All American Boy!

Happy Camper!

Week 3 of Nursery School/Daycare

Matthew is doing really well at the end of week three. I hold my breath when I go pick him up and open the door. I never know if he will be wearing the same outfit I left him in or a new scrape or bruise will greet me. One thing for sure, he is ALWAYS happy when I pick him up. He absolutely loves where he is and all the other kids there and of course Denise and Tara are very special to him. They are working on manners now. Matthew tries to say please but it comes out "peez" and thank you is "hank oo" and sometimes "tank oo". Getting him to say them at the appropriate times are next but he is a fast learner. He goes back to the doctor on August 18 for his next round of shots and measurements. I know he's grown and he's heavier too. This kid is a bruiser...lots of muscle in his legs and arms from running and climbing all over the place.
Brian says he will be a natural for hockey (of course), maybe we'll get him on the ice in January or February. He's not ready for private lessons with a former LA Kings player yet but soon. No doubt that JK will be over seeing this. The kids worked on soft vowels last week and a bit the week before and his progress report was excellent. He's getting them and starting to sound out more words that are easier to understand. He says, UP, MORE, HI, BYE BYE, HUH? (while shrugging his shoulders), MOMMY, MAMA, PAPA, CAT, DAH (for dog), OO DO IT, MY (for mine, that comes across loud and clear!), NO NO NO NO NO while shaking his finger (thank you JK) and he's trying to tell me so much more but just can't get it out yet. Of course in 6 months I'll probably wish he would shut up for 5 minutes....just kidding.

I informed him that his "girlfriend" from the Big House is coming to visit for 3 weeks in about a week and showed him recent pictures and he of course squealed and then screamed he was so happy. He kisses her picture and this will be a great opportunity for both of them to connect a bit to their shared past and keep their friendship alive. We hope to see AG and her parents 1-2 times a year when they come out to SoCal on business, wish they lived across the street! I showed him a picture of Brett also from the same Big House who was adopted 2 weeks after Matthew and he squealed with delight at his pic too so this means he still has memory of his friends.

Here's hoping Matthew has a wonderful week 4 beginning tomorrow as we move into August!

PS He is completely facinated with Semi Trucks. Shame my friend Aly doesn't live here anymore, I'd have him get a picture with her husband that drives a big rig.

Train photo

This is the photo we had done based on the announcement and sent to our families.

Official Announcement

This is the announcement we sent out a few weeks ago.

Water Baby!

Matthew has discovered water outside of his bathtub and loves every drop of it!
Last night it finally cooled off to about 100 degrees by 7pm so Daddy got his little pool out of the garage for him and we let him splash away for about an hour. He would splash and then get out and ride on his scooter and then gingerly step back into his pool. We sat outside with him and misted each other with water to keep cool. I finally moved my chair over to his pool and put my feet in the cool water, it felt really good. I sort of wish we had gone ahead now and built the pool in the backyard but then again I think it would be safer to wait a couple of years until Matthew learns to swim safely and can understand the dangers. You can't really convince a 20 month old that anything is dangerous if they are having fun.
Here's a few pictures from his fun yesterday....

2nd week of Nursery School

Matthew continues to flourish at Nursery School/Daycare! There are other kids his age give or take a couple of months and he loves to play. This past week he learned how how to climb the ladder up to the slide and slide down by himself. First he was careful and slide down on his stomach (feet first) and then on Wednesday he slid down on his butt feet first to impress Daddy. He loves anything to do with water also. Will sit on the sprinklers over there when other kids merely run through them and Friday he decided that washing his hands and face in the soapy water pan weren't enough after outside playtime, he had to put half his body in it. He's bit more lively and unpredictable than his fellow toddlers, I hope Denise doesn't decide to throw him out. He has a few habits left over from the big house that we never saw because he is an only child but put in a situation with other kids and it comes out. He would give a toy to any other kid who requested it most likely in fear (left over) and Denise taught him to stand up for himself so now he says "no" if he wants to continue playing. No so good is that he picks up food from the floor when he drops it or finds it and puts it in his mouth, he didn't learn that at home so must be from the Big House. Also he now takes food from other kids plates if they walk away. I'm sure that did occur at the Big House and Matthew was probably the one losing his food since he was almost the smallest one in the Toddler Group there.
Hopefully he will learn quickly that it's not okay. All in all I think he's doing great. He is growing like a weed and starting to fill out. Arms and legs are toned and strong from climbing and running and he appears to be right on target or even slightly above it for developement as he can do just about everything an average 2 year old can do. Yes he feeds himself 90% of the time too, he's a big boy now!

Matthew is 20 months old TODAY!

No new pics to post right now. I actually have new ones from the portrait studio but need to find a scanner. Today is July 17th and Matthew is 20 months old today. Yesterday marked the 2 month anniversary of our court date and "gotcha day" for Matthew. I can't believe the changes in just 2 months with this little guy. He is now drinking milk without me begging him to, he eats well, is gaining weight and growing! He walks fast, runs, climbs and can get into just about anything. He even throws his arms around Mommy's neck and gives sweet little kisses without being prompted. He's now giving love back which is a milestone.

Matthew began Nursery School/Daycare on Monday July 10th. He is doing wonderful after just 1 short week. He has made new friends (a little girl in particular who is 15 months old and has her eye on Matthew), is learning something new every day. Denise is a God send without a doubt. He learned how to play in sprinklers the other day. Most kids ran through them to get some relief from the heat. Matthew sat on the sprinklers and got soaked. It's never a good sign when you go to pick up your child and he's not wearing the same clothes you dropped him off in. Took me a minute but I was thankful it was water play and not illness. He has suffered his first skinned head/nose and bruised shin. He's a boy, they have to get banged up.

I'll write more later once I figure out how to get the new pics on my computer.

The Go-Go's 25th anniversary

I realize this has absolutely nothing to do with Matthew but since becoming a Mommy I have virtually no life of my own. On Friday July 7th at 9am 98.7FM called me to tell me I won a contest to meet the Go-Go's at the Guitar Center recording studio in Burbank, watch a live performance of 5 songs and get tickets to their concert at the Greek Theater for Friday July 14th. This caused a problem...what to do with Matthew! He couldn't go with us because they were going to record the event. I called my niece Rachel and she helped us out in a pinch. Matthew had fun with Rachel and now I know we can leave him once in a while if we need to. Rachel said he was an angel. Played well, petting the cat nicely etc. Hmmm...I was going for it up to the "cat" part. Anyway, here's a couple of pics from the Star Lounge in Burbank.

Little Slugger

Also from June 29th

Splish Splash, I was takin' a bath...

Just taken on June 29th at the mall.

Happy 4th of July!

This was Matthew's first 4th of July as an American. He caught on quick at the Ventura Fair eating a hotdog all by himself. Later we went to watch fireworks but too much backlighting erased most of the fireworks themselves and then my batteries weren't working most of the time so these are the best shots. Matthew loved the fireworks anyway, even if he cringed at the "booms" as they went off.

Matthew 1 year ago (June 2005)

In all my posting, I realized I never put his referral (our first glimpse of the little Czar) on our blog. I omitted it when we started posting about him because we hadn't completed the adoption yet. Several people have asked to see it so here it is....Matthew at nearly 7 months old in June 2005. He was know then as Sergey in the Tobolsk Baby Home or AKA inmate #4954.