Maybe he'll follow in Mommy's hoof-prints

Beck definately has interest in the horses (YAY!). He enjoys joining me out in the barn in the morning while I clean stalls. He tries to help out but of course he doesn't really have the hang of it yet, which usually means it takes me twice as long to get the morning chores done. But I think he'll figure it out. First I'll teach him how to muck stalls, then I'll teach him how to barrel race!

A day in the life...

All dressed up for his big IA Doctor appointment in Boston! Things went great! She said he's one of the best kids (physically, mentally, developmentally) that she's seen coming out of an orphanage! YAY!



A little drinking and driving...




Mr. Dee's all ready for his show tomorrow!



A little light baking for dessert... YUMMY!


And nothing ends a day better than a nice bubble bath!

An Apple A Day...

Yesterday I took Morgan, Courtney and Beck apple picking. They had a blast! It reminded me of when we picked Beck up at the orphanage, our coordinator brought a bag of apples for Beck's house. Apples are indeed a special treat for those kids and they eagerly devoured the juicy treats, stems, core, seeds and all. It made me wish I could have all those kids with me at this breath-taking orchard, the trees bending with their bountiful harvest. I wish they could be here, running, laughing and eating their fill of the delicous apples.




Today we head to Boston to meet with the IA Doctor.

TALLY HO!!!

This morning Beck went to his first Fox Hunt! Of course, he's not quite ready to ride along so we left the horses home but still enjoyed the beauty of the event. I was just about half way to the hosting farm when I remembered that one of the key components of a good hunt is of course THE HOUNDS!!! Lot's of 'em! Howling, sniffing and scampering about. Honestly, I had a moment of panic. But as we gathered in the field and the hounds were released Beck hooted in pure joy (after all, it wasn't him they were sniffing after!). He ogled at the horses, making it obvious he wasn't totally fulfilled sitting on the sidelines. Luckily one of the riders, riding the biggest Clydesdale/TB cross I've ever seen trotted up to Beck and told him that "Spanky" (oh what a horrid name for such a commanding mount!) wanted to say Hi.
Yes, I do believe we have an equestrian in the making!



Just as a side note: In American Fox Hunting there is NO FOX used for the hunt. Those who know me well know I would never participate in a 'sport' that require a poor creature to be run to extreme exhaustion and then mauled. In American Fox Hunting a scent is laid out by, in this case, a local vet on her bicycle. So fear not! No cute little foxes even attended this event.

Hitting the Gym

As you may have figured out, Beck is a little challenged in the balance department. In fact, I would describe him as a watermelon on a toothpick. Yes, he's a bit top heavy, added to the fact that he's not a huge fan of actually looking in the direction in which he is running. So to help him learn balance and strengthen his coordination I have enrolled him in gymnastics. Yes, a nice padded environment in which he can learn how to run, jump, climb and tumble safely. Today was his first class and he LOVED it! We worked on the balance beam (where he quickly discovered the importance of looking where you are going) and did some tumbling. He's a big fan of the somersault! His coach was very impressed and stated that maybe he'll excel in gymnastics, as the team is always looking for strong boys. And he is definitely strong!


Beck mid-air!

Bloodless Saturday! YAY!

I figured you all might be wondering what facial trauma was sustained yesterday. I admit, I held my breath all day, wincing at every mis-step. But I'm happy to report we had our first Saturday that didn't involve stitches or blood-letting of any sort. There was a sigh of relief as I tucked him into bed and gave him a kiss (or 20).
Today we spent the day at Canobie Lake Park, a local amusement which is one our family's favorite hang outs. As some of you may remember just a few short months ago Beck was totally terrified about riding in a car. Who would have thought he would now be riding as many rides as he could; the carousel, the autobahn, the horse-n-buggy, the seaplanes (which he screamed jubilantly as he made it fly high in the sky), the firetruck, and the train that circles the park. He laughed and smiled all day... except when it was time to get off the ride.... he wanted them to go and go and go. I wish I had remembered my camera!!!

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It's gettin' better all the time

I had forgotten what it was like to hang with a 2 year old. And however toddler-ific Morgan was at 2, Beck is that times 10! Last Saturday, on the 1 week anniversary of receiving his stitches, Beck celebrated by doing a header down the stairs at the Hampton Beach playground. He managed to scrape his face from the bridge of his nose to his bottom lip. I considered blogging about it but I feared this would turn into the "Beck's latest boo-boo" blog. I swear, if his face is ever scrape, cut and stitches free I'm rushing his immediately to the photo studio to get Christmas pictures done! Ahhhh, life with a toddler boy!
But besides mastering how to land on his face, Beck has made some incredible progress in language and comprehension. I'm often so surprised myself how much he understands. He enjoys learning, he devours it. This morning after breakfast Beck had his plate and a banana peel. I instructed him to go throw away his banana peel and take care of his dish. He smiled and headed into the kitchen in the other room. My husband was mortified and said "he's not going to know what to do!", I assured him he would and followed him slyly, peaking around the corner and watched him as he opened the garbage, threw away his banana peel and then continued to the dishwasher to place his dish in. I was full of pride when I said "see, told ya".
I have talked to him as if he understands English from the beginning, which seems to confuse people and they always ask me, "he doesn't speak English, does he?". But he is picking things up like a sponge. I can instruct him to go wash his hands, throw away in the garbage, get your shoes, get Mommy's shoes (I love that one!), get dressed, put away your toys, and he understands, and moreover complies.
He also likes to practice words, he can say and identify eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hair. He also says "please" "banana" "apple". Not bad for a kid who's medical claimed he was "retarded"
Things have gotten better with our pets as while. The cat now intrigues him (although he's not ready to cuddle him), the dog only produces a blood-curdling scream if she sniffs him. He loves the horses! When I ask what a horsey says, he replies with a clopping sound. He gets as excited as me when he sees one. Hmmmm, perhaps we have a little equestrian in the making?
This week I will be driving Beck to Boston to meet with Dr Laurie Miller, a international adoption specialist. He'll be undergoing 2 hours of tests for development and psycho-motor skills. By the way, all other medical tests have come back fine! All his little organs are functioning perfectly, no illnesses, no parasites. I'm not even sure how he got so lucky!
Well, it's Saturday, cross your fingers we break our Saturday tradition.... no blood today, please!

Summertime Fun

Yeah, I know it's September but it feels like summer has decided to never say quit! Morgan, Beck and their cousin Courtney decided to play in the sprinkler and today Beck trained Morgan to be quite the carriage horse!
(I know, you're asking 'why is Morgan in a bathrobe?', well Beck and Morgan had just finished a marathon bath which consisted of 3/4 of a bottle of baby wash and flooding the bathroom floor. Normally such a situation would cause me to pull my hair out but today I threw caution (and sanity) to the wind and let them go crazy!)

The dog still freaks him out but.....

Beck cries if you DON'T let him ride the horse. Yup, that's my boy! I know this post really deserves a picture... but unfortunately I don't have one. While my niece was riding today, Beck cried and cried until we let him on Mr. Dee. Once in the saddle he beamed!
And yet the mere sight of the cat sends him into outerbody fits!

Stitches and smiles

Here's some pictures of Morgan and Beck meeting for the first time. And of course a shot of his new stitches.

Great Day... very little blood.

It has been a bumpy beginning but today was a great day, despite the spontaneous bloody nose. We went to McDonald's this morning to go play in their playland. Beck and Morgan laughed and ran, climbed and smiled. It was great. After a few other stops Joe had to drive to Vermont and I made the decision to take the kids to the local state fair. People gasped at the idea, 'are you sure you want to do that?'. But I figured I'd meet my Father, Brother and Niece there and if all did not go well we'd just go home. I thought if I made it there for an hour I'd call it a success. Well 7 hours later I just got home with 2 very tired (and sticky) kids who had a blast! Beck was beaming all day, taking in all the sites (and of course the food) and never once cried or fussed. Oddly enough we discovered he has a real thing for Oxen pulling (who would have thunk it!). And even though the dog and cat still scare the daylights out of him, he was laughing and giggling over the sheep, goats, cows and ducks. (Did I mention he was blowing kisses to Mr. Dee - my Arabian horse- today. He seems to love watching the horses).
And the best part, he gave me my first kiss today! (Grammy got the honors of first kiss in Almaty).
So tomorrow's goal; maybe a little less fear about the dog and cat... and dare I dream... NO BLOOD!

We're HOME... and in the ER

Again, this is going to be a short entry. We made it home after 23 hours of traveling. The first flight was nothing less than hellish, Beck was tired and cramped. The flight ended with some rude bastard telling me that my child is a monster and I should have never brought him on a flight, I responded to him that I just adopted him and was bringing him home and how exactly should I do that... FedEx?! I than fired back that I didn't appreciate his big ass feet kicking me in the ankles for the entire flight.
Our second flight went MUCH better, in fact when we got up to exit a few people said they didn't even know he was there for the 7 1/2 hours.
Morgan was so excited to meet her new brother. He ran up and gave her hugs for about 10 minutes (I promise I'll post pictures later).
Today we got up and went on our first family outing to Target. While looking for some bubble bath, Beck did a classic toddler fumble and hit face first into the display shelf... so off to the hospital for stitches. Home for less than 12 hours and he's already broken.... But at least we're home.
We're hoping tomorrow will be a better day... hopefully he'll stop screaming everytime he sees the cat or dog.... and no more trips to the ER.