growing and growing

Cousin Zach gave us a Mickey Mouse costume for Halloween when we arrived in the states in April. It fit at that time......now look at the feet of the costume. The yellow part is supposed to go down over his shoes.......guess not! I think we will pass out candy this year anyway!

I can't imagine why Amigo follows Nick around all of the time.....hmm, could it be that Nick likes sharing his snacks......one for me, one for you, a fist full for me, a fist full for you........

Nick's new game with Papa this week was Airplane rides. Pat said he was exhausted trying to think of places to go. Nick had to have his special airplane hat and the pillow is the steering wheel. He also made sure that his Kazakh play airplane was on the ride in the middle. His other new game is BIG cave. The alcove at the top of our stairs is usually dark and we have been reading "Going on a Bear Hunt" so now we have to go up to the caves (his bedroom and our bedroom) ...it is so funny...his expressions are priceless.

We had our first school carnival this last weekend. We had to "volunteer" for a booth so we chose the putting green ( a Kitzman favorite). We were the last shift so were hoping to do all of the other booths before our time. Nick did not get the wait in line concept at all. I think it was all a bit overwhelming for his little mind. So, Nick and mama spent some time in the car just watching. We did go help papa towards the end and one good thing did come out of it all.....we could not hold him back from wanting to run and say hi to his teacher and give her a hug....that was worth all of the craziness.

Our new dvd/daytime cartoon obsession is The Backyardigans......this show equals the Little Einsteins creativity which I love so much....They are like Broadway in a cartoon and not only that, they also got some groove goin' on. He loves all of the singing and it is the first cartoon that I have heard him spontaneously laugh and giggle. I love that sound.....he gets so tickled at Pablo the bird. When I was a nanny, one of my favorite things was to sit next to the kids during a movie and hear them giggle.....children's laughter is so infectious. I love being able to experience that again with my own child.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of the grandparents in October. Nick likes to say hi and sometimes a little more on the phone but we are excited for everyone to see how much he has changed even in a few months. Hope everybody's September ends up well....cooler and more harvest feeling for all!

"no Cwyin"

Thank goodness for snack duty because somehow this distracted Nick enough to feel confident and happy about walking into his preschool this morning. After he dropped off the snacks on the appropriate table, he walked to his room and put his bag in the big bin and looked at his teacher and said "no cwyin".....and walked on in the room to play. YEAH! So, I finally got to walk out and feel that I was not traumatizing my child....again, YEAH!



He did pretty well at BSF this week. He cried when I left but went to the teacher and let her carry him into the room. I have really been enjoying getting back to a good bible study. It is like I have been on my second tank/reserve tank for so long and now I finally feel like I am at the pump and filling up again. We are studying Matthew and it is amazing how a change in life status can totally make scriptures that you have heard for years come alive again. Just goes to show how relevant the bible is and always will be to us at any time in our lives.



We have had some good quality play time with our new Little People toys although it feels like our house is in perpetual tornado mode. Amigo has finally just decided that if you can't beat'em, join'em. He walked right into the midst of the mess and just laid down the other night so I had to get a picture. It was so funny. It looked as if he was trying to hold Nick's car track down with his paw to help.

I have been really laughing at my little new social butterfly that has popped out of his cocoon lately. He says Hi to everyone and hugs all his friends frequently. The funniest thing he does is so typical American but with a twist......the typical American will talk louder to a foreigner thinking that somehow this will help them understand what we are saying better and Nick is so excited that people are understanding him more and that he can communicate better that he gets right up in their face and says stuff really loud. It cracks me up although I do try to get him to volume control just a bit. The look on the other kids face is hilarious.


I caught some of those future embarass the son with his girlfriend pictures the other day. I call it "the Nick trying to be like all those silly boys letting their pants sag and showing their underwear" picture. He was having a typical 3 year old moment where just a usual procedure builds into a battle. He wanted to put his shorts on first and then his underwear. So, I thought this was one of those battles to let go of and get a good picture. The first one, he is screaming and crying into the floor because I have walked away from the battle (to get the camera). The second is him coming to grab the camera because he now wants me to put his pants on right because I am enjoying this wrong side out method too much. I can't wait to pull these out one day especially if he wants to wear his pants like all the crazy boys these days. I will show him how silly it looked then and now. Ha!






Well, that is about all the news for this week. We are having Indian summer right now so I have nothing nice to say about the weather but sure can't wait til the cool weather returns. Today is 5 months since we stepped foot on American soil with Nick. I cannot believe how much he has changed. In many ways, Our first few months have been like the seasons that we have experienced with him.....the cool, distant, and numb feeling of winter, the newness and beauty of a newly blossomed flower in the spring, a heated and sweaty, unrelenting summer with battles and conflict and thankfully, now we think that he is starting to come alive with all kinds of new colors like the fall. His new confidence in his ability to communicate, his exuberance with music and reading, his humor and his unbelievable affection will make this an awesome Fall, we have no doubt. "Goo bye" for now. K-Pat and Nick

Neeeeeear and Faaaaaar!

Nick's new favorite things are opposites. He has learned these mostly from his Elmo big book and his Russian book. He has really grasped these concepts quickly and loves to use an umbrella over his head for dry and to his side for wet. He was doing this out in the rain a few weeks back on a previous blog. He likes to say Low and High with the appropriate voice, In and out, Open and shut (with his eyes) and short and long. Near/ Far is the one that is so amazing. He learned that in the Russian book and was watching a show one day and someone was out in a field and he yelled Far, Far....it took me a minute to figure out what he was saying and then I was like yeah, he is far away....pretty great. He uses Big and little all of the time when comparing trucks, people, animals, whatever but our all time favorite was this morning while having family snuggle time in bed at barely dawn with just a bit of light, he exclaimed "now little dark, not Big dark". It was so cute and priceless. He also keeps learning some spanish from class and was reading a book the other day and pointed to the monkey and said MONO! Yeah. He has also started letting us read to him at bedtime. Before it has been just pointing to pictures and saying what they were but now he wants to hear the story. He will say Mama Talk and if I just point at pics, he will again say, TALK! He will now say Papa's turn and Mama's turn for who he wants to "talk".

We think that Nick is channeling his original Kazak language when he gets mad. He yells out in some very distinct "words" and "phrases" that don't sound like his new english but sound like something. It is hilarious. I think he really thinks we know what he is saying. If we weren't in the midst of some battle when this happens, it would be fun to get on tape and see if anyone could translate. We have seen some progress with him learning restraint....you can actually see him processing whether to hit or not to hit, to bite or not to bite. Some days he chooses wisely, some days not. Most of our battles have been outside the house lately and we are quickly learning the art of public timeouts. I am hoping that much of our lashing out this week has been a result of all the new experiences and that soon he will settle in and just have fun. I have used my extra free time to exercise and clean the house. It is so much easier to clean without a helper.

Pat has reached peak tolerance with toys this week. We just received our Little People town and accessories from my friend Michele in St. Louis. Nick was so excited and I have hopes of large blocks of playtime now....we shall see. Pat allowed only one more purchase earlier this week. We got him his first golf clubs and bag. He has been picking up every stick in the yard and says "golf club" as he proceeds to hit the grass, a rock, etc. So we come home with this great new purchase that I think he must have and Pat puts it together, shows him what to do, then he hits one ball grudgingly and then proceeds to "Mow" the grass with his golf bag. Kids crack me up. GO figure. So, Papa has declared that we need NO MORE TOYS! ;)

The weather has been awesome the past few days and we have had some more park time with friends. Mikey and Nick had a good time several days ago and we got a few cute shots.....not so easy with a 2 year old and a 3 year old.

We have used pictures to talk about places, things, and people since we first met Nick. Most of our family lives out of town and lots of long time friends also. I always beg every year for picture updates from friends and family and with all of Nick's fridge toys, we had run out of space for all of the pics so one of my sweet friends asked what I needed for Nick and I described these great picture holders that I saw at one of my friend's house out of the Leaps and Bounds catalog.

So, yes, I use all of those pics I ask for and yes, keep sending them, we can switch them out. Well, Nick likes for me to hold him and go thru all of the people and the other day, we were looking at the grandparents and I love the way he says his grandpas' names. My dad is Ata Beeeeeell (Bill) and Ata Bob has transformed over the months.....He saw the picture of them and said Grandma Ruuf and MOH! POWYAH! for "more power". It was so funny. I just cracked up. Ata Bob taught him this on the boat over July Fourth and he has used it from then on and now Grandpa has become one with the phrase....kind of like Auntie Rhino. So cute. We are hoping to see all of the grandparents in the next month or so. Nick needs some GP time and I will take the help anytime! ;)

Hope everyone is enjoying the cooler weather, we sure are! I just need to do some more shopping....Not toys, sweetie, just Clothes! Hugs and "keeeeses" to all.

A trailer, pizza, and hormones...........

What do these have in common you ask, well they are not related to a "B" movie but describe my girls weekend away in Western Ky. Luckily, women have a way of being able to talk and visit no matter what and the weekend was nice although rainy and humid. We arrived almost perfectly at the same time so it actually was an equal distance between Lex and St. Louis. I had a weird feeling when I pulled up and our "rainbow's end cottage" was a converted trailer. My friends had arrived a few minutes earlier and were getting the tour from our host who had forgotten to zip his zipper...nice! We were OK with the setting as it was clean and seemed safe even if it did just look like your grandma's house (mismatched furniture and silk flowers). We celebrated our first night in style with Pirrone's pizza which basically made it all worth while for me....THANKS GIRLS!

Thin, Pepperoni and with Provel Cheese....nothing like it in the world although my sister said they found a new place in TX that says they have "St. Louis style Pizza" .....she said my parents and she will be the judge of that! ;)

We had a good breakfast at the main house the next morning and then he had to ruin it by telling us about the "Algae" that had been growing in our air-conditioning unit....Ummm, that would be mold and would probably explain my intense headaches everytime we were back in the trailer....oh, well.....we talked, walked, and ate the day away and then watched a movie....all in all not a bad day. Our theme for the weekend was "those Powerful hormones"...everytime we were talking about something (any topic), the subject always came back to how those silly chemicals affect just about everything that goes on with us....maybe it is our age but it became pretty humorous to us and we began to say loudly and proudly, "THOSE POWERFUL HORMONES!" Sunday morning we ate an OK breakfast and then paid our "way to much for what we got" bill and headed home. I have to say that I was a bit sad....to say good-bye to my friends and that it was not the pampering weekend that we all wanted. But, I feel very lucky to have been able to get away and we are all thankful to our hubbys at home who held the forts down without calling us even once....we were always calling them so they didn't have to! ;)

Nick got the best part of this weekend in that he got more presents! yeah! Musical toys, magic coloring book, and the best part.....a dump truck! We have been a loud and messy house (dumped toys) for the last few days now....so awesome!

I guess the musical instruments continued on with my pots and a popcorn tin....again, love his imagination.

He looks like a drum major and I love his expression

He had a little trouble getting his Tin Hat off of his cute little head. Cracked me up!

We had his second day of preschool today.....screaming once again but his teacher says that he quiets down really quickly. I just pray that he doesn't relate this to his experience at the orphanage...after all, this is how his relationship with us started.....people he cared about dropping him off in a room with unfamiliar people for several hours and then all of the sudden he had to go with those strangers away from everything he knew and loved. We will start BSF tomorrow, hopefully, that will be less eventful with more kids and teachers around that he knows. Please keep my mom in your prayers as she is hospitalized currently with some serious abdominal pain....hopefully, just related to a test she just had and not a blockage or anything.

Have a great week everyone and our thoughts and prayers go out to the 9/11 survivors and families. How that event has changed our world forever. Love to all!

It seems like just yesterday........

I was thinking this morning that I have heard moms say over and over thru the years that "it seems like just yesterday that we were coming home from the hospital, they were learing to walk, talk, etc" and with tears, they continue, and now he or she is going to school. sniff, sniff. Well, it really didn't feel like that to me because it almost has been "yesterday" or 5 months since we brought him home and sending him to school seems a bit surreal. I think he will love it but it almost feels too soon to let him go. Luckily, it is only two days a week and frankly, I could use the breather (me and the YMCA are going to get up close and personal) So, let me tell you about our "first day of preschool".


We were all smiles and excitement in prep for our first day....notice Pat at home (he usually goes to work at 6a).....he spent yesterday in "prep"aration for a colonoscopy to occur shortly after I got Nick to school.....but on the upside, he was there to help get everything ready.

We headed out to take Papa to the clinic and then on to preschool. See my cute bag from Grandma Martha! We had to continually check it to make sure he did not add toys to it before we left the house! ;)


Everyone was taking pictures in this pretty garden next to the school building. Nick was excited about the garden but not posing for a picture.

He loved the fountain and I had to drag him away from it so we wouldn't be late for class.


This was the look that Mama got when he suddenly realized that I was not going in the room with him. He had just finished saying "mama stay". His teacher helped guide him towards the room and the screaming started...very loud, very intense. Nice! So, that is how my morning started....so now I will give you a play by play of the next few interesting hours.

9-945 - grab some food and head back to my hubby at the hospital for his fun procedure.

10-11 - wait and wait for the people to come get him knowing that I have to get back to Nick by noon but I also have to be ready to get Pat when they are done because he can't leave without family.

1130 - go get Nick, wait in the dreaded car pool line....they were so efficient and it was no big deal. Greet my smiling happy son who apparently quited down quickly and did fine. Praise the Lord!

1200 - 1245 - fight traffic and decide to grab Nick some lunch with a friend. Call hospital to check on status. Pat has just come out of procedure, will be a while before ready, should be able to eat. Head to Istanbul Palace (good eats on Waller Ave)....did I mention that Nick has started trying to get out of carseat and fussing and getting edgy. We get to restaurant and he begins to meltdown because he now doesn't want to get out of the carseat that he just spent the last 15 minutes trying to get out of. So we get out and go in restaurant where he proceeds to scream, hit, and throw the glasses. So after a few minutes, I decide that we can't do this so I tell my friend to get the food to go and we would eat in car. So, we go to car and Nick proceeds to scream and kick because he wants to eat and go back in restaurant that he just had a fit about going in. Well, I am sweating and fed up so I proceed to put him in the car just as the hospital calls to tell me that Pat is ready....He just got out, how could he be ready so quick, oh well, we aren't eating so might as well head to the hospital. My wonderful, wonderful friend says she will just bring the food to us at the hospital because at 130 we have appt to get Nick some more vaccinations.


1245-110 drive around the UK front drive....that place makes me crazy all on its own...and I could not see Pat so I keep going round and round until I see one of my friends from work come out in the driveway with a nurse to stop me and she is waving her hands for me to stop and says "wow, I haven't seen Pat in a while and I said how ya doin and he just puked everywhere (luckily in the trashcan) in the Lobby." and then the nurse proceeds to tell me that the have to take Pat back upstairs to watch him. ugh!


110-130 - I call my friend and tell her to meet us in the clinic parking structure and she does and then walks in with me to register Nick and get him to the clinic appt for shots. SO we rush over to peds clinic and sign in and Nick proceeds to have a second huge meltdown. He was hitting, throwing himself to the ground, screaming, etc. And, my sweet friend who has a very wonderful 16 year old proceeds to coach me thru this meltdown (the ABC's of timeouts in public) We made it thru the event although at some point during the time, I turned off the phone (it was part of the initial trigger) so I did not get the call to come get Pat until we had calmed Nick down. So, We called over to endoscopy and of course they were ready for us to get him and we were waiting for the nurse. So, again, my extremely wonderful friend went to get my husband while I subjected my poor sweet boy to more stress (shots). The doctor wanted more blood work for Nick but we are doing that tomorrow because, well, because.


2 ish - we all went out to the parking garage, my friend took the wheel chair back that Pat was in after giving us the food that we had not eaten yet, and we headed home. I was drenched in sweat and must have looked a sight. But we made it home and that is how the first day of preschool went........... I have to say that my sweet boy was past lunchtime and past naptime so most of his meltdowns could be attributed to that but Wow! what a morning!

We were all tired (Pat a bit pale) but smiling at home while Nick showed us his first official Art project. It was a Bear. One of his favorites.

We even got the elusive bear face on camera with the usual handsign. So cute. Papa and Nick took a late Nap together and then we ended the day with our 6 month post-adoption home visit. All went well and we are a happy and tired family going to bed tonight. I am so thankful for my friend "Ms. LaLa".....words cannot express how she helped us get thru the morning. God is good! My wonderful husband is giving me the weekend off as I go celebrate turning 40 with friends (one of them has also turned 40).....they are driving down from St. Louis and meeting me in Western Ky at the Lake......and I just found out that they are bringing me my birthday present from my favorite comfort food restaurant from growing up......Pirrone's pizza....I will eat it anyway, anytime so this is the best treat ever. St. Louis pizza is different and in a class all its own. So pray for a safe journey and a good weekend for the "boys" at home. Have a great weekend everyone!

The last of summer fun......

My friend Ryan and I climbed Mt. Hill n Dale in preparation for our adventures in Preschool land. We took every rock and stick in sight and tossed it in the ditch and then we went round and round on the merry go round. FUN!

Papa and I have spent the last two days weeding the overgrown yard.....apparently having me join the family was a bit of a distraction they say. Oh well, I will get them back into shape in no time. Let's get to work!

I am going to need my own gloves if I am to work in these conditions!

OK, last load and then we are going to have to take a juice break. Nick's Ti-yud!

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You know it has been an eventful Labor day when the highlight of your day is anticipating the screening of the Newly acquired Little Einsteins video....this one is based in Russia. We are hoping for some russian words to make our day. BUT, we had to take movie time away because of some meltdown activity, hitting and such and I promise you, Pat and I were more dissappointed. So, to stay consistent with consequences, we had to suffer too. Parenting is so hard! ;)


We are now watching Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. It is our new favorite show. It is our people. We love the other shows but this is where we would eat. It is the Americana we grew up with in our Midwest/Northern up-bringing. Don't get me wrong, I love southern, good home cooking too but what you grow up with will always bring comfort. Which brings me to my soap box of the week......Sweet Tea. I can drink sweet tea but I don't prefer sweet tea. I want it plain. No sugar. If I want it, I will add it. Twice this week, I have ordered my "tub o'tea" and have gotten sweet on accident. I go out of my way to enunciate UNsweet when I order and I still get sweet tea......drives me crazy! ;) In the midwest and north, you do not need to ask....it is always plain, thank you very much; on a visit to WI, we knew we had been indoctrinated to the south when we asked for Unsweet tea and the guy was silent and then basically said "as opposed to what". We chuckled and explained that we lived in the south now and he just looked at us. But, anyway, I digress, We used to watch too much tv as a childless couple. We could tell you about most shows on TV. I'm not proud but we did have our shows. Now we tape Eureka on the Sci Fi channel on Tues. Night and catch late night food channel shows. I guess it is not all bad for us though. You realize that there really isn't that much quality tv on any more.....Where did shows like the Cosby show and Home Improvement go? If you want some really quirky and great writing, you should give Eureka a chance. It is the highlight of our week. Of course, we are geeks at heart and that is probably why we like it but it is truly a very creative and funny show....and no smut or disagreeable viewing!

We go visit Nick's school tomorrow. He gets to visit this time and see what he will be doing and meet his teacher. We have been talking about school a bunch but not real sure if he has any concept of what we are talking about. I will let everyone know how it goes. Well, I should return to watching some more late night food shows with Pat. This is our quality couple time! ;)
Happy Labor Day! K-Pat and Nick