First days with the newbies.....

Too, too funny. Wild times and priceless moments of challenge filled these past couple of days with our new sons. We are trying to soften the edges on our parenting, but the little one (Alexander Yarik) will paint you into a corner very quickly. His hot temper demands immediate attention (our will against his 2yr 6mo will), and the poor kid just can't get over that we will simply not back down from the big bad man that he is.

Our second youngest son, Andrew Nikolai (Kolya) is a pure joy who is only mildly difficult at his absolute worst. Like any kid though, he will still crawl under folks' skin if they let him. Like our Joshua at home, he is verbally relentless until you either politely tell him to hush or you give him what he seeks. He is easily the most sensitive of the four boys and must be watched closely by the hurt feelings police. He will not be overt about his tenderness; rather he'll just find a quiet place to shed silent tears while trying to talk himself back in the game. At night, the poor thing appears to be worried that if we leave him in the bedroom without falling asleep with him that we will not be there in the morning. This must be the emotional scarring from a year and a half in the orphanage. Maybe he still remembers (even if subconsciously) his mother and the circumstances which drove their family apart. The kid is sweeter than the day is long though. Kinda like his dad - sensitivity and sweetness - God bless him. Andrew really has no idea what is in store for him when he gets home - he will be very happy.

Our youngest one, Alexander Yarik, is quite the pistol. He is relatively undersized for his 2 and a half years (think 18 month old size) but he more than makes up for it with sheer grit and determination. Of course, with those traits come the requisite stubbornness and single-minded behaviors as well. We are still trying to figure out this poor kid's internal clock when it comes to feeding time and nappy's house. This guy will absolutely shut it down and just squat when he has had enough of any situation not to his liking IF CAUGHT AT THE WRONG TIME. Today he just off and threw a couple of tantrums as we approached his normal nap time of 1PM. I think he must've lost approximately 1.75 liters (we are in Europe) of tears, snot, spit, and sweat as he struggled with us on the way home from a little amusement park. We thought that once home he would crash from utter exhaustion considering his colorful display all the way back. Alas, we were so very alarmed to find that he has an easily-tapped extra reserve for fit-pitching. Eventually, he did pass out from self-induced oxygen starvation and took a nice little nap. Tonight at dinner we had a huge turning point. He started to pitch a fit when we wanted him to eat his main dish before his banana, but he quickly realized the battle of the wills would not be won by whining. We feel well on the way to obedience, but we know there are many tough but fun days ahead.

Late Breaking News: We had our best evening yet tonight. First, there was no whining at dinner (mentioned above). Next, we had a great Skype with Aunt Teresa. We also had no tears during shower time as the boys shared the shower with their Mom. (Trust me, she could make a grown man cry though). Anyway, night-night time went swell too - no separation tears from Andrew tonight. Our translator Katja has been relaying to him that we will be there in the morning-time no matter what.

There's more to come later......