Updates on progress

To say that Lukas sometimes tries our patience would be an understatement. He is a true 3 year old. He tests the boundaries every chance he gets and is extremely stubborn; just like his mother's family!

He appears to be attaching to both of us more and more each day. I think with some more one on one time alone with Papa he will begin listening to him better.

Each day we discover more and more things we didn't know he knew are could do. For the most part he talks away in Kazak (or jibberish, we don't really know, but he has a lot to say) and sings to himself. He will parrot back english words but still hasn't quite gotten the idea of using them to talk to us. He has trouble with making the F sound and the english R. He will count to 10 with us and say the alphabet with us.

Discipline is still an issue we are working through. He at least recognizes when we tell him no but uses it as a testing point. When we first got home we had to get up and go to him to get him to listen. Now we will say No and he will look at us with the mischivious grin and make us repeat ourselves before listening. He will usually stop whatever it is if Mama starts counting but is a little more stubborn when Papa tells him No.

He has definitely gotten use to the dogs. So much so that we have to watch to make sure he doesn't pinch or hit them. Poor Mikaela has been the target of thrown objects, including her own dogfood dish, and run in to by trucks and cars. He likes to help feed the dogs and is always pushing their dishes in front of them if they haven't eaten all their food.

He is sleeping better at night now that we have the bedrails. He will wake up once or twice but go back to sleep if I come in and sit with him for a few minutes. Last night he actually fell asleep at 9pm and didn't get up until almost 8am. I heard him call out Mama once but then he went right back to sleep. I think it was partly because he only had a 30-40 min nap Sunday afternoon. He doesn't like to go down for a nap but once we get him to sleep he usually takes about a 2 hour nap. He seems to go down easier for naps if Papa puts him in bed than if it is Mama. It is pretty obvious when he doesn't get a nap that he really does still need them.

As for eating, he has gotten quite picky. He will still pretty much try just about anything, especially if Mama or Papa are eating or drinking it. It is hit or miss with what he will eat. One day he will gobble something up and the next time you serve it he doesn't want anything to do with it. Then the next day he will gobble it up again. For the most part he is eating/drinking yogurt, yogurt smoothies, cheese of any kind, salami, ground meat or Kilbasa, broth and or ramen noodles, teddy grahams, cheerios, milk, juice, potatoe chips, mashed potatoes and gravy, some fruits and veggies, mac and cheese and pasta. He will sometimes eat ice cream but seems to prefer it once it has melted some and he can slurp it. He is a big slurper. He doesn't seem to grasp the concept of sandwiches except for the meat pies he ate in Kaz. I guess I should be grateful in some respects because they say being picky about food means they are no longer worried that they want have food.

We are glad to report that he is now brushing his teeth or allowing us to help him. Some days he will brush them several times. I think the progress is two fold. One, he sees us brushing our teeth and two, it is one of the few times we allow him to spit. We have had major problems with him spitting. It is something they evidently have done at the baby house. He will spit at the ground or spit in anger at us or other objects. We are really working hard to stop the spitting. So he has learned he is allowed to spit in the sink after brushing his teeth which he thinks is quite fun.

Today we went back to the doctor's office for our first set of catch up vaccines. He was quite content until the nurse brought the band aides and alcohol wipes in and set them on the counter. He took one look at them and began to cry. He received his MMR and Varicella today. They had me hold him and his arms still while the two nurses each gave a shot in a different arm at the same time. The crying ended about 60 secs after the shots. He seems to have recovered quite nicely from the episode. We go back in 2 months for the next 2 shots.

We stopped at the store after the doctor's office and he was quite excited to ride in the cart with the car in front. I know all you mothers know what I am talking about. The only problem we had was getting him out of it when we were done in the parking lot. I had to pull him out and he was very, very mad! Needless to say he eventually got over it on the way home.

I guess that's enough for now. Tomorrow we are headed to the Howard County Fair with the Simmon's Family so we should have some good photos to share.