Our euphoric night lasted until midnight. Lex was wired after Naydia and Oksana left jumping around and hugging me every so often. At one point he had communicated via charades that he didn't want to go to sleep. I said "Sure, you don't have to go to sleep right now." Thinking he meant RIGHT NOW, not ALL NIGHT. Nope, he was under the impression he was going to stay up ALL NIGHT and watch ALL of our DVD's and video's.
But I didn't know this until later.
He and the girls started their movie and he would run in and report Devree was asleep, then Rylee by pantomiming and making snoring sounds. (He had also tattled on Rylee earlier by pantomiming to me that he had brushed his teeth but "Lala" had not!)
At ten o'clock I finished blogging and told him I'd come watch Cars with him. He snuggled next to me and would rub my check, and touch my hair and sigh "Mama". He was so wiggly and cuddly at the same time. He did watch the show and would laugh at parts but mostly he just snuggled and snuggled and sighed.
I figured we'd stay up until Austin and Kambree got home. Kam came home and laid in Lex's spot. (He was up doing something) when he came back he just laid on top of her and they had a tickle fight and then he and Austin had a little pillow fight but both Kam and Aug were tired and said goodnight. I kept yawning and Lex pantomimed sleeping and then would say, "Mama" and pointed upstairs. Like "It's okay, you can go to bed." By now it's midnight and I asked him what he was going to do and he said no sleeping and pointed to all the DVD's and video's. Are you kidding?
Great, I'm already having to teach him a difficult lesson, children do not stay up all night. I told him "Nett", and I turned off the TV and he sulked and stomped up to bed. I sat down to talk with him but he began crying, not just crying.... wailing! I started laughing as it was pretty comical. I got the trusty lap top and took it up to his room and explained that we had big day's tomorrow and we both needed sleep. Nope, still wailing. (He is stopping his crying to read and then continuing when he's done.) I explain that we don't spank in our house but we do take away privileges and if he doesn't stop crying and waking everyone up he won't be able to ride his bike in the morning. He stops crying but he's still upset. I am trying to be stern here, remembering Naydia's advice "He knows nothing about living in a family, you will have to teach him how to live in a family."
He asks if he can play on the computer. I figure, sure. It only has a 1/2 hour life without the cord, he can settle down and at least he's stopped crying and he'll be quiet and in his bed. Good gravy, am I a dumb mother or what? He went down, found the cord, and watched movies until four in the morning! I know because I slept on an off until the warm glow of the computer screen no longer shimmered out of his bedroom door.
Today was my ward's Super Saturday and I'm in charge and it's a big job. I had to be to the church at 8:00 with my breakfast casserole and I rolled out of bed at 7:30, threw on some clothes and makeup, grabbed my stuff and headed out. Lex was snoring away in his room. (I so wanted to wake him up!) The day was spent talking to my ward family about Lex. Many are following my blog and so sweet and supportive and many others are concerned and curious. I felt like I repeated myself a lot and talked about him all day. In fact, I feel consumed with this experience and my apologies to my friends and family for my non-stop talking about Lex.
I got home around three and James and Lex had gone to the hobby store to buy gas for the gas powered remote controlled car. Hurray! A minute to myself. I laid down and had about a 1/2 hour nap before the phone rang. Jen invited us to dinner for Nastia's birthday tomorrow. She mentioned how Lex calling us "Mama" and "Papa" had clued Masha and Nastia in. We talked for awhile about our different yet similar experiences. It would be so great if they get their paper work lined up the same time we do and we could all go together to the Ukraine. Her girls are darling and I think her Masha has a little crush on my Lex, but he's all boy about it and acts indifferent to the situation.
While I had my Super Saturday activity James and all the kids went to a breakfast hosted by a family in our area. During the breakfast and games the Moran Eye Center volunteered to check all the orphan's eyes. Lex has a slight astigmatism but does not need glasses. They dilated his eyes but he refused to wear sunglasses and kept covering his eyes and squinting. (How great are these folks that give eye exams and dental exams for free?)
Pictures from the breakfast:
While on my phone call with Jen, Lex found me. "Mama", and a big kiss and hug (where he tried to lift me off the floor....silly child) and then an animated hand sign of driving the gas powered car. I'm happy to say he had on different clothes but now I need to do laundry tonight as everything we have for him is dirty and we have church tomorrow.
Later we went to the store together to buy (you guessed it) fruit! You can't have a Ukrainian gathering with out fruit!
While shopping Lex made a few phone calls to Papa (James) & Babooska (my mom). This is how they go:
"Hello, Hello (pause) Alexey (big smile)" and them some ramblings in Ukrainian and then something about mama and he hands me the phone. He just loves gadgets. He found how to dial these numbers by going to my contacts and finding their pictures. What a smart boy. He also tightened up his bike with an Allen wrench today. James was pretty impressed by that.
He loves to pick out things at the store and although I tell him "nett" about 20 times per trip we did come home with frozen corn dogs which he opened and licked while in their frozen state. I tried not to laugh at his puzzled face but I couldn't help it. I showed him the microwave (which I may live to regret) and we warmed it up, he then covered it with ketchup (his favorite side dish-and I'm not exaggerating, he eats packets of ketchup by themselves at McDonald's) and enjoyed it thoroughly.
We had stopped at Papa Murphy's for pizza and he gave it the thumbs up at dinner and burped very loudly after drinking his root beer.
He's now standing by me cracking nuts and eating them. Yet another thing he selected at the store. He's sharing with me but I don't like nuts so he brought me some grapes. I really need to explain he doesn't need to worry about me not eating enough.
We learned last night that they get one fruit a day and one egg a day and so many ounces of milk and meat. and they eat four times a day. It's all very regulated. They also get a fifty cents a month to spend as the wish. Fifty cents! No wonder he eats non stop and wants to go to the "ma-ha-zing"and buy things every day.
I'm tired, need sleep and he is like the Energizer bunny, he just keeps going and going.....
But I didn't know this until later.
He and the girls started their movie and he would run in and report Devree was asleep, then Rylee by pantomiming and making snoring sounds. (He had also tattled on Rylee earlier by pantomiming to me that he had brushed his teeth but "Lala" had not!)
At ten o'clock I finished blogging and told him I'd come watch Cars with him. He snuggled next to me and would rub my check, and touch my hair and sigh "Mama". He was so wiggly and cuddly at the same time. He did watch the show and would laugh at parts but mostly he just snuggled and snuggled and sighed.
I figured we'd stay up until Austin and Kambree got home. Kam came home and laid in Lex's spot. (He was up doing something) when he came back he just laid on top of her and they had a tickle fight and then he and Austin had a little pillow fight but both Kam and Aug were tired and said goodnight. I kept yawning and Lex pantomimed sleeping and then would say, "Mama" and pointed upstairs. Like "It's okay, you can go to bed." By now it's midnight and I asked him what he was going to do and he said no sleeping and pointed to all the DVD's and video's. Are you kidding?
Great, I'm already having to teach him a difficult lesson, children do not stay up all night. I told him "Nett", and I turned off the TV and he sulked and stomped up to bed. I sat down to talk with him but he began crying, not just crying.... wailing! I started laughing as it was pretty comical. I got the trusty lap top and took it up to his room and explained that we had big day's tomorrow and we both needed sleep. Nope, still wailing. (He is stopping his crying to read and then continuing when he's done.) I explain that we don't spank in our house but we do take away privileges and if he doesn't stop crying and waking everyone up he won't be able to ride his bike in the morning. He stops crying but he's still upset. I am trying to be stern here, remembering Naydia's advice "He knows nothing about living in a family, you will have to teach him how to live in a family."
He asks if he can play on the computer. I figure, sure. It only has a 1/2 hour life without the cord, he can settle down and at least he's stopped crying and he'll be quiet and in his bed. Good gravy, am I a dumb mother or what? He went down, found the cord, and watched movies until four in the morning! I know because I slept on an off until the warm glow of the computer screen no longer shimmered out of his bedroom door.
Today was my ward's Super Saturday and I'm in charge and it's a big job. I had to be to the church at 8:00 with my breakfast casserole and I rolled out of bed at 7:30, threw on some clothes and makeup, grabbed my stuff and headed out. Lex was snoring away in his room. (I so wanted to wake him up!) The day was spent talking to my ward family about Lex. Many are following my blog and so sweet and supportive and many others are concerned and curious. I felt like I repeated myself a lot and talked about him all day. In fact, I feel consumed with this experience and my apologies to my friends and family for my non-stop talking about Lex.
I got home around three and James and Lex had gone to the hobby store to buy gas for the gas powered remote controlled car. Hurray! A minute to myself. I laid down and had about a 1/2 hour nap before the phone rang. Jen invited us to dinner for Nastia's birthday tomorrow. She mentioned how Lex calling us "Mama" and "Papa" had clued Masha and Nastia in. We talked for awhile about our different yet similar experiences. It would be so great if they get their paper work lined up the same time we do and we could all go together to the Ukraine. Her girls are darling and I think her Masha has a little crush on my Lex, but he's all boy about it and acts indifferent to the situation.
While I had my Super Saturday activity James and all the kids went to a breakfast hosted by a family in our area. During the breakfast and games the Moran Eye Center volunteered to check all the orphan's eyes. Lex has a slight astigmatism but does not need glasses. They dilated his eyes but he refused to wear sunglasses and kept covering his eyes and squinting. (How great are these folks that give eye exams and dental exams for free?)
Pictures from the breakfast:
Later we went to the store together to buy (you guessed it) fruit! You can't have a Ukrainian gathering with out fruit!
While shopping Lex made a few phone calls to Papa (James) & Babooska (my mom). This is how they go:
"Hello, Hello (pause) Alexey (big smile)" and them some ramblings in Ukrainian and then something about mama and he hands me the phone. He just loves gadgets. He found how to dial these numbers by going to my contacts and finding their pictures. What a smart boy. He also tightened up his bike with an Allen wrench today. James was pretty impressed by that.
He loves to pick out things at the store and although I tell him "nett" about 20 times per trip we did come home with frozen corn dogs which he opened and licked while in their frozen state. I tried not to laugh at his puzzled face but I couldn't help it. I showed him the microwave (which I may live to regret) and we warmed it up, he then covered it with ketchup (his favorite side dish-and I'm not exaggerating, he eats packets of ketchup by themselves at McDonald's) and enjoyed it thoroughly.
We had stopped at Papa Murphy's for pizza and he gave it the thumbs up at dinner and burped very loudly after drinking his root beer.
He's now standing by me cracking nuts and eating them. Yet another thing he selected at the store. He's sharing with me but I don't like nuts so he brought me some grapes. I really need to explain he doesn't need to worry about me not eating enough.
We learned last night that they get one fruit a day and one egg a day and so many ounces of milk and meat. and they eat four times a day. It's all very regulated. They also get a fifty cents a month to spend as the wish. Fifty cents! No wonder he eats non stop and wants to go to the "ma-ha-zing"and buy things every day.
I'm tired, need sleep and he is like the Energizer bunny, he just keeps going and going.....
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