Slammed

I cannot get over how busy we have been since arriving home! I have loved every second of it, especially reconnecting with our family and friends after being away for 2.5 months.

Some Firsts for Rance:
-Lots of food! We've been introducing him to mroe and more new foods, and for the most part, he loves them all!
-Lemonade-He loves it!
-First Pediatrician Appointment
    He had to get his finger poked and he cried more than Cavin did, and he got 3 shots! Other than that, he did great! He is 44 inches tall and 39 pounds!
-First Eye Doctor's Appointment
    We are thankful some friends of ours referred us to an amazing pediatric eye specialist. They were so sweet with Rance, while I was impressed with the amount of English Rance had learned already!  We were pleased to confirm that he basically has 20/20 vision. He will be having eye surgery on March 30, it should be an in and out kind of deal.
-Wii
    A fellow in our small group introduced Rance to the Wii and he has been addicted since! We got him a Diego game which is perfect for his English level as it illustrates each direction given. He also loves bowling.
-Babysitter
    Matt and I were invited to a trivia night with some friends of ours, and while we wanted to go, we were hesitant to leave Rance. However, it just so happened these friends had adopted 2 girls from Russia about 5 or 6 years ago, who are now a sophomore and a senior. They also have two boys, a seventh and fourth grader. So we decided to give it a try. Rance did fabulous and we enjoyed our first night away in months!
-Challenge
    Rance attended his first Wednesday night class, after some convincing, all by himself. It helps that he clicked with another boy his age who was in the class as well! He really liked it, especially his teachers!
-Magic House
    We were blessed by some friends of ours who allowed the boys and I to use some of their guest passes and hang out with them for the day! Both boys had a lot of fun. I think Rance's favorite was the bubble room!
-Playtime Party Center
    Oversized McDonald's playground, lots of video games. Both of the boys had fun. Cavin of course loved the little mini pop-a-shot, and Rance loved the brightest games that made the most noise!
-Red Robin
    If you know Matt well, you know how important this is! Lol.
-Movie
    A local theatre here hosted a winter family series in which they showed old movies for free. We managed to make it to the last one, How to Train a Dragon in 10 Days. Rance loved it! We were also surprised at how well Cavin sat and watched it.
-Family Pictures
    I am curious to see how they turned out, it seems when one boy was cooperating the other wasn't and vice versa!
-Gymnastics
    This is something Matt and I debated, mainly because its kind of pricey for our budget, but Rance loves to do handstands, summersaults and backwards summersaults to flip up onto his feet. With his eye condition sports at this time aren't a great option, and with him being underdeveloped physically for his age, well, we decided it would be worth the financial sacrifice. He had his first class on Monday, and he smiled from ear to ear the entire time! He absolutely loved it. His teacher was impressed with his natural ability, and even more impressed when she found out he had no other training and just came from an orphanage a bit over a month ago. I think it will be well worth a little sacrifice on our end!


  In other news, Rance continues surprise us with how quickly he is learning English and how well he continues to adjust. School is slowly growing on him. I actually think he really likes school, he just doesn't want to leave home or his family. He is really learning a lot. Rance also loves music. Anytime we are in the car he asks us to turn on HIS music! I don't mind so much but I think Matt kind of misses listening to talk radio on his way to work on the days he takes Rance to school! He knows most of the words to a lot of songs. We have a lot of fun singing together as a family and teaching Rance the motions. It melts my heart when we're out and about to hear Rance sing, "My God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there's nothing my God cannot do..." his favorite song. I doubt he truly understands what he is singing orhow big God has already been in his life.

  Cavin is in one word, trouble. He is into everything but his toys it seems! He does love to play basketball with his new hoop he got for Christmas! He's getting pretty good!! He has learned he is just tall enough to get into all kinds of new trouble. On his tippy toes he can help himself to a drink of water from the fridge dispenser, pull things off the cabinets and open the doors.

  The other morning I was helping Rance for a few minutes when I felt a cool draft of air. I looked up to see the garage door wide open. I hurriedly slipped on some of Matt's shoes that were by the door and ran outside to find Cavin almost all the way down the driveway, in his jammies, happy as can be. As I scooped him up into my arms he giggled away. I seriously can't take my eyes off him for even a minute or two!

  The boys have totally bonded. I always go inside to pick up Rance from school. I had stopped to talk to Matt, but Cavin had kept walking to where the kids were waiting. As soon as they saw each other, Cavin excitedly started laughing and began to run towards Rance with his arms outstretched, while Rance excitedly yelled "Cavin!" and ran towards him, picking up Cavin in a hug with lots of giggles. A moment my heart will treasure forever.