XXX Olympiad

Even though Craig and I grew up half a world apart under totally different regimes and world views, both of us have loved the Olympics since childhood.  So, it should come as no surprise that we watched the Games over the last two weeks and were especially excited to be able to cheer for four countries now.

Armenia at the Opening Ceremony.
They earned three medals.
One went to a female weightlifter,
the others to male wrestlers.

Bulgaria at the Opening Ceremony.
They earned two medals
which went to a male boxer
and a female wrestler.

Germany at the Opening Ceremony.
Their outfits always embarrass me on behalf of my country,
so I am using this photo.
They earned 44 medals.

The USA at the Opening Ceremony.
They earned 104 medals.

I was surprised that both of our children watched some of the Olympic coverage as well.  They seemed to especially enjoy the water sports which Craig and I do, too.  Hey, we're raising the next generation of Olympics fans. Sochi 2014, here we come!

Garden Bounty

This year has been really dry and super hot here in Ohio as about everywhere else in the US.  Therefore, my little suburban garden has not performed the same as in other years.  Usually I harvest about 200-300 tomatoes, but so far this season I am up to only around 50.  It's still plenty to eat day to day and oh so delicious.

The herbs and cucumbers, on the other hand, are doing great.  I normally I don't get but a half dozen cucumbers or so, but this summer I have already had three times that many.  The Armenian cucumbers in particular are prolific and they grow large fast.  I have figured out that I can use them like zucchini in baking, so I am going to puree and freeze some Armenian cucumbers to use that way in the winter.

Close friends of hours who live about 90 minutes north of us are having a terrific tomato harvest this year and were kind enough to share a big bag of their bounty with us.  Due to their generosity, I was able to can some salsa last Saturday.

Salsa ingredients

 I did it the lazy way and just ran the onion, garlic, cilantro, jalapenos and bell pepper through the blender.

Then diced the tomatoes and added the salsa mix.

 Then stirred it all together.

I usually let my mixtures sit a little before I boil them.

Voila, salsa. It turned out quite a bit hotter than I anticipated, so we may have to get creative in how to use it over the winter.

We've also been enjoying simple summer dinners like pasta tossed with olive oil and homegrown basil, garlic, and cherry tomatoes.

I feel so fortunate that my parents and grandparents kept large kitchen gardens.  Even though I didn't help that much, I still learned how to appreciate, grow and preserve vegetables and herbs.  I hope I can pass this knowledge and passion on to my children in years to come.

IAC 227

Just FYI for those of you who visit my blog to see referrals issued by the Bulgarian government, MOJ has published the results from IAC 227. However, the link does not work at the moment.  As soon as it does, I will translate and publish the information here.

Emilia - Thirty-Seven Weeks Home

Again, I am super late, but last Saturday marked thirty-seven weeks home for Emilia.

Emilia has been a very happy girl and is easy-going and cuddly except when it comes to food.  She’s keen on not missing any meals and climbs into her high chair unassisted when it’s time to eat.  She also says, “eee” pretty emphatically just to make sure we get her point.  Emilia continues to try out new foods and has enjoyed peaches, mango, kiwi, polenta, humus, and potato wedges.  She also loves smoothies of any kind.  One evening she insisted on having cow milk yogurt for dessert just like her big brother and the next day we knew that she’s still allergic to dairy as proven by several poopy blow-outs.

In recent weeks, Emilia has been babbling more and she is trying to say Mama.  Sometimes it comes out crystal clear and sometimes it sounds like mbwa-mbwa or some form thereof.  She had her speech evaluation and her skills are scattered anywhere from a 9 months to an 18 months level.  No surprise there.  I am waiting now for the therapy referral to go through, so we can schedule her sessions and then pick her preschool days.  It seems like we’re always waiting on something from CCHMC.  Her receptive language is growing though and she understands instructions like sit down, get down, shake, etc. now.

Life’s been pretty busy, so Emilia has kind of had a free pass regarding her motor skill development.  Her big brother continues to be her hero and role model for various activities though.  If Rex bangs a toy against the window or shakes the tambourine, Emilia is right in line behind him to try it herself.  She’s got a gymnast’s spirit and is climbing all the time as well as trying to balance on things.

I don’t know if I ever mentioned this, but when Emilia’s iron levels were re-tested in June, they were normal.  The IA doctor suggested having them checked about once a year by the pediatrician along with her thyroid which is still minimally off.  This may just be normal for her, but it’s something to keep an eye on.

Emilia continues to grow and is now wearing 18 months pajamas very comfortably.  We can totally tell that she is catching up to Rex in height and I wouldn’t be surprised if she turned out to be the taller sibling one day.  I’ll give you an updated height and weight measurement next week after her echo and ABR.

Emilia has discovered the fun of mirrors
This one's at Rex's OT room.

And this one in our hotel room.
Perfect height for her.

Recently Emilia has become very interested in other children.  She made new friends at the beach on Lake Michigan as well as at the playground.  She and another little boy played together with sticks for quite a while.  That said, Rex is 100% Emilia’s best friend.  She is nearly always by his side at home and sticks close to him in public situations as well.  She truly finds him incredibly entertaining.  I know she is going to miss him so much when he starts preschool and will be gone all day.  The good thing is that she will be in preschool herself two days a week, beginning sometime in September and then I’ll be the lonely one at home missing my babies.

Emilia is a very sunny, if opinionated child.  It’s so easy to make her laugh and she is more than generous with her affections.  We just love her to pieces.

Bulgarian Reunion

I know I am woefully late in writing about the wonderful reunion of families who adopted from Bulgaria that we attended at the end of June.  The truth is I don't have time to finish all the blog posts I have started over the summer, including this one, so I am just going to let you read what my friend and co-organizer Yvonne had to say about the event.  She did a great job summing it all up.

However, I did want to share with you one of my favorite memories from the weekend.  While I was pretty busy running some icebreaker activities for the children, my little Emilia decided that she wanted to turn herself into swamp girl in the delicious mud puddle the bigger kids had created by filling up water balloons at the potable water pump.

Here she is just getting started with all the fun:

Photo credit Stephanie Boyd

Trying to decide if her master piece mud work is finished... not quite yet, methinks.

Photo credit Stephanie Boyd

I remember that a number of parents had approached me to let me know Emilia was playing in the mud and I just kind of shrugged it off.  I didn't expect to find this when I finally decided to check on her:

There was no way I could be mad at her. She had such a great time playing and exploring a new medium that I just decided to let her keep going until she was ready to be finished.

My eternal gratitude goes to the world's best husband and daddy, Craig, for taking this cute mess into the bath tub to get her squeaky clean again, no questions asked.

We're looking forward to seeing everyone at next year's reunion, same time, same place.  If you want to join us, keep an eye on our reunion blog for info and updates:
http://bulgarianadopteesreunion.blogspot.com/.

Armenian Reunion 2012

This weekend we took our last big trip of the summer and went to Chicago to attend a reunion of families who have adopted from Armenia.  It was a smaller event, maybe with a dozen families, but we had a great time.  The meet & greet on Friday evening included a bounce house which both of my kiddos really enjoyed.  I was so proud of them for climbing in and out almost with no assistance and handling all the sensory fun a bounce house provides.

On Saturday morning, we went to Lighthouse Beach on Lake Michigan.  We got lost on the way there (we were walking from the hotel) and got to see more of the picturesque campus of Northwestern University than we had planned.  This was the kids' first time to the beach, so I wasn't sure how it would turn out.  After some initial uncertainty both Rex and Emilia decided that they liked the water and the waves.  The water was 78 degrees which is downright balmy for early August and we had some nice sunshine to keep us comfortable.

Emilia was very interested in a couple of beach volleyball games in progress and just plopped herself into the sand to watch for a long time.

After the beach we headed back to the hotel for much needed naps and then joined the group for a delicious Armenian dinner at a local park.  When we arrived there, it was pouring rain, but none of the kids let that stop them from playing and having lots of fun.  The sun came back out soon enough to end our evening on a high note.

Even though it seemed like the weekend was over in the blink of an eye, we had a wonderful time in Chicago and were so happy to connect with other families who have adopted from Armenia, many of them even from the same orphanage as us.  What a treat to be able to keep our children's heritage alive by getting together for gatherings like this reunion.

Here's The Scoop

Sometime back in the spring, I think it was April or May, I decided that Rex should enter preschool with some decent feeding skills.  So I set a goal for him and me that he would be able to drink from an open cup unassisted as well as eat from a fork and from a spoon on his own by the start of preschool.

Rex learned drinking from an open cup very quickly once we pushed the skill.  It took a while until we didn’t have any more spills and drips, but he’s a pro now.  He’s even starting to put the cup back onto the counter by himself when he is finished.  The next thing Rex accomplished with a lot of practice was using a fork for food that was already bite-sized.  He’s quite good at it at this point. However, the scooping with a spoon seemed to elude him.  We have been working on it with him as have some of his therapists, but he just wasn’t willing or able.  In recent weeks though, there’s suddenly been some progress.  Rex was at least attempting to scoop smooth foods like yogurt without help.  And then today at lunch, he decided to go for something trickier: spaghettios (I know, I know) and homemade extra-garlicky meatballs.  And voila, he did it!

What a super boy who's meeting Mama's goals just in the nick of time.