Preschool Fun

Nikolas started developmental preschool two weeks ago and is absolutely loving it.  He goes to school every weekday from 8:50am - 11:30am.  He rides the bus to and from school, and I think that might just be his favorite part of the day.  He also qualified for extra OT, PT and speech/language therapy, so he gets that each week in addition to his private therapy.  (He has one hour of OT, one hour of PT and 45 minutes of speech/language therapy at Community each week.)  

His teacher is great!  She keeps the day very structured and uses picture schedules for each child.  She also sends home a report every day so we know what he did that day.  There are eight students in his class with three adults watching over them.  I'm so glad we went this route instead of placing him in a regular preschool setting.

Fall Fun

We've had a very busy fall full of lots of fun activities.  The weather has been amazing so we've been taking full advantage of it.  Nikolas had full casts on both legs at this time last year, so he's getting to do a lot of these things for the first time. 

Jason's parents and brother visited a couple of weeks ago and we were able to take a trip to the apple orchard to pick some apples.  We picked apples, played in the straw and brought home a nice, big pumpkin.  We turned many of those apples into tasty apple bread and apple muffins.

We carved our pumpkin last weekend.  Of course Nikolas wouldn't pull out the seeds since he hates getting his hands dirty, but he loved watching.  He's very proud of his little jack-o-lantern.

We went to the Indianapolis Zoo for the annual ZooBoo.  Nikolas wore his monkey costume and enjoyed trick-or-treating at the treat stations.  Of course we always enjoy seeing the animals.  This year's theme was "The Wonderful World of ZooBoo".  The decorations were so much fun!!  He took his first merry-go-round ride and fed the birds.  He gets so excited when we take him to the zoo.  We'll definitely have a zoo membership as long as he continues to love going.

He's excited to go trick-or-treating on Halloween for the first time.

Nikolas added weekly OT and PT sessions to his scheduled in late September and we're seeing some good progress.  He's not too fond of OT right now, but he loves going to PT.  His speech progression isn't going as quickly as we had hoped, so his therapist has been trying some different techniques to see if we can find something that will work for him. 

He had his evaluation for developmental preschool earlier this month and has qualified for their daily preschool program along with extra OT, PT and speech/language therapy.  We're hoping to be able to back off on some of the private therapy once he gets comfortable with school.  Our case conference is on Monday, and he'll be starting school on the 29th.  He'll go to school five days a week for 2.5 hours a day.  I think it will be good for him to be around other little ones in his own age group.

We're keeping busy and enjoying life and are very excited to see what the future brings. :)  

Our Bahamas Cruise

Last week the three of us headed to Florida and took a Bahamas cruise.  Nikolas loved everything about it and did great.  He always gets excited when he hears/sees an airplane flying overhead, so he was thrilled to see them up close at the airport.  He was great on all four flights.  We packed him a travel suitcase with fun little toys, but he barely touched them due to the excitement around him.

We arrived in Miami on Monday morning and took a shuttle to the port.  Because we had booked a Jr. Suite, we got to bypass the long line of people and check right in.  That was a definite perk.  We enjoyed lunch at the Compass Deli, explored the ship a bit and then headed to our cabin.  We chose a Jr. Suite because it had a bathtub instead of just a shower.  At the time we booked the cruise, Nikolas was terrified of showers and would scream if he got near one.  (Thankfully he is now passed that and loves water being sprayed on his head!!)  We also wanted a balcony so we could sit outside for a while after Nikolas went to bed.  That worked out well, except our neighbors were almost always out there smoking which took away from the enjoyment of being outside.

We gave the dining room a try on the first night, but a two-hour dinner wasn't really fun for Nikolas.  The food in the dining room has really went down in quality since our last cruise.  We chose to have dinner at Johnny Rockets for the rest of the cruise.  The atmosphere was upbeat and the food and sevice were both wonderful.  Nikolas became buddies with a couple of the servers, and they brought him extra treats all week.

We spent Tuesday in Nassau where we took a horse and carriage ride through town and then visited the Straw Market to pick up a few souvenirs.  After lunch we decided to take Nikolas to the pool.  It didn't take him long to get comfortable with the water.  He loved it!!  We had a session with one of the photographers to have him shoot some family photos.  They turned out great. :)

We were scheduled to visit CocoCay on Wednesday, but due to rough seas, we were unable to stop.  Nikolas went to the Fisher Price playgroup and enjoyed playing with the kids.  We all had a relaxing day on the ship.

Thursday was spent in Key West.  It was pretty rainy, but we had purchased tickets for the City View Trolley Tour.  It was a great way to see the island without getting too wet.  The rain let up for a while in the afternoon, so we headed back to the pool for some more swimming.

After disembarking on Friday morning we went to the Holiday Inn on Miami Beach.  We were looking for a family hotel that was right on the beach, and this was a great choice.  After enjoying lunch in their restaurant we spent some time at the beach and then the pool.  Nikolas loved the sand and the waves, and he would have stayed in the pool all day if we would have let him.  We had pizza delivered to our room that night since we were all so tired.

The following afternoon we headed back home.  We all had a wonderful, relaxing time and can't wait until our next family vacation!!

Welcome to Toddlerhood...

We've started to experience some toddler-like behavior from Nikolas over the past few weeks.  He's starting to show his naughty streak, which is actually a good thing.  He's watered our plants with floor cleaner, covered himself with lotion while fully dressed, pulled his wipes out of the container one by one and has developed quite an attitude.  We even had our first mini-tantrum... right in the middle of Old Navy.  While it's not pleasant to deal with, it's great seeing him become more like a typical child his age and less robotic.  We hope he continues to explore his surroundings.

Nikolas has been going to private speech therapy for three months now.  We are seeing some improvement, but he's not progressing as quickly as he should be.  We love his speech therapist and she's going to try some different methods to see if he responds any better.  When we started speech therapy he refused to imitate any sounds.  Now he'll attempt almost anything, but his sounds are very inconsistent.  He's started using about 8 words regularly, so hopefully his vocabulary will continue to expand with some of these new methods.  He knows quite a few other words, too, and he'll use them with prompting.  For example, he just brought me a container of Play-Doh because he wanted me to open it for him.  When I asked him what he wanted, he replied with "pa", which is his word for open.

We met with his Developmental Pediatrician at Riley last month, and she is sending us to a Behavioral-Developmental Pediatrician to see if we can get to the bottom of the cause of his speech delays.  This new doctor specializes in Early Childhood Mental Health and International Adoption, so hopefully we'll get some answers.  They want to rule out any medical concerns based on his background so we can be sure to treat him correctly.  I spoke with his speech therapist about all of this, and she let me know she wasn't worried about him and thinks he'll eventually get where he needs to be.  We will be starting both weekly OT and PT sessions in addition to his speech therapy later this month to help with his developmental delays.  We're also waiting on the school system to schedule his preschool evaluation and then get him started in their developmental preschool program.  I'm struggling to keep up with everything in addition to working 30 hours each week, but I do my best!

We do see many good things.  He loves being read to and will sit through an entire story.  We're seeing small signs of imaginative play, and I think more of that will come as his vocabulary expands.  I've been trying to spend more time doing those types of activities with him to see if he'll do more on his own.  We're getting there, but we have so much farther to go.

We're looking forward to taking a break from everything soon and heading south for a week.  We'll be flying down to Miami, cruising to the Bahamas and Key West, and then spending some more time in Miami before flying home.  This will be Nikolas' first flight since coming home from Bulgaria.  I've been gathering small items to put in his travel backpack that I pray will him busy and pleasant during the flights.  We'll post a trip update when we return!

One Year Ago Today...

One year ago today we landed in Sofia and were reunited with our son after being apart for almost six months.  I can't believe it's been a year already.  He has brought so much joy to our lives, and he is loved by so many.  We've watched Nikolas transform from a scared, infant-like child to an outgoing and confident little boy.  He went from a tiny, malnourished little guy who could barely chew semi-solid foods to a healthy child who loves to eat anything.  When we brought him home he weighed 19 pounds and was 31 inches tall.  Today he weighs 29 pounds and is 38 inches tall.  One year ago he was wearing 6-9 months clothing.  Now he's in a 2T/3T.  He hated baths and screamed the entire time.  Now he loves splashing in the water and pouring water on his face and head.  He is happy, well-adjusted and very attached to both us.  He's gone from shaking a baby rattle to playing with age-appropriate toys.  He's had his club feet surgically corrected and is able to walk and run with ease now.  He's started speech therapy and is starting to talk.  The progress that he's made in the past year is absolutely amazing.

Before and After Photos

The pictures on the left were taken on July 25, 2011.  The top two were taken the morning he left the orphanage, and the bottom photo was taken that evening at the hotel in Sofia.  The photos on the right were taken within the past couple of weeks.  He's wearing the same outfit in most of the photos.  That just shows how far off we were when packing his clothes.

Watching his personality come out over the past year has been so much fun.  I love watching him grow and learn new things.  Seeing his smile when he experiences something new is amazing.  Hearing his laugh when he's happy is the best sound in the world.

So what's next for us?  I've been asked a few times if Nikolas will ever be a big brother.  We have talked about it, and while we would both LOVE to go back to Bulgaria to bring home another little one, unless we stumble upon a very large amount of money, it probably won't be possible.  We do know that God is in control and we need to have faith that if it's meant to be, He will make it happen.