Saturday, February 7, 2009

Tummy Testing

And I am not talking about food. Sometimes you just wonder what in the world is going through their minds. As I was washing dishes the other day, this is what I saw:

 Now I was wondering what had happened? Did he fall? He is not crying. And then I watched as he got up and did this:


Instead of using his hands to feel the different temperatures of the heating vent and the cool tile, He was using his tummy. Only a toddler!
The past few weeks we have our ups and downs but things are getting better. Tonight was actually great. It was just Little M and myself and it went very well. There was a moment, when it was time to clean up for his bath, that he started pushing my buttons. Now he gets a massive amount of toys out during the day so I am usually helping him and asking him to do certain things. Well, he was not being difficult but he was being manipulative so instead of getting more frustrated, I got up, told him to clean up, and walked out of the room. Whenever he called for me, I told him to clean up and believe it or not - HE CLEANED UP THE QUICKEST I HAD EVER SEEN HIM. He was so proud of himself and came to get me to show me. He was happy that I was happy and things went great the rest of the night. I am not expecting this approach to work all the time but it is something to remember.
Unfortunately, I can't say I have much more exciting news than this. The days seem to go by so fast and I am so tired in the evenings that they all seem to be a big blur at times. However, one great thing that did happen this week. I got a call from a fellow adoptive mom that I met in Astrakhan on our final trip. It was so wonderful to hear Kathy's voice, it was like we were back in the Korvet hotel. It is amazing how you meet people on your adoption journey, if only for a few days, but because of the bond of adoption, you just feel like you have known them forever.
I love pictures and so I will leave you with a few of my favorite this past week. First is our play time in the snow and the last just cracks me up. It is morning hair for Little M( normally his hair is so fine that there really is no morning hair - but for some reason this hair would not go down) it reminds me of those penguins whose feather stand up on their head, or for us older folks, Alfalfa from the Little Rascals.



4 comments:

Patti said...

Hi Monica,
We also find that things go better if we have our son one-on-one. He doesn't do well when he has to "compete" for our full attention. I love how your son was feeling different things with his tummy - too cute! I'm so glad to hear you spoke with Kathy. She has been such an encouragement to me as well. And you'd think I should be the one encouraging her more, since we've been home since March with our little guy! Cute pictures too, especially the Alfalfa hair! Alex has that fine hair texture also, although it has gotten a bit thicker after 10 months of good nutrition. God bless you!

Angela Knight said...

Hello~ I have been following your blog for a while. We are adopting through CHI also. We are registered in Astrakhan. I just noticed that in June you decided not to accept a referral. If you wouldn't mind, I have a couple questions. Did you take trip #1 and decide while in Russia? Was there a specific reason you said no to that referral?

Craig and Phyllis said...

Love the Alfalfa hair! : ) I got to talk to Kathy too as she was calling to get your number. She is so wonderful! We need to convince her to join blogland.

junglemama said...

How cute. Very intersting thing with the tummy thing.