Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Fall 2008

First day of preschool.
Picking apples with MOMS Club.

Halls and Vakes.

Goof ball!

Siena's 4th annual adoption day with G&G Current & Al.

Three ballerinas.
At the pumpkin picking place on the cow ride.

Sniffing and hugging everything at the pumpkin store.

Al turns two and his dad makes him the same cake I got when I was a little girl.

Grandpa Wayne.

Grandma Clara.

She is a princess for Halloween for the second year. She kindly decorated my face for me!


Al roared very quietly.

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Siena
I definitely want to put my hood up. And you should put your hood up too Alistair. That will keep us safe.

Mom, don’t brush my hair again, you young lady.

Al saw Siena playing with some balls and said, “play, play” but it was bedtime so I told him he could play with them in the morning. But he carried on so much that Siena gave him a ball to use in his crib. I said, “Al, Siena really likes you.” She said, “He’s my favorite kind of boy.”

Siena found some string, put it on Alistair’s shoulder and he followed behind her as she said, “Come on, watch where you’re walking. Come on, you’re a puppy. “

“Do you want to go watch a movie, Siena asked.” She has taken to quoting herself. Not sure if this is something she has picked up in drama school or what.

"Daddy, time for supper. Siena roared to her Mommy."

To Alistair, “I’m getting dressed, honey. I’m concentrating on getting dressed. Hmmm, what else do I need?"

To Alistair, “You’re not going to have any coffee, you’re too young. It’s mine. Our coffee is brewing. No sugar in mine please, just regular.”

"I kissed Siena and I liked it, taste of her princess dress" (another modification of the kissed a girl song.)

{Siena trying to talk to her dad through a window.}
Excuse me little one, you have to concentrate on talking to me.
{Her dad tries to talk to her.}
I can’t hear you. Come in, you’ve got to come in here.

{Looking through a Christmas toy catalog.}
Oh, gorgeous! Oh, Jim-in-nee! Oh man! Oh, I’m going to look gorgeous in that. I’ll look as pretty as a princess. Oh, my goodness I’ll be so proud of my Santa. He’ll give this thing to me. Everything I want! You’re going to look so darling and so cute {looks at me} and I’m going to look so cute too.

{Coloring with the water doodle pen}
S Hey Mom, look at what I made.
C What is it?
S I’m not exactly sure.

While brushing her teeth with her dad she holds up the pink plastic mug of water and says, “Dad, this is great coffee!”

Alistair

We ready? You ready? Here it is. Poopy butt. Hotdish. Push table. Naked me. I did it. Chocolate chips…two more chips. Tickle, tickle. Fries, right now! We’re home. Do it again. Mom, all done. Train track. (But usually choo choo track.) Eat an apple. Pumpkin. Auntie Molly. Play truck. Big truck. Need fork.

Erik said Alistair spilled some milk on the floor, toddled off to the kitchen returning with a cloth dragging behind him and wiped up the milk.

Al now says “baby” and expects you to feed him like a baby.


I’m naked. Take a bath. Apple, please. Spooky cat. Spooky hand. Open the candy. Take it in the car? (a bear) That hurt my nose. Kiss the boy, I like it (he modified a song which said "I kissed a girl and I liked it.") Dinosaur hurt eye. Book, I need it. Hands me pepperoni from his pizza and says, “Don’t like it.”

He saw the dirty bottom of my white sock, walked away and came back with a Kleenex, wiping my socks off saying, “clean that sock.”

C I’m hungry.
A Me too.

A Hi.
C Hi.
A Hi Mama.
C Hi Ali.
A How are you, Mommy?
C I’m good. How are you?
A Good.

I put a new shirt on him; he looked at it, smiled and said, “Cute.”

A woman at the grocery store says, “Your son could be your twin.”

Holding out an empty cup, he says, “Lemonade in there please, Mom.”



Saturday, August 30, 2008

Second Half of Summer

Driving her cousins to the "Mall of America" in her Grandpa Ed's Model A. Or is it Model T?
He only wanted to be picked up by Papa Ed when we were in Duluth which, of course, melted Grandpa Ed's heart.

They borrow many toys from the neighbor when in Fargo visiting G&G.

Sam's 11th birthday in Cottage Grove, MN.

Grandma reads to them all the time, here at the lake near Detroit Lakes, MN.

Living la buena vida in Fargo, ND.

With my cousin Jeff's kids at Uncle Verne's house in Detroit Lakes, MN.

My dad shucking corn with Siena, 2008.



My dad shucking corn with me, 1972.

Believe it or not, Siena was actually muddier but naked so no shots of her.

Grandma Clara bought a whole box of dress up clothes at a garage sale and the kids went wild with them while in Duluth, MN.

Camping with the Morellos in the Upper Penisula of Michigan.

Happy Adoption Day Alistair! One year ago today we flew home with you: August 19th!


Five kids adopted from Kazakhstan, together at the Minnesota State Fair.

Siena abandoned her popsicle so he alternated it with his chocolate ice cream.

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A crazy busy second half of summer. We look forward to quiet "back to school" days.


July

Kids in Fargo with G&G 19-26th
Sam's 11th birthday party, 27th
August

Book Club picnic 7th
Weekend at Farm, 9-10th
G&G in Duluth 13th-15th
Camping in Michigan with Morellos 15th-17th
Al’s First Adoption Day, 19th
At Leaf lake with G&G Current 22-27th
State Fair with 3 other kids from Kaz, 29th
Nina’s 4th birthday party, 30th
Mara & Naomi’s 4th birthday party, 30th


Siena

-Beautiful morning, huh?
-Alley, do not throw your food. That’s rude. Do you understand me, Alley?

Siena makes her bed one day spontaneously. A few days later she makes it again and says now her bed looks just like mine.

We go camping and she remembers the word RV as VCR. Its hard to correct her because the mistake is so funny i.e. “we slept in a VCR last night.”

S I said, “Shell (cell) phone, hello” when I was a little baby.
C Yeah, you did.
S Yeah, that’s a little weird.

The little girl who used to cuddle for 10 minutes after her bath recently told me:
“I can dry myself off.”

Siena shuts all the doors and plays with her brother and a flashflight in the hallway with the lights off.
I hear :
S Shadow.
A Adow.
S Yes, Alistair, that’s your shadow.

She can’t stand driving in rush hour traffic because she wants to go fast. She told me the following when we were backing out of the driveway: “Don’t hit the brakes, I don’t want to slow down.”


Alistair

Sentences: Go park? Moon out? Daddy home? Play Nina house? Eye hurt. Good night. Shhh, quiet.

Words: keys, glass (glasses), mosquito (keet) swim, Alley, horse, cake, party, Enna (Siena)

A Bed?
E You want to play on the bed?
A Uh, huh (with exaggerated up and down head bob.)

-Hates diaper changes. Tells us when pooping or peeing.

-Good listener.
-Gets in car by himself, climbs in car seat by himself, tries to clip the carseat by himself and does quite well.

Rhetorical questions of the past such as “Do you want to go downstairs and do some laundry?” are now oftentimes answered: “No.”

Thursday, July 17, 2008

First half of summer

At Old Country Buffet with G& G Halls: macaroni and cheese, red jello, chocolate milk, and cucumber nirvana!

Grandma had about 10 dress up outfits for her in Duluth.

"One year later" pictures to send to fellow adoptive friends.
Here we were June 5th 2007, the day we met Alistair.

What a cutie!

Father's Day gift photo.

St. Louis Park Splash Pad.
MOMS Club friends.


Backyard pool. The farm cousins have taught them that in your own backyard pool you must be naked!

They both love shoes. For Alistair, the sparklier the better!

Strawberry picking, er, eating.

She's an art lover for sure.
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Alistair's Words
Eye, nose, night, juice, clink (as in clink glasses or anything together), up, down, out, cookie, pizza, uppie, downie, milkie, bootie, trees, bubbles, ice, quiche, movie, thanks, open, fish, door, please, hi Mom, eat (more of a command!) don’t (and hits me,) shoes on, apple, bye Mama, Nina, back pack, mess, work, home

We call him Alley Marg and Margie sometimes.

He is generally quite crabby when waking up from his nap. One day my mom was here and she picked him out of his crib. He demanded to be put down. He then marched to the kitchen, opened the cupboard, pulled out a sippy and handed it to her as a demand for liquids.

When you ask him how old he is, he says, “two.”

Holds your hand and says “walk” and takes you where he wants to go.

C You start with this and I’ll get you some potstickers, ok?
A Kay.

C What do you want?
A Lunch.
C Do you want yogurt?
A OK.


Siena

E Oh man, you’re on the last few pages of your book.
S She’s not a man, she’s a woman.

Is that ever a beautiful daddy or what?

I’m a lady. I drink pop all the time.

Hello Mother, I’m eating a crouton.

Thanks for taking care of me. Thanks for making breakfast.

Mom I don’t want this little paint brush, I would prefer the big one.

She picked flowers from the back yard, made them into a bouquet then said, “I’m getting married.” I said, “Oh, really?” She said. “Of course!" Then, "Well, not really.”

Lays down as Sleeping Beauty telling us she has touched the spinning wheel. Then we are told to kiss her so she can wake up.

To Alistair about a card game: “You can play but don’t make any more messes. I could be cranky about that.”

A Eat.
S We’re going to eat soon.
A Eat.
S Say, “Ok, Siena Alina.”
A Kay.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Summer!

She calls them daffodils and loves them!
He simply eats all the time; this time I gave him some black bean salad while I was cooking and when I ate it with dinner, realized it was too spicy even for me!

We realized we had no Daddy and Alley pictures so we took one the day we mailed off the post placement report pictures. Won't the Kazakh authorities love this cute one?


Dancing princess with her "bride" i.e. veil.

Usually he likes sparklier shoes but settled for my tennies. She has worn my "court shoes" more than I have.

Man he looks old in this picture. Next step: high school!

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Siena
She saw some poop on the Diaper Champ and said, “eeewwww,” and then “will you take care of that?”

Replaying a scene from the Little Mermaid, she likes to walk down the “aisle” with her daddy and kick a pretend dog.

“I’m mad at my brother. He needs to go back to the baby house. He’s had enough time at my house. I don’t want to see him anymore.” The next day she told me I needed to go back to the baby house!

She is obsessed with porta potties.

We brush teeth at night by pretending we’re the dentist and she’s the patient.

S Alistair, be quiet, my parents are trying to sleep.
A Mommy! Daddy!
S Don’t say that Alistair, its rude.

Alistair
Words:
Two, three, rock, shoes, me, mine, pop, go (dough!) more water (wah,) calls Siena Nah-Knee

Some days when I try to pick him out of his crib he’ll say, “no!” and lay back down, sucking his thumb. When I say we’re ready to go he says, “Dough! Dough! Dough!” and runs to the door or gate. Then he sits quietly or sings loudly with his sister in the car. He could stay outside in the back yard all day, just wandering about exploring. He found a dead bunny the other day and his sister proudly carried it to me. We talked to the social worker for his one year post placement report and realized how good things are going. We have absolutely no concerns about any of his skills or his growth. He is simply a smiley, happy, adventuresome, curious, car obsessed little 19 month old boy!

Thursday, May 1, 2008

It's Spring!

If you sit in the red chair, he will come up to you and demand you read him book after book, "book! book! book!"
Grandma Carol comes over for a visit.

This is for you, Grandpa Wayne.

A MOMS Club PJ breakfast.

My how she's growing up...

"Beep beep."

"Kitty."

They get along very well and can play for hours in the back yard.


Alistair:

  • Makes his sandwiches go “choo choo.”

  • Plays with Matchbox cars and makes them go “beep beep.”

  • Freaks out one day when I try to put him in his high chair; he wants to sit at the big table with Siena. On the same note, ignores food that is not put on a plate or in a bowl with a fork or spoon. Tries to eat chips with a fork.

  • He pretends to grab things out of books and eat them.

  • Makes a toy go up and says “up” and go down and says “down.”

  • Screams happy screams during meals.

  • Happily plays outside for hours.

  • Words: Dog, Tea, Bath, Up, Down, Mine, No, Kitty, Spoon

Siena:

  • Like to say the same (irritating) word over and over. Moves from her "penis" obsession, on to "bumpee" (Erik’s word for butt,) and ends the month with "poop."

  • Changes her clothing an embarrassing number of times a day.

  • When I’m upset with her behavior I sometimes use her full name: Siena Alina Halls. Or just Siena Alina! She was upset with my behavior one day so she said: Mama Alina!

  • She dumped out a whole can of Lincoln logs on the basement floor and left them there when it was time to go upstairs stating, “someone will pick those up. Maybe Daddy.”

  • Grandpa Wayne says she won’t be able to go out to pizza if she doesn’t stop using the word “poop.” She tells him, “Grandpa, this isn’t working out. Maybe you and Alistair should stay at home while Grandma and I go out for pizza.”

  • When she asks for something at the store and I say "no," she generally says, “tell Santa about that.”

  • Looks at herself in the mirror and asks, “am I beautiful or what?”

  • Throws toys or books in Alistair’s crib while they’re supposed to be getting to sleep and cannot for the life of her, stop giggling and laughing.

  • Hits and pushes her brother less now that he's 18 months old and more interactive.


C Have fun at school!
S Have fun at home!



C What are you doing

S I’m going to paint.

C No you’re not.

S {pause} Nice try though.