Happy/Busy Halloween

Our Halloween started like any typical morning, but from there it was a busy day.  First, I spent 90 minutes at Rex's school observing him.  I got to sit in on an hour of one on one therapy and then watch him in the classroom for 30 minutes.  It was interesting and helpful to see how he spends his time and needless to say, I am quite proud of his hard work and progress.  Here's a photo through the window of Rex during reading time.

Next Emilia and I headed to the art museum for Wee Wednesday. It's a free program for toddlers and preschoolers and today it was Halloween themed.  There were four stations throughout the museum were spooky books were read in front of a painting and then connected to the painting in some way.  At the end of each station, there was a treat - no candy, but art supplies.  Emilia did well.  She didn't quite have the patience to sit through each book, but she enjoyed herself.  Here she is in the green pants following along with the story.

After the museum we headed home for lunch and a quick nap.  Then we were off again to get Rex from school and on to the ophthalmologist next.  How about that for scary?!  You may remember that our two previous visits to the eye doctor with Rex were pretty awful, but today he surprised us. He shed a few quiet tears and did a little whimpering, but otherwise he sat nicely on Craig's lap and let his eyes be examined.  The good news is that his vision is holding steady and that his left eye is more active than ever before, so the drops have been doing their job.  Up next we are going to try glasses, so wish us luck.  Emilia also had an eye exam and handled it like a champ.  She sat in the chair all by herself and let the doctor do her thing without even so much as a single tear. Her vision is normal.  Wahoo!  Overall, a great visit with great medical news.

We didn't get back home until 5:30 and trick or treating in our township starts at 6:00, so we had a quick dinner, got the kids into their costumes and off they went with their cousins to collect some candy.

Our big pumpkin

Our little pumpkin

Cousin Colton throwing webs

Three cousins trick or treating

And now for the grand finale of our first Halloween as a family of four, I think we are all going to bed hopped up on sugar and chocolate.  It's what I call a perfect ending.  Happy Halloween, everyone!

Our Little Rexperimenter

During various evaluations of Rex I have often been asked to describe his personality and I always use these three words: resilient, joyful and curious.  I found his curiosity at its best yesterday when I caught him playing with a spinning top in a way that no one had showed him.  It momentarily took my breath away to see how far his inventiveness, hand-eye-coordination, and play skills have come in just over a year.

My little boy sees the world from a bit of a different angle than most of us and sometimes that makes me smile.

Emilia - Forty-Nine Weeks Home

Yesterday marked forty-nine weeks home for Emilia.  I can hardly believe that in less than a month she will have been home with us for an entire year.  It's impossible to imagine our family without her.

Emilia continues to work on making developmental progress and it seems to come a little easier now.  She is more interested in focused activities and better able to participate.  She is tremendously alert and taking in everything around her.  Her imitation skills are great when she is on board with whatever we are trying to model or teach.

Emilia is still using the sign for "more" and has applied it to various things, like swinging and eating and looking at books.  The sign for music was introduced in speech therapy and she is now beginning to use it independently.  I think she is still a little surprised that something happens each time she signs.  Meanwhile, she keeps babbling and repeating all kinds of sounds.  Her latest fun imitations are sneezes and coughs.

Blurry, but I love this mutual adoration.

Emilia is starting to wave goodbye and to clap her hands.  She is also trying very hard to feed herself with a fork or spoon.  And she has discovered the fun of playing catch.  She likes chasing someone else as much as she enjoys being chased.  She still loves to jump and to climb and has recently figured out that she can move objects to strategic locations to assist her in her upward aspirations.  Emilia is doing a wonderful job these days walking while holding our hands which makes it so much easier when we are out and about.

Marching fearlessly to the beat of her own drummer.

Attachment seems to have made a giant leap forward.  In recent outings we have noticed much less indiscriminate friendliness from Emilia toward strangers.  At home, she makes special stops and trips now to see Craig and me or to give us a hug and/or kiss without any prompting.  Emilia often plays close to us now (when I am cooking she is on the kitchen floor near my legs, for example) and also joins us when we are simply sitting down, talking or watching TV.  It's such a wonderful feeling to have our tiny treasure leaning comfortably and calmly against us while we, too, are relaxing.

Emilia always has a ready smile.

Up next we are looking forward to Emilia's first Halloween.  I am completely biased, but guess who is going to be the cutest pumpkin on the block?

IAC 231 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC Session 231 which was held on September 18, 2012:

1) Spanish dossier from July 2009 referred a female child aged 3 years and 6 months

2) French dossier from September 2009 referred a male child aged 6 years and 9 months

3) German dossier from December 2009 referred a male child aged 4 years

4) Canadian dossier from January 2010 referred a female child aged 2 years and 1 month with features in health status

5) Spanish dossier from January 2010 referred a female child aged 7 years and 2 months

6) Italian dossier from May 2010 referred a male child aged 5 years and 9 months

7) Italian dossier from July 2010 referred a male child aged 4 years and 3 month with features in health status

8) US dossier from November 2010 referred a male child aged 2 years and 3 months with a family history

9) French dossier from December 2011 referred a female child aged 3 years and 5 months with features in health status

10) French dossier from December 2011 referred sisters aged 11 years and 3 months & 12 years and 6 months

11) Italian dossier from August 2012 referred a male child aged 9 years and 7 months

12) Italian dossier from August 2012 referred a female child aged 10 years and 6 months

13) French dossier from August 2012 referred a male child aged 9 years and 5 months

Apples Abound

As I mentioned a few days ago, I bought a large bag of mixed apples at a local orchard.  I don't know how much it weighed, but it was probably at least 15 pounds for the price of $10.

My purpose with these apples was to make applesauce because both kids enjoy it so.  While I was peeling and coring and slicing apple after apple, I really wished I had a sous chef around here.  Finally the first batch was ready to cook...

... and be turned into this final product.

The next day I made a second batch of applesauce which yielded two more quarts for the freezer and a big bowl for the fridge to eat right away. But I still had five more pounds of apples, so I decided to experiment and make my first ever apple butter.

Here are the apples covered in spices and ready to simmer in the crock pot all day.

This is what they looked like after cooking for about five hours.

And here's the apple butter at the end of the day, stirred smooth with a wire whisk.

I don't think the half jar is going to last too long around here because this stuff turned out to be quite delicious.  I am saving the full jar until Thanksgiving though to serve with our big feast.

In other autumnal happenings, I made pumpkin spice muffins for Rex's teacher-therapists.  I thought they looked quite yummy.

Autumn Greetings

I am so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.  
- L.M. Montgomery

HallZOOween

Today's gorgeous fall weather well made up for yesterday's dreariness, so we decided to make a spontaneous visit to the zoo.  

The last time we went it was Easter and the kids did not realize that they were surrounded by live animals.  This time, they did better.  Here are Rex and daddy watching the elephants:

A lot of the animals were enjoying a special treat of fresh pumpkin:

The zoo also had trick or treat stations set up along all the main paths, so us humans got to enjoy a few sweets.  Most of our goodies came home with us as the kids aren't into candy (yet)... I call dibs on pixie sticks.

Emilia in a stare-down with a peacock.  Should I have been surprised that the peacock left first?

Just relaxing and taking it all in:

We had a great afternoon at the zoo.  Thanks to Grandpa and Michelle for our annual family membership.

Saturday Substitutions

Our family had some fun plans for today, but with such cool, dreary and wet weather, we had to nix them.  That's how our day of substitutions started.

We substituted attending a Halloween festival at a local park with a quick trip to a nearby orchard where got several pounds of apples, mostly to make applesauce.  While there, I tried to get the kids to pose for a pumpkin picture, but had absolutely no luck.

"No, thank you, Mama
I want nothing to do with those pumpkins."

" I see the one I want,
that one, that one, going for it."

Being cooped up indoors all afternoon made me a little more ambitious with today's dinner, so I decided to fix a favorite casserole.  The problem was that I did not have cream of mushroom soup at home and the kids must have hidden the green chilies somewhere in the pantry.  I am sure I will find them tomorrow while looking for something else.  So, I substituted canned soup with this concoction and added a quarter cup of homemade spicy salsa in lieu of the green chilies.  It worked out well.

I always have to double this recipe now and make two pans if I want to have leftovers for lunchboxes.  Of course, Emilia cannot eat this casserole as it is loaded with dairy, so I usually set aside some zucchini and plain stuffing for her.  She enjoys this mix as much as we enjoy our casserole.

To make us feel better at the end of a rainy day, I knew we needed dessert, so I used some of the orchard apples to make an apple cinnamon upside down cake.  Normally we'd just have a bowl of icecream, but this seemed like a more delicious substitute on a chilly evening.

My day was also much improved with the season's first taste of freshly pressed apple cider which I bought at the orchard. And there's simply no substitute for that!

October 18, 2011

One year ago today, a judge in Sofia, Bulgaria decreed Craig and me to be the parents of a beautiful little girl.  On that day, we became a four country family with each member born in a different nation.

It's been a crazy, intense, tiring, happy, busy, challenging, full of love twelve months and we wouldn't change them for the world.  We are so blessed that the four of us found each other and can walk together on whatever paths lie ahead.

Fall Is Here

I finally had to give in and recognize that fall has arrived by opening soup season in the Martini house. We all enjoy soup (Rex maybe the least of us) and certainly had a delicious favorite tonight with this rosemary corn chowder.

My giant mums out front are in full bloom... another sure sign of autumn.

But these sounds here I love hearing at any time of year:

Emilia - Forty-Seven Weeks Home

Yesterday marked forty-seven weeks home for Emilia.  It's been an exciting period because we are seeing some nice developmental progress.

First of all, Emilia's verbal output is increasing in frequency and variety, so much so that therapists and friends have even noticed.  Her teachers at preschool, Sarah and Nina, tell us that she calls them Rara and Nini.  I'm not so sure I believe it, but then again, she is always a little show-off in settings away from home.  She is signing "more" and we are working on adding another sign or two quickly, so that she can learn to distinguish between communicating different needs.

Self help skills are also on the rise with Emilia holding her own cup and beginning to put some food on a fork and then to her mouth.  She can take hats off and put them back on, socks and shoes off, and she tries to put her shoes on, too.  Emilia is also newly interested in her hair and attempts to comb it, but more preferably she shakes it and runs her hands through it like a supermodel at a photo shoot.  I am pretty sure she's not getting that from me.

Emilia is now quite comfortable on playgrounds and independently navigates play structures, including slides and ladders.  I think this is something she has learned at preschool by observing other children and following suit.  We also have a new bounce toy our German friends brought as a gift.  You have to climb on as you would a tricycle, hold on to the ears (the thing looks kind of like an animal) and then you bounce and balance by pushing your feet up from the floor.  Emilia took about ten days to watch me use the toy and now she hops on it independently and loves it.

Ready for story time at the library

Little sister still adores her big brother and thinks that he is super cool, but the time home alone with me has done wonders for her.  I feel that our bond is so much stronger and she seems to trust me more.  She's always been pretty snuggly, but I cannot enter a room now without Emilia running for me to pick her up or sit down anywhere without her climbing into my lap.  She wants to be close and for longer periods of time.

Playing with her brother

Emilia continues to sleep well through the night, to nap in the afternoons, to never miss a meal (or anyone else's for that matter) and to bring so much sunshine to our lives.

This Just In

Emilia caused quite a bit of excitement around here today by showing off a new skill at lunch and dinner:

IAC 230 Results

The following referrals were issued in IAC session 230 which was held on 09/12/12:

1) Italian dossier from March 2011 referred a waiting child (#1575) with a profile on the MOJ site

2) Italian dossier from December 2011 referred a waiting child (#1826) with a profile on the MOJ site

3) French dossier from April 2012 referred a waiting child (#1700) with a profile on the MOJ site

4) Italian dossier from April 2012 referred a waiting child (#1748) with a profile on the MOJ site

5) French dossier from August 2012 referred a waiting child (#1773) with a profile on the MOJ site

6) US dossier from August 2012 referred a waiting child (#559) with a profile on the MOJ site

7) US dossier from August 2012 referred a waiting child (#1497) with a profile on the MOJ site

8) US dossier from August 2012 referred two waiting children (#1250 & #1154) with profiles on the MOJ site

9) US dossier from August 2012 referred two waiting children (#1345 & #1170) with profiles on the MOJ site

10) US dossier from August 2012 referred a waiting child (#1298) with a profile on the MOJ site

11) US dossier from August 2012 referred a waiting child (#972) with a profile on the MOJ site

12) US dossier from August 2012 referred a waiting child (#794) with a profile on the MOJ site

13) US dossier from September 2012 referred two waiting children (#1554 & #1567) with profiles on the MOJ site

14) US dossier from September 2012 referred two waiting children (#971 & #1502) with profiles on the MOJ site

15) US dossier from September 2012 referred a waiting child (#1585) with a profile on the MOJ site

16) US dossier from September 2012 referred a waiting child (#1742) with a profile on the MOJ site

17) US dossier from September 2012 referred a waiting child (#1012) with a profile on the MOJ site

No & Mama

As most of you know, our children have significant speech delays, but we are working very hard to help them gain communication skills.  Every once in a while we get a glimpse that our efforts are bearing fruit.

Emilia's favorite object in the whole wide world is her daddy's cell phone.  She was playing with it one night, but then it was time to put it away.  When Craig pried it from her hot little hands she looked at him and said clear as day, "NO."  Oh yes, the words are in there with this wee Martini, she just needs the right motivation to let them out.

Rex has been using pictures of Craig and me at school to begin identifying and labeling us as mama and daddy.  The therapists have been telling us that he is doing a good job with this task there, but we just had to rely on their word until recently.  This afternoon, Rex led me to the back door to be let outside.  I  got down beside him, intending to get him to say "go" before I would open the door.  Instead, Rex looked right at me and said, "Mama."  Of course, I was just overjoyed and Rex could tell, so, in turn, he smiled as big as can be and looked very proud of himself.

No and mama - we'll take it gladly!

Game Day

I attempted the impossible in trying to get a nice photo of my Colts fans on Sunday.  Here are the best of the batch:

His Family Found Him

Tonight I am so thrilled to let all of you know that a family has committed to Zack.  With the generous contributions of many, his Reece's Rainbow account has grown to over $5000 which will help Zack's parents greatly in bringing him home.

Happy, happy, happy day!

Auntie's Brag Blog

I know I usually use my blog to brag about my own kids, but today I want to express my pride and joy over someone else's.

Our nephew Will is 15 years old and a freshman in high school.  He is Emilia and Rex's oldest cousin, our first nephew.  Will has always held a special place in our hearts and we have always tried to spend as much time as possible with him, sharing a variety of experiences.

Craig and I both are so amazed to see Will turn into a wonderful young man right before our eyes these days.  Will's not a person of many words, but he is helpful, caring and has a great sense of humor that I think will only get better with age, like a fine wine (and yes, he would roll his eyes at me for making this analogy because I am his weird German aunt that sometimes uses fancy English).

I know Will's much younger cousins can be little pests to him (though he has much practice from younger sibs), but Will almost always tries to oblige their desires.  When Emilia stretches her arms toward him to be picked up, he does it.  When Rex needs a toy put back together, Will gives him a hand.  But a few days ago when Will was at our house for a visit, his kindness toward Rex really blew me away.

Will was walking from the kitchen into the family room with a bowl of icecream.  Rex spotted it immediately and approached Will.  He led him to the couch, then pushed on his stomach to get him to sit down.  And then he signed "spoon."  As I was watching this scene unfold, I wondered what Will would do.  Sharing a bowl and utensil with a slobbery three-year old can be pretty gross for anyone, let alone a teen, so I wouldn't have blamed Will if he had redirected Rex to the kitchen for his own serving of icecream. However, that's not what happened.  Instead, Will shared his treat with his little cousin, bite after bite after bite until it was all gone.  I cannot tell you how much it warmed my heart to see Will show such gentle consideration toward our Rex.

What a blessing to have a nephew like Will in our lives.  We are so thankful to be able to share in his years of growing up and shower him with aunt and uncle love.

Emilia - Forty-Five Weeks Home

Saturday marked forty-five weeks home for our Emilia.  The last two weeks have been pretty exciting for her with her first trip to the beach, her first birthday party, the start of speech therapy, and quite a few visitors to our home.

As always, Emilia is doing well.  She is healthy, active, curious, happy and on the go with her own missions.  There are not any developmental milestones that I have noticed though I think her fine motor skills are improving. Her preschool teachers tell me that she holds her own cup at school and is getting better at feeding herself, too.  At home, I see her with activities that require some amount of fine motor control, such as placing balls into containers or ripping pages out of an old phone book.

Hot stuff with new shades from Aunt Isabelle

In speech therapy, Emilia is doing a great job.  Her therapist is impressed with her attention span as well as her ability to play with the same toy in many different ways.  Of course, she is actually verbalizing for the therapist, too.  When the bubbles ran out and Emilia wanted more, she said, "bub-bub-bub."  When it was time to clean-up, Emilia repeated, "ean-up."  These are not things she is willing to do at home though there is a lot of babbling and mouth-watching and very long, deep conversations between the two of us consisting of nothing but blowing raspberries in different ways.

I am not 100% happy with the preschool Emilia is attending.  They provide the meals and snacks, but due to Emilia's dairy allergy and feeding issues I have to supplement a lot of stuff.  I am also pretty sure that there are days when she just doesn't get the calories she needs there because there's not enough staff and time to assist her with her meals.  Secondly, and more importantly, I did not realize that their nap time is from noon to three and during those hours, the children have to remain on their cots, regardless of whether or not they are asleep.  This is very similar to the schedule and rules both Rex and Emilia experienced at their orphanages and possibly a little too reminiscent.  We are going to finish out this month and then see from there.

Practicing for cooler weather

On Thursdays, Emilia has had the pleasure of going to library story time with Ms. Rie as well as her new friend Allison and Allison's mom.  From what I hear, Emilia and Allison have some very nice conversations during the car rides and Emilia is becoming more comfortable and interactive at the library as well.  I think for where she is developmentally right now, an activity in a different environment with her peers and a trusted adult there might be the best set-up for her at this time, so we may try to do outings like this a few times a week in lieu of the preschool starting in 2013.  It's all up in the air yet and we have some time to decide.

Emilia is just a mix of sugar and spice, spunk and sweetness, strong opinions and love and we can't get enough.

Our Dream Girl