Monday June 18, 2007 First Full Day at Home

Dennis woke back up at 8:00 PM, so we all three moved into the guest room with the room-darkening shades and John and I acted as his crib rails when he went back to sleep (it wasn’t long, and gave us a chance to give him a dry diaper). Nick woke up at 3 AM, and cried loud enough for John we could hear him through the closed door (as expected). I laid Dennis in his crib and the three of us went downstairs. I thought he might be hungry because we always are about that time when we first come home from Ukraine. He said “yes”, but was sitting so sleepily on John’s lap on the couch we just let him all back asleep, and they stayed there until 6:30 AM. Eleven hours of sleep is a record for him with us. Dennis woke up a couple more times, but easily went back to sleep. By morning I was on a comforter in their room, and when he finally woke for the day around 6:45 (we removed the electric clock last night), he had happy sleepy smiles.

John discovered he had lost nearly twenty pounds since we left for Ukraine – without trying and without being sick. Must have been all the walking, about four miles daily from apartment to Metro stop and Metro to orphanage and back, and the okroshka! I only lost three pounds - maybe too many "anti-accidents" after all, but I've lost another since then and am nearly at my arbitrary "goal". John and Nick made a run to the grocery store for a couple of essentials, including diapers, since we used the last one last night and the pull-ups just don’t handle those blow-outs.

We did some unpacking, laundry-sorting and kitchen counter-clearing in the midst of boy-watching (we are learning to verbally hand them off as we or they change tasks or locations). At 10:00 we had a fruit break. Nick enjoyed his apple right down to the stem and Dennis couldn’t get his banana down fast enough. Then we went out for a walk in the neighborhood. We gave Nick the option of riding in a stroller like Dennis and I was surprised when he chose to do so. We took pictures out front of the “Congratulations”, “Welcome Home”, “It’s a Boy” and “It’s a Boy” signs – it was so cool!
I also took photographs of the flowerbed a friend (Muriel) had planted for me while we were gone – such cheerful pinkness and thriving tomato plants! When she called earlier I also admired the yellow one near the house. Must be a weed, because she didn’t plant anything yellow!

At the end of the circle our neighbors were eagerly and courteously waiting to see if we were ready to introduce the boys. We most certainly were, although they were both quite shy. Then it was off for the walk. We played on the swings at Crane Park. We aren’t sure either has even been on them before, since we saw none at the orphanage, and we covered those grounds comprehensively. Back home for lunch – soup prepared by John’s mom and waiting in the fridge. It was a big hit. After I got Dennis down for a nap (1:20) Nick asked to come up from the basement for more soup, and ate three more small bowls! Dennis woke up after about an hour, but was still sleepy and not trying to get up, so we rocked for a bit and he went back down.

We found more of the preparations our parents and Lois made for us prior to our return including child-proofing and stocking of the refrigerator, and are so grateful. We had no idea how not ready our home was for young children!

We had a fruit snack around 4:20 and then headed out to shop. Telling Nick we are going to the “mahgahZEEN” (store) is a great motivator; he gets very excited and repeats it again and again. We drove to Target first, but even in the ten minutes there Nick fell asleep. It is so hard to know if it is better to just let him sleep at 5:00 PM simply because he will, or help him to stay up a little later and hope he will sleep past 3 or 4 AM. Dennis was drowsy, but stayed awake. Once we got to Target, we decided to wake up Nick and kept our promise about taking him to the “mahgahZEEN”. He perked right up. We found a couple of trash cans with lids, doorknob handles, a baby monitor (for Dennis’ naps) and a “pahdarek’ (gift) for Nick, since none of his store visits so far have included anything fun for him. John found a small soccer ball and football for $2.50 up front. His behavior by the end of the stop was deteriorating, so between that and the rain that started we decided the sandbox could wait another day. We looked for more cupboard locks at a quick stop in Shopko and then went home. We had boiled potatoes and diced ham for the evening meal (they ate four times daily plus a snack in Kharkov), and then it was bath time: a big hit again!

We tried one of John’s T-shirts on Nick, he was initially excited to see a long shirt for him, but when he tried it on and the proportions were clearly all wrong he wanted to take it off and chose just a regular T-shirt of his own. He and John colored pictures on his bed while we hoped Dennis would wind down a bit. He never shows evidence of this, however. I was sitting in the rocking chair and Nick came over and wanted to sit on my lap. That was so cool! I showed him how leaning back was more comfortable and he relaxed while I rocked. He sat up once, but let me lean him back again and before long I was able to lay him in his bed. One down, EB2 (Energizer Bunny 2) to go, and that proved more difficult. He cried when picked up, so we moved to the other guest room. He always likes to hold something (actually, he would always like to hold everything) and somehow it was the little “Doodle-Pro” with the stylus attached by string tonight. He just couldn’t find a comfortable way to hold that (between us) and lay against me. After multiple adjustments I just took it away. Mean Mommy! He wanted to lie down – but on the corner of the guest bed, not in his crib. After a couple of attempts, I let him sleep there while I slept on the floor below him. When I woke up in an hour (9:20) I was able to put him to bed, woke John up from the couch down stairs and we went to bed – barely said “Good-night” and I was out again.