Tag Archives: Reed

Everyday Life

Chalk

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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!


Don’t both of them look tired? These photos were taken the same day that I wrote that blog post.


Can you tell what I’m teaching Ilya?


“That dog, barking, over there. He’s the one who keeps me up at night.”


Here’s Ilya, telling me about his drawing. Hilarious.Yes, his shirt says “Loud and in Charge” and yes, that is hugely appropriate for him.

Everyday Life

Photo and Video Overload?

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I was just going to share a couple of videos related to yesterday’s post, but then I found all these forgotten gems on my camera.


Have I showed you this before? My friend Amy‘s parents gave Ilya this tractor when we were over at their house one day and he couldn’t stop playing with it. Well, now, sometimes, he tells us he wants to “read books” instead of going to the playground with Aaron and Lena. “Read books” is code words for play with the tractor.


Here Lena is rocking out the awkward MK&A Olsen look with a strawberry.


Ilya is kind of weird and just a tad gross about eating strawberries. He tries to eat them like an apple.


This is for my weimaraner friends… Josie squishing poor Nina.

I spend quite a bit of time with Ilya practicing different words and sounds. Words that he almost has down, but just can’t quite make out. Lena definitely struggles with speech and I often joke that I am waiting for the day when she breaks out yelling at someone in perfect English.  Well, last week, she had one of those moments when her papa didn’t eat his pizza crusts. She yelled at him “Eat the pizza!” And we were all shocked how easy it was to understand her. This is a little bit afterwards, since I wasn’t able to catch the first time on video.

He really loves this song and just kept telling me “pa-pu-guy” last night so I’d play it for him.

Ilya knows this song well. I think it’s so cute how well he can sing along.

What makes that last video even cuter? Comparing it to this one from Ilya’s birthday…

To answer the questions from my last post, I didn’t realize that song was mostly in German. I thought that, but just shrugged it off thinking that Russian sounds a lot like german, of course know that I watch it again… As for him knowing other songs, these are the only ones I’ve found that he knows. I’ve tried playing other songs on youtube, like the suggestions that come up, but haven’t found other ones he knows. Any suggestions?

Everyday Life

One More Drs. Appointment

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First of all, Lena’s hearing appears to be totally fine. They want her retested in 6 weeks to make sure, as she had a bit of a cold last week, but no one is concerned now.

We had another doctor’s appointment today, for Ilya at the pediatrician. This doctor was recommended to me by a fellow adoptive parent, as well as another friend. I think generally we are a pretty mainstream family, but we do sometimes lean to the side of crunchy. One thing, my kids drink Kefir, instead of milk. The doctor mention last week he thought milk was better, in terms of protein and fat. Today, he said he was totally wrong about what it was– thinking it was like a cream soda, but he thinks I should transition my kids to milk. So they don’t stand out when they go to school. Seriously. Now, my kids will drink milk, but they prefer Kefir. Kefir is very similar in protein and fats to milk, but also offers probiotics. But, you know, other kids might think my kids are weird if they like kefir. I mean, what if the other kids find out that my kids don’t know what cheetos are? Or that they eat spinach and broccoli and LOVE all kinds of fruit? Uh-oh. Scarred for life. I also think this is funny because we live in a relatively progressive town, with lots of other families who consume the same sorts of foods. If anyone local wants to recommend a pediatrician or a family practice, please do. 
Lola and Deepa, my parents, left on Sunday. The kids and I are still recovering from them leaving. Lena took it the hardest for sure (mega tears as they drove away), but Ilya and I are also quite bummed and having a hard time returning to the swing of things. This has also brought up the subject of how Aaron and I aren’t ever going to leave them and Lola and Deepa may have gone home but they still miss them and love them. Knowing we can always get them on the phone helps too. 
Everyday Life

Doctors Visits

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This week has been a whirlwind of doctor’s visits. My parents are in town, my mom since Saturday and my dad just since this afternoon. I try to schedule appointments when my mom is around to help me out. On Tuesday, we had a check-up at the International Adoption Clinic, in KC, about an hour away. I really thought I scheduled it for 9:45, but it turns out it was at 9… meaning we had to leave the house at 7:45… yuck! On the way home from that, I got a call from the school district’s audiologist. They have two audiologists and when they talked about Lena and took into consideration her trouble with articulation and my concerns, they decided I should have her hearing checked sooner. She recommended we go to the KU Med Center, our other option being back to Children’s Mercy (where we had been just minutes before). She said she was certain that KU Med Center had the equipment best for testing Lena. I wasn’t sure if we’d need a referral and Lena needed some vaccinations, so right after I got off the phone with the audiologist, I called a well-recommended pediatrician’s office, to see if we could schedule an appointment. They had one, today at 8:45. Awesome, that meant my mom could watch Ilya and I could go with just Lena. So, we had that this morning. As soon as we got home from that appointment, I called the audiology clinic at KU Med and they’d JUST had a cancellation for an appointment… tomorrow. So, tomorrow, we will be heading back over to Kansas City, to find out the extent of Lena’s hearing loss. Lots of doctors visits. I still need to take Ilya to the pediatrician sometime and they both need to go to the dentist. The doctor said she will probably need a lot of work… I had noticed what looked like a cavity, so I am not surprised.

I was really lax on doctor’s appointments for the first few months. I just wanted to make sure that the kids weren’t constantly being thrust into uncomfortable, stressful situations. They both seem to bounce back from scary situations much better now and respond to being comforted, so I am comfortable with it.

In exciting news, after our evaluation last week, I called the school district about Pre-K and was told that Aaron makes too much to qualify the kids for Pre-K through them. Well, the doctor told me that both of them should qualify for developmental Pre-K. I am so glad. I was looking at private preschools and while I think that Ilya would really benefit from going to preschool, we weren’t sure how we’d manage the large additional cost. I’d love to send Lena to preschool too and I might consider if she is eligible and would not be in Ilya’s class. Otherwise, I’d probably just wait until the following year.

I’ll keep you all updated on Lena’s visit tomorrow. I am not sure when I’ll get a chance to blog, as I think I’ll be busy the next couple of days. I’ll try to find some free time ASAP!

Everyday Life

Lena’s Hearing Test

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Lena had her more extensive hearing test today. She cooperated so well for the whole thing, sitting there nicely and paying attention to the audiologist. The audiologist said that she does appear to have mild hearing loss in both ears, but it could be related to her not understanding the tasks. But, she did seem to be doing very well with everything. She had blocks which she put in a bucket whenever she heard the tone. The audiologist asked us to come back in six months to retest her and see if she has the same results.

Lena does struggle to pronounce certain sounds, but overall, she seems to do fine hearing. I am not very concerned as we do not even know for certain if she does have hearing loss. Even if she does and needs hearing aids or some other kind of assistance, I don’t think it is a big deal. If mild hearing loss is the greatest of our problems, we’re doing okay.

Lena really caught on and enjoyed the coin game yesterday, in preparation for her hearing test. I got out the headphones I got for her for her plane ride home, hooked them up to my computer and used this website to try a bunch of different beep sounds with her. I put the computer on my lap so she could not see if I was clicking. At the school, it was a bit different, but it was the same concept and she caught on quickly.