Back to School !!

Kylen started the 3rd grade this year. He has a wonderful teacher and is making some progress in reading. Sasha (Alexander) moved up to preschool two days a week. I have been thinking of putting him in an extra day or two, for the mornings only. He is so behind developmentally. This November he will turn 4 years old, but developmentally he is between 19 and 22 months old. He is very behind on language and has only now started to talk. Yesterday we were sharing a plum and he gave me a bite. Well, I must have touched his finger with my teeth, and he thought I was biting him, and he said "Say 'Sorry Sasha!!' "!! I guess I am always saying to him when he is too rough or acting out "Say you are sorry, Sasha". HA!! At any rate, I have struggled with trying to decide if he should have more classtime or more "mommytime". Our bonding and attachment has gone very well with Sasha ( and we still have a long way to go with Kylen....more on that later). However for now, I have decided that Sasha will benefit most from "mommytime". He already has some days that he must spend away from me because I work. I really feel he will benefit most from more love, nurturing and closeness to Mom. Time will tell.

Summer Revisited

Why is it the summer goes by so quickly? We had such a fun and wonderful summer. We took 3 trips to the beach. Sasha LOVED the ocean, waves and the sand. Kylen had learned about palm trees and coconut trees when he was in school at Magadan. He was so excited to see them in person!! Kylen was the best sand crab catcher EVER!! He even caught little sand crabs for the other little kids that weren't fast enough to catch them!! He has become a great little swimmer, too!! He is greatly improved from the second month of coming home from Russia and when we went to the waterpark near my Mom's house! We had only been home from Russia two months, and Kylen wasn't speaking English yet, but somehow I let him convince me that he could swim. So, I gave him permission to go down this big slide into what I call "the toilet bowl" with Tavia and Remmy. Well, it is this huge slide that at the bottom, you swirl around and around (like when the toilet flushes) and then you land in the water. As soon as Kylen hit the water the lifeguard blew the whistle and the they jumped in to pull him out. I raised my hand and said... "Yes, I am the stupid parent that let him slide down!" He wasn't afraid, and within a few weeks he was swimming like a fish!! Now he tubes behind our boat like a Mad Man!! But I look back on those early days and some of the crazy things that happened make us laugh!!

Fantastic Summer !!

We have enjoyed such a fun summer!! Having a Court Date last May that involved my two older children and my ex finished and behind us was a HUGE relief. This has been pending for almost two years, and again there was another successful postponement on the part of my ex until the end of September......but we are almost there and positive things are happening for our side. More on that later.....but needless to say it has been a HUGE stressor for all of the children, as well as my husband and myself to be going through such a tremendous ordeal. We are so happy to see the light at the end of the tunnel!! Kylen and Alexander (Sasha) are such a tremendous blessing to us!! They are happy boys and are doing so well!! We still have some issues we are dealing with.....and I hope to talk about some of these issues in order to help some of you with your challenges. I have just been so "zapped" dealing with all this legal stuff, that I didn't seem to have much reserve left to discuss other aspects of my life. It really has been all-consuming. I am so happy it is almost over....and will be even happier for a positive outcome!! Think positive thoughts for us and say a few prayers, please!! I am learning more about bonding as we go along and this is also something I want to share in future posts!! I have new pictures coming too!! I am glad to be back with all my blogger friends!! I have missed you all!!

WOW !! THE ONE YEAR POST-PLACEMENT REPORT !!

Wow!! How time flys!! Today Sasha and I drove 6 hours (to and fro) to "The Big City" to get our one year post-placement reports apostilled and off to FedEx to our adoption agency to submit to Russia!! One year ago today we were frantically packing and getting ready to depart to pick up our children in Russia!! It all seems so surreal now that they are so integrated into our family!! Honestly, I cannot even picture our lives without them being here!! WOW!! Are we ever lucky!!