Category Archives: Everyday Life

Six Months Home

June 24, 2011 Molly 2 Comments

We’ve been home for six months today… woo hoo! Life has changed so much. It’s hard to see the progress all the time, but they’ve grown so much.

First night in their new home.

First whole day home… Christmas!

Seriously, I can’t believe we survived the last 6 months. At certain times, at least.

Taken a month ago, enjoying their first ice cream cones.

So far today, we’ve had a really good day. Actually, it’s been laughably ridiculous with crazy drivers and the stroller nearly rolling down the side of the levee. But, for the three of us, it’s been a good day.

Aaron had a talk with Reed (which Reed himself has decided he wants to be called with no pressure from us) and Lena, yesterday about the different kinds of people– family (describing the four of us), relatives, friends and strangers. He talked about how they need to check with us before interacting with strangers, etc. I always roll my eyes a bit. These conversations are usually about something I’ve told Aaron we struggled with during the day. And he’ll talk to them or just one of them, depending on what it was, and I see no improvement the next day. So I’m a bit jaded. Well, my mom paid a cleaning lady to come to our house today (thanks, mom!). We hadn’t met her before. Reed turns to me after seeing her and says “Mommy, can I say hi?” I am so impressed! He remembered and came up with the words to ask me! He also is usually painfully shy and just stares at new people, so this was great progress from both angles.

I watched some Christine Moers videos last night… such a good refresher course on parenting. My favorite and the one I tried out with my kids today, was this:

I tried it today… it works. I was shocked, but whispering to my kids made them focus on me even more. Eye contact and all. We were in the parking lot at the grocery store and I was trying to get Lena in her car seat. Reed was being a space cadet and starting to walk behind the car. In my usual stern, moderate voice, “Reed, I need you to listen to me. Reed, I need you to listen to me.” And then I tried the whisper, “Reed I need you to listen to me (turns towards me and looks at me) and stay close to the car. ” “Okay.” I’m sold.

Everyday Life

If you want to…

June 16, 2011 Molly 2 Comments

Preschool is all set up. It is a private, Christian preschool. We would not qualify for the free preschool through the district and this is a bit cheaper than the district preschool option.. plus we don’t have to wait to find out if we qualify for this.

We went to meet with the teacher today and ended up staying for about an hour. Her grandkids and niece’s daughter were there too and Ilya and Lena were just having a lot of fun playing. Ilya had been hesitant to begin with, so I wanted him to remember having a good time with the other kids. I think Lena is going to be very upset that she doesn’t get to go, but she still has another year before she starts kindergarten and I don’t really want to juggle taking them both (one would be in the morning and one in the afternoon) and the cost for both of them. I think we’ll probably send her when she’s 4, too.

When we asked Ilya yesterday about going to school and what he thought, he told us “Maybe later.”

We’ve also been talking to Ilya about his name and what he wants us to call him. He seems to be leaning towards “Reed”. I am not sure if it’s because it’s a new name to him, or if he’s tired of people mispronouncing Ilya (he’s corrected people before). He told me twice that he wanted the teacher to call him Reed, so that is what she’s going to do. He also said he wants me to call him Reed, but I’m having a hard time getting used to it. When I asked Lena what she wanted to be called, she told me “Reed.” When I told her that wasn’t an option, she decided to stick with Lena.

Now that we’ve set it up, I’m not so sure that Ilya needs preschool. He might have to teach the class himself. Here is a video of him reading to Lena… it was a bit longer, but Flickr cuts if off at 90 seconds…

Everyday Life

The New Stroller

June 14, 2011 Molly 3 Comments

I’ve gotten pretty terrible at blogging, but my sister told me to. Truth is, the weather is awesome here. We spend every free minute outside. We bought a stroller which is really fantastic. I am trying to lose weight, so it is nice to be able to go for a very long walk and just push them in the stroller. Today, on two separate walks, I walked between 7 and 8 miles. And, it was 90+ degrees out today. I get extra points for that, right?

We’ve been blowing bubbles, drawing with chalk, riding tricycles, going to the playground, grilling burgers– all the good summer stuff. For the most part, everyone is loving it. Sometimes we don’t find the time for naps, which is not so wonderful.

I am still trying to figure out preschool for Ilya. I will hopefully have the final answer soon. Life is just… normal. I think we are slowing finding the right routine and feeling settled. After almost six months, I guess I thought we’d be there sooner. But, I think we’re finally getting somewhere. Ilya and I also seem to be bonding more. I think it really helped having company for quite awhile and getting a break from being just the three of us all day. It was a nice break for me, but I think he needed that break too. The other day, out of the blue, he told me, “Mama, you look pretty!” And, he has been much more interested in doing things together lately… asking me to read him books and such. This is really good for both of us. He has had a good bond with Aaron for quite some time and I feel like we’re finally getting there now too.

Everyday Life

A Very Busy Week

May 31, 2011 Molly 5 Comments

We’ve had a busy last week. Ilya and Lena met all their cousins for the first time, as well as two of their aunts and their uncle. Their cousins are 11, 8, 5, 3 and 6mo. They stayed with us for a few days. I wasn’t sure how it would go… I figured they’d all have fun together, but I anticipated some conflict. Nope, not at all. They all got along wonderfully. My sister’s older kids were great about helping my two. There was wrestling and rough housing and then there was hand holding and stories. Ilya and Lena really loved meeting their baby cousin and would often run up to him and give him kisses or a big hug.

It was a week for a lot of firsts… we went to Cedar Cove Feline Sanctuary… a really neat place in Louisburg, Kansas. They have tigers, lions, wolves and other animals. We also went to Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead… if you are in Kansas City with kids, GO THERE. It is free Monday-Thursday, and only $2/person on the weekend. They do have other activities which you must pay for, but it is all very reasonably priced. My kids rode on toy tractors, fed baby goats, tried out fishing, saw all kids of animals and spent a ton of time on a very nice playground. Everyone, grown-ups and all ages of children really enjoyed Deanna Rose. We spent 5 hours there and easily could have stayed longer if it wasn’t closing for the day!

We also had some other adventures during the week, like trips to the dog park or up onto the University of Kansas campus. Our other very exciting adventure was our first trip to the pool! We have a couple of very nice public pools here in Lawrence. One which is indoor and one which is outdoor. My sister and her family had gone to the indoor one earlier in the week, but I wasn’t comfortable taking two kids who had never seen a pool before without an extra set of adult hands. But, with my other sister in town and Aaron free to join us, we went yesterday.

Ilya just loved the pool. He just walked around for hours, he wanted to try everything out, including stuff like the big slide, which he’s just too little for. Lena was more hesitant. She did not like to get her face wet. She clung to me or my sister most of the time we were at the pool. Occasionally, she’d waddle around in the kiddie pool, coming to check in with me every few minutes. Both kids had a good time, though and did not ask to get out once during the 3 hours we were at the pool.

I really enjoyed having my sister and her family here. It was a great opportunity for Ilya and Lena to get to know more of their family. I also think it was a very positive experience for them to see how families function in day to day life. I also felt like I got to experience another side of both Ilya and Lena, seeing how they acted with other members of their family, especially how affectionate both of them were with “the baby.”

Everyday Life

Chalk

May 19, 2011 Molly 5 Comments

Thanks for your comments on the sleep post. We have only had one other night like that, where she is crying several times throughout the night. She was consistently crying right after we put her to sleep every night, but we’d just go in and remind her that we were right downstairs and she needed to go to sleep… that worked after several days of doing that. We already have a fan running in their room and the A/C as needed, so they are good with white noise.

We have not really done anything exciting since my parents left, except that the kids went down to their other grandparents’ farm last Saturday. Very exciting for them, exciting for me in the opposite sense… I got a whole day to myself and got to get some things done… and just sit on the couch and read for awhile.

We’ve also been enjoying the weather. It is all ups and downs, 95 and plenty of sun and then 55 with wind and rain. That was seriously our weather last week. On one of the warmer days, we got out and did this…

Chalk!