Saturday, February 16, 2013

Has It Really Been Over 2-Months?!?!

As of yesterday, Alex has been a U.S. Citizen for 9-weeks.  The culmination of those 9-weeks is that Alex has been and continues to do wonderful!  The days have not been without their challenges at times, but he has developed and adjusted in leaps-and-bounds from where we started 10 1/2 weeks ago (when we actually took custody in Russia... cold, dreary, dark Russia!!).  He has all kinds of English words and phrases now... "more, please, up, down, rock, ball, mama, dadda, book, milk, no, yes", to name just a few ... As well as any many combination of these words... "milk please", "mama up", etc.  He does babble in Russian at times during play...we think.  It's sometimes hard to tell...  Many institutionalized children will have their own vocabulary/language that they learn amongst themselves.  We learned that he may have some of these words when we were in Russia and he would repeat a word over and over... when we asked our driver what it meant, he noted it was just babble, but it was quite obvious to us that it meant something to Alex.  Alex also now responds when we call his name... we no longer have to call to him with his Russian name.... Ie: he knows his name is "Alex" now!

Our first post-adoption report is due to Russia in a few short weeks.  One of the requirements has to compile a group of pictures that show Alex and our family life since he has come home to us.  I thought it would be a great update to share those pictures here on our blog as well.

So, enjoy the pictures that document just some of the events and new experiences Alex has had in his short 9-weeks in the U.S.


Our Family - Christmas Morning.  This was just 4 days after he came home... this was NOT an easy shot to get!

Christmas Morning

Rollin' on my new Big Wheel
 
Taking advantage of a nice weather day to enjoy the swing set
 
First Trip to a Zoo ... he REALLY enjoyed it!
 
Playing with the neighbors ... Alex was cruisin'.

Reading a book with Maddie

Sledding with Lydia and Maddie on the little bit of snow we have had

First Haircut ... well, in the U.S.!!

Fingerpainting

Working on puzzles with Lydia and Maddie
Let's . Get . Ready . To . Rumble!! ... Ready for Football!!!

2 comments:

Lydias said...

Love them all...it was good seeing him with Leslie and Maddie at Lydias.....love it!! He was so sweet & seemed to understand our conversations....and his smile....just precious! So happy for the Grammp family!

Lydias said...
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