A Wet Weekend

The weather wasn't the greatest in Denver this weekend, so on Saturday morning we took Jonas to an indoor pool at a recreation center. Though he loves baths and enjoyed the two times he went swimming in Kyrgyzstan, we weren't sure how he would do in a chaotic, kid-filled pool.

Well, he LOVED it. He walked right in and didn't stop playing until we left an hour and a half later for lunchtime. He went down the slide, threw balls, blew bubbles, splashed around, and floated in the lazy river. Going underwater didn't scare him, getting splashed by spray fountains didn't bother him, and he eventually waved us off from even helping him with the water slide-he wanted to do it by himself! We'll definitely be visiting more pools with this boy. I'm looking forward to summer when we can take Jonas swimming outdoors!

One Month Report

Jonas has been living with us for exactly a month now. I thought it'd be interesting to jot down some fun facts about him for future reference and memories.

Favorite Foods:
-any and all fruit, especially bananas, tangerines, strawberries, and blueberries
-cherry tomatoes
-cheese
-juice from the juicer
-French fries
-mashed potatoes
-Cheerios/Kix

Foods Jonas Dislikes:
-roast beef
-green vegetables (unless hidden in juice)
-avocado
-chicken (usually)

English Words Jonas Knows:
-uh oh
-hi
-bye bye
-Mama
-food please (sounds nothing like it)
-eye
-nose
-baa
-moo
-cheers (sounds nothing like it)
-night night
-repeats lots of others like ball, snow, no thank you, bath, etc.

Words/Commands Jonas Understands:
-feed Molly
-brush teeth
-read a book
-throw it in the trash
-put it away
-give it to me

Words/Phrases Jonas Still Says in Russian:
-Papa
-thank you
-give me it
-kaka (this works for English too!)
-some word that means dog (sounds like afofo or apopo)
-some phrase that he uses when mad (sounds like djzo djzo)
-other babble we don't understand

Gestures Jonas Uses:
-shakes head no
-points
-reaches hand out for things he wants
-points to mouth when he wants to eat something
-motions for you to follow him
-shakes finger like no-no
-holds hand up like stop
-raises arms to show how big he is
-emphatic nod of head when you acknowledge something he's given you
-shakes fists when very mad/excited
-points out eyes and noses
-shrugs shoulders and puts hands/arms out when he doesn't know or can't find something
-wipes hands together when he's finished something

Favorite Things to Do:
-go to the park and climb and go down slide
-throw rocks/sticks in the water
-feed Molly and give her treats
-hold Molly's leash
-be chased
-be like Daddy (wear a watch, play guitar, put on a hat, etc.)
-watch/observe other kids
-touch everything within reach to see if it's Baba's or not (what he calls himself)
-see animals and say "baa"
-see cars or other large vehicles
-watch Russian cartoon called "Masha"
-look at pictures and videos of himself
-get hospital bracelets, stickers, or Band-Aids put on himself
-click his glass with yours and say "Cheers"

Habits:
-sleeps on mattress on floor next to our bed with stuffed dog and doll (who must also get a goodnight kiss)
-goes to bed at 8pm, wakes up at 7am
-2 hour nap at about 1-3pm
-takes anywhere from 5-45 minutes to fall asleep
-eats breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner
-gets a bath every other night
-50% potty trained (we're not pushing it right now with surgery coming up)
-sucks his right thumb when shy, scared, angry, sad, or tired
-sings to himself at breakfast, in the car, and in bed-can't understand words but tune sometimes sounds like "Twinkle Twinkle"
-says "kaka" when he has to go #2 or is in the process of doing it
-fits best into 24 month or 2T sized tops and 18 month or 24 month sized bottoms
-gives hugs and kisses throughout the day

Habits We Are Working on Breaking:
-calling Zack Papa instead of Daddy
-throwing unwanted food onto the ground
-biting/hitting/pinching when very mad/excited (working on "gentle touches")
-sitting up, rolling out, sticking feet out of bed
-throwing toys
-not sitting through an entire story
-touching/grabbing things that aren't his (remote, phones, computers, etc.)
-hugging anyone who will let him, including complete strangers

Our Favorite Things About Jonas:
-huge smile that takes up his whole face
-infectious giggle
-friendly-says "hi" and "bye bye" to everyone wherever we go
-look of surprise and gasp when something unexpected happens
-impulsive hugs and kisses
-his "oooooo" when he sees something he likes or is impressed by
-so incredibly cute
-tries to repeat words we say and songs we sing
-great personality and easygoing nature
-that he's our son!

And as an extra bonus, here are the first two pictures we saw of our son in the e-mail that contained our referral back in November. He looks so tiny!

Life Lately

I've gotten behind on the blog again, so this post will just catch everyone up on what we've been up to lately with some phone pictures and brief descriptions. I don't plan on continuing this blog for much longer. I think I'll try to finish it up by Jonas's surgery date (I've got some unfinished drafts of other posts I want to share), and I'll just let everyone know that he got through that okay. Then maybe I'll update the blog once a year on Shamrock Day with some pictures and updates about how Jonas is doing. I'll still take tons of pictures and keep my Shutterfly site (aubreekeys.shutterfly.com) updated, but the blog becomes too much work for me and more of a burden than something enjoyable. It was only ever intended to document our adoption journey anyway, so I think it's basically served that purpose. Anyway, I'm not done yet, so here's what's been going on in Jonas's life lately:

Jonas likes to wear Zack's hats. One morning this week, he put one on both his doll and himself and then flopped over to mimic his doll's position.

I have a membership to the Botanic Gardens, so I took Jonas to the children's section on a warm day this week and let him cool his feet in the stream.

Jonas looked super stylish for his visit to school earlier this week to meet my teacher friends and former students.

Here's Jonas giving an unprompted kiss to Molly. He doesn't really mind her anymore. We've taught him to laugh instead of cry when she licks him.

And here's Jonas acting like Molly, drinking from his water table. Don't worry, I made him stop right after snapping this picture. He also later dropped his Kix cereal snack in here and fished those out to eat them. Mother of the Year here.

In between four appointments in one day (yes, four), Jonas enjoyed his first McDonald's Happy Meal. I was disappointed they don't come in those cool boxes anymore. But they still come with a toy. And I could choose apples and chocolate milk for him. He loved those and the French fries-not so much the cheeseburger.

Zack and Jonas exchanged coats the other night. Molly had fun photobombing.

It snowed last night and today. Molly and I needed to get out of the house. Jonas didn't mind the cold walk.

I can do a pretty mean headstand, thanks to my dad. Tonight, I showed Jonas my skills, and he had to attempt one of his own. The funniest part was when he lifted both hands to wave and say "hi."

Jonas has figured out how to escape through the dog door. I've caught him doing it twice so far, including once this morning when it was snowing and he was only wearing a diaper. Yup, Mother of the Year.

Jonas loves making music, especially if he gets to play one of Daddy's real instruments. He also likes banging on my piano. I haven't let him touch my violin yet though!

Jonas loves his slide, though he doesn't always go down (or up) it the traditional way.

Jonas had his first playdate today. Emily and her son Graham came over, and the boys ate lunch and played with lots of toys together. This picture is weird because it looks like neither boy has any legs!

Keeping Jonas entertained while waiting at his various medical appointments at Children's Hospital can be a challenge. Though they have fun things on the wall to play with, opening cabinets is apparently sometimes much more enjoyable.

We took Jonas to the dog park at Chatfield to let him and Molly run around. He loved throwing sticks in the water for Molly to fetch. He also loved trying to run into the water himself. I think he would have gone up to his neck if we let him. We caught him at about knee level at the latest.

Jonas also enjoyed his first picnic at the park. Molly enjoyed the food he dropped.

So yeah, we've been having some fun. In one week, we've had both summer and winter weather, so who knows what will be next? But Jonas is doing great and learning so much each day!

All Tatted Up

Did I mention that Jonas's Aunt Morgan gave him his first tattoo when she was here over Easter weekend?

Thanks Morgan-remind me to not send him alone to visit you in California!

Surviving the Flights

Many people have asked how the flights home with Jonas went. Well, I wouldn't want to do it again, but considering the circumstances, he actually did really well. Our first (Almaty to Moscow) and last flights (LA to Denver) were shorter, and Jonas slept for most of both of those. He loved the airports, including watching the planes, riding the moving walkways, and running around.

It was the middle flight (from Moscow to LA) that was pretty brutal. Jonas did not sleep AT ALL. That means we didn't get to sleep either. And he was tired. And bored. And so were we. We basically spent twelve hours trying to entertain him, which was not easy. Luckily, we had packed several toys and snacks, but a tired two-year-old sometimes just doesn't want to do anything but have a meltdown. And though playing with a toddler for an hour or two is fun, after awhile, you just want a break. And on a plane you can't have one!






I have a new appreciation for parents who sometimes look like they are doing nothing when their child has a tantrum. When Jonas was lying on the floor of the airplane, surrounded by toys and Cheerios he had thrown down there, and he didn't want toys, food, or either one of us, there was really nothing we could do. Luckily, his version of a tantrum only lasts a couple minutes, and he only had about four of them throughout the flight (which is pretty good for a twelve hour flight I think), but we still felt pretty helpless.





But we all survived the thirty-hour travel extravaganza. It was an awesome feeling when we arrived to a beautiful warm evening in Denver, strapped Jonas in his carseat, and drove home with the windows down, music playing, and our son singing (and then sleeping) happily and peacefully from the back seat.

Almaty, Kazakhstan

This is another late post I never got around to writing. After our time in Kyrgyzstan, we had to go to Kazakhstan to get Jonas's visa in order to allow him into the United States. For some reason, the US embassy in Bishkek doesn't issue the type of visa we needed for him. So we had to travel to a whole different country!

We were picked up at 3:15am from our hotel in Bishkek and taken in a big van to the border crossing. Jonas slept most of the way. At the border, we had to get out of the van, walk down some outdoor corridors, and go through a checkpoint with our passports. Then we had to take all of our luggage out of the van and walk another corridor and go through another checkpoint. It was kind of a pain, but it's a good thing we left so early in the morning, because right after we got in line it started getting really crowded, and it would have taken hours to get through if we had gone later.

A few hours later, we arrived in the HUGE city of Almaty. We waited for our coordinator to turn in our paperwork at the embassy, and then we headed to the international medical clinic. Jonas had to get a check-up in order to be given a visa. They basically took all his vitals and talked through his medical record with us. Jonas cried a little when we had to lay him down on the table to get his height, but otherwise, he did just fine.

The rest of the afternoon was free, so we ate a ridiculously expensive lunch at the hotel ($55!), Jonas took a nap, we played in the room, Zack took him to the park, we went out to dinner, and Jonas got his first real bath.

We went to the embassy the next afternoon. It was a lot like the Bishkek embassy day with less security checkpoints. At the end of the "interview," we were given a sealed white manila envelope that could only be opened by the US passport officials once we landed. And Jonas's passport now had a page taken up by a cool-looking visa!

It felt so good to walk out of that embassy and know that we now had everything we needed to get Jonas home. We took some pictures with Darren, Song, and their new daughter Ambrosia, since they had gone through the whole process with us. They live in California. Some day maybe Amber and Jonas will meet again!

Animal Mania

Jonas loooooooves animals. He's even starting to actually like Molly! His favorite books make animal sounds, he can "baaa" just like a sheep, and he always points out animals when we're driving or walking.

On our drive back to Bishkek from Lake Issyk-Kul in Kyrgyzstan, Jonas got to see plenty of animals, both real and fake. He loved seeing all the sheep in the fields alongside the road.

Our driver stopped at Hawaii, that restaurant I went to on my second trip to Kyrgyzstan, and showed us an area I hadn't seen that had animal statues and real animals as well. Jonas loved it. Below are just a few pictures of the animals he enjoyed. We can't wait to take Jonas to the zoo!