Why is it that toddlers always learn something extremely annoying and negative as their first sentence? Sintu has learned "No" which he uses all the time and now: "I want it!"
He screams this every time we tell him no or take a toy away that is not his, or remove his food from the table because he is playing with it. I'd laugh, because it's so shrill and demanding, but as I wrote before *never* laugh at the bad things.
This morning, he didn't have breakfast. He sat at the table with his cereal in front of him for 45 minutes and only took two bites the entire time, deciding that Kix were far more fun to play with than eat. Needless to say, I took it away from him, which prompted a screaming round, but 45 minutes? You've got to be kidding me.
On a good note, he has also learned to say "I did it!" which he says quite proudly whenever he does something we asked him to, like put away his shoes or put things in the garbage. Or, come to think of it, climbing in and out of his highchair. Yes, Terri Jo, my OTHER kid now does that, too. I still remember your face when you saw Dagny climb in for breakfast one morning.
Garbage...Sintu loves garbage. Not in a bad way, but because it gives him something to do. We could be downstairs (and there are two garbage cans down there) and Marc will say "Sintu, can you put this in the garbage?" And Sintu will very happily take it and go all the way upstairs to throw it away in the kitchen. He's getting more sturdy every day, so I guess all that practice on the stairs is a good thing.
Dagny is doing much better, though she still throws complete fits and doesn't seem to understand that he doesn't want to do everything she asks him to do. Sometimes, Sintu doesn't WANT to play with her and that really makes her mad. Oh well, she'll get used to it. It won't be long until she doesn't want to play with HIM and then the tables will be turned!
They've played outside finally, now that the weather is nice, and Sintu figured out the ladder up to the slide all by himself. He loves it, and swinging, and pushing people who want to swing, except he forgets to get out of the way and gets knocked down by Dagny when he pushes her. The first time he cried, now he just laughs.
Things are going well. I'm planning two birthday parties for the little people, monster trucks for Sintu and mermaids for Dagny, and we're getting ready to plant the garden this year. Gotta plan which plants to have since last year was my first learning year. We'll see what kind of harvest I get this time!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Learning the Language
So I am relying on Dagny to help teach Sintayehu English. Since she's just recently learned to string intelligent sentences together, I figured she could help.
Yesterday afternoon, I'm in the kitchen and I hear the kids talking in the living room. You know, kid sort of talking, blabbering, silly things and going on and on about "booty."
I have just purchased Dagny a pirate book, so I figure they're reading about treasure and Dagny's explaining the whole idea of pirates (the romantic notion, not the ones in Somalia). They've dressed up like superheroes before and flown around the house, so I'm thinking that they might be dressing up as pirates, right?
WRONG!
I go out into the living room and Dagny is pointing at her BUTT and teaching Sintu the word "booty."
I didn't know what to do, so I started laughing. By All That's Holy, never laugh when your child does something bad. Once they realize you think it's funny, they'll keep doing it. I'm in trouble. Now I don't want to leave them alone since I don't know what she's teaching him!
On a related note, she got a time out at daycare the other day for mooning Rita. Great. In another week, I'm going to have a little white butt and a little brown butt shaking around in my face. Just what I need.
And I laugh every darn time.
Yesterday afternoon, I'm in the kitchen and I hear the kids talking in the living room. You know, kid sort of talking, blabbering, silly things and going on and on about "booty."
I have just purchased Dagny a pirate book, so I figure they're reading about treasure and Dagny's explaining the whole idea of pirates (the romantic notion, not the ones in Somalia). They've dressed up like superheroes before and flown around the house, so I'm thinking that they might be dressing up as pirates, right?
WRONG!
I go out into the living room and Dagny is pointing at her BUTT and teaching Sintu the word "booty."
I didn't know what to do, so I started laughing. By All That's Holy, never laugh when your child does something bad. Once they realize you think it's funny, they'll keep doing it. I'm in trouble. Now I don't want to leave them alone since I don't know what she's teaching him!
On a related note, she got a time out at daycare the other day for mooning Rita. Great. In another week, I'm going to have a little white butt and a little brown butt shaking around in my face. Just what I need.
And I laugh every darn time.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Missing Goods
So SIntu will most likely have surgery in June to correct the undescended testicle and we'll have him circumsized then, too. Figure as long as they're messing around down there, they might as well do it all at once.
Good news is, the doctor thinks he can feel it and is optimistic that it won't be a problem getting it back into place. Of course, he also warned us that sometimes they just go back up again, but heck, we gotta do it!
He's still eating like a horse, which is good, but he still has terrible poops, which is bad. We're still waiting on another stool culture to see if he has parasites still in there. If so, we'll have to be a bit more aggressive in treating them than we have been. I don't know how much longer I can deal with gaggy diapers.
On a non-body oriented note: Dagny is doing better. She loves to get stars for doing nice things and is getting better about actually doing them. It's been almost two weeks and so far she has almost 40 stars. Every 20 stars gets her a prize (like spending a night downstairs with mommy, painting stars on her toenails, things like that) and she's proud of her chart. Now if I could just get her to stop doing mean things, since she loses a star for every mean thing or temper tantrum. However, she hasn't lost that many stars recently, so cross your fingers.
The weather is beautiful today and we plan on going for a walk after work. The kids are both looking forward to it since they love walking around the block. Dagny riders her bike and Sintu has fallen in love with our stroller, which honks. Typical boy, the more noise, the more he likes it.
They're both eating what we're eating most of the time so I've cut down on special meals. When Dags realizes that he's eating and beating her, she starts eating to keep up and they both end up cleaning their plates. It's fabulous.
Good news is, the doctor thinks he can feel it and is optimistic that it won't be a problem getting it back into place. Of course, he also warned us that sometimes they just go back up again, but heck, we gotta do it!
He's still eating like a horse, which is good, but he still has terrible poops, which is bad. We're still waiting on another stool culture to see if he has parasites still in there. If so, we'll have to be a bit more aggressive in treating them than we have been. I don't know how much longer I can deal with gaggy diapers.
On a non-body oriented note: Dagny is doing better. She loves to get stars for doing nice things and is getting better about actually doing them. It's been almost two weeks and so far she has almost 40 stars. Every 20 stars gets her a prize (like spending a night downstairs with mommy, painting stars on her toenails, things like that) and she's proud of her chart. Now if I could just get her to stop doing mean things, since she loses a star for every mean thing or temper tantrum. However, she hasn't lost that many stars recently, so cross your fingers.
The weather is beautiful today and we plan on going for a walk after work. The kids are both looking forward to it since they love walking around the block. Dagny riders her bike and Sintu has fallen in love with our stroller, which honks. Typical boy, the more noise, the more he likes it.
They're both eating what we're eating most of the time so I've cut down on special meals. When Dags realizes that he's eating and beating her, she starts eating to keep up and they both end up cleaning their plates. It's fabulous.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Catching Up!
Wow, it's been awhile since I've blogged. Guess I'm busy! Imagine that! :)
So, what's going on...Sintu loves to eat. He'll eat almost anything except for chocolate chip cookies and any sort of gummy vitamin. Those get spit out in the garbage. For awhile, we thought he'd never eat a vegetable, but our daycare lady served him green beans with ketchup and....ouila! He ate them without a problem. So it's Ranch for Dagny and Ketchup for Sintu. Thank heaven for magic sauces.
We are still having trouble with the back end of things. The worms are still there, or something is, and his diapers are terrifying. I've cleaned up so many leaky ones now, you'd think I'd be used to it, but I'm still gagging and opening windows every time. We had another round of stool cultures just this past weekend, so we'll see how those turn out. Hopefully, the clinic of Infectious Deisease (sounds so ominous) in Sioux Falls will be able to help us get things under control.
We have an appointment with the urologist in Sioux Falls on Friday to talk about his testicles. One day, he's going to read this and feel like beating me up, I just know it! Anyway, I'll keep people posted on that.
Our only real problem is adjustments for Dagny. She was so used to being the only child for four years that having another child thrown into the mix is really confusing. She throws incredible tantrums quite frequently to get attention, which is really hard to deal with. Last night, she threw a huge fit because I wouldn't make her scrambled eggs at 8:45, right before bed. The fit involved her flinging herself bodily against the door when I put her in our room so she wouldn't wake her brother. We're working on figuring out ways to help her get over that. Marc thinks if we give her more jobs so she feels more helpful and more involved that that will help, so I'll be trying that when we get home tonight. I've thought of some small jobs she can help me with.
We're getting ready to celebrate Easter and dyed a bunch of eggs last night, raw not hard-boiled. The thought is, we'll blow the eggs and make a pretty garland for next year. Of course, she's got eggs on the brain now since the eggs in the refridgerator are all pretty colors. Once I blow them, I can make scrambled eggs, so we'll have eggs for breakfast for the next few days. I think tomorrow we'll have omlettes.
Sintu has discovered the joys of reading. The other day, I thought he was still asleep and it got to be 7:30 so I went in to wake him and he was already awake, sitting in his crib and looking at the book I'd put in the night before. He was quite pleased with it and gave me the most beautiful smile. He hasn't let go of the book since! I hope that continues.
He now says "stinky diaper" when he's had a poop, which is handy (not that we can't smell it) and he loves to hold hands, everywhere we go, even if it's just walking to the kitchen. Dagny puts his bib on for breakfast and he's starting to eat meat (with ketchup) andeven having fewer nightmares in the middle of the night, which is wonderful. He goes to bed much easier, is learning about time-outs, and is fitting in just beautifully.
On a funny note, when he gets mad he does this shrugging gesture (any other ET kids do that?) and backs up with a grumpy look on his face. If you tell him no, you get a shrug. Marc calls it the 'f-you' shrug and Sintu now gets a time-out when he does it. He's starting to not do it so much, since he knows what will happen if he does. It's very funny.
And the other night, we got him dancing to music from the TV. And he really enjoyed our momentary lapse of reason last night when we watched the end of Dancing with the Stars. Shame on us.
So, what's going on...Sintu loves to eat. He'll eat almost anything except for chocolate chip cookies and any sort of gummy vitamin. Those get spit out in the garbage. For awhile, we thought he'd never eat a vegetable, but our daycare lady served him green beans with ketchup and....ouila! He ate them without a problem. So it's Ranch for Dagny and Ketchup for Sintu. Thank heaven for magic sauces.
We are still having trouble with the back end of things. The worms are still there, or something is, and his diapers are terrifying. I've cleaned up so many leaky ones now, you'd think I'd be used to it, but I'm still gagging and opening windows every time. We had another round of stool cultures just this past weekend, so we'll see how those turn out. Hopefully, the clinic of Infectious Deisease (sounds so ominous) in Sioux Falls will be able to help us get things under control.
We have an appointment with the urologist in Sioux Falls on Friday to talk about his testicles. One day, he's going to read this and feel like beating me up, I just know it! Anyway, I'll keep people posted on that.
Our only real problem is adjustments for Dagny. She was so used to being the only child for four years that having another child thrown into the mix is really confusing. She throws incredible tantrums quite frequently to get attention, which is really hard to deal with. Last night, she threw a huge fit because I wouldn't make her scrambled eggs at 8:45, right before bed. The fit involved her flinging herself bodily against the door when I put her in our room so she wouldn't wake her brother. We're working on figuring out ways to help her get over that. Marc thinks if we give her more jobs so she feels more helpful and more involved that that will help, so I'll be trying that when we get home tonight. I've thought of some small jobs she can help me with.
We're getting ready to celebrate Easter and dyed a bunch of eggs last night, raw not hard-boiled. The thought is, we'll blow the eggs and make a pretty garland for next year. Of course, she's got eggs on the brain now since the eggs in the refridgerator are all pretty colors. Once I blow them, I can make scrambled eggs, so we'll have eggs for breakfast for the next few days. I think tomorrow we'll have omlettes.
Sintu has discovered the joys of reading. The other day, I thought he was still asleep and it got to be 7:30 so I went in to wake him and he was already awake, sitting in his crib and looking at the book I'd put in the night before. He was quite pleased with it and gave me the most beautiful smile. He hasn't let go of the book since! I hope that continues.
He now says "stinky diaper" when he's had a poop, which is handy (not that we can't smell it) and he loves to hold hands, everywhere we go, even if it's just walking to the kitchen. Dagny puts his bib on for breakfast and he's starting to eat meat (with ketchup) andeven having fewer nightmares in the middle of the night, which is wonderful. He goes to bed much easier, is learning about time-outs, and is fitting in just beautifully.
On a funny note, when he gets mad he does this shrugging gesture (any other ET kids do that?) and backs up with a grumpy look on his face. If you tell him no, you get a shrug. Marc calls it the 'f-you' shrug and Sintu now gets a time-out when he does it. He's starting to not do it so much, since he knows what will happen if he does. It's very funny.
And the other night, we got him dancing to music from the TV. And he really enjoyed our momentary lapse of reason last night when we watched the end of Dancing with the Stars. Shame on us.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The Scoop on Poop
Well, I'm not sure it's cleared up since it's still terribly smelly. I KNOW, JUST what you wanted to read today! But it's getting better, I think. We just have to wait until its normal. Might be the diet, might be the giardia still, might be the antibiotics for his sinus infection, who knows...
All I know is he now holds his nose and says "Stinky" which is completely hilarious.
And he says "diaper" "up" "Dagny" "Mommy" "Poppy" "Meow" "Water" andall the Amharic baby talk. But he knows what I'm saying most of the time, I think. I asked him to take off his shoes today and he sat down and did, then he took them and put them away in his room. And when I asked him to take off his coat, he did and then tried to hang it up on his hook. So he's getting it!
And today he went to daycare for an hour, since we're trying to ease him into it. I don't plan on going back to work for another week, but I want him to feel comfortable there, so we started now. I was really worried that he wouldn't come to me after an hour, that he'd bond with Rota of Lorraine and forget about me, or he'd be really upset that I left him somewhere with a gaggle of kids. But he did really well, and came right to me when I got there, arms up, saying "Mommy!" which felt really good.
And Dagny stayed without a fuss, and she played with him really well. Here's hoping she can adjust better. She's been so jealous and acting out terribly for the past few days. She's been in a lot of trouble, but we're trying to be understanding at the same time. It's difficult. We'll see how tonight goes. Marc has bowling and so I'll need to put both kids to bed, so she'll have to be patient. Hmmm...three-year old patience...yeah, you can all laugh now.
All I know is he now holds his nose and says "Stinky" which is completely hilarious.
And he says "diaper" "up" "Dagny" "Mommy" "Poppy" "Meow" "Water" andall the Amharic baby talk. But he knows what I'm saying most of the time, I think. I asked him to take off his shoes today and he sat down and did, then he took them and put them away in his room. And when I asked him to take off his coat, he did and then tried to hang it up on his hook. So he's getting it!
And today he went to daycare for an hour, since we're trying to ease him into it. I don't plan on going back to work for another week, but I want him to feel comfortable there, so we started now. I was really worried that he wouldn't come to me after an hour, that he'd bond with Rota of Lorraine and forget about me, or he'd be really upset that I left him somewhere with a gaggle of kids. But he did really well, and came right to me when I got there, arms up, saying "Mommy!" which felt really good.
And Dagny stayed without a fuss, and she played with him really well. Here's hoping she can adjust better. She's been so jealous and acting out terribly for the past few days. She's been in a lot of trouble, but we're trying to be understanding at the same time. It's difficult. We'll see how tonight goes. Marc has bowling and so I'll need to put both kids to bed, so she'll have to be patient. Hmmm...three-year old patience...yeah, you can all laugh now.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Church!
Okay, so we went to church this morning so everyone could get a look at the new addition and people were so glad to see him! He played in the nursery with one of us (we alternated halfway through the service) since we had the feeling he wouldn't make it in the sanctuary, and then we had cookies at fellowship. It was very nice, but...
We seem to have a bit of a problem with "indiscriminite affection" in that he'll go to anyone without looking around for mommy and daddy. We were expecting this, so it's not like it's a surprise. Lots of orphans have that problem, since they learn early that they have to be cute in order to get people to meet their needs. So they'll hold their hands up to anyone to get picked up. We had to explain to people that they couldn't pick him up, that he needed to learn to be clingy for awhile before I could encourage him to branch out.
Everyone was fine with my explanation, which was nice since I think it sounded a bit rude. "Hey, no, don't pick up the kid. He has to learn who mommy is first..." Okay, so I used different words, but that was the gist of it.
His poop hasn't cleared up, but we're eagerly awaiting it to. Funny how I look forward to diapers at the moment to see if anything's changed. Well, simple pleasures for mommies, right?
We're having a quiet afternoon of laundry and vacuuming today. I might even get a chance to read a bit of my book. Wouldn't that be a shocker?
We seem to have a bit of a problem with "indiscriminite affection" in that he'll go to anyone without looking around for mommy and daddy. We were expecting this, so it's not like it's a surprise. Lots of orphans have that problem, since they learn early that they have to be cute in order to get people to meet their needs. So they'll hold their hands up to anyone to get picked up. We had to explain to people that they couldn't pick him up, that he needed to learn to be clingy for awhile before I could encourage him to branch out.
Everyone was fine with my explanation, which was nice since I think it sounded a bit rude. "Hey, no, don't pick up the kid. He has to learn who mommy is first..." Okay, so I used different words, but that was the gist of it.
His poop hasn't cleared up, but we're eagerly awaiting it to. Funny how I look forward to diapers at the moment to see if anything's changed. Well, simple pleasures for mommies, right?
We're having a quiet afternoon of laundry and vacuuming today. I might even get a chance to read a bit of my book. Wouldn't that be a shocker?
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Health Update!
Right, so most of the tests are back now, except for the TB mantle, which will be read on Monday.
HIV (both tests) - Negative
Hep A - antibodies present, so he's had it before. That's good, that means he doesn't need the shot because he's already protected.
Stool Culture - ugh...you've got to be kidding. Not only does my poor boy have giardia, he has worms - two different kinds. In fact, they had to call Pediatric Infections Disease at the Mayo Clinic to find out how to treat one of them. Good news is, the treatment is only three days long. Bad news, he's not covered by our insurance yet and it was really expensive. Ah well, doesn't really matter, the price. Gotta get my kiddo well! He took the deworming pill really well, mixed into mashed potatoes which he didn't have to chew. The instructions say we can't crush the pill, because the bitterness could cause vomitting...whoo hoo!
This morning he took his giardia medication without a problem - it's a liquid - and that was good. He just has to take it with food for three days, twelve hours apart. No big deal, we'll get it done.
Marc was wondering this morning how the poor kid is going to react when he actually has a solid poop. He'll probably freak out.
We're adjusting pretty well, though he hasn't really attached to me yet. He'll go to anybody quite happily, so we're working on getting him to understand that I am mommy and he should go to me first. We'll get there, too.
Dagny is terribly jealous. She's acting out a bit, but it's tolerable. It'll pass when she realizes she's a good helper and will get more attention if she's good. Marc has instituted an allowance program for her (a quarter a day) if she helps and doesn't have too many meltdowns. We don't expect perfection, we just expect a bit of an attempt. :D Good luck with that for us!
We went out to town today and visited a craft fair, which was fun. We also stopped at the library so I could get some work for Monday. I go back part-time from home for a week or so, which I think will be okay. I'll go in every morning after taking Dagny to school or daycare, and I'll get the mail and turn in bills and things like that. It'll all get done and Sintayehu will come with me and help. *snort* We'll see how that goes.
It's very busy being a family of four. My parents left this morning, so we're alone (the four of us) and for the past eight hours or so, it's been going quite well. I'll keep you posted.
HIV (both tests) - Negative
Hep A - antibodies present, so he's had it before. That's good, that means he doesn't need the shot because he's already protected.
Stool Culture - ugh...you've got to be kidding. Not only does my poor boy have giardia, he has worms - two different kinds. In fact, they had to call Pediatric Infections Disease at the Mayo Clinic to find out how to treat one of them. Good news is, the treatment is only three days long. Bad news, he's not covered by our insurance yet and it was really expensive. Ah well, doesn't really matter, the price. Gotta get my kiddo well! He took the deworming pill really well, mixed into mashed potatoes which he didn't have to chew. The instructions say we can't crush the pill, because the bitterness could cause vomitting...whoo hoo!
This morning he took his giardia medication without a problem - it's a liquid - and that was good. He just has to take it with food for three days, twelve hours apart. No big deal, we'll get it done.
Marc was wondering this morning how the poor kid is going to react when he actually has a solid poop. He'll probably freak out.
We're adjusting pretty well, though he hasn't really attached to me yet. He'll go to anybody quite happily, so we're working on getting him to understand that I am mommy and he should go to me first. We'll get there, too.
Dagny is terribly jealous. She's acting out a bit, but it's tolerable. It'll pass when she realizes she's a good helper and will get more attention if she's good. Marc has instituted an allowance program for her (a quarter a day) if she helps and doesn't have too many meltdowns. We don't expect perfection, we just expect a bit of an attempt. :D Good luck with that for us!
We went out to town today and visited a craft fair, which was fun. We also stopped at the library so I could get some work for Monday. I go back part-time from home for a week or so, which I think will be okay. I'll go in every morning after taking Dagny to school or daycare, and I'll get the mail and turn in bills and things like that. It'll all get done and Sintayehu will come with me and help. *snort* We'll see how that goes.
It's very busy being a family of four. My parents left this morning, so we're alone (the four of us) and for the past eight hours or so, it's been going quite well. I'll keep you posted.
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