Settling In

We are finally home and getting settled in to our new normal around here. After all the problems Artem and I had with our initial flight to Moscow a month ago, I thought lightning wouldn't strike twice and we'd all have an easy flight home, but oh how wrong I was.


Our aircraft from Moscow to Atlanta had mechanical problems and we sat for almost 4 hours in our seats while the mechanics frantically worked to fix the problem. The four hour delay caused us to miss our connecting flight into our home town, which was the last flight in for the night, and Delta had to put us in a hotel for the night. It was a quaint little place in a business park that probably holds a two star rating at the most. It wasn't a complete dive but I shudder to think of how many women have made a living on the place I had to lay my head for the night.

Our first order of business upon returning was to get Andrik a haircut. The boy is a head sweater and he needed to get his hair cut much shorter to handle this Texas heat. He also has a rather large bald spot on the top of his head where no hair grows and we had to figure out a way to cover it and hopefully after getting some good nutrition and vitamins in his system, we can get the hair to start growing again.

Much better!!

As far as how things are going with settling in...we'll just say it's a work in progress. Andrik and Artem could not be more different and it's been a challenge getting Andrik settled into our family. The novelty of a little brother has worn off for Artem and the reality is setting in that the new guy gets into Artem's toys, takes time away from mom and dad, and cries a lot which drives Artem crazy. We haven't heard a lot of laughter yet from the boys, mostly we hear Artem screaming, "NYET, NYET!!" and Andrik crying.

And speaking of crying, Andrik cannot handle the word "nyet". He comes unglued if you tell him not to do something and throws himself on the floor, beats his fists on the ground, kicks, and bangs his head on the floor. It's quite a production. He has screamed and cried so much since picking him up from the baby home that he is now hoarse and lets out a little squeak when talking. Ask him to leave the pooper scooper alone, he starts crying. Tell him he's not allowed to pull the nightlights out of the electric sockets, he starts crying. Show him that construction trucks go on the floor and not our coffee table, he starts crying. You get the picture.

Getting into his big brother's train pieces....

Randy and I are really making an effort to let Artem do some special big boy things since he's having to give up so much of his time with us and so many of his toys with Andrik. The night before we left Moscow we put Andrik to bed and let Artem stay up and have hot cocoa and cookies with us. This morning the three of us got up early and we let Artem make the waffles. He LOVES to cook so he was in hog heaven making breakfast.

Andrik is our picky eater and meal times are proving to be a battle ground. When we brought Artem home, he would have eaten the silver coating off the fork if we'd have let him, he loved every kind of food we gave him. Andrik has turned up his nose to several foods, hit us during mealtime, pushes his bowl away and refuses to eat what we serve him. He loves all the breakfast foods we have given him but lunch and dinner are hard. He has access to snack cups of Cheerios at all times so he can see that food is always available but last night we finally had to start removing him from the table every time he tried to smack the food out of my hand that I was feeding him. He was removed four times and placed on the floor next to us screaming his lungs out and once he calmed down we let him back up to the table and tried to feed him again. After the fourth removal, he ate his entire meal. Tonight looked like it was going to be a repeat of last night with him shoving his bowl away but after being removed once, he decided to eat his whole meal even giving us a "yum" a few times. Hopefully he's figuring it out now.

Sleep is a much better subject. He's not a very happy child when he wakes up where Artem bounds out of bed happy from the minute he wakes up, but Andrik is a great sleeper like Artem and sleeps soundly through the whole night. We've started our bedtime routine with him, bath, book, rocking and bed and he's doing great with the routine. Artem HATED bath time in the beginning but Andrik is in heaven in the bathtub. He's so happy to splash and play with the toys and never fights me when I lean him back to wash his hair. He watched Artem get his teeth brushed the first night we had him and after that as soon as I take out the toothbrush he'll open his mouth and say, "ahhhh" as I'm putting the toothpaste on the brush getting it ready. He's so good with brushing his teeth and it's cute to hear him say, "ahhh" the entire time I brush his teeth.

After bath he is loving when we put lotion on him. I massage his legs and arms with lotion and he goes limp and is so relaxed when I'm massaging him. It's sad to think that this is probably the first time he's enjoyed a lotion massage on his little legs and arms. Such an easy treat but not when a caregiver has so many children to look after.

We get him dressed for bed and then read a book to him and spend some time rocking him and singing to him. He crawls right on to our shoulder and snuggles in. Artem used to fight me on holding him close and would keep his hands fisted up between me and him but after a couple rounds of "Twinkle Twinkle" Andrik is totally relaxed on my shoulder and by the time I stand up to put him in bed, he's arms are completely limp and hanging by his sides. He doesn't resist the bonding the way Artem did. Also, as a sidenote, when we brought Artem home and would carry him around, he never held back. It was like holding a sack of potatoes and it took a good six months before Artem would hold on to me when being carried. I can still remember the aisle in the Walmart parking lot where Artem finally held on to me when I carried him; it took so long. Andrik has no problem holding on to us when we carry him, he's also a lot lighter than Artem which is always helpful, but he's so much easier to carry around.

Tomorrow morning we are going to take Andrik shoe shopping. The foot measurement the baby home gave us was not accurate and he doesn't have any summer shoes that fit. When we were in Moscow, I just put thick socks on him and tied his shoes tight to keep them on his feet but it's too hot here for socks and shoes so he needs some sandals that don't look like clown shoes on his feet. He loves wearing Artem's Crocs which are wayyy too big for him so it looks like a pair of Crocs are in his future tomorrow. Speaking of shoes, I am amazed to watch Andrik put on his own socks and shoes, and on the right feet, by himself and he's not even two. When we get in the house, he goes to his room, takes off his shoes and stands by the closet doors signing, "Please" while he waits for me to open the door so he can put his shoes away. The baby home trained him well.

Tomorrow night is Artem's first kickball practice and I can't wait to see a group of three and four year olds learn to kick the ball and run the bases. It's sure to provide some much needed comic relief.