10-day Check-in

Playing Headache with Devin, Skip & Matt.

Loves both hs Superman jammies and the Geo-Trax set

He can sit for long periods "reading" his books. He looks at the pictures and recites LONG poems in Russian!

Planning his next move in Headache

"building" with his play tools

Having been home for 10 days, I figured it was time to post an update on Harry.

I must say it hardly seems possible that he's only been living in the USA for 10 days! He is transitioning SO much quicker than I dreamt possible. 10 days ago he still did not like to be touched or held, and these days he asks us at least a dozen times a day if we want " 'ugs" or 'keeses". Such a change! He loves to cuddle, tickle & snuggle. A few nights ago he was having a hard time sleeping and we let him come in our bed to fall asleep. He hopped right in between us, snuggled up near me, put his head on my shoulder, grinned from ear to ear, then reached for my hand to hold. If you had told me, two weeks ago, that this was possible, I never would have believed it.

He is quite proud of his things. When I caught him opening and closing his dresser, his explanation was " 'arry's clothes". And each time we pull into the driveway, he exclaims " 'arry's dom (house)" . He knows whose car is whose - but also adds himself to the list of owners - i.e. "Momma's car e (and) 'arry's car" "Levi's car e 'arry's car", etc.The boat , which sits in and takes up most of the driveway, he has decided belongs to everyone - including Grammy.

He is learning to play board games (something we do alot of) and does a great job counting. He does forgot though, which marker is his quite often, and moves somebody elses piece. He also moves backwards sometimes, but he's learning quickly. He still wears his new sunglasses daily, and often tries to wear them to bed. THAT is where we draw the line!

He absolutely LOVES the dog. He is as kind and as gentle as can be with him. He'll often lie on the floor near the dog and just pat him gently, or try and get Sabaka to give him kisses - which he thinks is hysterical! Only problem where the dog is concerned, is that he calls him "dog". Makes sense to him - we taught him that sabaka, in English is "dog" so while his name really is Sabaka and he hears us call him that - he's already thinking in English, and calls him dog! It is quite funny...

He has been to church & Sunday School twice already, and according to his teachers, seems to understand most of what is told to him, and he follows along nicely. He has been excellent during services, and loves to hear the singing. He loves music so there is no surprises there. He went with Mike & Skip to his first Men's breakfast at church on Saturday, and had a great time. He loves the nursery room where there are oodles of toys and gets very excited when we tell him it's time for church.

On Saturday he survived his first family shopping trip - to the furniture stores to look for a new couch & recliner. He was happy to sit in a stroller they provide, and better yet, let Skip push him all around. From there we visited Ikea for some much needed storage containers, and he did well there too. No more "touchy" than Skip - who is really good about those things, so I think he's doing exceptionally well on that aspect.

He continues to be obsessed with lights and locks, on/off switches & latches. Mike spent 1/2 of Saturday installing new safety latches under the kitchen sink and on drawers and cabinets where we don't want him to get into, but by yesterday, he had figured out how they work! Wish we had known that before Mike spent the time and money on the locks! Oh well! We'll just need to move some things up out of his reach, because while he is smart enough to figure out safety latches, he's not as good about keeping his hands off spray bottles and such. It'll take a bit, but he'll learn!

He thoroughly enjoys his backyard, and his new bike. Well - it's Skip's old bike but new to him. He still needs the training wheels, but if he's like Skip, those will be off very quickly. Since we had an exceptionally warm weekend, we took quite a few walks around the neighborhood, and his listening has been EXCELLENT. Such a change from our first days in Angarsk when all he did was run off! Such a short time, but such HUGE progress!

He continues to love homeschooling, although we're just doing very simple exercises with him. Since our class is part schoolroom part playroom, keeping him occupied while Skip & I work is not very difficult. If you hand him a piece of paper and pencil, and say nothing, he'll take them and write his name. He knows each letter - H-a-r-r-y if you point to it, and will write the letter if you ask him to. He knows squares, triangles & circles, and is learning rectangles. He has also learned most of our evening mealtime prayer, and tries to say it along with Skip each day. His favorite part is "Jesus name, Amen".

Bed & bath time are for the most part easy, and he absolutely loves reading time with Poppa. Mike had always read two books to Skip before bed, but now each boy picks out a book to read. He has a shelf with just his books and picks out the one (or two, or three) he wants to read each night, and on a good night, even convinces Mike to read all the ones he picked out (last night it was four!)

Our meal time issues are mostly resolved and I'm happy to report he's decided some cooked vegetables aren't so bad after all. He no longer is a fussy breakfast eater, and has come to appreciate pancakes, waffles & even scrambled eggs. His favorite breakfast is still fruit and yogurt. Not a bad thing, that is for sure. He does NOT like hot chocolate or black olives having tried them a few times. We'll stay away from those for awhile! However, he loves every kind of pasta, meats of all kinds, tomatoes, potatoes, pickles and applesauce. Rices is another favorite as is cheese. He still is not thrilled about milk, but we give him a little bit each meal and when he drinks he, he gets his tall glass of juice. We started off giving him just a sip of milk, and have slowly increased to about 1/8 of a cup. He does eat yogurt daily, so we figure he's getting some of his calcium there - but we'll be discussing it with his pediatrician when we are in to visit her in a few weeks. So far he likes all the fruits he has tried - pears, oranges, strawberries, grapes, apples & pineapple, though bananas remain his absolute favorite, and he'll often pass up ice cream or cookies for a banana.
His Engish vocabulary grows daily, and he often surprises us with the things he knows. When he had his shoes on the wrong feet the other day, I pointed it out to him and said he was silly. He then pointed to his head, and said "Wake up 'arry!" That one blew me away! Some of our and/or his favorite words these days are "not yet", "litto beet", "quiet please" "come in 'ere" (as opposed to "c'mere") and " 'arry tired". When either Mike calls me by name, or vice-versa, he sometimes does the same - calling "Mike" or "Julie" (even though my name is Judy). We correct him of course, but it's funny to hear him mimic us. Makes us REALLY careful about what we say! Regretablly, he still insists his name is 'arry Oscar Combs (not Gomes anymore) Caturd. On a bright note though, "Thank you" has gone from "gnank gnu" to "grank YOU" - emphasis on you.

So all in all, this family is doing well. Skip is being a great big brother, and Harry is learning to accept help not only from us, but from his big brother. We waited more than four years, but when we tuck both our boys in before we go to bed, we know that this family is now complete, and are reminded just how lucky we are! God truly has blessed this family.