Belgium

We are in Belgium!  Our trip across the pond was uneventful, which always makes me happy.  Erlan was extremely excited about riding on the airplane.  He also told everyone around us, "Daddy is on a different airplane."  Ben took a separate flight over (b/c the ticket was 600 dollars cheaper).  Erlan & I flew on my miles.  Here are two of the only pictures I took on the flight.  We were on one of the lovely trams in the Dulles aiport, which Erlan thought was great.  He's telling me "No cheese!"  He was too busy enjoying his "school bus ride."  In the 2nd, Erlan is totally engrossed in the Jungle Book.  The ear buds provided by the plane were horrible and didn't stay in his ears.  I must have put them in 100 times during the movie.  It really didn't matter b/c the jack had become unplugged and he couldn't hear anyway; however, he wanted the stupid things in his ears.  Agnes' father met us at the airport and took us to his house for breakfast complete with Belgian pastries.  Delicious!  

While we are here we have the luxury of staying with our friends Agnes and Sacha, whom we met through adoption.  We haven't seen Sacha in a year, and he has changed so much!  He was a baby when we last saw him, and now he's a toddler.  He's such a happy boy,  and he and Agnes clearly bring each other much joy.  Sacha is a year younger than Erlan, but he is almost taller than Erlan.  Here the boys are hugging each other good night.  Erlan is behind Sacha.  Notice that Sacha almost blocks Erlan from view.  In the nextpicture, you'll see that Sacha is almost bigger than Agnes.   

We 

did our first bit of sightseeing by walking around Agnes' neighborhood.  You'll notice that parking can be a bit of a problem here.  I'm so glad that I'm not driving.  We are standing outside of Agnes' house in the picture with the red car.  I will need to take pix of her house.  Ben and I both love it.

Today we enjoyed our first day of traipsing around Brussels with our own private tour guide, Agnes' father Emil.  He has an incredible depth of knowledge of Brussels and of the European Union.  He also speaks 7 languages, which has nothing to do with our tour but I think it's an incredible feat.  The pictures that I will post do not begin to do justice to the splendor of this place. I love walking around the city and

 seeing the mix of modern architecture with historic

 building. The red roofed buildings give a quaintness to this metropolis.  

We ended tonight's dinner with some chocolaty goodness.  You'll see that both boys loved it.  When Sacha saw it, he said, "Ooh, la la!"  We walked off our dinner later.  My boys took their color coordinated umbrellas and jackets.

Tomorrow we plan to go back to the Grand Place to look around some more.  I think I will have a waffle and a piece (or two) of chocolate.  As Erlan  would say, "See  ya later alligator!"

Easter Scenes & An Update

Erlan had a big time at our 2-day Easter Eggstravaganza.  We spent Saturday at Aunt Debbie's with my family.  We spent Sunday at our house with Ben's family.  We colored Easter eggs and did Easter egg hunts both days.  I attended my yearly professional conference with dyed fingers.  

Scenes from Easter Saturday

On Saturday, Erlan colored eggs with his cousins.  The older ones were very patient with the younger ones, especially Erlan who liked to take all of the eggs and drop them into the dye.  Erlan really didn't care if someone else had already dyed the egg.  

The adults hid about 100 eggs for the kiddos to find in my sister's yard.  Erlan LOVED the Easter egg hunt.  My favorite part was when I'd lead him to an area with an egg and ask, "Do you see an egg?"  He'd respond, "Nope."  He drew the word out with two syllables as if I were a dullard.

We then had races with the Easter eggs and any other game I could invent that involved the Easter eggs.  We broke lots of the eggs that way.  

As if the kids didn't have enough candy, my niece made rice-krispie treat eggs for the kids to dip in chocolate and decorate with sprinkles.  Erlan decorated way more than his fair share of eggs.  Every time I looked up, he had cut in line again with a new egg.

The last picture is of Erlan putting Mikayla's bib on her.  She looks terrified.  He was closely supervised, and she was in no danger.  I just think that the picture is hilarious.

Scenes from Easter Sunday

On Sunday, we decorated and hid eggs again.  The kids then went outside to play baseball (despite the football like stances, they were playing baseball).  Erlan also took the opportunity to show off his new bike riding skills.

An update 

Without further ado, Erlan's latest tricks:

• He can count to 30.  He misses a few numbers, but he does really well.
• He is using 3 and 4 word sentences regularly.  He was evaluated through Parents As Teachers, and they said his language skills were on track.  He did not qualify for intervention.
• His spoken language has made amazing progress in the past couple of months.  He repeats everything now.  
• He loves to act out the "Itsy-Bitsy Spider"
• He loves to sing.  His favorites are Twinkle, Twinkle; People on the Bus; ABCs; Little Bunny Fu Fu (he does the hand motions for this one too); I wanna be like you song from the Jungle Book (I have no idea what that song is really called).
• His favorite video:  The Jungle Book.  Aunt Amy has Bare Necessities and the I wanna be like you song from the Jungle Book on her iphone.  Erlan knows this and demands that she play the songs for him.  He will act like Blue as Bare Necessities plays and like a monkey when the other song plays.
• He loves to say, "See ya later alligator! After while crocodile! See ya soon raccoon!"
• He has a bicycle now.  We got it at Wal-mart, and he rode it around the store, through the checkout, and to our car.  We walked to Granny Jannie's for breakfast and let him ride the bike.  He figured out the brakes pretty quick.  
• He loves to go "feed cows" with Daddy, and he can identify certain cows by name. 
• He can finally wear 3-T shirts; however, he's in 2-T pants.  
• He loves to pick out his own clothes and to dress himself.  Almost invariably, he will put his pants on backwards.  It doesn't seem to bother him.
• He loves to read.  His favorite book is Ten in the Bed, which is actually a song and I sing it to him every night now.

One Year Ago Today....

It was a year ago today that we met this little boy.

We knew that this kid would change our lives, but we had no idea that we hit the jackpot, the lottery, and the Publisher's Clearinghouse all in one shot.  Our journey has been amazing.  Erlan is everything we ever imagined our child to be and more.  He's cute, funny, and smart.  He charms everyone that he meets.  He is Ben's mini-me, and he's got my sweet tooth.  

He has grown more in the past year than we thought possible, going from a baby to a toddler on the verge of being a little boy.  

We are incredibly blessed to have him in our lives.  

25 Random Things about Kazakhstan

"I completed a 25 Random Things list and it made me think of things I’d never forget about Kazakhstan. So, I thought I’d send this to my friends who have had the luxury of spending time in Kazakhstan. List the things you’ll never forget about your trip(s) to Kazakhstan and pass this onto your friends who have been there (and back to me!)."  

Ok, I will refrain from writing the entire list about Erlan except for the first one.  

1.) The first day we met Erlan. He was wearing a light blue outfit. I thought he looked so small and looked like Ben. We fell in love with him immediately.  

2.) Gen & Joel, Kami & Eric, Agnes, Bernadette, Rosa y Carlos. It was nice to meet people who became our friends.  

3.) Bayana and Ceric. I hope I get to see them again some day.  

4.) Camcas! Ben ate them daily for breakfast.  

5.) Erlan's nanny telling us (on Erlan's last day in the orphanage) that we spoiled him and he used to go tell them that he needed to go to the potty and now he just wet his pants. The other nanny just looked horrified.  

6.) The day Ben asked the nannies if we could borrow a coat for Erlan. Bayana told him how to say "May I borrow a coat please?" in Kazakh. Ben hurried upstairs and repeated the phrase. He came back down with a coat reporting that the nannies had burst out laughing when he said it. When Ben later repeated his new phrase for Ceric, Ceric burst out laughing. Turns out Ben had said something along the lines of, "May I borrow a coat old woman!"  

7.) Arrested Development. I bought the series to take with us to Kaz. Neither of us had seen it before, and we were immediately hooked once we started watching it during our layover in Almaty. Now I can't watch the show without thinking of Kaz.  

8.) Celebrating Kaz New Year, going into the Yurt sponsored by Bayana's university, and making toasts with our friends (keep the cognac coming!)  

9.) Meeting Gabe, Lincoln, Sacha, Gaia, and Maria. I hope they know the joy that they have brought to their parents.  

10.) Getting Regina's email asking about Milo. We were so excited that the Ruopoli's were wanting to adopt him.  

11.) Hanging out with Agnes, Sacha, and Agnes' parents in Almaty.  

12.) Taking the train to Almaty from Aktobe. I'm so glad we did that and saw the countryside, even though Erlan had the chicken pox.  

13.) Practicing Spanish with Carlos y Rosa. Who would have thought that I'd be able to dust off my college Spanish while in Kazakhstan.  

14.) The incredible diversity of people that we saw and met in Almaty.  

15.) Walking up to Kok-Tobe and being passed by a bus on our way up.  

16.) Ben helping the orphanage staff during their clean-up days and being told by one of the nannies (in English), "Your papa is a good man."  

17.) Being in Aktobe when the snow melted. It melted so rapidly that there was water everywhere. The potholes were actually small lakes.  

18.) The shoes that Kazakhs wore! They wore gorgeous, impractical shoes that could not have kept out snow, water, or cold. They stared when they saw our boots.  

19.) Giving an interview for Kazakh television. This is not something we wanted to do. The head doctor showed up in the playroom during our visit and asked if we wanted to give an interview. We did not but really couldn't say no. We were asked about adopting from Kaz, why we chose Kaz, and how hard was the process. We told them we thought that Kaz had a rigorous adoption process. We like the mandatory bonding process and though it good for the kids. We also said the process was very difficult. [We were later told by Katya (our interpreter in Almaty) that it was translated that the Kaz adoption process was very easy, much easier than adopting in the US.] We were very close to the end of our appeals period. We spent those last days on pins and needles hoping that the interview would not bring one of Erlan's long-lost relatives out of the wood work.  

20.) The cheese and meat ladies at our local market. Every time we walked in, they would yell, "Ben!" I felt like I was in the Kazakh version of Cheers.  

21.) The pedestrian avenue in Almaty. It was such a nice place to hang out and walk around with Erlan.  

22.) The Russian Bathhouse in Almaty. I still have had my share of naked people.  

23.) Taking walks with Erlan and Ben around the grounds of the orphanage trying to avoid the other children. It was heartwrenching every time we saw them. The little girls would yell at Ben, "Papa! Papa!"  

24.) The children we couldn't bring home with us. There were three little girls that always tried to catch our attention. I would have happily brought them home with us. I still think of them and wonder how they are doing and if they've been adopted.  

25.) Erlan's favorite nanny, Nazipan. I wish that I would have thought to give her our email address and our blog address so that she could check on him when she wanted to. She brought a gift bag for Erlan on his last day with traditional Kazakh items for him when he is older.

Erlan's Birthday Bash

Erlan officially turned 3 on Feb 2. We had a small celebration on Feb 2. Aunt Amy brought donuts over and we lit candles and sang Happy Birthday. Erlan just beamed as we sang Happy Birthday to him. He blew out his candles and was just pleased as punch that 3 adults were making such a fuss over him.

We finally had his real party today. We were supposed to have it last Sunday, but we had to postpone b/c Erlan had the flu. We wanted to have a major celebration since this is the first time anybody has celebrated the birth of the best boy in the world (just ask him)! So about 50 of our closest friends and family came down to our local bar to celebrate Erlan. In case you're thinking, that's a lot of gifts; we requested that no gifts be given. Erlan has more toys and games than we know how to handle. Sometimes I think that toys magically appear at our house. Don't worry though, he did get some gifts--we're not heartless. :-)

Yes, we had Erlan's 3rd b'day party at a bar. Ben's brother and sister own it, so it was all on the up and up. Erlan loved his birthday party. He realized that the celebration was for him. He was delighted when everyone sang to him. At one point, he hid his face. It was almost as if he was overwhelmed.

We played games, including one we used to play at my b'day parties. We had the kids sit on a balloon. The first one that popped it got a prize. I used to love that game, and the kids still did. I didn't count on them continuing to pop the balloons once the game was over. I jumped everytime a balloon popped.

We also had the kids throw ping pong balls into a cup being held by an adult partner. Whoever got the most in the cup won a prize. The adults were on the honor system since the kids only had two balls to throw multiple times. Erlan teamed with Uncle Dave. They were a great team, but only made about 10 in the cup. The winners were Gav-man and Kati who both managed to make 20 ping pong balls into a cup.

We borrowed a couple of Wii's from generous relatives (thanks Amy and Stacey!). These were a huge hit with the kids, especially the older "kids."

Aunt Amy made Erlan's cake. She made a train cake. The pictures do not do the train justice. It was awesome (and tasty). She is beyond creative. The kids were fascinated by all of the different cars. By the end of the party, most of the cake was gone and the track had disappeared.

Erlan simply had a great time at his party. He was worn out and sugared up by the time we went home. He managed to make it until his normal bedtime, but he was asleep within minutes of his body hitting the pillow.

Happy Birthday little boy!