Batman opened a can of worms

Batman is a pretty prominent figure in our house. He is by far Sam's favorite superhero and when we found a kid's book on batman at the library yesterday it seemed like a major find. The book is written like a very simple comic book that explains how Batman became Batman. Tonight Sam wanted to read it before bed and when we got to the part where Batman's parents died I was trying to explain why Batman was sad. I could tell the minute Sam sort of understood because his eyes filled with tears and he looked up at me and said "Nee desky dom" which means "no orphanage". I immediately started backtracking, reassuring, hugging, kissing, anything I could think of to explain that we weren't going to die and Sam wasn't going back to the orphanage.

All of the books, and every social worker tells you to talk openly about the adoption and your child's story. They don't tell you what to do when they understand just enough English to get the whole story confused. Sam doesn't understand tenses so everything you tell him is right now. And no matter how many times I try to explain that he had a Russian mama and papa and now he has an American mama and papa it isn't making sense. It broke my heart how terrified and sad he was. I don't want to mistake fear for connection but when he calmed down we just laid in bed together whispering about how much I loved him and he would whisper back that he loved me. I want him to fall asleep with the idea in his head that he is loved.

Other than that we are doing great. Sam is excited for Christmas without really understanding what it means. I have literally wrapped Christmas presents for him right behind him while he watched cartoons and he didn't even notice. At this point I think the pile of presents may be bigger than Sam.

We've had really cold weather the last week including some snow (see pictures below). Sam liked the snow but wasn't wildly ecstatic about it the way most kids in Tennessee get. All those years living in Russia made him a bit impervious.

His English seems to be growing in leaps and bounds. My favorites currently are the way he says "you're welcome" whenever he hears the words thank you and the way he says "it's okay" every time I apologize for something.

We are so lucky to have Sam. He is sweet and loving and curious and smart and everything a little boy ought to be.

One Month Home

We've been home one month as of yesterday. I can't really believe it, since it seems like a week and yet it's hard to remember our house without Sam in it. In the past month he's been to the doctor, tried to go to church, learned his whole alphabet, celebrated mama's birthday, had a birthday, made new friends, watched a million hours of Super Why!, charmed all of his grandparents, and stolen all of our hearts.

For any of you that our curious here is where Sam is at in the following areas:

Bonding: This is a work in progress. Sam is just starting to really believe that this is permanent. He loves when Tim and I tell him that we are his mama and papa forever, he loves when we empathize with his dislike and fear of the orphanage, he will make eye contact with us on his own but not for an extended period of time. He loves his Papa to death, literally I think it may be killing Tim. If Tim is home Sam is glued to him. Sam loves mama in a different way. If he needs something than he usually asks mama, and at bedtime it is the mama show. He is so sweet when we snuggle and he rubs my hair and gives me little kisses.

English: Also a work in progress. He learns words quickly, and understands a lot. He loves when he can use a word spontaneously and gets lots of praise for it. My favorite thing is when he says "Say thank you Sam." when he does something for you. He can count to fourteen and knows about 50 words. I may be hurting this more than helping because I let him get away with too much Russian and I speak too much Russian to him. It's easier to communicate with him in Russian but know one else can.

Here are some things that Sam is doing right now that I don't ever want to forget:

The way he sings along to everything when he doesn't know the words. My favorite is a Super Why song where Princess Presto says "S-P-E-L-L, I really love to spell." and he sings the letters with his little accent. Super cute.

The licking. Two hours with Miss Lesley's golden retriever and Sam replaced kissing with licking. Super gross but also kinda cute.

The way he says "Santa Claus" and you hear the magic in his voice. Not everyone is into Santa but I'm not going to take that magic away.

How much he loves games. Any games, board games, computer games, made up games. He fits right into our family.

The way he runs to the door when he hears the garage door open in the afternoon screaming "Papa, Papa!" Dad is totally a rockstar in this house.

Sam's favorite song is "Fe, fi, fo" which is a little song they sang on Super Why.

How he says Henri's name "Kenari"

There is more stuff I'm sure that I'm not thinking of.

Okay, here's what you came here for. Pictures from the last month!