First Day of School

I have to admit I have been very anxious about today...Anxious defined as "I couldn't wait for the day to get here," and anxious defined as in "true anxiety of how will it go!" Yep the first day of school.

Now I am very lucky that the boys go to a school where both my mom and my sister teach, and they have a full day 4 year old preschool program... so Eli has had the opportunity to spend a lot of time up at school this summer getting very familiar with everything. We have played in his classroom, spent lots of time with the teachers and preschool director and Eli really likes being at school, however I was still very unsure how he would react. The other nice thing about my mom and my sister being there is that they could check in and give me updates all day long!

So by all reports he did well... we had a few appearances of the "Eli" where he falls to the floor and lays quietly as his display of dissatisfaction... but on the other hand...he participated in the group activities, ate lunch without incident, didn't have any bathroom accidents and most importantly didn't escape from preschool... which was one of my major fears, that he would just run out the door of the preschool building into the main school building!

At the end of the day when I picked him up he was all smiles... and said "school fun!" I would say it was a successful day!

The real test will be tomorrow... again I am anxious to see his reaction when I drop him off in the morning! Wish us luck!

7 weeks home

and things are going well... I wish I had a ton of time to update, but very hectic... Eli is doing very well... some people have asked why we went ahead and started him in OT... we just figured why not... and it is going so well, his balance has really improved, his fine and gross motor skills are developing and he has calmed down "a bit" he is still a VERY energetic little one... we also had our first speech therapy appt last week, well more of a semi evaluation, we were really surprised at how well he did, testing well into the 3 year old level... and then this weekend his language really took off, he has a very expansive one word vocabulary already, but now he is putting them together.... with things like "Mommy open cheese" to open the string cheese he was holding... or "Daddy go work" and many many more...

Last weekend Eli got the experience of his first wedding- my little sister Beaven's, and to top it off he was in it... he was amazing, he walked down the aisle without missing a beat- holding Jake's hand... and he was a perfect gentleman... I have lots of pictures to post, and promise not to take a whole month to do it, but I need to run, so I will leave you with just one picture, one that I can't take credit for... Jake at all of 9 years old captured this one with my camera of Eli and my new brother-in-law... Ty...

Keeping busy

Our life has always been busy, and things haven't changed much with the new little guy thrown in the mix... Eli is adapting better than I think I could have ever expected... it is me that is having the harder time having to adapt to chasing around a VERY active little one... I have to admit that I am exhausted at the end of every day...

Kenny is back to work, and I am working a lot from home and have made it into the office a handful of days for a few hours at a time...we did it this way to get Eli adjusted to me being gone for longer amounts of time each day, and he seems to be doing well with it... only the first day did he really cry when I left him with Paige.

We also started Occupational Therapy for Eli... we are in LOVE with our OT Lauryl, at Meaningful Play 2 here in Louisville... she has worked with a lot of adopted Ukrainians. We are mainly focused on Eli's motion and activity level trying to work with those... get him a little more coordinated and a little less all over the place all the time... Soon we will be starting speech therapy as well to give him every chance we can to develop into a healthy and happy little guy.

Eli loves the pool... has to be his favorite place to be... and it keeps him contained in one place...

That's all for now- but a few pics of the little guy for you to enjoy!

We are HOME!!!!

And so glad to be here!
I have a lot to update on.... but one piece of business, Galya, we don't have your email address and would like to email you... if you can please email us at k.zickel@insightbb.com! Thanks... and do you happen to know what "tooka" or "tuka" or "tukya" might be, he says it all the time, and seems to be happy to say it but we don't have a clue what it is!

So, since I last updated here is a very quick run down

On Monday we travelled back to Preluky.
On Tuesday we went to Eli's birth city and got his birth certificate switched with us listed as the parents, then we headed to Cherniv to do something- not sure what and back to Preluky to get Eli from the orphanage, it took a while but by around 4 pm we had him in the car and were out of there for good... we headed back to Kiev and spent our first night together- just Kenny, Eli and me.
On Wednesday- Galya had to head back to Cherniv to get the passport so we spent the entire day with Eli... we played, went shopping to buy him some underwear and took him to McDonalds where he ate his first Happy Meal- and it sure did make him Happy- he ate every last bit of it in no time flat!
On Thursday it was off to the medical exam- where he did excellent with the doctor, totally cooperating and answering all of his questions, he had gained 2 pounds since we had been to the doctor about 2 weeks before! Then off to the US Embassy to get his Visa... we had a few hours to spare before we headed back to the Embassy to find out the great news that his Visa was ready so we were free to fly home on Friday.
On Friday we started a very long trip... it was so sad to leave Galya--- she was so amazing, I couldn't fight back the tears... I admit, I was completely scared to get on that plane with that guy without her there... and then when we got on it Eli totally lost it, he was going crazy... the gentleman next to me asked if it was his first time flying, I explained it was, and it was complicated by the fact that we had no idea what he was saying... well what do you know but this guy spoke fluent Ukrainian and English and was AMAZING with kids... he was able to help us calm down Eli... a TRUE blessing! The next two flights he was fine, well if you call standing up telling everyone HI and waving fine! Kenny and I decided we were going to try to keep him up and get him nearer to US time... and it sort of worked! he is pretty adjusted already to the time... so, we landed in Louisville right around 10pm on Friday and were greeted by a small group of family... we pretty much ran to the gate to see Jake... and the tears were flowing from all of us... (OH- and Jake's hair was cut SHORT--- but he looks so handsome!) Eli was a little timid.... he said hi to Jake but really wanted either Kenny or I to hold him... then we went to the house where they had Papa Johns Pizza waiting for us!!! YUM a true taste of America! Eli was checking everything out but still not talking much, then, he was sitting at the table, just him and Pop (that is my dad) eating his pizza, and Eli bent over to his side, popped back up and said cookoo, which is basically Ukrainian for peeakaboo! it was precious, after that he was Mr Talkative.

So--- we have been home now for 3 days and the little guy is transitioning very well... in the first few days here he has been to 2 baseball games, 1 softball game, a cookout, eaten at Wendy's, been to a Father's Day Brunch, ridden his bike and fallen down the steps. He is sleeping pretty well at night, but isn't much for naps during the day. He is a superstar at the ballpark, first of all he is the Red Sox (Jake's team) good luck charm, they won the last 2 games he has been at and are now in the Championship game... he loves to talk to people, say "hi", wave, throw the ball, play on the playground and is so happy when we are up there!

Not that it has been all great, he is super active, keeping us running at all times, we have had a few communication problems, but he seems to be learning more each day... today he went to the kitchen, moved a chair to the sink, climbed up, got out the cup he had been using earlier, walked over to me and said "WATER" can you believe it!!! I about flipped out... after 2 days! He seems to be understanding some of what we are saying to him... we are making it work some how!

I will post more in the next few days... trying to get back in the swing of things, but mainly focusing on trying to love on this little guy as much as we can and make sure that he knows that he is not going anywhere and like it or not he is stuck with us forever!

Kenny and I want to thank everyone for all of your support... all of your comments on this blog has meant so much to us... I want to keep it going for a while to keep documenting Eli's progress! Hope you continue to stop by and see what we are up to :)

All our Love, Kenny, Shannon, Jake and Eli!

Meet Eli....

Here is our little guy.... again, he doesn't like getting his picture yet, but as soon as he can understand English and we can bribe him like we do Jake then I am sure his attitude toward the camera will change ;)

So... is he not ADORABLE!!!! can't wait for you all to meet him in person... but be forwarned, he is a little shy at first, but once he gets past that he is all personality!

We will keep this one short, I want to make sure the pictures get loaded... we are back in Kiev until tomorrow, we will go get our plane tickets tomorrow and then head back to Preluky for one more night... we should be taking him out of the orphanage on Tuesday, then coming right back to Kiev... our plans are to fly home on Friday! we will arrive late on Friday night---- (for a while we thought we might be able to get out of here on Thursday, but there are NO flights leaving on Thursday, can you believe that!) Anyway, we are excited to be in our last few days... now we are off to Fridays again!!!! Chicken fingers and honey mustard here I come!

One week and counting!

First off, Mom you had us all rolling, if you didn't read my mom's comment on the last blog post you have to... it is hysterical... actually Kenny and I were thinking about souveniers and we thought we didn't need to buy you one, that we would just let you have Eli for a month... isn't a new grandson enough of a souvenier???? imagine a month with a 4 year old has to be easier than a month with an 8 year old!!!!

So, today we visited our little guy again, and let me tell you- he really is all about testing his freedom with us... when the room "mamas" are around he is all business, doing exactly what he is told... minding, behaving, when he gets us alone, he is a holy terror! Galya even taught us to say "Mama scazala..." like in Mama says no, or mama says come here... it is suppossed to be very intimidating... well not so much, he just turns and laughs and goes right back to what he is doing... yep, we have a little handful here... We gave him a granola bar for the first time today, he loved that, and he can't get enough of the juice boxes, he literally starts drinking and doesn't stop until it is all gone. We also tried on some of the clothes we bought him today, he got so excited, and didn't want to take them off, maybe he really doesn't like wearing Minnie Mouse clothing! We will visit Eli again tomorrow morning and then we are headed back to Kiev for the rest of Saturday and Sunday, we will return her to Preluky on Monday for hopefully just one more night... if all goes well Monday and Tuesday we will be able to take him from the orphanage for good on Tuesday night and head back to Kiev!

Last night we taught Galya how to play Sequence, and after a few games she really got the hang of it, actually too well, she beat us both 3 in a row! Beginners Luck! Then we started in with the Sopranos---- we had some difficulty with the season 1 disc so we ended up skipping to season 2... intense show! we have that on the agenda again for tonight!

We haven't commented much on the Ukrainian lifestyle... a few things that we have noticed. First, everyone eats icecream ALL THE TIME. I mean at any point there are 20 people on the street eating icecream, doesn't matter if it is 8 am or 8 pm... it is all the time... the same goes for drinking beer... come to think of it Angie and Todd would fit right in here, people are short and drink beer all the time (Love you guys!) However Angie's fashion taste- you know the sweatpants!!!! would certainly not fit in here... the women are dressed up ALL THE TIME... we were told to dress simply so not to bring attention to ourselves, well dressing simply does bring attention to us... the women of all ages are seriously dressed as if they were headed to a night club.... the more clevage the better, this includes the children, pre teens and teenagers! and the heels!!!! wow! and they walk EVERWHERE in 3 or 4 inch heels with straps going half way up their legs! Oh, also, it is not important at all for your clothes to match... they rarely do, and that isn't just in the orphanage, and for the hair, well Kenny swears there was a clearance sale on Clairol Pink hair color, since almost every hair style has a bit of pink in it! As for the guys it is all about the Adidas and Nike shirts, the tighter the better, and sandals with SOCKS! yep, have to wear the socks with the sandals! Shorts are very rare... and Dolce and Gabana is the choice knock off designer brand for everyone! Yep, Kenny and I stick out like crazy as the American Tourists! And another thing... driving, you know street signs, lines on the road, stop lights are all just "suggestions" you can really do whatever you want, even drive and park on the sidewalks! Pedestrians don't get angry, they just get out of the way! And the bike riders, seriously, not sure how they stay on the bikes... the drivers whiz by them within inches going 50mph or more and they don't even wobble... me, I would be lying flat on the road! And the dogs and cats, they just roam around everywhere, they know to get out of the way of cars too... Kenny swears he saw a bobcat walking the streets yesterday, I didn't see it, but I actually believe that he saw it!

Well that is it for today... a few business things... Paige- so excited about the primary color dump trucks!!!!!! exactly the look I was hoping for ;) no really, we sent you and mom and Beaven some emails... if you don't get them please call us tomorrow at the apartment in Kiev or at the other number I gave Dad, we might need some help with our plane tickets, it seems as if some of our emails aren't getting through... and tell Clay we are so excited he got a hit!

Again, all our love, we miss you all.. can't wait to be home!

Oh- one final note... Eli learned to say Jake!!!!! :) and he can point him out in the pictures! Jake your little brother can't wait to meet you!


Kenny and Shannon

Real quick post tonight

sorry, we were late getting to the internet cafe and only have a few minutes left... we spent most of our time again trying to get a picture to you all, we have tried emailing it to both mom and Paige, hopefully they will get it and can share. We bought Eli a few things to wear today when he gets to leave the orphanage, not much of a selection here, really doesn't fit in with my Gap and Abercrombie taste ;)

Other than that last night Kenny and I took up our Rummy game again and guess who is in the lead now... yep that is right!!!! I have taken control... I made it to 2000 first, he doesn't believe me when I said we were playing 2000 Rummy. And then we watched Napoleon Dynamite... OK, who thought this movie was good???? we just kept waiting for there to be a plot... oh well, hopefully our movie choice will be better tonight, OK, only a few more seconds... got to go, love you all and will type more tomorrow!

Kenny and Shannon