Nicholas continues to amaze me. He has grown 1 1/2 inches since arriving here, isn't that incredible?! I wondered why his new long sleeved 3T shirts appeared too short for his arms! He talks a lot, but it's a mix of Russian, Kazak and English. I sure wish I knew some of the things he was saying and what he is thinking in his little head. He is a wonderful boy, he is affectionate with us, sometimes goofy, sometimes mischievous and sometimes hard-headed. And he is just so cute!
He likes to watch some television and is starting to learn he is not the only one who wants to watch television. He likes to build with blocks (or have someone build an airplane for him), play with Little People, pretend tool set, train set, Dora castle (he just likes opening up all the secret spots), play with cars, read before bed, play in the bath (he spends almost an hour in the bath!), he loves to swim...if only he could do it all year :p, play at the park, dig in the backyard, go to the store, look at the fish in the aquariums at the radiologist and we are still learning things he likes. He loves airplanes, helicopters and cars. Anytime he hears what sounds like an airplane, he dashes to the window to look for it.
Sometimes it is simply exhausting, especially last week when the girls were sick and all 3 were at home...gasp! It really is a lot of work to help Nicholas to learn to play. He can't just play a game with the girls, he has to be taught there are rules to follow and he has to take turns. So far, the only successful games he has played were Elefun and Dora Bingo. Otherwise, if the kids are pretending together they get along pretty well. If they are playing with toys, like the trains or blocks, they inevitably get into arguments. He can be very demanding of myself and my time and this can also be exhausting. Maybe this is jealousy or fear that is playing out. Jealous of the time I spend with the girls or fear that I will leave him, I'm not sure. I hope this gets better with time.
He eats really well, all healthy foods except for occasional chocolate and ice cream. He eats meat, chicken, cucumber, tomato, potato, corn on the cob, rice, seaweed/nori, hot dog, carrot, pizza, yogurt, grapes, apple, banana, strawberry, but does not care too much for bread, crackers, goldfish, cookies (except oreos). The specialist we met did however mention he ate fast and stuffed his mouth so we have also been working on encouraging him to slow down and take small bites. This is going really well, in fact, he sometimes now gets distracted. I also think his body is starting to realize when he has eaten enough food. In the beginning I was feeding him about every 2 hours...3 main meals with snacks in between. I always made sure I had a snack for him. Lately he has shown less interest in the snacks so I haven't offered snacks as much, but there is always something in a cup on the table...cereal, or nuts or some of his leftover breakfast. He even turned down apple today and he used to always ask for an apple...every day!
He sleeps really well at night but we continue to give him a supplement to help him calm down and get ready for bed. Another adoptive mom recommended it, Sleep Tranquil, which has melatonin in it. We tried one night without it and had a hard time getting him to settle down so now we only give him half a tablet. He wakes up happy every morning. He seems to get tired in the afternoons but it was too stressful in the beginning to get him to nap. The only down side is that it's hard to get him to have a quiet time.
He is learning English all the time and even tries to sing a few songs that we sing to him, like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or Hush Little Baby. He is really into counting and is always showing me what he is counting. Sometimes he seems so eager to learn that he mixes up words, but he definitely knows what an airplane and a helicopter are!
Our love for him continues to grow every day!
3 comments:
awesome update and great pics!!! glad you all are doing so well! :)
melissa
Hi there! Just found your blog. My name is Amy and I adopted my daughter Karina at age four from Kazakhstan. The first three months are the toughest, at least it was for me. By the time a year had gone by things were much more improved. Personally, I insisted on a nap for my daughter. Her physical size was smaller than her American peers and with all the good food she was eating she was growing like a weed. To me that meant she needed a nap for her body and mind to rest enough to utilize the food to catch up growth wise. She fought me on the first fifteen naps but since day one I insisted on them and after two weeks she knew she was getting a nap and did not fight it. As a result she is in a good mood and agreeable between the hours of three and eight pm. Originally, I lay in her twin bed with her until she fell asleep. That lasted about two weeks. Then I transitioned to sitting next to her bed in a chair at night until she would fall asleep. After two weeks of that I moved my chair halfway between her bed and the door, then two weeks later I moved the chair out into the hallway. Two weeks after that I wasn't needed anymore after the bedtime routine of storybooks and back rubs was over. Wanting your undivided attention is par for the course for a newly adopted child from Kaz. Karina was hooked to my side constantly. I still remember the day she finally would watch a half hour video (kidsongs) all the way through thereby allowing me to go to the bathroom in private....ah joy. Trust me that will fade but it might take a bit more time. Regarding the eating....when your child realizes there will always be plenty of food he will slow down, I would not try and slow him down until that point, letting him figure it out on his own will do wonders for his feelings of safety and security. I purposefully took Karina to the grocery store with me and would talk the entire time I was there with her telling her, "see how much food there is, we can come here any time" I think because I did this and had snacks ready all the time she had no issues with food. My daughter was hyper and still has some tendencies toward that but it is getting better with age.
I love all the photos! I like how BIG your photos look. I need to figure out how to make mine look bigger! How funny...Quinn has a Buzz Lightyear costume to in our blog! Finally sitting down to read some of your blog! Things seem to be moving along! I think writing the blog is good therapy too. When we first got home I did that as well. Now I have gotten lazy. Yikes! Then I will get emails from family and friends to update...even you have commented...ha ha!! Parker and Quinn argue too on "Legos" I wanted that one...Quinn will say! We need more legos! Ha
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