Co Co

It is great to hear what comes out of Sams mouth when he trys to say something. He calls Courtney Co Co and it is the cutest thing ever! He is having a great time hangin out with Co Co and the kids this week and last week before he goes to pre-school next week. His potty training is going fantastic and he has only had 3 accidents in 6 days. One of them was daddy induced when I did not hear him say "potty". Hopefully by the time he goes to school next week he will be all ready to be a big boy. His speech therapy has not started yet, we are waiting on the therapist to set up his appointments. He is ready to learn! This kids is so easy, I wish everyone had it this good! Case in point....he has to take two medicines twice a day now, one for a cold/ear infection and another for a rash on his scalp. When medicine time comes he opens his mouth like a baby bird and down the hatch! Supercool...

You say potty, I say lets go!

So, only two days of potty training boot camp and somebody wore the same pair of big boys pants all day! Make that two of us...anyway, Sam is doing great with his potty training. We are about 95% in the toilet for the last two days. Apparently all we needed was a pair of underwear. He is having fun with Aunt Courtney and the kids everyday and is pretty pooped out when he gets home. He talks about them all the way home and his current song is Happy Birthday. That kid can hit some high notes. Will keep you updated, good thing we bought that huge box of 240 diapers from BJ's last week.....

Preschool

We had a big day today. I took the whole day off to tote Sam to all his appointments today. We began with a light breakfast of honey nut Cheerios with a banana and some juice. We then went down to the Discovery Center where Sam will be starting school in two weeks. We wanted to take Sam there to show him the school and for him to meet Miss Anna, his teacher. We went into the classroom and met all the kids in the 2 year old toddler class. Sam played with the kids for a while, had some dancing time and then did some coloring. We said our goodbyes and got in the car to meet the doctor. Sam has had a case of the sniffles and a cough, so we went and saw the doctor for some meds. He also needed a flu shot, ouchie. He did not like the shot, or the finger prick for the blood sample. He has some intuition that tells him a needle is in the room because he starts screaming as soon as the nurse comes in.

We got out of the doctors office and then went home for some lunch. Lunch was chicken patties, tater-tots, applesauce and juice! We got ready to meet the team for Sams therapy. There were 3 women that came to the house and Sam met them all with smiles. They came right in and got friendly with Sam. He brought out a lot of his toys and books and they played with them all. They basically ran through a developmental checklist. They determined that he was in need of some speech therapy to catch him up. So once a week Sam will have some one on one time with a therapist. We are very excited about the opportunity he is going to have. We think we will see some big changes.

Dadya

Dadya is what Sam calls me, sounds Russian to us and its pronounced dad-ja. Sam is making big strides everyday and he will get some more help this week when he starts speech therapy. We found a great program here in Norfolk in which counselors will come to the house and help Sam in any area he is developing slowly in. For Sam it is his speech. On Tuesday two teachers are coming to the house and we are pretty excited about how its going to go. We are also transitioning from our nanny Laura to a full time Pre-school for him. He is going to spend the next two weeks with Aunt Courtney, who Sam calls Co-Co. Anyway, Courtney has a boot camp for potty training and Sam is packing his bags for camp.

Today we had a house full of people over to watch football. All the usual kids were over and had naps, cookies, movies, more naps and finally KFC for dinner. It was a busy day and he went right to bed. Lately just after we put him to bed, which is super easy, he will sing or talk, usually saying the names of everyone he knows. It is cute to sit downstairs and listen to him chatter. I am posting pictures of Sam at the pumpkin patch last weekend. Maggie ate one of his small pumpkins.....

Wedding Pictures

Just wanted to post some professional wedding shots from Rob and Em's wedding that we went to this summer. I love the shot of Cheri with the bridesmaids and me holding Sam...

PSA

This is just a public service announcement. Last night my car was broken into in our driveway. The cowards broke out the passenger side window. They stole my GPS, Sirius radio, gas cards, my computer bag with my printer in it, no computer though, and lastly my wallet. Yes, I keep my wallet in the car, it was convenient and easy. Do not keep your wallet in the car! I spent at least 2 hours on the phone this morning cancelling credit cards. I was not fast enough as the thieves had already spent a little over $300 at Hardees, Walmart and Food Lion. The glass is fixed and the radio can be replaced, it is just stuff anyway. What sucks is the feeling of being vulnerable. I get angry and then I cool down when I think about some slug going through my wallet picking out cards to use and money to steal. At least they were able to get some food and clothes before I shut the cards down. So, in closing, no personal items left in cars! Here are pics from Sams first haircut to lighten the mood!

Baby Talk

Sam has taken to big long very dramatic explanations of things. He will say "Dada" and then sputter off in baby talk or Russian explaning what he needs. It is quite entertaining as he also uses sweeping hand jestures.


Today Sam got to show off for our social worker as we had visit #2 of 6 in his adoption process. The visits are required by Moscow and they take them pretty seriously. We threw in one more visit so we cold officially readopt Sam in Virginia. I took Sam over to Adoptions From the Heart in Chesapeake to meet her. AFTH were instrumental in giving us the opportunity to meet Sam, so we are pretty thankful we met them. So, Sam got to woo the ladies in the office and sealed the deal by blowing them all kisses on his way out the door. Ladykiller. Uncle Charlie would be proud. We are still working on Sam saying "s" and he says his name as "maam" and he calls Graham "maam" as well, which is better than what Graham calls Sam, which is Maggie. He still loves Graham.