Firsts (I think)

So, Sy is doing so well as we transition here to home. He is a little Parrot repeating what we say. Here are some of the new words he will repeat:
Please, thank you, say your welcome (as opposed to your welcome), good dog, corse (Horse), Dake (jake), dad, good bye, hello, hi (alternating with Preevyet as he runs circles in the house). He had developed a deep voice to use for the dogs to say "down".
He is also responding to Sy more, but have found in the past few days that he makes a point of pointing at himself and saying Vova, so we will continue to use both until he is comfortable. But at least he turns around when we say Sy. He seems to understand milk, food, come here, NO (but when I am really trying I still say NYET to get his attention). Jake and him are playing more together which is nice. Still not best buddies but it is better. Jake took him on another tour of the farm machinery last night and it was great to watch Jake explain all the equipment and what he can be near and what he can't.
We also have found that his food choices will expand if we don't give him so many options. We have to wait him out, but when I finally stuck the bread in front of him and didn't give him another choice, after a little while he decided to eat it. Dean's method is working as well. He puts the new food in front of him and also grabs the smoothie that Sy likes. Then he points at the new food and says "da" and points at the smoothie and says "da". Apparently this translates into, if you eat that, I will give you this. It is successful so who am I to criticize. Today we are off to the pediatrician to have him look at Sy (particularly his feet and skin). His feet are so much better though. He does have lots of little bumps all over him so it will be nice to know how we need to treat that.

Friends? Hmm

Well today was a much better day for all of us. Sy was much more comfortable in the house and he and I spent the morning playing, bathing, cuddling and going outside for some fresh air. After lunch, he and Dad hung out til I got back from town. Sounds like things went well there. The highlight of the day was when Jake got home. He and Sy finally seemed to get along, well sort of. Jake continues to try so hard and Sy was much more playful than he has been. I think that helped Jake's attitude. He wants to take him to school for Show n Tell! Oh boy. They chased each other around and around. We played "52 egg pickup" a dozen times at least as Jake and I picked them up and Sy dumped them out again. I tried to be interactive with both of them at the same time and felt my head spinning with calls of Mom and Mama coming at me from all directions. It was wonderful though. Dean is still on the outs with Sy if I am around and to top it off, today when a friend of Dean's showed up, Sy went right to him, but continues to whimper and say Nee-buy-you (i am afraid) when Dean comes around. Who knows..........I thought I had discovered a new food for Sy, white bread, because he was all over it the other day. Bought a whole loaf of it today and he NYETed me when I put it in front of him! Argh! Going to work half days this week ( or part of it) while Sy is sleeping in the PM. Today seemed to go well and I think it is good for Sy and Dean to have some alone time. Jury is still out on whether we will do it the rest of the week or not. I have some great pictures from Easter that I will try to post soon. Hope that this next week continues to go as well as the past.

All is well

These are pictures from the first two days home. Below are pictures of our last few days in Krasnoyarsk.

I don't want to jinx it, but things have been going surprisingly well here with Sy. I think it has been equally as tough of an adjustment for Jake as it has been for Sy. Jake had so hoped that Sy would become his instant buddy and that has not happened. I have been trying very hard to give Jake much praise and attention during this transition. I know soon enough all of this worry he has will be history and they will be friends and enemies all in the same day! The joys of siblings! A bunch of firsts came and past for Sy. First time seeing a horse and cow and although he did not seem too comfortable around them, he didn't panic too much. He seems to be settling in quite well and although I am his comfort zone right now, dad is a close second and will no doubt be #1 before long. I can't compete with him! We have a fairly limited food palate right now. Besides milk, it is yogurt, pudding, crackers and cereal (sometimes) and just today discovered he will eat white bread (all we had was wheat). So glad for that. He has been eating quite well despite a limited selection. Went to church this morning and he hardly made a peep. I was prepared for much more excitement than that. He got to hunt Easter eggs with the bigger kids and seemed to have a real good time. It was nice to watch him interact with a group of kids.

A wonderful day today to celebrate the beginnings of so many things. Happy Easter to everyone.

HOME!!! What a great place to be!

Despite my clear lack of sleep since leaving Moscow, I am so happy to be home. We finally got home at about 3 am this morning. We were greeted at the airport by Dean, Jake and Speed Schlattmann as well as by my sister Kate and her two kids, Logan and Piper. Although Sy was not all that friendly, he was also not unfriendly. By the time it was over, he literally had everyone eating out of his hands. He had a bag of goldfish and was kindly giving everyone a few. Jake was trying so hard and was clearly frustrated that this new little brother was not just jumping with joy to see him and play with him. It is going to be a bit of an adjustment for both of them for two very different reasons. Just a quick recap...I left you with heading to the US Embassy...that went well once we figured out which line to be in. We were told to bypass all the people and go to the front of the line...I found this difficult, some of these people have been waiting for hours and this just is one more thing to add to their frustration. There are a lot of people trying to get to the US it seems. This was the US Embassy so I assume that is what this group of Russians were attempting to do, was get a chance to come to the US. Apparently Russian citizens are required to travel with a visa in nearly every country they wish to enter. Not an easy task. ....Sy was granted his Visa, as were six or seven other little children who had been adopted the past week in various regions. Two sets of twins girls, two more little boys and two other girls. You can imagine it was a bit chaotic at best at times. The plane rides went really well, Sy was a trooper for the most part. He had a melt down ( and so did I) at the NY airport and went kicking and screaming like a wet noodle from Gate 1 to Gate 1000 (exaggeration, more like gate 24). We cleared customs and passport control and immigration fairly quickly. Immigaration gave him the "official" stamp on his passport that made him a US citizen! YIPPEE!!!! A stop at WalMart on the way home and then we all slept (even Dean said he did and he was driving!). Sy did not sleep once we got here and is not sleeping as I type. We are on a very different schedule and hopefully we can transition in the week to come. Today we will begin the scary transition and continuation of more firsts...our dogs, cats, horses, cows, tractor, more cousins, you name it, it will likely be his first for it. I will keep you posted probably a little less frequently but we will see. I have so enjoyed having this to tell his story.

To the Embassy

Today we go to the Embassy to get Sy's visa. Last big step. Sy has been sleeping so much better. Still rocking but not so intensely. He has a real phobia of getting dressed or at least does a great job of acting (as the doctor would say). Each day is a little better and I suspect we will have a bit of a set back from the plane trip but we will survive. The Marriott is a wonderful hotel (and perhaps I am paying for it!). The staff are mostly bilingual (thank you to that). I can't remember if I put this in my post yesterday but we ate at McDonalds yesterday (french fries). Pretty much like home. Couldn't resist, it was the first real taste of home, oh besides the Cinnabon! We didn't stray far from the hotel yesterday and we will likely make the short trip to Red Square today. My son is living on yogurt, crackers, apple juice and milk right now. Can't seem to get him to eat much else. But, he is eating plenty of that. I attempted to put something in his mouth but that was not a pretty site. I assume he will not eat just these 4 things his whole life so we will figure it out once we get home. He seems to already be responding pretty well to his name, although I am now calling him Sy Vova. Vova is his nickname from the orphanage. We will slowly transiition to just Sy but for now this seems to be working. He loves a good bath except the water over his eyes. Jake was the same way. This will likely be my last post from Russia, but I will continue this blog for a while until I am boring myself writing it and people quit reading it. It really is a journal for Sy when he gets older. There will be plenty of stories when we get back home that I will want to document while he is transitioning. Thanks for following my story. It has been an amazing experience. I will leave you with the few Russia words I know. Paka (good bye), Priviet (Hello), Dobre Ootra or what Sy says ootra ootra (good morning), Spasiba (thank you) Pazhalsta (Please, your welcome), Da (yes), and the one I hear the most.....NYET!!!!!!!

Moscow

Well we made it and survived UTAIR airlines. A less than desirable landing followed by a bus ride from the plane that I am sure would be considered more like a tour of the airport as we weaved and wound our way to baggage claim. Sy was a trooper although upset at multiple times along the way. Today was our medical for Sy and he passed with flying colors. The doctor told me that because he comes from an orphanage he is very used to direct orders and that he is going to test me because I seem "weak". The doctor said that he knows that if he cries that I will pick him up and that if I continue to fall for his tears I will be carrying him until he is 24! He urged me not to do that. He also said I should take him to Hollywood not just for his good looks but for his acting! All of that in less than 5 minutes I believe! I asked about his feet which he barely glanced at and he said it is a food allergy, don't give him orange or red things to eat, or citrus or chocolate cause those things might cause allergies. I think he has a fungus! Whatever! Done with that. Off to the American Embassy tomorrow for his Visa. The city is beautiful but I am short on energy to travel far. We might get out and about this afternoon. I have to pay for internet access in the room, on top of the $300/night to stay here. Hmmm, seems like it should be included. Oh well. It is free in the lobby so I will try and utilize it some. We will likely go to Red Square today or tomorrow. We were in the car today to get to the medical and I am sure we didn't go far but the traffic is THICK here with one way streets everywhere so it seemed like forever. We have a wonderful coordinator and driver here. He seems to be a bit more "smooth with the pedal" so we have had little surging and stopping despite the much greater traffic. Hurray for that. For days now Sy has been saying "NeeBooToo", and I thought his feet were hurting when we were dressing him.. Nope...that means..I won't do it or I don't want to! Makes sense now! He likes to say that and Nyet. If Nyet continues much longer I am thinking about renaming him Nyet Schlattmann. Just Kidding. I am counting down the days yet dreading the very long flight that comes with it. Hopefully Sy will settle in. Paka Paka for now.

Final Day in Krasnoyarsk!

Well, this is our last day here. We have spent much of it packing and eating what we had left in the apartment. Sy slept pretty good and and I gave him another bath. He enjoyed it. His feet are looking much better so that is good news. We were not able to meet up with the Loomans as I had hoped but I am so glad for the time I had with them. They are here for a wonderful cause and if you ever google Global Recordings Network you can read more about the wonderful mission they serve. We leave today at 5 pm for a 8 pm flight. Krasnoyarsk is a city of 1 million people with an airport the size of Cody's airport serving 50,000 people! I am a little nervous about the 3 hours we will be waiting with our new 2 year old. Hope we can keep him entertained! There will be lots of new experiences for him today, a bus that takes us to the plane, a plane, and then Moscow! Oh boy, it could be quite an adventure. I do not know how much internet service I will have once in Moscow, but hope to be able to post a little something each day. We are on the final leg of this journey. Wish us luck!