Meet the newest member of the family....

...NEMO
Wayne won this lovely little goldfish for Lukas at the carnival. He managed to make it home alive and in one piece. I am happy to report he made it through the night and is still with us. Lukas carried him around with him all over the house.

He is hard to see against Lukas' shirt but that is him in the bottom right corner of the bag.


Here is a photo Lukas took of Nemo in his new home in Lukas' bedroom. Although it looks like there is more than one fish in here it really is only one.

Lukas in Action...problem solving 101

In order to keep Lukas from leaving the house without us we have put covers on the doors. Mr. Smarty pants has figured out how to take them off so we have now duct taped them to keep him from removing them. So how does one keep the door open so he can get out? This is one of two methods Lukas has figured out. I can't leave him alone for a minute.




Note regarding the socks...Lukas dressed himself.

His other method that he figured out a while ago was to be sure he is the one that gets to close the door and he makes sure it only looks like it is closed. We figured that one out and he gets irritated when we go back and make sure the door is completely shut.

You've been a US Citizen for a year...how are you going to celebrate?

It was a year ago today that we arrived home with Lukas. The moment the plane touched down at Dulles Airport he was officially a citizen of the USA. To celebrate we decided to go to the Mt. Airy Fire Dept Carnival. Lukas' cousin Kevin is a volunteer with the MAVFD so we got Aunt Cheryl and Uncle Butch to go with us.

Lukas was all about the rides from the moment we got there. He was actually tall enough to ride most of the rides by himself which was the way he prefered it. I was surprised at some of the rides he went on. He would have gone on all of them if he could have. He even did the fun house. Smacked into a few glass walls going through the maze and would break out in hysterical laughter each time. I will post the videos on a separate blog post.



He loves the carousels and anything to do with riding a horse or pony.


The train went extremely slow much to his dismay but he still enjoyed being on the train. He kept going, "choooo, chooooo" as it would go around.

Lukas was checking in with the people behind him.


This is one of the rides I was surprised he could go on and he loved it, it went really fast.


This was much more fun than the train because it went faster. That's my boy, best seat on the coaster is the front or back.


Fortunately he wanted me to ride the ferris wheel with him because he couldn't ride it alone. He didn't want to get off.




He kept spinning himself round and round on the spinner ride.

Carnival Rides....Live action

You'll notice in a lot of the videos he is looking around planning where he is going next and what ride he will ride on. My apologies for the poor quality of some of the videos. I need to learn to stand back a little farther when in video mode.

Out of the mouths of babes

I made a last minute decision this morning to work from home since I have some pressing computer work that needs done and I keep getting interupted at work. Lukas woke up in the wee hours and fell back to sleep in our bed. He was still sleeping soundly and I didn't want to wake him so I offered to take him to school. While he was sleeping I was working away at the computer across the hall from the bedroom. Eventually I hear, "Mommy, Daddy!" and then I couldn't make at the rest he was saying. By the time I got to the bedroom he was looking out the bedroom window and talking to himself. I called his name and he turned around and said, "that wasn't very nice," in a very frustrated tone. I asked him what he meant and he said,"leaving me here alone." Evidently when he woke up and no one answered he thought we had left him home alone.

It's been one year already??!!

This is the 1st Anniversary of the day we sprung Lukas from Umit and took full custody of him. As we celebrate this milestone our thoughts remain with the 8 families who are still fighting to win custody of their children from Umit.

In honor of this milestone I am including the blog post from that day. If you read this blog you know that he just recently had a visit to the IA Clinic and is doing very well and catching up nicely. He was also recently seen by the County Public School Diagnostic group for follow-up as well and they still have no recommendations for intervention other than his hearing test at this time. The language specialist was very impressed at the progress he has made in the last 7 months and most of his pronunciations are on target. We will follow-up again in 6 months.

So now a trip back in time...

Part 2 Final Trip
20 July 2009

We met up with Christian and Natalie at the gate for our flight to Almaty. It ended up that not only were we on the same flight but we were seated across the aisle from each other. We chatted at the gate while waiting to board and for a short time when we first boarded. I think we all had the same objective of eating dinner and then trying to sleep. We were on a bigger, newer plane this trip and the seats were actually quite comfortable.

We arrived in Almaty at 11:55pm, cleared customs and went to get our bags. The first one came out quickly. We then waited and waited but no second bag. Wayne noticed they had the carousel next to it going as well and headed over there. After a few passes still no 2nd bag. I then heard someone yell about the 3rd carousel and I headed over there to see if it showed up. I was beginning to get concerned something happened to the 2nd bag after several times around and then suddenly there it was.

We said good bye to the Pelletiers and told them we would see them in Taraz. They are coming by train on Monday so they won’t get here until late. As always Ernur was waiting for us outside the baggage claim area. We greeted each other and then headed for the car. We made record time this trip and arrived in Taraz at 6:58am. Only about 6-6 ½ hours.

The hotel was very quite and the bar and restaurant were not yet serving breakfast. We have our old room again, Room 220. We met up with Kara and her mother Marcia on the stairway as we were coming upstairs. Her mother seems very nice and I am looking forward to getting to know her in person. She is very anxious to meet her newest grand daughter. They did not go to Umit yesterday but Ernur said Janette would meet us downstairs at 9 or 10am. We don’t know if it is to go to Umit or just fill us in on when we will go and when we get to spring them! Zema, our translator, is in Kyzlorda still with her mother so I am assuming Janette will have Shirin translate this morning. She is filling in for Aima this summer and has been working with Kim, Alina’s mother.

More later…..

We have now had breakfast with Kara and Marcia (thanks for the tenge loan) and packed our bag for Umit. The only place to eat at the hotel this morning appeared to be the buffet in the restaurant. We’re wondering if it is there way of getting people to eat the 10.00 buffet instead of the 10 cent pastries from the outdoor café or bar.

We resume our ritual of gathering outside on the benches to wait for Janette. We finally met up with Kim who was already out on the bench. Once Janette arrived it was a female gab fest. Janette asked about Wayne and I pointed to the bench on the other side. Her comment was, “Wayne goes home and becomes shy.” I assured her it was more likely he was staying away from all the estrogen.

First things first, “passports pajulsta!” We turn them all over and then we are informed that we will be going to Umit this afternoon. Then she catches us all off guard by telling us we will be springing the kiddos today! Yikes! Or we can wait until we leave for Almaty. Who’s she kidding! Option to take him now or wait until the end of the week, does she really need an answer to that question. Janette also informed Wayne and I of Lukas’ behavior since Kim came on the scene. It appears he is not too happy about the fact that Alina has her Mama to play with and his Mama and Papa aren’t there. So what does he do, hits Alina! I told Kim we would be bringing an end to that today. I don’t know if that means he missed us or was just jealous because he had to stay with the group.

We got upstairs and realized we had better go to the store now so we have something for the poor kid to eat and drink. When we got back we added his going away clothes to the bag. So it is now off to get some ZZZZs so we will have some energy and clear heads to deal with Lukas’ adjustment to his new world.

THE RELEASE OF LUKAS ANTON



We met Ernur, Shirin and Janette at 3pm along with Kara and Marcia. Off we went to Umit for the last time. When we got there Janette went inside to see if an administrator was there. She came back out and asked for their clothes. About 5-10 minutes later she and Shirin came out with Symbat and Lukas. He got a big smile on his face and came over to Papa. Wayne picked him up and Lukas gave him a big hug. Papa then gave him to Mama and she got a smile and big hug as well. We headed to the gazebo and right on cue he started looking through the bag for his tamook and toys. Janette came back out with the Social Worker who congratulated us, thanked us and wished us all well. After a little discussion about paper work Janette said it was time to go. I don’t think we were there for more than 30 minutes.



Lukas had no qualms about walking out the gate and was thrilled to get in the car. I think he is addicted to riding in cars already. He laughed and smiled all the way to the hotel. He kept pointing to cars and saying machina and pointing out all the daddees. When we got to the hotel he didn’t want to get out of the car.





So far he seems to be enjoying his new adventure. He came in the room and I showed him where his toys and his backpack and he just sat down and started playing. We watched a little Thomas the tank and took a tour around the hotel suite. We then decided to go out side for a walk. We had one minor short lived crying episode when he was told he couldn’t get in the machinas. We then got an ice cream cone. To bad we didn’t come prepared with the camera. We then took an hour long walk. He really seemed to enjoy himself.

That’s all for to day. Stay tuned for more Adventures of Lukas Anton on the outside.





Paka,
Lynda, Wayne and Lukas
Posted by The Robeys at 10:52 AM

Wow, that seems like ages ago! Thanks for brightening our lives with your smile, effervisent personality and energy Lukas! You've come a long, long way since this day last year.

How to eat a frozen lunchable

I stock up on lunchables when they are on sale to keep on hand when we are in a rush for fixing Lukas' lunch. I "hide" them in the freezer. Of course, our guy is so smart, or maybe I'm just poorly skilled in hiding them, he couldn't wait for dinner the other night and decided he was having a lunchable. Us adults where downstairs attempting to figure out what we were going to have for dinner since I forgot to defrost the meat we were planning on having. Lukas arrives on the seen with his frozen lunchable trying to open it up.

I tried to explain to him that it was for his lunch not his dinner. He points out to me his name is on it so he wants to eat it. I write his name on items like this as I put them away to save time when packing his school lunch. So then I attempted to explain to him that it was frozen. "Mr. Muscle" opened the package any way and suddenly gets that it is rock hard. He rifled through the items, took the cookies and crackers out and then headed upstairs to the kitchen. The lightbulb went off in our heads about 30 secs behind his. "Lukas, don't put that in the microwave!"...the door shuts and I hear it start up. I got there just in time. It had about 5 more seconds on the time when I got to it. He did manage to defrost the bologna and cheese. The cheese was just starting to melt. I give him credit, he figured out what the microwave was for, that he should take the cookies and crackers out and how to use it. Up until now all he has done with the microwave is open and close the door or set the time and start it up with nothing in it. It's the first time he actually used it for a purpose.

His language may not be up to speed but his mind sure is working overtime!

Visit to grandma and grandpa's

We spent six days visiting my parent's on the eastern shore of Maryland as a mini vacation. It happened to coincide with the Talbot County Fair where my younger brother's girls were showing their cows. The first few days were a real scorcher and the first thing Lukas wanted to do when we arrived was cool off in the pool.



Lukas had a big surprise the next morning when he discovered that Aunt Debbie and Uncle David had arrived during the night with their two boys. They had been at their beach house in Fenwick Island, Delaware but came back to Bozman for the night because they don't have AC and it was just too hot. He enjoyed his time with them even if it was only for the day. Aunt Debbie even went swimming with him. He finished his swimming lessons up in June and it has been interesting to see how much he remembers. Mr. fearless has actually developed a respectful fear of the water. He knows he needs is swimming aid pack when he is in the deeper water but enjoys not having it on in the shallow end where he can stand-up. We are gradually reducing the number of layers on his pack which means he has to work harder to stay afloat and hopefully will help improve his swimming skills.




Friday we decided to check out the fair after a dip in the pool. We were both surprised at how small the fair grounds were and that the midway and rides didn't open until 4pm in the afternoon. We met up with girls, checked at the animals and then headed home for lunch. The plan was to head back on Saturday to watch the girls show their heifers. We haven't had rain for a while and Saturday it poured on the eastern shore. We headed out to the fair grounds with my parents and all our rain gear. We got as far as St. Michaels and had to turn back because the road was closed due to the rain. There was already about a foot of water in the street. We learned the next day in the paper that the street was closed from one end of town to the other from 10am until 1pm. The cattle competition was from 10 to 12 noon. The Village Market ended up with 2 1/2 feet of water in the store. They said they closed the road mainly because the cars were causing a wake that was pushing water into the houses and businesses of the main street. It had pretty much recided by the by 3pm that same day. It rained pretty much all day and most of the night. We're not complaining since we desparately needed the rain.

Follow-up visit to International Adoption Clinic

July 6th Lukas had his regular visit to Kennedy Krieger's International Adoption Clinic. Overall Dr. Davoli was very pleased. Lukas is now testing pretty much at his age level. When he first arrived home and had is initial visit at age 3 1/2 he was testing between age 2 and 3. Six months later at age 4 he was doing better at a ge 2 1/2- 3 1/2 but still behind and classified as mild developmental delay. He is now clearly testing at normal intelligence. His language scores are still testing all over the place but his average score has increased from 60th percentile to 80th percentile.

His physical growth is still improving exponentially as well. He started out not even on the growth chart at the first visit and is now in 17th percentile for weight and 19th percentile for height. That is a 10 percent improvement from 6 months ago. His head circumference is at 40th percentile. He is still on the small side for his age but still growing at a fast pace.

She took a gander at his ears and doesn't feel the inner ear issue is affecting his language skills. She recommended we see the pediatrician or an ENT for follow-up. She said some doctors will just wait it out and see if the fluid dries up, some will prescribe meds to help dry them out or in severe cases recommend tubes. She didn't feel his were bad enough to warrant tubes at this time.

So we will see her again in 6 months. She is scheduling an appointment with a language specialist for the fall because she feels his language deficits may be to subtle at that point for her to be able to detect them at that point. Since he tests all over the board on langauge we felt it was important to keep a close eye on it so it doesn't create a problem when he start kindergarten a year from now.

His reward was a visit to his eastern shore grandparent's to swim and play on the farm for the rest of the week.

The Taraz Ten

If you have been following this blog you are aware of the eight families I have written about previously who have been in the process of adopting 10 children from the Umit Baby House that Lukas lived in prior to our adoption. Five of those families have now had their regional appeal hearing and been denied again on the same frivolous reason, the children were not shown to enough local families during the 6 months prior to be placed on the International Registry. The law only states a time period a child must wait before being placed on the International registry, not a number of families. It also does not give any specific guidelines on how this is to be documented. At the time we adopted Lukas it was sufficient for the baby house to just verbally state that he was shown to x number of local families. Lukas was in Umit for over a year before being placed on the International Registry so it does not appear that there is any rhyme or reason to how the process actually works of moving a child from the in country registry to the international registry. Recent posters have mentioned some regions requesting a minimum of 3 local families and the information being written down as to the name and address of the families and why they turned down the child. From what I have learned of these recent decisions, the municipal and regional courts don't seem to care that this information was presented to them, they are stuck on the excuse that however many families they were presented to is not enough.

These families have been working hard to fight to bring their children home inspite of the current decisions. Some are already in the process of appealing to the next and final regional appellate process prior to the final step which will be appealing to the national court in Astana. One of the families has started a facebook causes webpage. They are not asking for donations, only moral support in this fight for justice for these 10 children stuck in limbo. If you have a facebook account please join this cause. If you don't have an account consider creating a basic one so that you can join this cause to lend support to these families.

You can link into the cause here:

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/friends/causes

Happy 4th of July!

This was Lukas' first year to celebrate 4th of July as an American citizen. We spent last year in anticipation of heading back to Taraz the middle of the month to pick him up and bring him home.

This year we started the day off with a leisurely morning and Lukas asking every 20 minutes, "Is it time to go to the party (pronounced Potty, don't know where the Boston accent came from)?" He was quite excited when it was time to head to "grandma" Mason's for his 1st Fourth of July party. He had a grand time playing in the pool with his "cousins" and other friends. We were there for about 5 hours and I think he spent 4 and 1/2 of those in the pool.



Ha Ha got you...

The retaliation...


Needless to say, he was exhausted from all the swimming and sunshine. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and was out cold. He briefly opened his eyes as I carried him in and then went back to sleep on the sofa. Three hours later Wayne decided to wake him up to see the fireworks the neighbors were setting off. We had already decided he might still be too young to go to a big display like D.C. Good plan considering he was sound asleep for 3 hours and almost didn't wake up to see the ones out in front of our house. Of course the other question was, will he go back to sleep afterwards? We changed him into his jammies and headed outside. He had a great time. There were several other larger displays going off around us and he would cover his ears when a loud one went off. We had a nice view from our driveway.






Lukas' favorite neighbor came over and got him to do sparklers.








I tried to capture some of the other displays going off around the area but didn't have the right camera handy as you can see.


Needless to say, Lukas was wide awake after it was over. When they finished he said, "they're broken." That's what he says when something stops working. We did manage to get him to go back to sleep about an hour later and he slept until almost 7am.

Hope our fellow Americans had a safe and funfilled Fourth!