Henry goes to the doctor

Today I took Henry to the doctor for a "weigh in". The doctor wants to check Henry's weight periodically because of his tummy troubles. She wants to make sure he is not losing weight. I was pretty sure Henry had gained weight because he feels soooo heavy.

I knew the news was good when the doctor came in with a huge smile on her face. In January Henry was in the 16 percentile for weight. Today Henry is in the 58th percentile. Even though Henry still has tummy issues his periodic weigh-ins are over! The doctor is so pleased with his progress and so am I. Henry has grown an inch since January. My baby is no longer a baby.....

Henry loves to try new things. The other day he decided to ride Igor's scooter. Henry's scooter has three wheels, Igor's scooter has two wheels so it is a lot harder to ride, not to mention the handle bars are as high as he is tall. To my surprise Henry can ride Igor's scooter and he REALLY enjoys it. ahhh, but don't tell Igor, he doesn't like it when Henry touches his stuff.

Igor finished his last art class on Saturday. He starts T-ball next month. These are the last two paintings for a while.

Igor goes to art school

After months of talking about it, Rob and I finally enrolled Igor in art school. Igor has painted numerous canvases. He loves to paint and seems to be gifted in this area so we thought Igor would love the idea. When we mentioned the class to Igor he was really upset, he really wants a break from school on the weekends. We explained it won't be the same as school, he will get to draw and paint for 90 minutes without Henry interrupting. He agreed to try one class.

This morning I took Igor to his art class. The teacher reminds me a little bit of Ms. Joya, his nursery school teacher, except she is more animated. She uses the following words: nurture, imagination, create, explore, sensitive.... I knew Igor would love the class. The teacher plays classical music in the background while the children draw a picture to warm up their fingers then they paint or draw with charcoal or pastels.

Today Igor started painting a green meadow with a brilliant orange sky. I was really impressed. The teacher helped him match the colors for a striking contrast. She said that Igor is painting in the Picasso style- meaning layering of colors. I'm not a fan of Picasso's painting but I don't think Igor's painting will look anything like a Picasso. I cannot wait to see the finished piece next month.

Fundraiser, adoption timeline, bear, the boy's room & paintings

Fundraiser:
Last night our church hosted a fundraising dinner for our adoption! It was so sweet to see so many come out to support our adoption. A BIG thanks to Faye for making the event happen and for a wonderful meal.
I made caramel corn for each person to take home as a favor. We also printed up cards with adoption prayer requests and Ethiopian statistics. Here are the statics we shared:
Total population: 77 million

The average income in Ethiopia is US$100 a year. Almost 82% of the population lives on less than $1 a day.

Malnutrition levels are among the highest in the world.

The average life expectancy is 43 years.

Ethiopia is home to 4 million orphans, or 12% of all children. More than half a million of these were orphaned as a result of AIDS.

Literacy rate: 42.7% age 15 and over can read and write.

Only 18 percent of children reach grade five.

Ethiopia's neonatal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world - 49/1000 births with tetanus infection being the second major cause of infant/neonatal death.

Statistics are from the CIA, Save the children, WHO and UNICEF websites



Adoption timeline
Our Family Coordinator and I were able to touch base this week. She was able to clear up our questions that resulted from the conference call. The only restriction we fall under is our Ethiopian child most be 2 years younger than Igor. Duni encouraged us to think outside our age range of 22-48 months since there are fewer children in this age range. She stated the wait is longer for a toddler than an infant. The toddler wait is 7-9 months. Rob and I agree that we will stay with a toddler request for now. We are entering our 6th month of waiting so we have more waiting to do!

Bear & the boy's room
Igor and I found this adorable bear for $2.50. (I LOVE a great sale.) We thought it would be a perfect stuffed animal to send to BOC (Igor's name for his brother) when we receive his referral. We are taking turns sleeping with bear so it will smell like us.


Bear is sitting on the new bedspread purchased for Igor and BOC's bunk beds. Igor did some paintings to help tie the colors of his dresser, walls, curtains and bedspreads together. I need to touch up the wall paint in the boy's room and we'll be done!

Nana and Babushka requested paintings. Babushka's painting (left) is simple and bright. Nana's painting (right) is deep and moody.