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Saturday, January 30, 2010

First Week at Home - Saturday 1/30/10

As always, our day starts in the high chairs. The boys literally ate three full meals today and then some. By that I mean that even for breakfast they ate real food, not just breakfast food. If I didn't stop feeding them I seriously think they would eat and eat! The good thing is that even though I'll occasionally catch them eating crumbs off the floor they do know better than to get into the trash can (thank you, Lawanna!) In fact, I think they know better than to eat the crumbs, too. Tonight I saw Alec pick a Cheerio off the floor and sneak stealthily out of my view to enjoy it in guilty peace!

If you look closely at the picture above you will notice that the boys are pointing at each other. This is because someone did something to someone, and when I turned around to scold the responsible party they both tried to tell me that the other one did it! This happens many times a day and as naughty as it is, it make me laugh every time. I snapped the picture below just to show you how Ian reacts when I am taking pictures instead of stuffing his little face. He doesn't like to wait for the next bite!

After naptime I was feeling rather cooped up and decided to take the boys for a drive and then to a nearby park (the only park nearby with a speck of grass.) Our older kids really like it, but the little boys stayed pretty close to me and didn't seem to like the feel of walking on the grass. We tried out the seesaw, the swing and the slide - all of which Alec loved while Ian was pretty suspicious of everything. I guess he did like the swing but swing time was short-lived when both boys wanted on together. It didn't work too well! Both boys did enjoy waving at cars that passed by and I actually thought for sure that one was going to stop and we were going to get some curious questions, because it slowed way down and paused next to the park for several seconds. It must have been foreshadowing for what happened next.

After the park we stopped at the grocery store for a few needed items. The boys got some "oh so cute" comments and all was initially well. But just as we tried to head up the last aisle, we suddenly were converged upon by about six different adults wanting to ask questions and interact with the boys. I tried to answer politely but quickly and in the end had to turn around and go a different way to get out of the store! At the checkout counter one of the ladies we had seen earlier tried to reach out to Alec but he just slapped her hand away. (I have to confess, I was secretly glad.) We had almost made it out of the store when we were waylaid by yet another couple. They were full of questions. I tried to be even more succinct and escaped as quickly as I could. The boys were getting antsy by then and just wanted out of the cart!

To be fair I think most of these people were tourists since our city is currently overrun by them. Hopefully after summer is over we won't attract quite so much attention! By far the most common question we get is "Are they twins?" We started out by answering, "No, one is 25 months and the other is 21" but that led to "Oh, they are not brothers then" and we don't want our boys to be hearing that for the rest of their lives because of course, they ARE brothers now. So now I just say "They are brothers" and leave it at that.

I love the last two pictures above. They were both natural, unposed smiles while the boys were playing on the front patio tonight. They devised a game whereby they ran up to the front gate and looked out at the people buying bread next door. They would yell "Hey!" until someone paid attention, and as soon as that happened they would run screaming in these high-pitched girly voices back to Mommy's waiting arms and fling themselves into them. They did this over and over and over until I finally decided it was time to wind down with some children's praise videos before bed!

4 comments:

Ragan said...

I've found sometimes it's best to leave some questions unanswered as well.

I love seeing these pictures of your boys at HOME with you Steph, they are both so beautiful.

votemom said...

hi - you don't know me but i've read your blog for a while, and i'm SO thankful to find out your boys are HOME!

we have two daughters who were born in russia. they are six days apart in age. we get lots of "are they twins?" questions too.

i simply say "no".

if the person presses, i reply "yes they are very close in age. not twins, just sisters."

MOST of the time, that ends it. once in a while someone will ask how far apart in age they are. sometimes i answer, sometimes i just ignore it or change the subject.

you'll figure out how to handle it after a while.

again - so, so thrilled for ALL of you!

Heidi said...

The boys look like they are adapting well. What brought you to adopting and had you always lived in your country? I would love to see photos of the town you shop and even inside the food stores. I really enjoy reading your posts.

Kathy Cassel said...

Very nice pictures.