We haven’t been making such frequent posts of late, but with such big news, we just couldn’t wait! Today, Alex went pee-pee in the potty for the first time. We’ve been working hard with him since we came home. Up to now, he was playing the stereotypical hesitant toddler. We would put him on the potty repeatedly, and encourage him as much as we possibly could, but he would wait us out. He just didn’t want to let go without the comfort of his diaper.
That all changed today. Well, OK, so it was probably luck, but it was still a big moment. You would have thought he had solved the European debt crisis the way we were celebrating with him. Even Evan got in the act, high fiving him, and telling him “good job!” If nothing else, we all had fun.
In other weekend news, we went to the Hand-in-Hand (our adoption agency) Christmas party yesterday. We had no idea what to expect, but it was a lot of fun. They had a pinata shaped like a Christmas tree for the kids to bash on, and several kids from each of the various regions the agency works with. One little girl (Nadia, age ~6) was adopted from Bryansk a few years ago. She was so excited to hear that Evan and Alex were from the same region. It really brought home how important it is to have a connection like that. We’ll definitely be participating in the agency events in the future.
They also brought in Santa, which was really cool. The boys reacted typically. Evan was scared at first, but eventually went along with sitting in Santa’s lap. Alex was brave at first, but chickened out just before getting to Santa. At least we know that both boys now have some concept of who Santa is. We have “Pancakes with Santa” in a couple of weeks, so we have at least one more opportunity before the big day.
We’ve had a couple of snow days this week, so we finally got an opportunity to go sledding this afternoon. It took a little thought to find the right hill, but we found just the spot in our neighborhood park. We got a few seconds of video, but between the cold weather and the fact that we’re still having to chase two boys around, it’s a pretty limited scene. At least we can show a little bit of what they’ve been up to.
Also in the video, you’ll see Lara, Alex, and Evan sitting on the floor doing “pop its” (aka bubble wrap). Note Evan’s winter garb. He’s been enjoying his boots, hat, snowpants, etc. We think he had some opportunities to play outside during winter in Russia, based on our visit in March, so maybe this just reminds him of that. Whatever the reason, he’s loving winter time. Now if he could just hoist a shovel!
