Mommy's Top Ten

Alik surprises us every day with new sounds, expressions, etc. This is such a fun age because he's like a little sponge! Here are some of my new favorite things that he does or has done in the past month....

1. I bought him a play cell phone at Target that I can record a message on. The message I left was, "Hello Alik! I love you!" The first time he heard it, he blew a kiss. I guess whenever I tell him I love him, I follow it with a kiss. So cute!

2. He's almost mastered the entire barnyard. When we ask him "What does a ____ say?", he knows how to "moo", "baa", "nay" (this one sounds a lot like a sheep though), "meow", "ruff, ruff", "whoooo", and my new favorite farm animal "doodle doo" (in a high pitched voice) for rooster. That one gets me every time!

3. He's moved beyond the barnyard now and can also "oo, oo, oo" like a monkey and "roar" like a lion. The lion is actually his clearest animal sound. He says that one with zest and ranks as my 2nd favorite sound!

4. He's started nodding his head "yes" in response to questions. We don't think he completely understands what it means, but he certainly knows when a question is being asked that needs a response.

5. I know I'll regret saying THIS is a few months (weeks?), but, right now I think it's cute when he says, "na, na, na" (meaning "no, no, no") when he doesn't want to do something.

6. If he wants something done that he can't do (such as flipping a switch on a toy to turn it on), he'll actually take my finger, drag it over to the toy's switch, and make my finger turn it on.

7. Similar to #6, when we read books (which is A LOT), I'm always pointing to things in the book as I read. So, now he'll sometimes take MY finger and point to something on the page with it before I do it myself.

8. You know that game of trust, where you stand with your back to a person and fall into their arms, trusting that he/she will catch you? Alik apparently likes to play a version of this. If he knows you're sitting close by, he'll slowly walk backwards until his heel hits you. Then he'll literally fall backwards into our laps or arms.

9. He's definitely exerting his independence lately. If he could say, "I do it myself!!!", I know we'd be hearing it all the time. He always wants to walk in the stores now instead of being carried or put in a cart (not always a good thing). He likes to walk up the stairs by himself. Unfortunately, he won't crawl up or down but has to walk like a big boy by pulling himself up the rungs and taking steps on his feet. I don't like this because it'll be a long time before he's big enough to do this safely without someone standing behind him.

10. Have I mentioned what a big "helper" he is? :) See pictures below for examples of how he "helps" me every day....

Helping with laundry ("wearing" Daddy's shorts here)

Picking up "trash" and handing it to me (Sometimes this is not a good thing...like when he found a poo that Callie had left in the house while we were out, picked it up and brought it to me....YUCK!)

Vacuuming - I hoped that by buying him his own vacuum, he'd let me use mine. Nope, he's still more interested in mine.

Off to the zoo with Grammy

This past week, while Stephen was out of town, we decided to try an overnighter at my parents' house so that Alik could spend some time with his Poppop (my Dad). I didn't know what to expect. So, geared up with plenty of knowns (blanket and giraffe from crib at home, favorite bedtime story - The Going to Bed Book, etc.), we arrived there on Wednesday. Well, he did awesome and went down for both his naps and bedtime with no problems. I guess it helped that we tired the little guy out both days we were there. Wednesday night, Grammy, Poppop, Mommy and Alik went to see the farm animals that live close to their house. It's so funny how excited Alik gets when he sees cows (or horses, tractors, and trucks!). Then, of course, we had to stop for some ice cream. On Thursday, Mom and I took him to the zoo. Although Mom and I were a little disappointed in the zoo, Alik had a ball exploring all the new sights.

His absolute favorite part was the "misting station" by the polar bear exhibit. He laughed and laughed when it spritzed his face. He wasn't too happy with me when I said it was another little girl's turn and we had to go.

Not a horse....

O.K., o.k., we know the pictures were of Alik and a burrow, not a horse. But, that was the only one we saw that was not a miniature HORSE or regular sized HORSE. Actually, they're all horses to Alik anyway....donkeys, ponies, zebras. So, we'll just keep pretending it was a horse for now. :)

Here are some pictures of Alik in his pool. He's a pretty brave little swimmer. He's learning how to blow bubbles and loves to float on his back and have me "swish" him around. We'll have to get him into some swim lessons in the fall.

A Future Farmer?

For some reason, Alik LOVES horses. We made this discovery one day when we were driving down the road behind, well...some horses behinds! That's all you could see of them. But, Alik started going nuts, pointing and "oo, oo, ooing". He was so excited! We weren't sure at that point whether it was the horses or something else he was excited about. Then, we were out to dinner with my parents for my birthday and he started getting VERY excited again and pointing to the tv. Sure enough....horse racing was on the tv. We don't know where this excitement came from. We read lots of books and some of them have horses in them. But, he's never shown as much interest in them as he has the cows, sheep and dogs. And, I'm pretty darn sure he wasn't exposed to real live horses in the baby home. But, they're now his favorite. So, last weekend we took him to a place called "The Land of Little Horses" in Gettysburg, PA. He could barely contain himself because, in addition to all the horses, there were lots of tractors too (his OTHER favorite thing in the world). There was horse racing and little horses roaming free where he could touch them. There was one particular horse that took a liking to Alik too. The relationship started off well, but turned a bit sour towards the end. Here is the sequence of events:

Making new friends

Being followed

Aww...the horse resting its head on Alik's arm

"I've had enough of you for now.""You REALLY need to get away from my tractor buddy!!!!"

I told Alik that, if he asks REALLY nicely, maybe Daddy will buy him a horse for Christmas. Not likely :). But, he's got a better chance at the tractor! Here he is in Toys R Us (No, I don't take my camera EVERYWHERE. We were coming back from an outing when we stopped at Toys R Us and he got excited about sitting in the tractor.). He got a hold of this picture when I printed it out. So, I put it in a magnetic frame on the fridge. He carries it around showing people his picture of him and "his" tractor.

Alik's 2nd Haircut

1st haircut....Alik cried. 2nd haircut....Mommy cried.

We took Alik to get his 2nd haircut on Thursday. Stephen was off work and I decided that he needed to experience a haircut with Alik. The first time, when my Mom and I took him, he screamed the entire time. Of course, the lady who cut it just looked mean (even though this was at a kid's hair place) and didn't interact with him at all. This time, we decided to take him to the barber shop where Stephen gets his hair cut. A friend of mine said that she takes her little boy there. So, we thought it would be fine. In some ways it was. Alik didn't make a sound the entire time. He sat perfectly still and happily sucked away on his pacifier while the man razored his hair. Maybe that was the difference....this man used only the razor and the 1st lady used scissors. I would have thought he would have disliked the razor MUCH more than the scissors. Go figure! Anyway, the man asked me how I wanted it cut. So, I told him that I just wanted it trimmed and didn't want it too short. The man said, "Lady, this is a barber shop. We don't mess around." Stephen and I both thought he was kidding. So, while Stephen stood next to him, I took my seat. Then, when I saw the first row being razored, I jumped out of my chair. But, it was too late. My little boy's hair was no more. I might as well have told the man that I wanted him to give Alik a buzz cut! I was NOT happy at all. When we left the place, it was all I could do not to cry. He looked like a different kid. Of course, once the shock died down, I realized that it's just hair and will grow back. But, I can tell you one thing....we're never taking him there again!

After the haircut from h***, we took him and Callie to the park. He always wants to help nowadays (wouldn't it be nice if that continued forever?). So, here he is "walking" Callie. I wonder who was really walking who though!!! :)

A good anniversary

Our first family photo:

We celebrated our 8 year anniversary on the 23rd. Every year, for the past 4 years, Stephen has written something like, "maybe this will be our year to start our family" inside my card. It just feels so good to finally have the family we've been dreaming of for so long. Stephen got me the Precious Moments Adoption figurine. I thought it was very sweet. The three of us went out to dinner at the Greene Turtle near our house. Nothing too fancy...but, I guess that doesn't even need to be said since we have a child now! :) Alik does really well at restaurants. He likes to check everything out and, of course, eat!

Speaking of eating....Alik said another word today, "nana" for "banana". When I brought him downstairs for breakfast, he pointed to the bowl and said it, clear as day. He knows how to "moo" like a cow, "baa" like a sheep, and sometimes he goes "ruff" like a dog. I'm such a proud Mama! Of course, there are other words that we know he's saying but other people might not understand..."dat" for "what's that?", "mo" for "more", among others.

We've been pretty busy lately. On Wednesday mornings, we go to story time at the library. Today, Alik was more interested in "running" around the room than he was listening to the stories the lady was reading. They do a free play at the end and he's definitely getting more comfortable interacting with other kids. At the baby home, they told us that he was the "social butterfly" with both the other kids and the adults. We've definitely seen that with adults, but not kids. He'll take a few minutes and check the adults out, while holding onto us. Then, once he's comfortable, he turns on the charm. We have a play date on Friday with a little boy his age that we met at the library.

Other new things...

Alik is getting more daring with the walking bit. Up until this week, he'd always have to hold onto something to pick himself up to a standing position. Now, he'll put himself in the standing pike position (hands and feet flat on the floor) and then stand up slowly. It's funny watching this. Sometimes, when he stands up, his momentum is going backwards and he falls back on his bum. He'll try a few times before I hear a little whine and a "help me" hand flies up in my direction.

I've been trying not to overuse the word "no". So, sometimes I'll say, "not for Alik" or I'll just give him a stern look and shake my head when he's doing something he shouldn't be. Today, I watched him walk up to a plant, shake his head "no" then walk away from it. Then, he walked over to the outlet, shook his head no, then walked away from it. It's almost like his little conscience is sitting on his shoulder and whispering in his ear what not to do! It really is funny to watch. And, again, I'm a pretty proud Mommy that my little guy corrects himself sometimes before I have to.

His favorite game lately is to wave bye-bye to us in the kitchen and then start "running" towards the front door while giggling. Then, we're supposed to "sneak" into the dining room and "get him", which means catching him and tickling him. He gets a big kick out of that game and usually outlasts us on that one! It's tiring running around the house. I must be getting old. :)

Here are some recent pictures:

Building a tower:

With Great-Grandma's cane:
Picking strawberries:

I've waited a long time for times like these

We kicked off carnival season last week as the first one came to our town. There were a few rides that we could get on with Alik. He had that "deer in the headlights" look each time we got on a ride. However, as soon as we got off he'd point to get back on. By the end of the carousel ride he was patting the horse and bouncing up and down. By the end of the summer I think he'll be begging to get on rides. We go to a LOT of carnivals around here!

We've been so impressed with how quickly Alik has picked up English. He seems to understand almost everything I tell or ask him. Just today I was sitting on the couch across the room from his bookshelf and I told him to go get me a book to read to him. He walked right over, picked up his favorite book, "I Love You Through and Through", and brought it back to me. The top 3 are always that one, "Chicka, Chicka Boom Boom" and a touch and feel puppy book. We read those over and over and OVER again. I'm just happy he likes me to read to him. The teacher in me wouldn't know what to do if I had a kid who didn't want to be read to! Then, later this afternoon when he woke up from his nap, he was distracted by something in his room. I told him that he needed to give me his paci (we only let him have it while he's sleeping/to fall asleep). He took it out of his mouth and handed it over. Right now he follows directions so well. Please pinch me...I think I'm dreaming. I feel so blessed to have Alik.

We went to visit the school today where I used to teach 4 years ago. They were the staff that were with me through the beginning stages of the frustration of infertility. They had a little luncheon for Alik and I. One of the teachers said to me that God chose Alik just for us and must have had a checklist of all the good qualities that our child needed to possess because of all the years of frustration spent trying to have a child. I'm rereading that sentence and it doesn't sound nearly as touching when I write it as it did when Carol said it. :) As usual, our boy charmed all the ladies with his winning smile. I am so thankful for all of the wonderful support I've gotten and continue to get from so many people. It humbles me. I can't even put it into words.

One more picture.....Alik's first pool experience. He loved splashing from OUTSIDE the pool and Callie loved drinking it. So, it was win, win for both my babies. :) The pool was a little too cold for him to get in. We'll have to remember to fill it up earlier in the day from now on so that it has time to warm up.