The yellow shirt

Today, I was wasting time on the computer and Nick was off doing various loud things around the house and he came downstairs and said "look mom, do you love this shirt." He was holding his yellow shirt from the orphanage. We have talked about the shirt before and how we love it because he looked so cute in it and he wore it so much in the baby house. We were not allowed to take pictures of any of the other children or caretakers besides the baby house doctor and of course, we don't have any baby pictures, so I asked them if we could have the yellow shirt as a reminder/memento of the time at the baby house. They gave it to us and it has been hanging in his closet since we came home. So, Nick ran off and came back a few minutes later with it on.....it was a sniff, sniff moment and hilarious all in one! On one hand, it took me right back to the baby house and our favorite picture below of Nurik almost Nick Kitzman, On the other hand, he looked like an 80's muscle dude with his tummy hanging out of one of those hideous half-shirts and mismatched shorts! What is always so amazing is how much he has changed in 2 1/2 years. He hardly looks like the same child. The other picture of him at the babyhouse shows how he was always standing at the door banging to get out.....he sure loved us back then, hee,hee! and he was wearing the yellow shirt. We have tons of pics in the yellow shirt...I loved the yellow on him, still do! He looks so handsome in bright colors.......those strikingly handsome dark eyes and hair to match! :)


The YELLOW SHIRT 2007




The YELLOW SHIRT 2009

The really funny part was that my Kazakh boy had this crazy itty bitty bright puffy sleeved shirt with bears on it and was singing about bears in spanish! CLASSIC!

School continues to go well. We have grooved into a routine of sorts. He still is resistant to writing homework but I have seen improvement so I think it is just a matter of building his confidence (and patience!). We had one big war the other day and he was bemoaning....literally... the fact that he was hopeless (think total drama) and his name was the worst and he wanted to change his name (nope, not going back to Nurbolat) and on, and on, and on. He could have written his name one hundred times by the time he finished the "act". Oi! We are going to pursue at least an initial OT (private) eval for sensory type behaviors. They do not seem to be causing any problems at school but if there are ways that we can help him at home to focus or maintain composure when in an overstimulating environment, I am all over it. I will say that I still go back and forth on even doing this testing because it always seems if I just wait a few more months, he improves. I always second guess myself because maybe we are just having expectations that are ahead of the game. He wasn't cutting well at all 3 months ago and now, he cuts paper almost like a pro.....well, a Kindergarten pro but crazy improved even so! I think the initial eval will be good and then they can just give us advice on what to do next. I don't want to add more out of class time for him when he seems to be doing so well but also don't want him to lose out either if it will help him at all. Have I mentioned before that knowing the right thing to do as a parent is hard! ;)

I am working some now for the family that I nannied for several years ago. The mom always has projects so I am just helping her out. A very comfortable, flexible job that fits our needs and doesn't tie me down. We have been going thru all of her kids stuff and getting rid of the old, and with twin boys, broken! ;) Bringing back so many memories of when they were little. The twins were 7 months when I started and their daughter was born while I was there, Now, they are almost 13 and 10. Yikes! It is a great job for now so I can still do school things with Nick and a little mommy time to boot! ;)

Nick has his first field trip to an apple orchard on Friday. Stay tuned for apple pickin' pics!

How did you know?

What have we been up to lately? Besides having someone sick for the last 3 weeks, mostly Nick, we have tried to start venturing out every weekend to do something fun as a family. We have been bad about avoiding these things as the past bad experiences in the early days jaded us for further excursions but Nick has really matured so each new adventure gives us more confidence to take the next adventure....

We planned on going to Ikea in Cinci to get some wall units for my organization goals since I have some free time now. So, Patrick decided a small detour north to Dayton and the airforce museum would be a good family adventure. Recently, we had good friends move up there also so we gave them a call too. We headed up north after church. After we missed our friends for an hour or so due to bad cell connections in the museum and even funnier, we both were calling each others home numbers instead of cell numbers.(...can you say dorks!), we finally met up with them and the boys played on the planes and ran around. We love the museum! We did not have our cameras with us when the boys were playing but did have some shots of Nick before we met up. Nick and Pat when on the simulator and I actually think Nick was a bit disappointed that you really didn't leave the ground.

And, then we headed to Ikea! We had it all planned out since you only get an hour of free childcare and it takes almost that long to walk thru without shopping!! It seemed we were not meant to get anything again as the shelving and color we wanted was out of stock. I opted for the available color and to my surprise it wasn't that much different than the other color that I wanted. So happy! So below is a picture of our first purchase. We plan to go back and get another identical to this one for our office. Nick was not originally supposed to be in the pic but wanted to show off Super Bear although you can barely see him on his head! I am just glad to have a place for everything and it has helped keep things organized except for all the playmobil/lego pieces that are a thorn in my side.......all I am saying is if you have younger boys, only ask for playmobil or lego stuff when they are about 15! :)

The imagination station brought us the Happy Meal helmet this particular week. He actually had the upside down M handles on his eyes like goggles too. He is so funny!

Last weekend, we ventured back out to our local hiking trails. Daddy had taken him a while back and had a fairly successful adventure so this time we were going to try a whole loop. We usually had to turn around and come back the same trail because we were afraid to get too far out! He made the loop! We were so proud and tired! By no means is he a quiet hiker so animals will be far and few between but we are considering it a grand success.

This weekend, we headed to the planetarium in a near-by town. It was fun and he really liked the stars and planets. I would say the "movie" was about circa 1980 but he sat and watched the whole thing. After also visiting my great aunt and uncle, we headed back home. Good family time!

As I said in the beginning, we have had lots of sickness lately. Nick started it all with strep several weeks ago. Pat and I thought we had it but mine was sinus and Pat just spiked a fever and then came down with the worst poison ivy that I have ever seen! It just kept spreading. He finally had to go get a steroid shot and now is on a steroid taper until after next week. The good news is that we are on the mend. Nick however is having a chest cold/bronchitis flair up? He spiked a fever last night to almost 104. Bless his heart! I am wondering if he picked up something at school or the doctor's office? We had a little emergency visit to the doctor on Friday because the teacher was worried that he had blood inside his ear. I was worried that he had developed an ear infection after his strep episode, and he just not being one to show pain, just didn't say anything and now, his eardrum had burst. Total Mom guilt! Well, Not exactly the case! The doctor started checking his ears and then said "hmmmm, Nick did you stick something in your ear" and in true Nick form...no denial, no confession...just "how did you know?" I couldn't believe it. He had stuck something in his ear. The eraser end of a pencil, we think. Luckily, not far enough to damage the drum or other important stuff but had traumatized (scratched) the canal enough to bleed. So now we have expensive ear antibiotic drops and I am kicking myself for not asking her to check his chest/throat again as it was only the next day (yesterday) that he started with this chest cough and fever. Will it never stop! He hadn't been sick for almost a year or more and then you start Kindergarten and wham! I thought he would have had more in preschool but apparently not! Bigger kids, bigger germs? So, we are thankful that this is a holiday weekend and hopefully, he will be fever free today and tomorrow and get back to school on Tuesday.

Speaking of school, he is doing well! He loves spanish and is always singing for us and saying random words in spanish. We are struggling with writing homework but I am just going to have to let it go and just let him learn at his pace. The teachers don't seem to be that alarmed about his lack of skills so we shall see. His scissor skills have improved so much since last year that I hope his writing will kick in as well. We always have OT in the back of our minds but we will see how the next few months progress. He improves every week so we shall see. We have had some battles after school as I am sure he is just about sensory overloaded at that point but we continue to try new rules or structure that keeps him from melting down. He tossed his backpack over the stair rail last week. It didn't hit anyone but the looks I got from the other mothers was enough to make me cry for hours after. Nick received punishment but I was ready to never go back into the school again. What is it about raising kids that brings up so many old feelings and behaviors in the parents. My sister is struggling with her daughter because it mostly reminds her of her days in 1st and second grade and the younger me avoided all things that would draw attention or would get me in trouble and all of those feelings came flooding back when Nick misbehaved and did something that I would NEVER do! I felt completely condemned not to mention there was a teacher at the bottom of the stairs asking "who did it"! Ugh, I was way more traumatized than Nick was even with the million consequences I tried to give him.....although I did realize I was going overboard after talking with a friend. It just goes to show that parenting often teaches us more about ourselves, the good and the bad, than we ever expected. Life is always about learning and growing. Good thing God has so much grace......I only wish I had a little more for myself! Really though, fellow moms shouldn't be so quick to give "the look"...you know what I am talking about! :)

Well, we have officially gone private. It took me a while to get all the emails and I am still not sure I have them all. I guess I will find out now. Happy Labor Day weekend to all!