2012 Bulgaria Adoptive Families Reunion

The Kids

We attended the annual Bulgaria Adoptive Families Reunion on 6/22, 6/23 and 6/24 at Winton Woods Campground in Cincinnati.  We had an amazing time connecting with other families with little ones from Bulgaria.  We have been in touch with many of these families through our blog and FaceBook for quite some time, so it was neat to meet in person.

Tired Boy!!

We left home on Friday morning and made stops at Red Robin, IKEA and Jungle Jim's International Market.  We arrived at the campground around 4:00pm and checked in to our Deluxe Cabin.  Those who know us well know that we are not campers, so we were thankful to stay in a cabin that had a real bed, a full bathroom, kitchen, television with cable, internet and air conditioning.  We forgot the pack-n-play at home, but Nikolas did just fine sleeping on the pull-out sofa bed.  I guess it's a sign he's almost ready for a big boy bed of his own. 

Alexander, Calvin and Nikolas
The Dobrich Boys

After we got settled we went outside to get acquainted with everyone.  Nikolas immediately connected with Alexander, who is the same age and also from Dobrich.  We know they were around each other in the orphanage, and I think they just might have remembered each other.  We spent the evening visiting with everyone and had a wonderful time.  Bathtime and bedtime were a little rough for Nikolas, but he eventually got to sleep and only woke up once in the middle of the night.

At the Splash Park

Saturday was a great day.  We had breakfast at the campground and visited with friends while Nikolas played with his new friends.  We took a break for lunch and a little nap before meeting up with friends and heading to the Splash Park on the other side of the campground.  Nikolas doesn't like getting sprayed from above, but he was okay with the small fountains.  They also put in some new playground equipment recently that was very nice.  He spent a lot of time playing with his friends in that area.  After some ice cream, we headed back to the cabin to get cleaned up for dinner.  We had a great potluck dinner followed by a campfire.  There was a lot of good food, Bulgarian music, and dancing.  Some of the local Bulgarians were able to join us for the evening.  Bedtime went so much better that night.


On Sunday morning we had breakfast with our friends and said our goodbyes and headed home.  We all had a wonderful time and have already reserved a cabin for next year!!

10 Month Update

This week marked ten weeks home for Nikolas. I don't have a lot to say about this month, so this update will be mostly pictures of our adorable little Bulgarian boy.  He is now weighing in at 27 pounds and is 37 inches tall.  He continues to be a good eater.  We've been pushing him to eat more independently, and his fork and spoon skills have improved so much over the past couple of weeks.  He's not the neatest eater, but he's definitely getting the food from his plate to his mouth.  His speech isn't progressing much.  He will mimic sounds (especially if they are on television), but he still refuses to repeat words.  He starts speech therapy on Tuesday, so hopefully his speech therapist will be able to pull some words out of him.  We have noticed that he seeks us out for comfort more often when he falls down.  He wants a kiss (usually on his forearm), and then he's on his way.  He's been going to Kids Club at the gym for a couple of months, and I'm finally starting to see him interacting with the other children.  The other day when I went to pick him up he was building a Lincoln Log house with a few other little ones, and he seemed to be enjoying himself.  He likes the ladies that work there and is comfortable staying with them while I go to my Aqua Fit class.  Here are some pictures:






    
For those of you who are attending the reunion, we look forward to seeing you all in a few weeks!!

Happy Birthday Nikolas!!

Three years ago (May 5, 2009) in the small town of Dobrich, Bulgaria, a woman gave birth to a tiny baby boy.  I'll most likely never meet her, but I do think of her often, especially on days like today.  I wonder if she's thinking about the son she never got to know.  I wish I could let her know that he's doing well and that he is surrounded by so many people who love him dearly.

We had a wonderful party on Saturday to celebrate his third birthday (and his first birthday at home with a family).  I don't think he understood what we were celebrating, but he clearly knew that the party was all about him.  Thirteen of his family members helped him celebrate this special day with a cookout, presents and cake.  He was excited from the moment he woke up and saw the balloons to the time he went to bed that night.

It was a warm, sunny day that was perfect for grilling.  Jason grilled hamburgers and hot dogs, and we also had chips, macaroni salad, an Elmo fruit tray and an Oscar veggie tray for lunch.  Putting together the fruit and veggies trays was so much fun.  I enjoyed having the opportunity to be creative with food.  My friend Valerie made an adorable (and tasty!) Elmo cake.  He also opened many great gifts that included a remote control car, a lawnmower that blows bubbles, a bowling set, a golf set, a dump truck, an ABC Dino, a water table, a small table and chair set, a Mickey Mouse piano, a DVD, glow in the dark bubbles, and some new clothes.  We're having a great time playing together with his new toys.

Last year at this time we were waiting on signatures at the MOJ while our baby boy was in an orphanage on the other side of the world.  Now he's been home with us for a little over nine months.  I enjoyed being able to celebrate this very special day and look forward to celebrating many more birthdays together.

Nine Months Home

This week marks the nine month anniversary of Nikolas' homecoming.  The last month has been a busy one for us.  We received our report from the therapists who evaluated Nikolas through the First Steps program.  The results were as we expected.  He scored below average in almost every area of development.  Since he was over 2.5 at the time of his evaluation, he does not qualify for services through the First Steps program, but he should qualify for services through the school system.  We had a meeting with a representative from the school system to talk about the developmental preschool program.  Although we won't know for sure if he qualifies until after their evaluation, the representative thinks he should based on his First Steps evaluation and the fact that he's still not talking.  He babbles non-stop and is capable of saying words, but he refuses to say anything other than hi and bye.  (He was speaking a little before his surgery last fall, but he stopped at that point and never started again.)  If all goes as planned, he will start in their developmental preschool program this fall.  He will go five days a week for a few hours each morning.  During school he'll also work one-on-one with a speech therapist.  They offer a bus service that will pick him up and drop him off in our driveway.  It sounds like it will be a great program for him.

His Developmental Pediatrician at Riley recommended some private speech therapy over the summer, so we're working on getting that set up.  We also scheduled a hearing test at her request to rule out any hearing problems.  We'll be heading back to Riley in a couple of weeks for that.

We saw his Orthopedic Specialist at Riley a couple of weeks ago.  She was very pleased with the way his feet have responded to the surgery, and he no longer has to wear his AFO's during the day.  He does still wear his brace at night when he sleeps and will continue to do that for at least another year.  He walks so much better now that he wears shoes that actually fit his feet instead of the larger shoes to accommodate his AFO's.  He doesn't fall down as much and he's getting even faster!!  We will see her again in six months for a follow-up appointment.

Nikolas celebrated his first Easter this month.  We visited my family on Easter weekend, and we went to Cincinnati the following weekend (Orthodox Easter) to celebrate with the Bulgarian community.  I love being able to expose Nikolas to Bulgarian people, music, language and culture.  They are such a friendly group of people.  Nikolas enjoyed being able to spend time with his friend Emilia.  They came from the same orphanage in Dobrich and most likely knew each other long before they came to the United States.  It didn't take him long to figure out how to hunt for eggs.  He still plays with his Elmo basket and plastic eggs every single day.

He is doing so much better with playing with toys.  He prefers trucks, balls and his little laptop computer.  He's also getting better at puzzles.  Yesterday I asked him to pick up his toys and came back to find both of the puzzles completed with the pieces all in the right spots.  He's struggled with puzzles, so it's great to see him finally figure them out.  His new favorite television programs are Go, Diego, Go! and Blue's Clues.  He also likes Elmo.  Nikolas turns three on May 7th, and he'll be celebrating with his family with an Elmo-themed party next weekend.  He continues to be an active, happy little boy who is thriving in his new environment.   
  

Passport Time

We decided it was time to get Nikolas a US Passport. He's changed so much since July. The picture on the left (Bulgarian passport photo) was taken after a rough 7 hour car ride through the Balkan Mountains. The picture on the right (US passport photo) was taken last week. He truly is a different little boy.