wait forever to get the prints, pay etc. We got out of the mall around 7pm, and it was 2 degrees! Oh my!

Needless to say, it took the kids forever to fall asleep. They didn't fight getting into bed, but they had A LOT to process in their little heads so they had a very time getting to sleep.

Next year, I am going to plan this whole Santa thing a lot better- no malls!!!! Enjoy the photo!

The Lowdown

Here's what happening in our house. I've had some repeat questions for friends, so I thought I would answer some of them here.

I went back to work on December 8 part-time. I'm so glad that I have the luxury of working part-time! I have Wednesdays off, which I think is good for me, the kids and our nanny (Rachel). So, many have asked who is watching the kids while I'm at work. My step-sister Rachel and her 20 month old son, Dominic, moved in with us in October. While I was still at home, Rachel cleaned for us, did some cooking and watched the kids as necessary when I had to run errands. Now that I am back at work, she is the nanny, and is a Godsend! She makes dinner for us on the days I work, and still does our laundry a lot. Because the kids knew Rachel when I went back to work, and were used to being alone with her, the transition when I went back to work was very easy. It has worked out beautifully.

There is a however, however. Liam has regressed in his behaviour due to my return to work. He's gotten more aggressive and tries to bite me, hits me etc again. Its not easy to stay calm when he does this, but I'm trying! I've been reading a book called, "Nurturing the Hurt Child". I think he is emotionally at about 1 year old, so I think I may need to regress him. Our little boy has a lot of hurt inside him and he has a lot of healing to do. He's a very loving little boy, but we have a lot of work to do to make him whole again. I'm learning...anyone who reads this who has some concise tips on regressing children please comment with them. I think I will be getting a bottle and bottle-feeding him some milk every night with a cuddle. No nasty comments on this please- he missed out on a lot of things with his birth mother so we need to give the nurturing back to him.

Pete is now in the vicious cycle of illness I had when I was home. He was on antibiotics for a week or so, missed a day, took the next dose and woke up with red spots covering his body a week ago. It turns out he's allergic to Penicillin! He had three days of waking up with various issues but those seem to have subsided. The spots are still there though. Now he has a very sore throat...poor guy. I can empathize.


So, the kids have reconnected with an old friend here in Michigan! A few weeks ago another mom from our adoption agency emailed me that she and her husband had adopted a little girl from Liam and Sophie's orphanage and gruppa! I had no idea that anyone else was even going to Detsky Dom 2 in Moscow, because our agency doesn't work there that often. We've had two play dates with S (won't mention her name until her mom gives me the OK) and I am just so excited that Liam and Sophie have their friend from Moscow so close! S and her family live in the city where I work, which is close to us (by large city standards). S was a little shy on the first play date, partly I'm sure because it was at our house, not on her "turf". The second play date was at an indoor playground called Jungle Java, and she and Sophie played together a lot. S would run up to Sophie and hug her and kiss her! It was so cute!

Hopefully I'll get the OK from S's mom and can post some pictures of the three kids together on their next play date.

Next up....our Santa Experience!!

Nyet

Wow! Its been a month since I posted last. I'll try to be better. I go back to work tomorrow, so I think things will be chaotic again. Perhaps it will force me to be more organized though?

Liam's birthday was yesterday. I made a firetruck cake, and he got lots of car/truck related gifts.

They still don't really get the birthday thing, so Sophie and Dominic didn't understand why they didn't have any presents.

We're all still getting sick often. Liam was feverish and sleeping on and off all day Friday. His temp got up to 103.4, which obviously is scary. He's better now though, and a trip to the doctor yesterday showed there's nothing serious going on. He still has conjuctivitis though. We can't seem to get rid of that.

We are going to do "Potty Training in Just One Day". I've ordered Corolle potty training dolls, gotten big kid underwear, training pants, printed off potty charts etc. I need to finish reading the book though.

Enjoy the pictures