it is amazing what you can accomplish with two big kids to help and two little kids missing from the scene. Ethan and Maia went with Eric to round. Leaving me Ben and Sophie. Chrysta and Cody helped me gather all the toys and banish them back to the bedroom. pick up all the playdough chunks and scraps and trash so I could vacuum. So Ben and Sophie are dressed, Living room dining room are both picked up and vacuumed and generally tidied. for the moment. of course some stuff goes on the couch and then back to the floor when its clean again...but I wont think about that. just thinking happy thoughts that the dining room and living room are vacuumed.
Tomorrow the kids go back to school for another week. Sophie can hardley contain her excitement about going back. She thinks I stay there out of sight while she is there. I dont tell her different. Maia is feeling much better about school with Ben and Sophie there with her. She gets lonely for family when she goes there all by herself. Cody let it slip that he actually sort of likes school. he was SO against going back. and here he is doing physics. chrysta likes it but she hates homework and she often has a lot of it. HOURS of it. Way more than I ever did. But then she is still learning to work hard and fast and get as much as possible done in class. it is impossible to do 50 some math problems before the bell though so she always has math to bring home. Cody is apparently not doing so well in his computer typing class. he has missing assignments because he cant type fast enough to get them done in class and you cant take them home. Eric wrote a note to the teacher asking what we can do about it. at this point he is failing, of course its only ONE week into the term but if he is failing at one week chances are he will be failing at 6 weeks. not sure what to do there. We asked the kids the other day what they might like to be and chrysta wants to be a baker(no big surprise) and cody said architect or builder. I wonder if he would like mechanical drafting. DOnt know if they offer that here. but maybe there is hope he will go to college yet. Ethan still likes school but spends so much time entertaining at lunch he barely gets his sandwhich done and doesnt get to eat dessert.
Today Ben had a crying fit because I wouldnt take his pajama top off for him. He has done it repeatedly this week and I wouldnt just stop everything and do it for him. he was pretty mad. I put him in his room and said if you are going to scream you can scream in here. he came out a short time later with his shirt off. little stinker just wants mama to do it.
Sophie hates being on her tummy. I made her today. she screamed. I lifted her up under the belly so she was in crawling position(but all the weight was on ME) and at first she cried but soon figured out locomotion. and as long as I was holding some of her weight up she could do it and move forward. and coudlnt get enough of it. but if I let go she would just scream and cry. She doesnt even really know how to roll over from her belly. hurry up ortho appointments! fix this kid so she can do all the things she wants to do! so she can roll and crawl and MOVE like other kids do.
Ethan is excited for his school program this week. Its on friday. He goes around singing silver bells all the time so I guess thats what they are singing. cant wait to see it.
This blog is about our adventures as a large family. We have fourteen kids in our family. Not every one lives at home. Sometimes life is easy and sometimes its weary to the bone hard.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Friday, December 4, 2009
friday at last
Well its finally happened. last night we went to bed with a driveway. This morning we woke with a "snow way." yuk. Ben is so excited he just keeps squealing and then the dog starts barking because squealing Ben usually means someone is coming. chaos. all day long. actually it isnt that bad. the chaos I mean, the snow is most definitely bad. I am a southern soul trapped in a northern body! The kids drew with markers while in their high chairs for awhile this morning. Then they moved on to playdough. and pretty soon it was lunch time. and then Sophie to nap. and Papa comes home for lunch. and now Ben and Maia are watching a movie. Ben wants so badly to go outside in the snow. I have no boots that would fit over his huge clunker afos, they have built up heels on them, not flat. and he cant walk without them. and he lost his mitten the other night outside and we never did find it and now its under 2 inches of snow......
I was thinking of all the words that Sophie and Ben use now(English words) they say all the family members names
gamma puppy fabio stinky nigh nigh eat
scoot play piano dvd SNOW! milk
bye bye seeyoulater(sounds like see you laylow)
outside on off car bus school lunch story
book banana no "stop it!" "come back"
yucka toys home stay snack! killy(kitty)
OW! boots OPEN! LIGHTS! Amelica! One Two
Three Eleven Six baby booboo moo neigh cluck snort
I am sure there are others I cant think of. This has come a long way. We still resort to making our own sign language sometimes when they wont/cant speak english and wont/cant speak Russian. I am sure they will have some stories to tell us when they have the words...
I was thinking of all the words that Sophie and Ben use now(English words) they say all the family members names
gamma puppy fabio stinky nigh nigh eat
scoot play piano dvd SNOW! milk
bye bye seeyoulater(sounds like see you laylow)
outside on off car bus school lunch story
book banana no "stop it!" "come back"
yucka toys home stay snack! killy(kitty)
OW! boots OPEN! LIGHTS! Amelica! One Two
Three Eleven Six baby booboo moo neigh cluck snort
I am sure there are others I cant think of. This has come a long way. We still resort to making our own sign language sometimes when they wont/cant speak english and wont/cant speak Russian. I am sure they will have some stories to tell us when they have the words...
Thursday, December 3, 2009
from my friend Christine......
I’m holding a $1 challenge over at www.findingkirilsfamily.blogspot.com, on the countdown to Christmas. Kiril is a little boy with significant special needs who has been waiting on Reece’s Rainbow for a long time, and has been bedridden in an institution for over 6 months now. My goal is to get as many people as possible to come and donate just ONE dollar to Kiril’s RR grant, and then pass this message on to just ONE other person of their choice.
Apart from people I know well, I’m contacting 50 people whose circumstances I’m not as familiar with - so if you’re in the middle of an adoption etc, I obviously don’t expect you to donate. But *please* pass along this message, whether you can give yourself or not.
Apart from people I know well, I’m contacting 50 people whose circumstances I’m not as familiar with - so if you’re in the middle of an adoption etc, I obviously don’t expect you to donate. But *please* pass along this message, whether you can give yourself or not.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
beautiful benjamin button
took off his pajama top with NO HELP! He went into his room with a shirt on and came out without one and said COME ON MAMA! Pajama ALL DONE! so I jumped to get him some clothes. he tried hard to get his pants off and if he didnt have AFOS on he could have. they were pretty loose, falling off his butt lol. Mr Ben Ben is on his way to dressing himself. = )
I know I am late
but the message bears repeating.
Today, on World AIDS Day, please join AHOPE's campaign FIFTEEN - 15 days to find 15 sponsors for 15 orphans with HIV in Ethiopia
On World AIDS Day, AHOPE for Children urges support of some of the world's most vulnerable AIDS victims – the children who lost their parents because of AIDS, and then were found infected with HIV themselves. There are more than one million of these children in Ethiopia alone, and AHOPE for Children exists to care for them.
AHOPE Ethiopia recently moved to a larger residence with room to care for 15 more orphans. The space is available for 15 more children, but the funds are needed to provide them with necessities such as the medical treatment, nutritious food, education and holistic care they deserve. A sponsorship to help provide these necessities is just $35/month ($420/year; co-op sponsorships available), and we have hope that there are 15 people out there that will feel inspired to help these children.
This is why AHOPE for Children has initiated FIFTEEN, a campaign to find 15 sponsors to support 15 orphans with HIV in Ethiopia, within 15 days (Dec. 1-15). Will you please join us on this journey to give hope a home? Visit http://www.ahopefor children. org/sponsor. html to learn more.
Today, on World AIDS Day, please join AHOPE's campaign FIFTEEN - 15 days to find 15 sponsors for 15 orphans with HIV in Ethiopia
On World AIDS Day, AHOPE for Children urges support of some of the world's most vulnerable AIDS victims – the children who lost their parents because of AIDS, and then were found infected with HIV themselves. There are more than one million of these children in Ethiopia alone, and AHOPE for Children exists to care for them.
AHOPE Ethiopia recently moved to a larger residence with room to care for 15 more orphans. The space is available for 15 more children, but the funds are needed to provide them with necessities such as the medical treatment, nutritious food, education and holistic care they deserve. A sponsorship to help provide these necessities is just $35/month ($420/year; co-op sponsorships available), and we have hope that there are 15 people out there that will feel inspired to help these children.
This is why AHOPE for Children has initiated FIFTEEN, a campaign to find 15 sponsors to support 15 orphans with HIV in Ethiopia, within 15 days (Dec. 1-15). Will you please join us on this journey to give hope a home? Visit http://www.ahopefor children. org/sponsor. html to learn more.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
yes I am a blogging fool
I wanted THIS blog to be about the kids, about the family, about the things we do and our life together. I Made a seperate blog about medical stuff for Sophie and Ben. its called Arthroadventure. If you want to read about their medical appointments and therapies (soon to begin) you should go to that page.
http://arthroadventure.blogspot.com/
http://arthroadventure.blogspot.com/
all over the place
whenever you ask ben "can you say ______" he says "da" but not _____. which is histerically funny to me. His dad just asked him if he could say "strong like the cow" and he said "da."
Ben and Sophie (along with the other kids) each have a blanket made special for them by Mama. Maia drags a blanket around but not the one I made her. Sophie and Ben dont really care about their blankets if it isnt bedtime but if it is bedtime any blanket will do. no special attachment to mama'a blanket. but today Sophie was crying and Maia gave her the pink blankie I made her and Ben was crying so I gave him the blue and red one I made him and they hugged them and cuddled them and Ben wrapped up in his and wore it like a warm cape for the rest of the morning. he was chilly. I had a revalation though, a duhh moment. Sophie cant drag her blanket around. Not because of her hands or legs or diagnosis, but because she cant climb into the crib to get it and it never occurred to me to get it out! sometimes Mama is a bit slow about these things! When I put her to nap she wanted that blanket. just that blanket. not the other one she usually sleeps with. so now I have three blanket babies.
I made them playdough and Ben keeps saying this is the snow. squishing it is good for his hands. He is having a great time rolling it out and putting patterns in it with other toys. I have been hesitant to make any because it becomes such a mess but they are having such a good time. Maybe I will save it for naptime play. entertains maia and ben and keeps them fairly quiet.
Ben is so clumsy he falls on Sophie sometimes or steps on her. Today the poor thing he cried more than she did when he stepped on her hand. he felt so bad.
school yesterday was a success. Except I forgot to tell cody which bus to take home. I happened to run into him picking up Sophie and Ben so I took him home with me and told him which bus. He could have asked his sister though. She knows the bus number of half the kids in town so certainly she could have told him which one to take. But they both came home happy. Ethan on the other hand didnt. he got into trouble at school. only a little trouble. and really quite typical kind of trouble for kindergarten. He got a warning because he was being too loud. there are several steps beyond a warning, each successively worse than the last. He got a warning. that is the very first level. so basically a reminder. He also likes to chat alot(imagine that, Ethan talking too much)Although in speaking with his teacher she said he is doing fine. that was the first time he had gotten a warning. and academically he was doing just fine. he just needs to work on listening, being quiet and doing what he is told when he is told. ie: do your work when its work time. In typical Ethan fashion, the bus driver saw me taking Cody and asked if I wanted to take Ethan too and I said whatever Ethan wanted was fine. he said he wanted to stay on the bus so I let him ride the bus and met him when he got home with a big hug. and he was mad at me for not taking him home with me. cant win.
Ben and Sophie (along with the other kids) each have a blanket made special for them by Mama. Maia drags a blanket around but not the one I made her. Sophie and Ben dont really care about their blankets if it isnt bedtime but if it is bedtime any blanket will do. no special attachment to mama'a blanket. but today Sophie was crying and Maia gave her the pink blankie I made her and Ben was crying so I gave him the blue and red one I made him and they hugged them and cuddled them and Ben wrapped up in his and wore it like a warm cape for the rest of the morning. he was chilly. I had a revalation though, a duhh moment. Sophie cant drag her blanket around. Not because of her hands or legs or diagnosis, but because she cant climb into the crib to get it and it never occurred to me to get it out! sometimes Mama is a bit slow about these things! When I put her to nap she wanted that blanket. just that blanket. not the other one she usually sleeps with. so now I have three blanket babies.
I made them playdough and Ben keeps saying this is the snow. squishing it is good for his hands. He is having a great time rolling it out and putting patterns in it with other toys. I have been hesitant to make any because it becomes such a mess but they are having such a good time. Maybe I will save it for naptime play. entertains maia and ben and keeps them fairly quiet.
Ben is so clumsy he falls on Sophie sometimes or steps on her. Today the poor thing he cried more than she did when he stepped on her hand. he felt so bad.
school yesterday was a success. Except I forgot to tell cody which bus to take home. I happened to run into him picking up Sophie and Ben so I took him home with me and told him which bus. He could have asked his sister though. She knows the bus number of half the kids in town so certainly she could have told him which one to take. But they both came home happy. Ethan on the other hand didnt. he got into trouble at school. only a little trouble. and really quite typical kind of trouble for kindergarten. He got a warning because he was being too loud. there are several steps beyond a warning, each successively worse than the last. He got a warning. that is the very first level. so basically a reminder. He also likes to chat alot(imagine that, Ethan talking too much)Although in speaking with his teacher she said he is doing fine. that was the first time he had gotten a warning. and academically he was doing just fine. he just needs to work on listening, being quiet and doing what he is told when he is told. ie: do your work when its work time. In typical Ethan fashion, the bus driver saw me taking Cody and asked if I wanted to take Ethan too and I said whatever Ethan wanted was fine. he said he wanted to stay on the bus so I let him ride the bus and met him when he got home with a big hug. and he was mad at me for not taking him home with me. cant win.
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