The Diaper Monologues

Coming Soon: Diaperless in Seattle

2010-06-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

In which Roman joins the Seattle Fire Department...

and prepares for Wimbledon ...

while Holly just wonders if the doggie bagel she buried in March is ready to eat...

Santa Paws!

2010-01-15T19:29:00.000-08:00

Just a quick Christmassy update as we didn't have time to write a Christmas blog due to Helen's 3 week long bout with Swine Flu (we think the Grinch must have visited us this year). Luckily Rich and Roman were OK. Roman had the Swine Flu vaccine and Rich just got lucky and managed to avoid the bug.

Although Helen was too sick to join in the festivities, the rest of the family had a pretty merry time (as you can see, Holly enjoyed her Christmas Day bone). Roman visited Santa at Cougar Mountain Zoo in Issaquah. He loves to feed Santa's reindeer at the zoo on the way up to Santa's house.

We actually celebrated Christmas Day properly on New Year's Day, when Helen was feeling a bit better. There was no way we were going to miss the British tradition of Christmas crackers and a blazing Christmas pudding with custard.

The boys on "Christmas Day" (actually New Year's Day).

Right before the Swine Flu struck, we had a lovely visit to Georgia to see Grandma Victoria and Grandpa Gene and Aunt Bekke, and Uncle Steve. Aunt Kathy from Wisconsin was also visiting!

The Rascal, Grandma Victoria, Aunt Bekke, Aunt Kathy

The Rascal and Uncle Steve

65F in December? Maybe we should move to Georgia....

With Grandma Victoria and Uncle Gene

A Christmas Romanism especially for us Washington State people..

Mommy, where does Santa live?

He lives at the North Pole sweetie

Where's that?

Well, it's a very long way north, right at the top of the Earth

Is it as far north as Everett?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

A Spooky Diaper Monologue

2009-12-05T21:03:00.000-08:00

We can tell that winter is almost here by the frost on Holly's tail, the Christmas tree placed precariously in our living room, and Roman's obsession with the physics of just how Santa can get all those presents down the chimney.

But the first sign of chilly weather was the arrival of British Grandma (Helen's mum), who loves to join us for trick or treating.

Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble .... (Wm Shakespeare)

But more on the wicked witches later, first we need to update you on our late summer activities.

September 10th was Roman's 3rd birthday. To celebrate his officially leaving toddlerhood behind and becoming a "preschooler," we had a construction party complete with caution tape, orange cones, and diggers.

Aunt Mari and Aunt JoAnn's cake was a big hit (it included chocolate "dirt," gummy worms, and orange icing).

Construction vehicles are Roman's current passion. Last year it was all about Thomas the Tank Engine(and he still is a big Thomas fan) but this year it had to be construction, fire engines or recycle trucks (with spiders, worms, and penguins also in the running).

Creative wrapping paper from Polina (thank you Sharokh)

Liam, Polina and Kally with the Stomp Rocket!

Luke retrieves a rocket from the construction site

Roman hanging out with "Big Kids" Natalie, Nicole and Liam

A big thank you to everyone who came and helped make it such a fun party.

Totally unplanned, a construction crew turned up right outside our house the next day and, of course, they let Roman drive their backhoe! The perfect end to a wonderful birthday.

After a morning of digger driving, we set off for Eastern Washington to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa in Davenport (a 7 hour drive with a 3 year old, a 4 hour drive without one). Roman is surprisingly good on road trips. It helps that he has a passion for all motor vehicles, so driving down I-90 is fascinating for him. We turn our road trips into adventures and stop when we see something fun. It's been interesting for us too, as we try to take a preschooler's perspective and really stop and smell the roses (or the trucks).

We met up with Cookie Grandma and Poppa Jerry who had driven out from Wisconsin (a 4 day drive, imagine how long that would take with Roman).

With Grandma Lois "Cookie Grandma" and Grandpa "Poppa" Jerry

With Great-Grandpa Harvey and Great Grandma-Mildred

In Great Grandma and Grandpa's garden.

Jerry and Lois were staying with Harvey and Mildred in their tiny house, so we stayed with Rich's Uncle Barry and Aunt Karen in Keller, just a few miles up the road. Roman got along famously with Uncle Barry and Aunt Karen. As you can see, Holly also made herself at home.

Barry drives the Keller Ferry, a small ferry called the "Martha S." that takes passengers and vehicles across the Columbia River. Of course, Roman had to try his hand at driving the ferry, and even Holly got her sea legs!

The Martha S. is 61 years-old. Here she is on her maiden voyage in 1948...

and here she is with Roman at the helm ...

Roman not only "drove" the ferry, he also ate the crew's lunch!

Salty Dog

On the way home from Eastern Washington, the three of us shared the most humongous peach ever in Wenatchee.

Roman and the Giant Peach

Rich wanted to take a short detour through a town called Ritzville "it'll only take 5 minutes he said". Well, he can be forgiven for not realizing that there were several combine harvesters and a John Deere dealership in Ritzville ... that detour took over an hour!

Roman started a new preschool class in September. Check out his snazzy back pack!

He is still in the South Seattle Community College Co-op Preschool but has moved to the Admiral location this year. His new teacher is Teacher Carrie. Some familiar faces from his class last year are also going to Admiral, along with Roman's buddy Sebastian. It's two mornings a week, and each parent volunteers at the preschool on one of those 2 days.

Roman and Sebastian at preschool

In more news .... Holly has a BFF (Best Friend Forever) Lily the pug who stops by to play almost every day. They get along famously, as long as food isn't involved.

mmmm ... after we play, we can polish off those pumpkins.

So fast, they're a blur.

Which brings us back to Halloween, the witching hour, and British Grandma's visit.We paid our annual visit to Remlinger Farms to pick the perfect pumpkin, ride the ponies, and feed the baby cows and goats.

This year, Roman was old enough to go in the corn maze (at least we thought he was). He was certainly old enough to have fun and not get scared but he's so short that we couldn't see him once he was in there. He took great delight in hiding from us and disapperaing through tunnels. A bit scary for mummy, daddy and grandma but he loved it.

He was also old enough (and tall enough) to go on the rides this year, and discovered a new love ... rollercoasters! There is a little wooden coaster there, and Roman wanted to go on it again and again with mummy. It may have been little but it managed to turn Helen's stomach upside down a few times! Roman also enjoyed a trip on the spinning pumpkins with daddy.

Trick or Treating was a whole new adventure this year. Last year, Roman couldn't even say "trick or treat?" This year, he not only yelled "trick or treat" very loudly, but he and his buddies Dawson and Sebastian carried on whole conversations with the people they met. By the end of the evening, they had it down to a science.

Just like last year, Roman picked his outfit. Last year he wanted to be a kitty, this year it was a firefighter (mummy smudged black lipstick on his cheeks which gave him a realistic "sooty" look).

With Dawson (the puffin)

and Sebastian (the dragon)

No need to worry ... the fire department's here!

Sebastian and Roman (every dragon needs a firefighter around just in case he accidently sets something alight with his fiery breath).

Not only did we have fake spiders to decorate our house... we had real spiders too! Roman became rather fond of two spiders that had set up home right outside our front door. He watched them for weeks, and named them "Spi" and "Der" (like Kanga and Roo from Winnie-the Pooh). We put our fake spidersweb up only to find Spi and Der happily climbing across it the next morning. Guess Target's spidersweb is pretty realistic ... it has the spiders' seal of approval!

Closing this blog entry now because we are off to Atlanta in the morning to visit Aunt Bekke, Grandma Victoria, Grandpa Gene (and Aunt Kathy will be there too!). Roman's first time on a plane since the BIG journey back from Russia. We're sure he's going to love it and will be disappointed that the flight crew won't give him a hand at the controls! We'll leave you with some pics and Romanisms...

Approximately 1/3rd of Roman's Hot Wheels/Matchbox collection

Roman had just given Helen a big bubblebath-y hug!

Brother Tom surveying the wildlife ... his confidence as a birder has grown since he almost caught a bird recently. Granted, this was a bird that had flown down our chimney and flew around our living room before we managed to get it out of the window.

British Grandma maintains that she is a "cat person" ...which only made Holly all the more determined ...

Romanisms

Grandma has come home because we love her. (ahhhh)

***

Roman: Mommy, there's a dachshund! I love dachshunds. Can we give Holly away and get a dachshund?

Mommy: Oh no sweetheart, that would be a horrible thing to do, poor Holly.

Roman: If Holly has babies, will they be dachshunds?

***

Mommy: We're going to stay with Aunt Bekke and Uncle Steve in Atlanta. Aunt Bekke has six dogs and a swimming pool!

Roman: Aunt Bekke smokes.

***

Santa comes at Thanksgiving.

***

Mommy: Did you have a good time at Erin and Andy's?

Roman: Yes, we baked cookies with stuffing on them.

The Summer Adventures of the Green Family

2009-09-01T16:29:00.000-07:00

We kicked off our summer in style by tagging along with Holly and her basset pals to Basset Fun Day, supporting Basset Rescue of Puget Sound. Each hound got a free bandana and enjoyed a "basset buffet," with treats especially appealing to our floppy-eared friends. Holly entered some sporting events but unfortunately the lure of a bacon treat was her downfall each time. In the picture below, she is being wooed by one of many suitors.

In this picture, Roman is attempting to get three dogs to "sit." As we told you in an earlier post, Holly has been going to dog training (which is actually more like "owner training"). Roman is surprisingly good at the commanding "alpha-dog" tone but bassets, unfortunately, only pay attention when they feel like it. Holly will sit on command ... if it's the second Wednesday in the month, the moon is in Taurus, and it's raining with a hint of sausage in the air.

One of our favorite activities this summer was exploring Alki Beach and Constellation Park at low tide. We often ventured out to find purple starfish, sea anemones, and lots of crabs. Roman enjoyed splashing in tide pools and chasing mommy with kelp.

Roman is now the fastest thing on three wheels in our neighborhood. He's quite a daredevil on his tricycle and also enjoys riding his three-wheeled scooter. As you can see, it won't be long before he graduates to a bicycle (although Daddy's bike is a bit too big). Roman's big kid pals Devlin and Luke have both given him their old bikes and Roman can't wait to try them out. We just need to get some training wheels, and he'll be off!

He has already asked for a skateboard and a pogo stick (this is what comes of having lots of "big kids" on our street). Santa may (and this is a big MAY) bring a skateboard for Christmas. Mommy and Daddy are still researching it as it appears that it's really something for the 6 plus crowd. However, Roman is riding his scooter (skateboard style) down hills and recently hopped on a stray skateboard, and tried to "do a trick like Liam does." So maybe we have the next Tony Hawk in our midst ...or maybe we have many trips to the ER in our future.

Liam is our 8-year-old neighbor who has a huge trampoline in his back yard, does skateboard tricks down the street, and wanted to take Roman for a ride on his pogo stick. All things, which Roman thinks are extremely COOL. Just wait until he sees snowboards...

At one of our favorite destinations ... Jack Block Park, overlooking the Port of Seattle terminals (Roman could spend a whole morning watching the freight containers being unloaded).

Other summer activities included several Mariners games at Safeco Field. We usually stay for the Seventh Inning Stretch then it's time to head home for bed. Roman's favorite Mariner is the Moose!

We also took Roman to see the Seattle Sounders (Seattle's MLS team). We sat in the Fox Sports suite at Qwest Field, which he loved, but the crowd was way too noisy for him and we had to leave early. He loves soccer but we'll have to start with some smaller venues.

We returned to "Day Out With Thomas" at the Snoqualmie Valley Railway. Roman is a Thomas nut! His favorite characters are Salty, Cranky the Crane, and the extremely stuffy Harold the Helicopter. Roman also enjoys seeing the other steam engines and operating the miniature railway.

The highlight of our summer was WACAP Family Camp at Sun Lakes, Washington. Many families who adopted through WACAP get together for a long weekend each year. There were children from all over the world including Ethiopia, China, Guatemala, Vietnam, Korea, and of course, Russia. We enjoyed spending time with our friends the Ghayems and the Douglasses (Polina and Luke's parents) and meeting other WACAP families. Roman had an absolute blast! We plan to make it an annual trip.

"Cannonball!"

Roman had a crush on Luke's sister Taylor and her friend Alissa, and demanded to know why he couldn't go to the Teen Center too (not until the 2020 Family Camp we told him, but you may be able to sneak in there in 2019).

First time in a "Big Boy Bed" (in our cabin at camp). We had to move the dresser in front of the door every night so the master escape artist wouldn't go out for a walk.

Roman took swimming classes this summer and enjoyed being in the water. We bought him his own life-jacket and he had tremendous fun swimming in the pool and in beautiful Park Lake with us. But when it came to swimming classes it was time to ditch the life-jacket. Although we did warn him, he was quite surprised when he jumped in (with a loud cry of "cannonball!") and sank like a rock. Rich, of course, fished him out super-quick. He now knows that we humans don't naturally bounce back up when we hit the water.

We had lots of family come to visit towards the end of August. First to arrive were Uncle Gary and Aunt Linda (Aunt Linda is Rich's dad's sister) who visited from Phoenix. Roman likes to call Uncle Gary "Mustang Gary" because he gave him a shiny red toy Mustang.

We had so much fun with Gary and Linda, Roman really enjoyed spending time with them.

On "The Duck" (amphibious vehicle).

Rich's sister Aunt Bekke came to visit us from Atlanta, and Roman convinced her to try a "pedal surrey" on Alki beach. Roman was in charge of ringing the bell, a job which he undertook with gusto. I think we all needed helmets!

We gave our back yard a makeover and it is now a great place for Roman to run and play.

Unfortunately, a family of raccoons is also enjoying the new lawn. The freshly laid sod is easy for them to pull up, and underneath they find a buffet of juicy worms and bugs. We've woken up to find our lawn ripped up a few times and we're hoping they'll leave it alone long enough for it to put down some roots. We've read that the smell of cougar poop will put raccoons off so we are going to buy some from Cougar Mountain Zoo (yes, they do actually sell it). It's good compost too. Just hope it doesn't attract cougars to our back yard.

We'll end our summer blog entry with the biggest news, which has been something of a blessing in disguise. After 23 years working at Fox Sports Net, Rich was laid off (on his birthday). The company laid several people off on the same day due to changing ownership and "structural reorganization". Because of his long tenure, Rich got 6 months of severance pay and also has unemployment benefits, which means the financial impact hasn't hit us ...yet.

The reason we say "blessing in disguise" is because it has allowed us to spend many wonderful days together as a family. We had never had a prolonged time to spend together just the three of us as most of our family leave time was spent going through the adoption process in Russia. We had also adjusted our schedules so we didn't need to leave Roman with a babysitter, but that meant that we didn't have a single day off together!

Rich has been doing some freelance work. He continued to direct Portland Timbers games for FSN and has filled in on all sorts of positions in Seahawks, Sounders, Husky football, volleyball and Everett Silvertips hockey. Right now, we are enjoying spending time together, just us ... the Brit, the Russian, and the American.

Rockin' Preschooler (Roman's impression of Angus Young)

Dawson and Roman at the zoo ... hey, is his half bigger?

The "Russian Rascals" Luke, Polina, and Roman.

Romanisms

Mommy: Taz has gone to doggy heaven to be with Missy

Roman: Mommy, where is doggy heaven?

Mommy: It's a long long way away sweetie

Roman: Is it near Portland?

***

Mommy: Perhaps you'll get married when you're a grownup.

Roman: Yeah, I'm going to marry Polina ... and Luke

Mommy: Luke?

Roman: Yes, he has lots of cool cars!

***

Of Bassets and Toddlers ...

2009-05-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Our big news comes in the shape of a four-legged, floppy-eared member of the family named Holly. After Missy passed away so suddenly, our house felt empty without the "clip-clop" of a basset's claws on the floors, the gentle snoring, and the soulful howl. We thought we would wait for a while and enjoy the peace and quiet, but something was missing ... we're a family of 8, mummy, daddy, toddler, 4 cats and a basset...we needed another basset! But not just any basset, we couldn't have a puppy because Roman is too young for one, and we wanted a young dog this time so we could spend many years together. We found a wonderful tan and white girl called Holly at Oregon Basset Rescue. She was a stray who was found two days before Christmas and has white patches that look like a snowy Christmas tree on her back, so the basset rescue named her Holly.

Roman was eager to meet our new dog but by the time we got to the Basset rescue, he was fast asleep. Holly jumped into the backseat and licked his face (and he still slept through it!). On the way home, we stopped for a bite to eat, and Holly stole Roman's sandwich, we knew things were back to normal in the Green family.

Holly soon made herself at home in the Green "pack." She is a lot more rambunctious than Missy (there's quite a difference between an 11 year old dog and a 1 year old dog!) Harry and Holly are best friends already (Harry was best friends with Missy too, and really seemed to miss her). Brother Tom gives Holly disdainful looks and the occasional swat. Aretha is gradually warming up to her and Sally thinks she is even more annoying than Roman and must be avoided at all costs.

We still miss our beautiful old girl Missy, but we don't have that sad empty feeling when we come home. Once again, there's the good old hound smell, the melodious snoring ... but not the howling. Holly is a barker, Missy rarely barked, Holly barks too much (at the mailman in particular) but she's still a pup so that is something we'll be working on. Despite our attempts, poor Holly does not yet know how to howl, although we almost got a howl out of her today. We used to have family howls with Missy (Roman is a good howler).

On February 12, we celebrated Gotcha Day (wow, it has been a long time since we updated our blog), which is the anniversary of the day we adopted Roman ... the day the orphanage workers handed him to us in little green tights. We have decided that we will spend each Gotcha Day together as a family doing something fun ...whatever Roman wants to do. It's our time to celebrate being together as a family.

For this Gotcha Day, Roman said he wanted to go on a boat with a loud horn ... well, a Washington State Ferry fit the bill. We took the ferry to Bainbridge Island and went to the Bainbridge children's museum, then had lunch at JJ's Fish House in Poulsbo.

We checked out all the boats at the Poulsbo Marina (they provide free life jackets for kids ...great idea) and visited Roman's friend Sam the octopus at the Poulsbo Marine Science Center. Sam is the same age as Roman and will soon be returned to his natural habitat as it is almost time for him to mate (octopuses mature a little faster than humans). He'll be replaced with another octopus though and we'll look forward to meeting him or her. Roman is also rather fond of Olive Oil the Seattle Aquarium's octopus, but Sam is his favorite.

Our Gotcha Day celebrations continued the following day when we went to the Pacific Science Center to visit the dinosaurs. Roman's favorite dinosaur is a T-Rex. Helen was sad to discover that her favorite dinosaur as a child, the Brontosaurus, is no longer an "official" dinosaur. Apparently, scientists thought they had discovered a new dinosaur back in 1879 but it was just good old Apatosaurus all along. So sad ... now Pluto isn't a planet any more and poor Brontosaurus never existed!

One of Roman's favorite adventures, and one we'll be telling for many years to come, was quite scary for us. He went through a two-week period of having nose bleeds, one so severe that our neighbor JoAnn who's a nurse at Harborview Medical Center couldn't stop it and recommended we call 911. Next thing we know, a fire engine showed up outside our house! Roman, who absolutely loves fire engines, screamed "FIRE TRUCK!!!!" and the nose bleed abruptly stopped. Several paramedics came rushing in, only to find that their mere appearance outside our house had stopped the nose bleed. Roman has now been invited to visit the fire station any time, and makes us take a detour by it whenever we are heading in that direction!

Back in March, we spent a fun morning sight-seeing with our friend Joel who was visiting Seattle on business. We met Joel and his wife Clarion at the Vlad Inn in Russia when they were meeting their sons for the first time. They adopted their boys Slav and Sergei last summer and live in St. Louis. Here's a link to their blog: joelandclarion@blogspot.com.

Helen, Roman and Joel on the monorail (Roman always tells the driver to go faster!)

Also in March, we had a reunion of the 3 Far Eastern Russian Rascals: Polina (3) from the Vladivostok area, Roman (2) from Vladivostok, and Luke (4) from Sahkalin Island. We will all be meeting up at WACAP Family Camp this summer, along with lots of other kids from all over the world.

Helen's mum, British Grandma, came to visit for almost three weeks at the end of April. Luckily her visit coincided with a bit of a heatwave so we spent much time on the beach building sandcastles, skimming stones, and paddling. (You'll notice that some of these photos look like they were taken in the middle of summer. That's because Seattle's weather has been very British lately - shorts and t-shirts one day, sweater the next!)

While Grandma Linda was visiting, we took Roman to his first baseball game. He loved every bit of it and is now a big Mariners fan! His favorites are Ichiro, Griffey, and the Mariner Moose. We've since been to two more games (Rich gets free tickets from Fox Sports) and Roman enjoys the whole experience. We only make it to the 7th inning stretch then it's time to go home to bed.

We got up to all sorts of adventures while Grandma Linda was here, including a visit to the museum of flight with Roman's friend Dawson and his mom. The boys had fun checking out everything from biplanes, to Concorde and the space shuttle.
We also took Roman for a haircut (always an adventure with a toddler). This was his third haircut but the first one at Kids Club in University Village. He likes to sit on the tractor at West Seattle Kids salon but we thought we'd try somewhere different this time. He enjoyed the yellow taxi but was disappointed there wasn't a tractor. He usually makes a big fuss and doesn't want his hair cut, but then the hair-stylist presents him with a box of cars and before long he's so engrossed he doesn't even notice them cutting his hair.

In this photo Grandma Linda and Roman are feeling sorry for Brontosaurus.

Since our last blog update, Roman had his first hearing test. We had no reason to be concerned but he had never had one as it isn't standard procedure in Russia. He actually enjoyed the experience. We went to Children's Hospital and it was so much fun for him because it was set up like a game where teddy bears play drums and tambourines. He even let them put headphones on him. His hearing is perfectly normal with no cause for concern.

At the end of April, Roman had his last day at speech therapy at Boyer Children's Clinic. He was kicked out because he was too good! He is a complete chatterbox who is constructing some quite long sentences, and his pronunciation is excellent. His longest sentence so far, and our personal favorite was delivered with an intensely serious expression:

"Mommy, recycle truck no come on Monday ... come on Tuesday, now"

and another favorite:

"Daddy took you Safeway last night ... tractor-trailer truck backed up to loading dock" (pronouns are still mixed up, he meant "daddy took me")

Roman with Heather, his speech therapist, on his last day at Boyer Children's Clinic.

He picks up words really quickly, in fact we've discovered that every word he hears goes into his brain, swishes around, and comes out in the next few days. It's fun to see who is contributing to his vocabulary. While Helen's mum was visiting, she said "don't kill it" when Roman was squeezing a worm a bit too hard. Now, for some reason we'd avoided the word"kill," it just seemed such a harsh word for a toddler and it wasn't one he'd picked up. Anyway, Helen's mum said"oh don't worry, he won't remember" Sure enough, the next morning Roman strolled out in the sunshine and saw a spider spinning her web right by our front door. "See spider" said Roman, "kill it!" ....thanks mum.

It's a joy to hear him talk because his accent is a mixture of American and English. It's not a blend of the two; each word is either pronounced with a completely American accent, or a completely English accent (having Helen's mum stay for two weeks helped get a bit of Lancashire in there). This way, we can tell which one of us he got the word from. The funniest thing is that he pronounces squirrel the English way. When Helen was Roman's age, she couldn't say squirrel properly and it came out "sqwirl" Her dad spent ages teaching her to say it properly. Well, it turns out that Americans pronounce squirrel "sqwirl!" Roman, however, pronounces it "sqwa-ir-rel" the English way. So we have something like, "mommy, mommy, sqwa-ir-rel ... mommy, mommy, car trans-pord-der!" Yes, daddy taught him the motor vehicles, mommy taught him the animals.

He now calls us mommy and daddy rather than mama and didda (we were so sad to see "didda" go, fortunately we have lots of recordings of it). Helen clung to the hope that he would call her "mummy" the English way but of course he has picked up "mommy" from all his friends who are starting to say "mommy" too, and of course Devlin, Kaysan and Lauren and his other big kid friends.

We just got back from visiting Rich's Grandparents Harvey and Mildred in Mondovi, Washington. It was Roman's 3rd visit to his Great-Grandparents. He enjoys being a "cowboy" out in the countryside, with Vali the horse who lives opposite, and lots of wide open spaces.

Missy loved Harvey and Mildred's and could quite happily of lived there. Allowed to roam off leash, play with other dogs, smell those country smells and be spoiled...what's not to like? We wondered if Holly would love it too. Sure enough, we got the impression that Holly could easily adjust to the country life. She had a ball playing with the neighbor dogs Scout and Skyer and even bonded with Vali.

Holly ... Farm Dog

We'll end this blog update with two exciting things! The first happened last week and caused almost as much excitement as the arrival of the fire engine at our house. Helen and Roman were taking Holly for a walk when two of Roman's most favorite things in the whole world pulled up right outside our house. A FLAT BED TOW TRUCK WITH A DIGGER ON IT! Here Roman is posing with his own digger (a Christmas gift from Grandma Victoria and Grandpa Gene). We watched that digger for more than an hour (I am not exaggerating). We then had to inspect the hole dug by the digger and were given an honorary pair of earplugs by the digger driver.

Then today, Roman pedaled his tricycle down the street for the first time! We got him the tricycle for Christmas but up until now he's mostly wanted to push it rather than pedal it. But just today, he really got the knack of peddling and now that's it ... he's off! He loves going everywhere under his own steam and doesn't want mummy or daddy to push him anymore. He was getting a bit frustrated as he found it difficult to pedal uphill. So we were trying to explain that even Lance Armstrong finds it harder to pedal uphill!

The last day of preschool is coming up next week. Roman really enjoyed his year with Teacher Ingrid. We're staying with South Seattle Community College Coop in September but moving to a different location. He'll be going to the Admiral Preschool, along with his friend Sebastian. He'll be in the 2 day class. One day Helen goes with him and the next day he's on his own.

We have all sorts of things planned for the summer including swimming lessons at Colman Pool (an outdoor saltwater pool), WACAP family camp at Sun Lakes, Day Out with Thomas the Tank Engine, and of course Lil Kickers soccer. But our biggest plan for the summer is POTTY TRAINING. Our goal is to have Roman potty trained by his 3rd birthday. Of course, the big question is ... will the Diaper Monologues become the Potty Monologues? Wait and see...

Goodbye Missy

2009-03-12T22:30:00.001-07:00

Our sweet, stubborn girl passed away today.

Just this morning she had been chasing Roman trying to steal his cheese and playing happily in the yard.

But this afternoon she started breathing heavily and was very lethargic. Helen and Roman rushed her to the vet, who told us that a tumor in her spleen had burst, and that we would need to put her to sleep. The vet was very sensitive in the way he explained her condition so as not to upset Roman.

Rich hurried home from work to say goodbye, and our friends Mari and JoAnn also came to give her a kiss (they looked after her when we were in Russia, and loved her very much).

Roman gave Missy a goodbye kiss, then Rich took him out to the waiting room, and Helen stayed with Missy while the vet put her to sleep. It was very peaceful and everyone at West Seattle Animal Hospital was so kind to us.

Roman doesn't really understand what happened. We've explained that Missy has gone to heaven (in fact, we're sure she is right now slobbering all over Helen's dad), and that we won't see her again. Roman has been his usual happy self but he has seen us both cry tonight and he knows how upset we are. He said "Mama upset...Missy gone," he's a very perceptive little guy.

The vet recommended a children's book to us that might help explain it to him. We're not quite sure if he realizes that she won't be coming back.

Missy joined our family in May 2007. We were cat people, who had never owned a dog. But then this beautiful old basset ambled into the studio at Helen's work to be "Pet of the Week." Their eyes met and something in her expression said "please be my mom." Before Missy had even appeared on TV, the woman from Pierce County Animal Shelter had promised her to Helen. Now all Helen had to do was convince Rich!

Needless to say, the next day we drove down to Tacoma to pick her up. We had no idea what the cats would think of her, or what she might make of the cats. But Helen's instincts were right, she was perfect for us ... within half-an-hour everyone was getting along famously. The cats accepted her just as long as she knew her place - and Missy happily accepted her role at the bottom of the totem pole.

The rules in our household were as follows:

1. If a cat wants to sleep in Missy's bed he can, and Missy must try to squeeze into a cat bed instead.

2. Sally gets first dibs on all scraps. If Missy tries to butt in she will be swatted several times on the nose.

3. Missy is not allowed to eat cat food.

4. The cats are allowed to eat Missy's food.

5. Cats rool, dogs drool!

Over time, Missy even started behaving like a cat. She would circle her bed several times and kneed it before going to sleep, she sat on our laps (she couldn't see why she shouldn't sit on us, all the cats did ... she was 62 lbs), and she even "purred" (a mysterious rhythmic snoring that sounded very purr-like).

We spent a wonderful 22 months with Missy. We knew we might not have much time with her, but we wanted to give her a good retirement. She taught us all about dogs...and now we can proudly say we are "cat AND dog people."

We already miss her so much. As I write this, the house is so quiet and I realize that what is missing is Missy's snoring. This time last night she was asleep on Rich's lap, her head resting contentedly on his shoulder. Although Missy was Helen's dog, she adored Rich, and she secretly loved her feline companions and the young human she thought of as a puppy!

An Inaugural Diaper

2009-01-29T14:55:00.000-08:00

Roman has announced his candidacy for President in the 2048 election. On the ticket with him is Bubba the Penguin and, in a controversial move, he has selected Skunky for Secretary of State. He will, of course, be representing The Green Party.

We would like to wish everyone a very happy 2009! We hope your holiday season was as wonderful as ours. As Roman opened his presents on Christmas Day we couldn't help thinking back to last Christmas, when it was just the two of us, and our thoughts were thousands of miles away in Russia ...wondering whether they were celebrating Christmas at Roman's baby home, and hoping our little boy would be safe.

This year was so different. It was magical to see Roman's face light up when we turned on the Christmas tree lights, hearing him trying to sing "Jingle Bells," and laughing with delight at our neighbor's giant inflatable Santa.

We went to Trinity Tree Farm in Issaquah to cut down our Christmas tree. Roman helped pick it out, and rode on a tractor with Helen. There was also a little red train to ride on, and an old fire truck just perfect for climbing.

Roman hung the first decoration on our Christmas tree, and loved helping to decorate. You will be surprised to know that our tree survived a toddler, a basset hound, and four cats relatively unscathed. However, we often came home to find the tree skirt out in the middle of the floor, but we're used to that ... the cats like to attack it.

We will always remember that our first Christmas together as a family was a White Christmas, which just added to the magic. It started snowing in mid-December and never really stopped. Helen and Roman were snowed in as Rich took our 4 wheel drive vehicle to work (our other vehicle is a Mazda Miata), but we had fun playing in the snow, and exploring the frozen tundra with Missy the Arctic Basset to guide us.

We picked the perfect day to visit Santa at the Issaquah Reindeer Festival. We took Roman's friend Sebastian and his mom Helena with us, and there were only two other families there. A fresh carpet of snow had fallen the night before, and it looked like a winter wonderland. Several reindeer live there year round and are named for Santa's reindeer (we think this one is Prancer).

We followed a little trail up to Santa's house, feeding the reindeer along the way. There was a warming fire place and cuddly lions and tigers to hold. Santa was great and spent a lot of time with Roman and Sebastian.

The weekend before Christmas, we all ventured out in the snow to Sebastian's 2nd birthday party. It was a lovely winter-themed party with snowflakes and a snowman, and homemade ice cream!

On Christmas Eve we read a children's version of the Christmas story and put out sherry and a mince pie for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph. Rich told Helen that Americans usually leave milk and cookies for Santa but we Brits know that Santa likes a tipple (bet he was happy when he got to our house).

Roman was excited and a little bewildered Christmas morning as it was all such a new experience to him. He loved opening his presents and, after opening all of his, our sweet boy helped us open ours and jumped up and down excitedly when we opened our gifts. He enjoyed having the job of handing gifts to us.

Mama and Didda (that's what he calls Rich) bought him a tricycle, and he was so keen to ride it that we set out in the snow (with Missy leading the way). Missy and Roman are now in training for the Iditarod.

We had a quiet Christmas Day, just the eight of us (Mama, Didda, Roman, Harry, Sally, BT, Aretha, and Missy). In the evening, we went to Aunt Mari and Aunt JoAnn's. They gave Roman a fork lift truck which he is just crazy about. Helen made her traditional trifle, with a special non-alcoholic version for Roman. And Roman visited his kitty pal Ally (Ally is the only cat that absolutely loves Roman, we think it's because she's a kitty version of a toddler herself, we wonder if she will still like him in a few months when she is a grown-up cat.)

Helen's famous trifle (with a special one for Roman)

At Aunt Mari and Aunt JoAnn's.

With Ally the kitty toddler!

Kisses...

Truck!

Other news since our last blog update....Roman began taking a weekly speech therapy class at Boyer Children's Clinic in November. It's a fun class with just four kids. It's different from pre-school in that it's focused on language and taught by two speech therapists. The kids do art projects, play games, and run and tumble in the gym. Roman loves it ...it's just great fun for him (and mum and dad go to class too).

Roman's spoken language is behind where it should be and it was frustrating him. He's an intelligent kid, and we felt that his language just wasn't keeping up with his cognitive abilities. It's not surprising for two reasons: firstly, after hearing Russian exclusively until the age of 17 months, he switched languages. Secondly, he didn't get much one on one verbal interaction at the orphanage so the speech centers in his brain weren't stimulated as they should have been. His comprehension of Russian was way behind where it should have been when we adopted him, and he could only speak two Russian words.

Well, Roman is a real chatterbox now. He's just starting to put three words together but that's amazing since he only started putting two words together a month ago. Here are some examples: "Man...in .....truck" "Box, mama, box .... those ... in box" (not exactly sure what "those" are), "feet...my feet", "mama's feet." He's very good with "me" mine" and plurals, adding the "s" at the right time, and saying "feet" for example instead of "foots".

There's just been this language burst, and he loves talking. He never, ever, stops, he even talks to himself when he's asleep. He's only this chatty when he's at home though, he gets a lot more shy about talking when he's out and about. Every third word is "mama" ..."trucks, mama, in there, trucks, mama, Awa (Aretha the cat) in there...." and when mama isn't there, every third word is "didda." We would also take a guess, that every fifth word is some kind of vehicle (whether it be a truck, car, choo choo, or "airpace").

"Bear! Mama ... bear....big bear, mama!"

Now that he is talking a lot, we've started to notice something (and we did wonder if this would happen)...Roman has an English accent! Most words he says sound just like his mum. However, there are some words that sound just like dad and other words that we wonder ...where on earth did he get that? We usually conclude that he picked that up at Uncle Don and Aunt Carri's, as he spends most Sunday afternoons with them while we are both at work ... he's definitely picking up some cool first-grader terms from the triplets such as "yup" "yeah" and "pigout!"

Every Saturday morning, Rich takes Roman to "Lil Kickers," a soccer program for kids 18 months to 12. They play games like kicking the balls into the hippo's mouth, and building towers out of cones. Roman likes to practice kicking and running backwards at home. It's funny to think that we taught him how to kick a ball last March in Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's yard in Eastern Washington. Now, he's quite a skilled soccer player ...for a 2 and a 1/3 year old!

Last week, we went to a family night at the YMCA and Roman made Valentine's Day cards for Kaysan and Lauren (he already made a Valentine's bumble bee for his girlfriend Kennedy). When Helen asked him who he wanted to marry he said "Lauren," Helen said, well maybe in a few years. Maybe when you're 26 and she's 30...

Our plans for this year include British Grandma's visit in April, visiting Grandpa Gene and Grandma Victoria in Georgia, WACAP Family Camp, visiting the UK sometime in the late summer, and of course going to see Great Grandpa Harvey and Great Grandma Mildred. We also plan to have Roman christened this year (we haven't picked the date yet, Uncle Barry and Aunt Mari will be Godparents).

We thought we'd let everyone know Roman's current clothes size because people are always asking us.

US Sizes

Pants: 18months-2 years

Tops 3T (he's still wearing 2T right now but he's on the brink of being a 3T)

Shoes 8 (he's actually still a 7 right now but almost an 8)

UK Sizes (British kids must be taller than US kids judging by the size differences... must be the Marmite)

Pants: 1-1 1/2 years

Tops: 2 years

Shoes 7.5 UK/25 EUR

"Digger, Mama....big yellow digger....dirt, mama...dirt!"

Roman and Polina. We met Polina's parents Sonia and Shah in Russia (and they live in West Seattle). Polina is 3 and also from the same area of Russia as Roman.

As we are fast approaching the first anniversary of our "Gotcha Day." Here are some things we have learned about our little guy in our first year together.

Favorite things: Cars, trucks, dump trucks, tow trucks, fire engines, police cars, choo choos, "airpaces,""atoos" (helicopters), race cars, diggers (particularly backhoes), boats, bubbas (penguins), ala (lion), kitties, doggies, horses, ooh ooh's (monkeys), soccer, basketball, tae kwon do (he imitates Rich), brown sauce (British delicacy), books (total book worm), stickers, jigsaw puzzles, skateboards (loves to watch the neighbor kids, tried to turn his flatbed truck into one), Thomas the Tank Engine, Elmo, Bob the Builder, Noddy (he doesn't watch tv but he already loves the characters from the books).

Favorite songs: Elmo's Song, the theme to Balamory (a British children's show,) Scoobydoo, Waltzing Matilda, Bob the Builder, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Jingle Bells, Sleigh Ride.

Favorite Books: The Going to Bed Book, Pajama Time, Goodnight Moon, Lucky, Monkey Puzzle, Where's Spot?, Dig, Dig, Digging, The Little Red Hen, Owen and Mzee, Cool Cars, Dazzling Diggers, The Gigantic Turnip, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Hop on Pop, anything Thomas, Pooh, or Cars (the movie).

Helen is excited about our new president and looking forward to the next 8 years! Pleased to think that Obama will be the first president Roman remembers. Rich is just hoping Sarah Palin will run in 2012 and drowning his sorrows with other Republicans (he often posts to the West Seattle Blog under the name Heavy Metal Conservative). Our son, on the other hand, doesn't care just as long as there are still trucks and diggers on the road, airpaces in the air, and choo choos on the tracks.... wouldn't it be nice to be a toddler again, just for a day?

With much love,

Helen, Rich, and Roman

Some recent Romanisms ....

Rich has been teaching Roman to stand when he pees in the big "potty." The other day Roman followed Helen into the bathroom:

Roman: Mama up!

Helen: No sweetie, mama sits to go potty.

Roman: Mama up, mama up!

Helen: Sweetie, mama sits because mama's a girl, she doesn't have a "pee pee."

Roman: (sad look crosses his face, he reaches over and pats Helen gently) ah, poor mama, poor mama.

We tried to let Roman know the real meaning of Christmas, while also enjoying Santa, presents, and the Christmas tree. So each night we opened windows in an advent calendar and read a little book called This is the Stable, a children's story about the birth of Jesus. Once all the decorations were down the book was still around and Roman asked us to read it to him. When we got to the page with a picture of the stable Helen said "Who's this in the manger?" "Santa!" shouted Roman.

Helen: Sweetie, mama and didda love you very much. We traveled all the way to Russia to get you. We will always be your mama and didda and you will always be our son.

Roman: Race cars!...

While visiting Sebastian and Helena

Roman (to Helena): Cheese ... pease!

Helena: I'm sorry Roman, we don't have any cheese.

Roman (goes to get his coat): Mama! Home!

One Year Later ... an Autumnal Diaper Monologue

2008-11-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

Today is a very special day. It's the first anniversary of the day our wonderful son toddled into our lives ... wearing a little sweater, blue tights, and red shoes with yellow flowers on them.

Our apologies for the late blog update. We've had a very busy couple of months with family visiting, preschool, and all kinds of things. We have lots of stories to tell about the escapades of our now 2 year old son (when you ask Roman how old he is, he says "two" and holds up two fingers!)

Let's start with Roman's 2nd birthday, September 10. What we had originally planned as just a quiet get-together turned into an all day extravaganza ... involving 25 toddlers, 3 six-year olds (the triplets), and an eight-year old....our sociable little boy loved every minute of it!

Roman's day started out with a birthday breakfast for just the three of us, surrounded by balloons. He opened some of his cards, and especially loved the ones that played tunes.

We then went to Puget Ridge Tot Lot where Roman and his friend Garrett (who turned 2 on September 12) had a birthday playdate organized by the West Seattle Mom's of Tots group. A whole bunch of their toddler buddies showed up to play and eat healthy snacks and a decidedly unhealthy (but tasty) collection of birthday cupcakes. We decorated the park with balloons and a "Happy 2nd Birthday" sign. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the birthday boys had a ball!

Roman and Garrett enjoying cupcakes at the park.

Roman and one of his girlfriends (Marlies) at the birthday playdate.

We came home exhausted, and plopped Roman down for his nap (we had the whole day perfectly planned out). While he snoozed, we decorated for his Thomas the Tank Engine themed birthday party and got food and drinks ready (which included Helen's special recipe "toddler punch").

Carri and the triplets (Devlin, Kaysan, and Lauren) came a little early to help with the last minute preparation, and we put the triplets in charge of Roman. They promptly built a moat in our sandpit (much to Roman's delight) creating a mud bath a hippopotamus would be proud of.

Now, we had told everyone that we would have a paddling pool but we didn't tell them to prepare for mud. Much messiness ensued, but the mud bath was a big hit (with the kids).

Adie contemplates the mud bath.

The highlight of Roman's party were the fabulous birthday cakes made by Aunt Mari and Aunt JoAnn. There were three cakes altogether, two were surrounded by a train track with a little Thomas the Tank Engine going round, the other cake was decorated like a Russian flag. They were absolutely wonderful and tasted superb too.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. We kept the giant helium balloons of Thomas, James, and Percy in our living room for about a month!

Roman started cooperative preschool the week after his birthday ...he loves it! It's one morning a week and the parents go too. Usually Helen goes with him but Rich has been a couple of times too. Preschool has helped him get over his fear of teacher figures. He loves his teacher "Teacher Ingrid" and really enjoys playing with the other kids, and it helps that his friend Dawson is in the same class.

There are 13 girls and 5 boys in Roman's class. He has figured out that if you push the stroller, all 13 girls will follow you!

In the last six weeks we have had three sets of grandparents to stay. First to arrive were Grandpa Gene and Grandma Victoria from Atlanta. We had a great time visiting Pike Place Market and taking the ferry to Poulsbo.

Next to arrive, were Poppa Jerry and Nana Lois (Cookie Grandma) who drove all the way out from Wisconsin.

And a few days later, Helen's mum (British Grandma) flew out from the UK. British Grandma stayed for two weeks and taught Roman to say some British things like"Fish Fingers," (fish sticks), "pinny" (apron), and "oo er." She also joined us at Preschool and enjoyed singing "The Wheels on the Bus" and "The Popcorn Man."

On the weekend before Halloween we went to Remlinger Farms to pick our own pumpkins. Roman got extremely muddy in the pumpkin picking process ... he had a ball! We also went on a small steam engine, and Roman "drove" a school bus and an old car. He had his first pony ride (he loved it), and fed some farm animals.

We returned home with a thoroughly exhausted but happy little boy

It ain't heavy...it's my pumpkin.

Our Halloween celebration started off with "Pumpkinpalooza," a Halloween party for the under 5's at our local community center.

Roman and his girlfriend Kennedy at Pumpkinpalooza (Kennedy is probably thinking "my boyfriend has odd socks...I'm so embarrassed).

Before setting out for some serious trick or treating, we went for a walk with Roman's friend Sebastian who was dressed as an orange kitty (and his mom Helena). Missy was quite offended that no one dressed as a basset hound.

As you can see, Helen, Roman, and British Grandma were looking quite ghoulish on Halloween (Roman loved his kitty costume so much he didn't want to take it off).

It was the first time Trick or Treating for all three of us. While it is quite popular in the UK now it just wasn't done in the '70s when Helen was a kid. Roman loved Trick or Treating although he did invite himself into a few people's houses! This was his first time eating candy ... he had a small Twix, a Tootsie Roll, and some M & M's, and then the candy mysteriously disappeared (mmmm wonder what happened to it....)

Rich stayed home to hand out candy to the local kids, and we decorated our house with spiders webs and skulls. Roman really loved the Halloween decorations, especially spiders. We're not sure what he's going to do without giant furry spiders around. We may have to get him a cuddly one he can have year round (I wonder if they make cuddly spiders, does anyone really want to cuddle a spider?)

Should I vote for Bob the Builder or Elmo?

British Grandma was excited to be here for the election results (we love election night in the UK!). The Green family is a politically divided household (you have to guess which of us is which). Needless to say, there have been many heated discussions in the last few months, and we have an agreement not to put any political stickers on the cars or signs in the yard.

We invited our neighbors over for a little get together to watch the election results. The plan was for them to sneak over after Roman had gone to bed. Although we tucked him into bed, it wasn't long before "mama...poop" could be heard coming from his room (the "poop" was an excuse to get up).

As soon as he walked into the room and saw his 9 year old buddy Dalton (who was getting to stay up late because it was a special occasion), not to mention his Aunt Mari, Aunt JoAnn, and a puppy called Sunshine...he got a huge grin on his face and became the life of the party (who cares what those boring people on tv are saying). So he ended up witnessing an historic election night.

In a few years time we can tell him that he was watching when the first African American was elected president, even though he was more interested in playing with his choo choos. The first election that his mama remembers was also an historic election ...when Margaret Thatcher was elected as the first female Prime Minister of Britain.

We'll sign off now with a few more pics of Tigger (our new nickname for Roman because he bounces everywhere).

Thank you all for your love and friendship.

We are looking forward to spending our first Thanksgiving and Christmas together as a family.

Helen, Rich, and Roman

"Missy A Portrait" by Roman

The first photo Roman ever took (not bad!). He loves to take photos with our rather expensive Nikon D50 (which now has sticky toddler finger prints on it).

Congratulations Joel, Clarion, Slav, and Sergei!

2008-10-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

Drasvoyte everyone!

It's me Roman sneaking onto mama's computer again. I'm very excited because last month my friend Sergei from Artem Baby Home went to live with his new mommy and daddy Clarion and Joel and his big brother Slav. Slav and Sergei are biological brothers who have been living apart in different orphanages.

Mama and Dada first met Joel and Clarion at the Vlad Inn in February. They were on their first trip to meet their boys. Then they had to wait a very long time ... 7 months ... mama and dada only had to wait 2 1/2 months before they could go back to get me.

We are all so happy for the Fritsche family. Please check out their blog http://www.joelandclarion.blogspot.com/ to read more about their adventures.

Love Roman

PS. I pooped on the potty today ... oh wait, that shouldn't really be in this posting. But I'm so proud, I'm telling everyone!

Wascally Woeman's Summer Adventures

2008-08-27T14:00:00.000-07:00

Hi all,

Sorry for the rather belated blog update. We've had a very busy summer ... Helen directed the Seafair Torchlight Parade on KIRO-TV, Rich directed Portland Timbers soccer on Fox Sports, and Roman directed all his cuddly toys in a play (at least that sounds like what he's doing when we hear him chattering away to them every morning).

The Russian Rascal has been enjoying the sunny weather and has been up to all sorts of misadventures. This has been a summer of "firsts." First boat ride, first train ride, first hike, first game of peek-a-boo with an orangutan, first time running the bases, first time finger painting...and yes, first time as a passenger in the Bat Mobile!

July started off with WACAP Kids Day, an annual picnic organized by our adoption agency. There were 600 people including lots of children from all over the world (WACAP kids are from the US, China, Thailand, Korea, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Russia, Kazakhstan, and India). We met adoptive families from all those countries. Roman met a little boy who was adopted from Artem baby home in '06 (Roman came to Artem Baby Home in Feb '07). He also made a new buddy called Luke who comes from Sakhalin Island (Russia's largest island), and a twin brother and sister from Kazan (another region of Russia).

There was lots of entertainment including a magician, a huge drum set made from scrap metal, and a bubble machine. Roman's favorites were the bouncy houses and the "Tall Lady." He kept following her around with a knowing grin as if to say "I know you're not really that tall."

Later that week we went to "Day Out With Thomas" at the Snoqualmie Valley Railroad. Roman is a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, although he doesn't like Thomas's nemesis "Diesel" and pulls a face whenever he sees him. Helen is really happy Roman is a Thomas nut as her dad used to read her the books when she was little.

A Thomas the Tank Engine replica pulled the old coaches for a half hour ride right along by Snoqualmie Falls. Roman loved riding on a "choo choo." Although, Rich pointed out that the Thomas replica was actually the caboose and that the train was really being pulled by a diesel engine (don't tell Roman).

There were all sorts of Thomas themed activities, and Roman spent ages playing with the toy trains and track (the only thing that can keep him completely absorbed for an hour, is a train set!). He also got a Harold the Helicopter (Thomas's friend) temporary tattoo. Even now, six weeks later, he still looks at his arm whenever he sees Harold the Helicopter and wonders where his tattoo went, we'd better get him another one!

We took Roman on the West Seattle Water Taxi which runs from Alki Beach to the downtown waterfront. It was his first boat ride and he loved it! Once we arrived at the waterfront, we went for a ride in a carriage pulled by a lovely old horse. Roman really enjoyed the ride (although the horse was a bit stinky)! We then walked down to the aquarium where Roman was fascinated by the otters, and we bought him a cuddly otter to join his family of cuddly animals. We also visited the Pirate Store...Shiver me timbers!

A few days later, we ventured out on a much bigger boat, a Washington State Ferry. We went to Bainbridge Island, then visited Poulsbo, one of Helen's favorite places.

For Roman, the highlight of our trip to Poulsbo was seeing the UPS man delivering packages (we had to watch the entire process...bare in mind that we see the UPS man on our street nearly every day). He also enjoyed a visit to the Marine Life Center, although he did give us all quite a scare when he attempted to climb into the "touch and feel" pool.

We took Roman for his first hike at Twin Falls near North Bend. He absolutely loved it! We have a little backpack with a leash on it so we can let him run but keep hold of him. It turned out to be just perfect for hiking trails. He can hike and explore by himself but we have him on a tether so we can't lose him over some rocky precipice!

He has boundless energy and probably could do a ten mile hike (not us though).

One of Roman's favorite things to do, is explore Alki Beach at low tide ... there are lots of puddles and interesting creatures to investigate.

You may notice that in this picture Roman is chasing a naked girl down the beach (it should be noted that he was down to just a diaper himself by the end of the morning)

Our beach bum (no pun intended) also had fun at Alki with his friend Polina. Here they are planning to set sail for Vladivostok to bring all their baby home buddies back with them.

Or perhaps a tunnel would be faster!

Roman's latest obsession is the moon. Whenever he sees the moon he stops what he is doing, points at the sky and shouts "moon!' He then wants us to pick him up so he can be closer to it. Until an airplane goes by, then it's "airpay!" followed by "moon" once again. If he can't see the moon he gets very upset, although, not quite as upset as when he misses the recycling/yard waste truck on Mondays.

We're pleased to report that Roman has two new Russian words! Da and Paka (yes, and bye). Of course, he has understood these words for months, but this is the first time he has spoken them. As we told you in the last blog update, our friend Helena has been talking to him in Russian when we have our weekly play dates. Also, whenever we run into a Russian person we ask them to speak to him in Russian.

We've talked to a few other adoptive parents of Russian kids and found that many of them haven't considered having their child learn Russian. But to us it seems like the natural thing to do. We want him to be proud of where he comes from (all three countries). It's something we want to do for him while we have the chance; while he's still young enough that all languages come easily. If he loses interest when he's older and doesn't want to pursue it further, that's his decision. But if he is interested in learning about Russian culture and his own history, it will be so much easier if he can speak and read the language.

So far, we've met several bilingual kids Roman's age. Mostly it's English/Spanish but we've also met English/Swedish, English/Korean, English/Mandarin, and of course Roman's buddy Sebastian who will probably be tri-lingual English/Ukrainian/Russian.

The behavioral problems we mentioned in our last blog update are getting much better! He still occasionally pulls our hair and pinches, but he now prefers the "silent tantrum" (this is similar to Harry's "silent meow" which he uses when especially annoyed ... his mouth opens but no sound comes out) anyway, when Roman is made to do something he doesn't want to do he very calmly, and carefully, lies down on the ground, face down, and just lies there for about 30 seconds then gets up and goes about his business. Rich and I either ignore the tantrum or get down on the floor with him and make fun of him, this usually causes him to burst out laughing!

Which brings us almost up to date...

Earlier this week we visited Roman's Great Grandparents Harvey and Mildred in Eastern Washington. We all love visiting Harvey and Mildred (Missy would live there quite happily, she runs wild like a farm dog). Roman enjoyed petting the horse who lives across the street, and loved watching all the grain trucks and tractors.

Last weekend Roman's aunt Kathy and uncle Bill came to visit from Wisconsin. They spent a couple of nights with us, and toured around the Washington coast. Here they are with Roman on Alki Beach.

Our Rascal is almost 2 (look at the ticker at the top of the blog!) We can't believe it. We are having a special play date with the West Seattle Mom's of Tots group on his birthday. His buddy Garrett will be celebrating his 2nd birthday September 12th so they are having a joint celebration. Then in the evening we are having a small Thomas the Tank Engine party at home (well, maybe not so small, at last count there were 5 toddlers coming .... Missy and the cats had better run for the hills)! We are so excited to celebrate his birthday, it will be three birthdays rolled into one as we missed the first two.

We'll end with a list of Roman's new words, and some more pics from our trip to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's...

Orange Juice, oatmeal, ice, blue, red, hot dog, owl, yeah (unfortunately this has preceded "yes", Rich is to blame), Kitty, Elmo (the furry red creature of Sesame Street fame), Bare Necessities (yes he actually sings that), England, Russia (still unable to say USA), Roman (pronounced Woeman), Kennedy (pronounced Kendee), Harold (as in the Helicopter), Diesel (the mean train), eyes, nose, hair, mouth, "O" and "R" (the letters) ... and not forgetting Da and Paka!

Driving Great Uncle Dick and Great Aunt JoAnn's boat.

Picking some flowers for mum in Great Grandma Mildred's flower bed.

Taking the "Retro Rocket" out for a spin out in the countryside.

Privet Will Roman Garber!

2008-06-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

Hi,

It's me Roman.

I snuck onto the computer while mama wasn't looking to say privet (that's Russian for "hi") to my friend and fellow Russian Rascal, Will. Tomorrow (July 1st) is his "Gotcha Day", the day when he gets his new mommy, daddy, and big sister Addie. As I'm writing this he will probably already be back at the Vlad Inn causing trouble.

Will and I were in the same group at Artem Baby Home and slept in the same room. We got up to lots of mischief together.

Here's a picture of Will and Addie outside Artem baby home (can you tell they have just met?). Addie is giving Will the same look girls give me when I have pulled the heads off their dolls or eaten a strawberry off the floor ... it's usually followed by them saying "Oh Woeman"

Will's mom and dad Jason and Jody are adopting both Addie and Will on this trip (wow! my mom and dad had enough trouble with one Russian Rascal). The ten day waiting period was waived for Addie, so they were allowed to take her back to the Vlad Inn after their court date.

Please keep the Garber family in your thoughts and prayers, we hope they have a safe journey home, and one day we'll have an Artem Baby Home reunion!

The Toddler News

2008-06-30T22:00:00.000-07:00

GOOD EVENING. I'M ROMAN GREEN

TONIGHT ON TODDLER NEWS AT ELEVEN.

CARS, WHY THEY'RE SO COOL. YO BABY YOGURTS GET 6 NEW FLAVORS, AND NAPS, WHO NEEDS 'EM?

As you can see, Roman and his dada visited mama at work the other day (Roman is such a regular visitor to KIRO that he knows his way around and always makes a beeline for the set). He may be an anchor or weather person if his ambition to be a recycle truck driver doesn't pan out.

Actually, if Roman was reading the news it would sound like this "Hi, Caaaar. Mama, Didda, Harrrooo (Harry), Allooo (Sally), Airplane! (points in the air) Bus! No No No (shakes head).

Rich and Roman meet Helen on her lunch break every Saturday, and we go for a picnic down on the waterfront or at the Seattle Center. Then we come back to the station and Roman runs around a bit saying hi to everyone and generally being mischievous.

Seattle is sizzling at the moment...we've been enjoying some baking temperatures (in the 90s this weekend) and are having fun playing in Roman's sandbox and paddling pool. We also got a giant beach ball that squirts water. It's great to be able to play outside in our yard. Rich put up a fence and actually built a gate himself! So now our front yard is completely secure and Roman can run around to his heart's content.

June has been a busy month for the Green family. Our Triple Nationality Boy Adventurer has been up to all kinds of mischief. He's growing like a weed (a tall dandelion) --- we haven't actually measured him but we know this because he can now reach the door knobs in our house. This has really upset Sally (one of the cats) because she's been trying to turn the door knobs for years but, unfortunately for her, she doesn't have opposable thumbs so she just can't quite get a grip on it. Roman, on the other hand, does have opposable thumbs, and on the day he woke up and found that he'd grown just enough to reach the door knobs ... all kinds of mischief ensued. Suffice to say, there are now childproof covers on all the door knobs in our house.

He is so "cool" he will only wear his baseball caps backwards, he crosses his legs casually when in the stroller, and rubs his own recipe of "hair gel" in his hair (usually apple sauce, maple syrup, and/or "Yo Baby" yogurt).

The weather for most of June was typical northwest drizzle. After some 70 degree days in May, we went back to early spring weather. Roman doesn't mind the rain though because jumping in puddles is one of his top ten favorite activities.

Some of Roman's favorite toys are his cuddly animals, particularly BaBa the penguin and Ala the mountain lion. We're not sure how the penguin turned into BaBa but we think Ala comes from us saying "it's a lion." When we first met Roman, he wasn't interested in cuddly toys but now he has an active imagination and is able to see them as "friends" Sometimes we hear animated conversations going on between Roman, Baba, and Ala. His first favorite was his polar bear which he hugged every night, but now the penguin and the lion are fairly constant companions. The lion is almost as big as him and some nights we find him sleeping on top of it! He also has two monkeys, a giraffe, a rabbit, and a dinosaur.

Helen has been working on turning Roman into a Brit. To this end, she has introduced him to Marmite. This picture shows Roman post Marmite sandwich (he likes it so much, he actually licks it off the bread (notice the British bib).

On Friday, we took Roman to Boyer Children's Clinic for a speech therapy/cognitive skills evaluation. It was actually quite a fun time for him as the two therapists were very experienced with kids and knew just how to hold his attention. We were surprised to find that he does not qualify for the early intervention program because his language skills are not delayed! What a smart little guy he is. Even though he has only been in an English speaking environment for 4 months, his language skills are on track! We had a feeling this would be the case as he understands so much of what we say and already says about 40 words. It's a bit disappointing in one way though because Boyer is an extremely well-regarded clinic and we had really hoped he would benefit from some of their classes. It's incredible what the toddler brain can do...learn a language in just months!

In this pic you can see Roman demonstrating that his cognitive skills are on track too! Who needs toys when you've got dog food to stack?

Recently, Roman's been having some behavioral issues that have been quite difficult for us. We decided to tell everyone about this on the blog as we know there are other adoptive families that read this and it helps to know that there are others going through the same experience. About three weeks ago he began having trouble getting sleep; he wanted us to hold him, and woke up a lot during the night (when Rich was away one night, Helen had to bring him into bed with her to get him to go to sleep, he slept very well while Helen cuddled him). At the same time he started being particularly aggressive towards us whenever he didn't get his own way; pulling our hair, pinching, and scratching us. So on the one hand, he was being very affectionate and not wanting to let us out of his sight, and on the other, he was trying to control us. This aggression has been really difficult to handle, as he actually hurts Helen and has left scratches down her arm. Sometimes he hits the poor dog too, just to get a reaction from us.

He's still the same darling little boy who loves to give us hugs and kisses, but now he has this major controlling issue. Well, we decided to jump on it immediately and went to see a child psychologist who specializes in International Adoption. Many people might say it's just a phase and that many kids go through the same thing, but it's not the same for post-institutionalized children. We need to watch his behavior carefully so he can have a bright future and not be affected mentally by his past.

We knew before going to see the psychologist that he was letting out his frustration physically because he couldn't express it verbally (he may be doing well with language but he's not at that level yet). However, the psychologist was able to elaborate on what she felt might be causing those frustrations and gave us tips on how best to handle it. We will keep you posted.

Roman's made some wonderful friends (he's got a better social life than we do). His buddies include Polina (who's 3 and also from Primorsky Krai), Adie, Kennedy, and Anthony (who are all 2 year old chatterboxes). Dawson, Lou, Beckett, Charlotte, and Mary (who are about the same age as Roman), and Sebastian (who's 18 months). Sebastian's mom is from the Ukraine, and Sebastian is learning both English and Ukrainian. His mom Helena also speaks Russian fluently and has been talking to Roman in Russian. We're really happy that Roman is having an opportunity to hear the Russian language again. The psychologist thought it would be great for him to hear Russian and see pictures of us all at the baby home, even if it upsets him a little at first. The speech therapists also felt that it would not hurt his English language development. We're really excited at the prospect of him being bilingual and we hope that he'll be able to keep Russian as a first language along with English rather than learning it later. There are many opportunities for him to hear Russian in Seattle as we have a large Russian population, so we're hoping this will be possible.

Of course, on his list of buddies we musn't forget Devlin, Kaysan, and Lauren the 6 year old triplets who look after him most Sundays while we are working. Well, it's actually their mom and dad Carri and Don who really look after him! Roman has a great time with the triplets and their rabbit Keppler and hamster Hammy. Devlin is Roman's "older brother" figure, and Roman likes to follow him around. If you went to our wedding, you may remember Devlin as our little ring bearer (he was only 14 months old back then and had to be carried up by his dad). Thanks Don and Carri for taking care of the Rascal for us..when you already have three 6 year olds of your own, that's quite an undertaking!

We'll write more soon,

The Greens

British Grandma's Visit

2008-05-31T14:30:00.000-07:00

*Look for our "British/American-American/British dictionary at the end of this blog. You'll need it!*

Hi all,

May was a busy month for the Green family. It started off badly when Helen sprained her ankle and limped around in a Frankenstein's Monster-esque boot, thankfully Helen's mum Linda arrived from the UK the next day and was a big help.

Linda spent the first two weeks of May with us. Not only did she meet her new grandson, she also met her four-legged, floppy-eared granddaughter Missy.
We had all kinds of adventures with British Grandma, including taking Roman on his first bus trip. Buses are one of his favorite things in the whole world, so we figured he'd absolutely love to ride in one. Boy, were we wrong! He cried non-stop from California Ave to the West Seattle Bridge. But he eventually calmed down and ended up having such a good time that he didn't want to get off!

We took the bus to the Pacific Science Center, where they have a great toddler area with a multi-tiered water table and lots of soft-sculptures to climb on. Roman loved the animatronic dinosaurs, particularly the triceratops.

Every time Linda visits, we have breakfast at Zatz a Better Bagel (British bagels from Marks & Spencer just aren't a patch on real American bagels). Roman experienced his first bagel (with raspberry cream cheese). He loved it!
Roman is trying out new words every day. His latest are "Harry," "apple," "gaggagapter (helicopter)," "duck," and "orange juice." The first two words he put together were "butt paste" ... we're so proud. He picked this up because every time we change his diaper we find ourselves yelling "don't put your hand in the butt paste!"

Roman will become a British citizen once his plane lands on British soil (he became an American citizen the moment our plane landed in Seattle). Therefore, it's important that mama and British Grandma prepare him. To this end, Helen has introduced him to Marmite, chip butties, and brown sauce. British Grandma taught him to kick whenever she shouted "Beckham!" and bought him a Thomas the Tank Engine that speaks with Thomas's true English accent (it's great, but Rich hates it because Missy is always setting it off accidentally).

Roman's fascination with buses has recently moved to airborne things, be they birds, planes, or gaggagapters. Now whenever he hears or sees something in the air, he stops, points and says "BIRD!" Yes, even the gaggagapter is considered just a subspecies of BIRD. He still loves buses but they don't engender quite the excitement they used to. Of course, nothing beats the recycle truck for sheer entertainment.

Last Sunday, Roman spent his first time away from us, when he stayed with our friends Don and Carri and their 5 and 3/4 year old triplets Devlin, Kaysen, and Lauren for the afternoon while we were both at work. Although, he cried on and off for the first half hour, he eventually settled in and had lots of fun playing in their huge sand pit, and eating Otter Pops. He also enjoyed petting their rabbit Keppler. He's beginning to understand that he needs to be gentle with animals, and he and Harry are actually becoming quite close now - Harry even gives him a kitty-kiss occasionally.

This year Rich is directing some Portland Timbers soccer matches down in Portland. Roman and Helen are going to go down there with him one weekend and explore. It will also be Roman's first soccer match (another important step towards becoming a British bloke).

Roman had his second pediatrician's appointment two weeks ago. His doctor is very pleased with how much he is catching up in growth. Although he is still tiny for his age, he is now at least officially on the growth chart for a 20 month old. He wasn't even on the chart when we first arrived back in the US. He's grown two inches since we got back, and has put on 2 pounds (2 pounds doesn't sound like much, but apparently that's a lot for a toddler). He was born 4 weeks early, plus maternal nicotine use effects growth, so it's not surprising that he's a tiny guy. We're still expecting him to tower over us by the time he's a teenager. As you can see from this pic ... his feet have had a real growing spurt!

We're going to be taking Roman to Boyer Children's Clinic next week. His language development will be evaluated to see if he qualifies for the early intervention program. He probably will test as having a language delay since he has just switched from one language to another and was raised in an institution (caretakers don't have the time to engage children in one-on-one conversations, and they only play with other children of the same age so they don't pick up language from older kids). He probably would have tested delayed in his Russian language development. We wouldn't be surprised though, if he's right on target. He has about a 20 word vocabulary and understands a lot of what we say to him. The other day, Helen was reading a book called "Opposites" to him, and Roman said "opposite!" That's a big word for a 20 month old!

We've joined a local parents' group, and have been on some playdates with kids Roman's age. He is still quite insecure and tends to cling to Helen (at one playdate he ventured out to grab a toy, then came back to sit on Helen's lap while he played with it). We think this is because being around a group of other children his age reminds him of the orphanage and he gets scared that we are going to leave him. He does well on a one to one basis with other kids, and enjoys playdates with his Russian friend Polina who just turned 3, and his other girlfriends Adie, Charlotte, Ellie, and Mary. Oh, and he just recently made two guy friends, Lou who is 19 months and Gage who is 16 months (so now he has some buddies to hang out with as well as all those girlfriends!)

Our adoption announcements/thank you letters are coming in the mail soon. We've mailed some already. Sorry it's taking so long (it's Roman's fault, he's a procrastinator).

Take care,

The Greens

***American Translations for the Brits***

BUTT PASTE Boudreaux's Butt Paste is a well known, and highly respected nappy rash cream.

OTTER POPS Fruit-flavoured lollies that have been around since the '60s

SOCCER Football

***British Translations for the Americans***

BLOKE Guy, dude.

BROWN SAUCE A sauce made from vinegar, molasses, and other mysterious ingredients. As ubiquitous in Britain as ketchup. The two are always together, in restaurants, chips shops, wherever you go. HP makes the best one. It has the Houses of Parliament on the front (it is not the same as the HP sauce sold in the US, that recipe has been changed for the US palette, and it's a pale imitation. Plus, it's marketed as a BBQ sauce, which it certainly is not). Only British people like brown sauce.

BUTTY A sandwich

MARKS & SPENCER A legendary British department store. Also known as "Marks & Sparks."

MARMITE A sandwich spread made from yeast and vegetables, delicious on toast. If you're not British, you won't like it. Australians have a similar delicacy called "Vegemite." Only Australians really like Vegemite, and only British people really like Marmite. British people will eat Vegemite if there's no Marmite available, and vice versa, but we prefer our own brand of yeast spread.

The Siberian Scamp

2008-04-26T13:30:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

We have had many adventures since we last updated our blog. Apologies for not updating more regularly...now that we are back at home, enjoying life with our little boy, we don't have much time to sit down at the computer. If we do grab the laptop while Roman is around, he invariably presses the keyboard with his sticky toddler fingers, and even when Roman's sleeping, the cats have a habit of walking all over the keyboard, and in Sally's case, sleeping on the laptop (it's nice and warm). So that's enough excuses ...here's the blog...

March 29th was Helen's 40th birthday. We both had the day off work and the three of us went to the zoo. We're sure it was the first time Roman had seen tigers, bears, and gorillas (unless there were any wandering around Vladivostok). When he caught sight of his first gorilla he pointed at it and yelled "dada" (well, Rich is rather hairy...). The pic below is Roman, Rich, and the Sloth Bears.

We watched a puppet show at the Zoomazium (an indoor play area for kids). Roman loved it and joined in with the dancing at the end. We think he learned to dance at the baby home because he's got some stylish moves!

We ended our day with Roman's first Mexican meal (a chicken quesadilla and churros). There were two other toddlers at the restaurant, and of course, our son started a food fight with the boy at the next table, which caused much hilarity. Roman was also eyeing his mum's margarita and determined to have a slurp through the straw (a skill he has just mastered) ... he'll have to wait til 2027 for that though! Actually, we've told him we'll take him to the UK for his 18th birthday in 2024, so he can go up the pub with his grandad for a pint!

Later that week, Rich and Mari threw a surprise birthday party for Helen at Coffee to a Tea with Sugar. There was a wonderful cake, balloons, decorations, and of course, tea.

Two weeks ago four of the Greens (Rich, Helen, Roman, and Missy), went to visit Roman's Great Grandparents Harvey and Mildred in Davenport, Washington. It's about a four hour drive. On the way there, Roman practiced his new word "car." All we heard for four hours was "car, car, car." When we stopped at a rest stop, we took Roman to check out the semi trucks. The drivers very kindly honked their horns at us and waved to him. He is absolutely fascinated by any kind of motor vehicle (although he calls them all "car" except for buses, he can now say "bus"). The recycle-truck drivers and the UPS guys feel like movie stars when they see us, because Roman is besotted by them. He points and waves and refuses to move until they have completely disappeared. If we go out on trash day, we can spend half-an-hour following the garbage and recycle trucks.

When we arrived at Harvey and Mildred's there was another baby shower for us (a wonderful surprise). Roman loved meeting his Great Grandparents and other relatives. He especially enjoyed meeting his 2nd cousins Sterling and Gage (Rich's cousin's children, I think that makes them 2nd cousins). Sterling is 4 and enjoys bossing her baby brother Gage around. Well, she just loved having two little boys to boss around (Roman loved the attention). Gage is 14 months and much bigger than Roman! He's not walking yet, which means it's harder for him to get away from Sterling. At first, Roman didn't like being bossed around by a little girl, but by the end of the evening he was holding his arms up for Sterling to pick him up!

While in Davenport, Roman petted a horse for the first time. He also petted a 4 week old kitten (under strict supervision from mum and dad), and got up close to a tractor. Roman and Missy had lots of fun running around Harvey and Mildred's huge yard and playing on their swing (well Missy didn't go on the swing her legs are too short). Harvey and Mildred fed Missy lots of scraps and made a fuss of her. She said she'd be quite happy to live there, as long as mummy lived there too.

Meanwhile, the feline members of our family were enjoying a reprieve from "The Creature." Helen (who speaks fluent cat) tells us that the cats refer to Roman as "The Creature." Sally and Aretha are very curious about him. The other day, we caught them perched on the windowsill watching him, with superior looks on their faces. Brother Tom plays chase with him, and Roman loves it when he pounces on him. Poor Harry bears the brunt of Roman's toddler exuberance. Roman loves Harry but thinks of him as a living cuddly toy. He squeezes him and tries to pick him up, and often comes away with two handfuls of orange fur. We try to encourage Harry to fight back, but he's so gentle he won't even hiss at him.

Last week, Roman and Helen went back to the zoo with Roman's friend Adie who just turned two, Adie's mum Andrea, and Helen and Andrea's friend Katie. This time we saw orangutans (one of them played peekaboo with Roman), Komodo Dragons, monkeys, hippos, owls, vultures, and a huge peacock. Roman and Adie also had lots of fun splashing in big muddy puddles (they would get on rather well with the hippos, who all seemed to be enjoying a good wallow in the mud).

Roman loves the zoo, so we'll be visiting often. We also got an aquarium membership and will be checking that out soon. We're a little concerned that they have a "touch and feel" section of the aquarium. One squeeze from Roman, and the sea cucumbers will be goners!

Roman is attaching very well to us but he is showing a lot of insecurity at the moment. From what we have read in our books on attachment in adoption, we think that he is somewhere between a secure and insecure attachment -- he knows we're his mum and dad but he doesn't know exactly what that means, and he's still afraid we might leave him. That's an understandable fear as he was at the maternity hospital for 6 months and obviously attached to some caregivers there, then he was at the baby home for a year and attached to caregivers there. Although, this is a different situation (he's the only child, and it's just the two of us) we can't blame him for worrying that this may only be a temporary situation. We tell him over and over that we love him and we'll be with him forever (even when he's a teenager and probably wishes we weren't around!) but of course he doesn't understand us yet.

This insecurity is showing up in a strange way - we started "Water Babies" swimming lessons for him at the Y, he loved it the first time but since then he has become terrified of his swimming instructor. We also tried a Gymboree class but he was terrified of that teacher too. He is happy before the classes, and plays with the other kids and smiles at the adults who talk to him. But as soon as the teacher shows up, he screams and buries his head in Helen's shoulder and clings on for dear life. He was so upset this week at Waterbabies, that we had to take him out of the class, and we only tried Gymboree once. We obviously can't continue with either at this stage, as it's a traumatic experience for him. We think, although of course we're not experts, that the instructors remind him of his caregivers and that, coupled with the fact that he is with a bunch of children, makes him think that we are going to leave him at another orphanage.

We're going to be talking to his pediatrician about this as he is an expert in international adoptions and can hopefully give us some advice. Meanwhile we're continuing to stuff him full of food and love. He has grown 1 1/2 inches, and put on a couple of pounds. He seems to have literally grown overnight!

We'll write more soon. Roman's British Grandma is coming to visit us next week!

Take care,

Helen, Rich, Roman, Harry, Sally, BT, Aretha, and Missy

The Diaper Dude at Large in West Seattle

2008-03-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, sorry we haven't updated our blog for a while. For some reason, we don't have as much spare time as we used to ... mmm...not sure why.

Well, finally, we had chance to sit down at the computer and tell you about the latest adventures of Roman Green - Triple Nationality Boy Traveler. Right now he is sleeping (thankfully). He's been rather cranky this week as he has a cold and he's teething.

This morning, Missy, Helen, and Roman went out for a walk in the snow (yes, it is snowing in Seattle today)! Roman wore his snow suit for the first time since we were in Russia. He really enjoyed splashing in puddles (so did Missy). Of course, this is nothing like the deep Russian snow that he enjoyed playing in, but it's still fun for him.

Yesterday, we went to the toddler gym at Hiawatha Community Center in West Seattle. Roman really enjoyed himself and made some new friends. We think he's going to be quite a sporty guy as he was playing with the regulation size basket ball while the 3 and 4 year-olds were playing with toy balls. Our tiny little guy was actually throwing a real basketball! He loved playing on the bouncy toys and riding on a miniature Thomas the Tank Engine (he's a big Thomas fan).

Wednesday, Missy, Roman, and Helen went to Alki beach and played in the sand. Roman and Missy both love exploring the beach, and have become great friends. Missy especially likes having Roman around because he has a tendency to drop food on the floor. In fact, about 40% of Roman's food ends up in Missy, with 10% going in his hair, 10% in mummy and/or daddy's hair, 10% in Sally, 10% down the inside of his onesie, and about 20% in his mouth (although about half of that comes back out again, and is handed gleefully to mummy and/or daddy).

Harry (the fat orange cat) is another of Roman's favorites. Unfortunately, Roman thinks of Harry as a living plush toy, and is a little too rough with him (he often emerges from behind the couch with handfuls of orange fur). Harry is such a loveable, good-natured cat that he won't even hiss at Roman, let alone scratch him, so right now we are working on trying to teach Roman to be gentle with Harry. Sally and Aretha stay out of Roman's way (except when he's confined to the high-chair, then they congregate with Missy and wait for the scraps). Brother Tom is quite playful with him but will hiss at him to put him in his place.

On Easter Sunday, Roman proudly colored his first Easter egg (see pic). It has to be said, it was perhaps the ugliest Easter egg in the world (it turned out a sort of green sludge color, and then he stuck his thumb in it). He gave it to his aunt Mari as a gift.

We had hot cross buns for breakfast and read him the story of Easter from the bible (he was given his first bible by our friend Heather who was at the Vlad Inn with us adopting her son Alexander). Afterwards, he got a chocolate bunny, Easter eggs, and two cuddly bunnies, plus lots of Easter cards.

Last week, we had a playdate with our friend Sonia and her daughter Polina who is almost 3. Sonia and her husband adopted Polina from the Vladivostok area too. We met them back in November when we were on our first trip and they were on their second. Polina has been in the US since November and is doing really well. Polina and Roman got along great. We've noticed that Roman interacts well with other kids. From what we've read, he's actually quite young to be interacting with other kids, so we think he developed those social skills early due to being in the orphanage.

His comprehension of English is amazing, considering he has only been in an English speaking environment for 6 weeks. Every day, he surprises us with something new. When we say "would you like a bath?" he gets a big grin on his face and runs to the bathroom (he loves baths and usually gets two a day because mum and dad both like to give him baths and mum's not there in the evening so she gives him one in the morning). When we say "let's go upstairs" he races to the stairs (going up and downstairs is another of his favorite activities). When we say "bye bye" he waves, and when we say "daddy's going to work" or "mummy's going to work" he gets sad, and then starts waving bye bye. He also knows our pets' names although he can't say them, if we say "look what Harry's doing" he will look at Harry.

He doesn't actually say many words yet, although he calls Rich "dada" and is starting to call Helen "mama." He used to call pretty much everything "dada" but he's now just keeping that word exclusively for Rich. He says "hi" a lot, and also says "hello hello" every time the phone rings. He still uses his favorite two Russian words "dye" (for "more") and "adna" (which we think is a variation on "one" but he seems to use it to imply "I want that one")

Things constantly go missing in our house, and we usually know who the culprit is...he loves to play with keys, credit cards, socks, and toilet rolls. These items also tend to turn up in unusual places, usually the bath tub but sometimes Missy's water bowl. Yesterday, Helen spent half an hour looking for her keys only to find that Roman had stuffed them into the shoot of his "Busy Ball Popper"

Parenthood is fantastic but we have to admit that our current schedule is tough on us. We've made a commitment to avoid leaving Roman with a baby sitter for as long as we possibly can. In order to do this, Rich has temporarily changed his work schedule so he can take care of Roman on the weekends when Helen is working. So Helen takes care of Roman during the weekdays when Rich is working, and Rich takes care of Roman on evenings and weekends when Helen is working. Some days we only see each other for 45 minutes as one gets home and the other leaves for work. As you can imagine, the time the three of us get to spend together is very precious.

The reason we don't want to leave Roman with a baby sitter is because we are still in the early stages of the adoption and we need a good period of time for him to attach to us and understand that we're his mum and dad and that we'll always be around. Of course, daycare is absolutely out because, no matter how good a daycare it is, it will seem just like the orphanage to Roman. The adoption classes we've taken and the books we've read tell us that he may not feel absolutely secure until he has been with us for longer than he was in the orphanage ... wow, only another 16 months to go! Some children continue to have problems, but we're hoping that won't be the case with him. He's calling us mama and dada which is a very good sign.

The first day that we will be leaving him with someone will be May 1st, when Helen's mum (Grandma Linda) is visiting. We hope Grandma is ready for the Russian Rascal! Roman is already used to seeing his grandparents as he has waved to his Grandma and Granddad in England, and his Grandma and Grandpa in Atlanta on Skype!

Thank you everyone for your encouragement, toddler tips, and offers to babysit! We will certainly take you up on those babysitting offers soon!

Helen, Rich, and Roman

PS Official adoption announcements and thank you cards are coming soon (and will probably have a special sticky thumb print from Roman on them!)

Happy Half Birthday!

2008-03-10T22:42:00.000-07:00

Today was Roman's "half-birthday" (he turned 18 months old!).

We decided to celebrate it since we missed his first birthday. So we got him a lemon cupcake and put one and a half candles on it. When the people at the coffee shop heard how he had just got here from Russia and it was his half birthday, they said he could have any cupcake he wanted for free!

His eyes lit up when we brought the cake to him and sang "happy half-birthday" This made us really happy because he seemed to know what a birthday was, and we think the caregivers must have celebrated birthdays with the kids at the baby home. It definitely seemed like he had seen a cake and candles before.

While we were at the coffee shop playing in the kids area, we met two little girls who were about 8 years old. It turned out that they had been adopted from Russia too. They proudly announced "we're Russian." One was from St. Petersburg and the other was from Kazan. They only knew one word of Russian (Nyet), but when we saw them again later in the pet store, Helen taught them the Russian word for cat!

Roman's half-birthday present was some books including "Brown Bear Brown Bear" and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." He loves books and often brings them to us so we can read to him. We're really happy that he is a bit of a bookworm as well as being very active and mischievous!

So far, Roman has six words in his vocabulary, two English ("Hi" and "Dad") two Russian ("dye --- more" and "adna----one", a word that is used in both English and Russian ("Hello"), and one that isn't really a word at all but most babies say it ("da da"). He loves to pick the phone up, put it to his ear and say "hello" (our phone bill is going to be huge when he is a teenager). Whenever he hears the phone ring he says "hello ... hello."

On Sunday, we went to the "Basset Hound Meet Up" at WestCrest Park (an off leash dog park in West Seattle). Missy always loves chatting with her basset friends, there must have been about 20 bassets there. Roman had lots of fun. At one point he had four bassets licking him simultaneously, and he was just giggling away. He really enjoyed being around the dogs and being licked and sniffed. We're always sure to keep an eye on him around dogs and cats as he doesn't yet know that not all animals are friendly and gentle (our five are very sweet with him).

This week, we are going to check out "Lil Kickers." It's a soccer class for kids 18 months to 12 years (so Roman just qualified today!). Helen's excited to take him because she wants soccer to be his favorite sport. Now Rich has to find a football class soon before it's too late and he gets the soccer bug :-)

An Inconvenient Diaper

2008-03-07T14:30:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

I was rather groggy from jet lag my first week home and just couldn't get to sleep (for some reason mummy and daddy didn't seem to be getting much sleep either). Well, this week I'm sleeping much better. It helps to have our basset hound Missy snoozing in my room too, she keeps me company (although mum and dad complain that all they can hear on the baby monitor is Missy snoring).

Mum and dad were off work my first week home, and we did lots of fun things. We went to the beach with Missy, and I had fun climbing on the driftwood and exploring the tide pools. The beach is my favorite place! Mummy and Daddy's friends Don and Carri had a baby shower for us. I got lots of presents and I played with Don and Carri's kids Lauren, Kaysen, and Devlin -they're 5 1/2 years old (so they're much much much older than me, it was really cool playing with them). They're triplets! I wish I was a triplet. Devlin gave me his fire helmet so I look like a real firefighter when I'm driving my new fire engine (see pic). The triplets have a girl rabbit and soon they will have a boy rabbit ... they promised me one of the babies (but mum and dad said we have too many animals and besides Missy might eat it).

Mummy and daddy went back to work on Wednesday. Daddy works during the day and mummy works in the evening, so there is always one of them around to play with me. I went to mummy's work at KIRO TV yesterday. Wow! It was fun. I got to sit at the anchor desk and be on camera. They have a brand new set at mummy's work, (gosh, I wish I'd brought my crayons with me, I could have made it look even nicer!). Then I went in the control room and there were lots of bright buttons everywhere and I just had the urge to push all of them all at once and see what happened (for some reason, mummy thought it was best to leave at that point). Soon, I will go to daddy's work and push all the buttons there too (and this time, I won't forget my crayons, the Fox Sports set could do with an update).

Last week, I went for my first pediatrician's appointment. He's a very nice doctor called Dr.Davies. I don't like the nurse though, she gave me lots of vaccines because she said I hadn't had any yets o I needed to have all of them all at once. Then I went downstairs to the laboratory and a mean lady stuck more needles in me and took lots of blood (yuck). To make matters worse, I had to give a poop sample too :-(

I am looking forward to having playdates with my 6 girlfriends (Adie, Charlotte, Rachel, Ellie, Polina, and Mary). I don't have any guys my own age to hang out with but I do have 6 girlfriends so I can't complain :-) I wonder if they know that I like to behead dolls ... better not tell them.

Hope you like the pics of me,

Love Roman

The Jetlagged Diaper Dude

2008-02-26T00:39:00.000-08:00

If anyone has experience dealing with a jetlaggedtoddler, please let us know :-)

We’re finally home!

We arrived back in Seattle at 11am on Sunday…24 hourslate. We ended up being stuck in Russia due to heavy winds. It was an absolute nightmare journey home (more on this in a later). Apologies to everyone who wondered what had happened to us, the high winds and snow also put the internet out of action, meaning that we couldn’t let everyone know what was going on.

Roman seems to love his new home! Despite the awful trip home, his eyes lit up as soon as he saw our house, and Missy ran out to greet us. He adores the pets (not sure if the feeling is mutual yet), and has run around exploring everywhere, especially his bedroom. He has already picked up a new English word (“Hi”), and Rich has taught him how to do a high five (essential for an American boy).

Thanks to our dear friend Mari, her partner JoAnn, and handyman Darin, we arrived home to a wonderfully clean and tidy house (it had been in total disarray when we left due to all the last minute packing and planning). Darin had put our child gates up, and the house was quite child proof (but only about 25% Roman-proof, sot hat’s what we are going to be doing soon, ROMAN-PROOFING). Although Roman is very excited to be in his new home,h e is a little overwhelmed by the whole transition. Last night, he was too scared to sleep alone in his crib, even though Helen was sleeping on the sofa bed next to him. However, as soon as Helen put him in bed with her, he fell sound asleep. We worried about him falling out of the sofa bed, so Helen stayed awake all night to make sure he was safe. Harry (the fat orange cat) and Missy (the Basset Hound) also joined Helen and Roman in the bed. Like Roman, they got a goodnight’s sleep, and poor Helen laid awake listening to them all snore.

Harry and Missy particularly missed their mum so they our currently following her around everywhere. They do not seem to be jealous of Roman, in fact, the three of them are getting along rather well! Rich’s cats Brother Tom and Aretha spent the night stretched out next to their dad, and Sally slepti n the basement as far away from Roman as she could get.

We spent today just trying to get over the jet lag and taking it easy. The three of us took Missy for a walk and we met another toddler and mom who were outwalking their greyhound. We then went to a coffee shop and Roman had fun playing in the kids' area. After that, we stopped by the Next to Nature pet store and Roman met Moses, an absolutely huge cat. After a short nap, we visited our friends Mari and JoAnn who live across the street. JoAnn gave Roman an official NFL football, and he loves it! Rich wants him to be the Packers quarterback in Superbowl LXV. Helen wants himto be the England striker, so she is rushing out to buy him a soccer ball.

He is asleep right now in his new crib and Missy is being his guard dog (actually she's snoring rather loudly).

Looking forward to seeing you all soon, it's great to be back home!

Dasvydanya Russia!

2008-02-23T01:30:00.000-08:00

The day we have been waiting for is finally here …we’re coming home!!!

It’s 1:30am on Saturday here, and we are busy packing while Roman sleeps. We tried packing while Roman was awake but he kept pulling everything out of the cases (we think he was trying to help). This is an ongoing theme with him, as he likes to open drawers and cupboards and pull everything out.

Our flight leaves Vladivostok at 3pm on Saturday, and we arrive in Seattle at 11:00 am on Saturday (due to the 18 hour time difference, we get home before we leave). We have a 2 ½ hour flight from Vlad to Seoul, 2 hour layover in Seoul then 10 hours from Seoul to Seattle. As soon as the wheels of the plane touch American soil, Roman automatically becomes a citizen of the United States. We’re sure he’ll be completely unaware of the significance of this and will probably be busy blowing raspberries (his favorite activity). Helen, on the other hand, has to take a history exama nd pledge allegiance to the flag if she wants to be acitizen…

On Tuesday, we went down to the frozen bay and watched a beautiful sunset. Roman enjoyed playing in the snow. We met the owner of the skating rink, who was excited to show us that they had Miller beer in the snack bar. Our Russian was actually better than his English, buts omehow we managed to communicate. He had a cute cat named Chorny (which means black in Russian) who looked a lot like our shorthaired black cat Brother Tom. He and Helen had a “We hate President Bush moment” whileR ich decided not to tell them they were both crazy. Helen knows how to say “I hate Bush” in Russian, she loves to say it and it amuses the Russians (we have not yet met a Russian who doesn’t agree with Helen on this subject). In case you want to try it for yourself, it is “YA NEE LOU BLU BUSH!” If you love Bush (like Rich) you would say “YA LOU BLU BUSH!”

On Wednesday, we took Roman to some Vladivostok landmarks. He won’t remember (of course) but it will be nice for him to see photos of the three of us inVlad when we are telling him the story of his adoption. We took him to the Trans Siberian Railway,the Children’s Puppet Theatre, and the old Russian Submarine. We bought him a few souvenirs, including a Red Army Partisan Hat circa 1920 and a fuzzy warm Soviet fur hat. Helen has a thing for the Russian sailors so Roman (and Helen) had their pictures taken with a sailor. Rich is not too worried but if she had a little vodka in her … well let's not go there. Most of the sailors were too young for her anyway. For fun, Rich and Helen bought a couple of Russian hockey jerseys. Hers is a Soviet style jersey with Sergei Federov’s name on it. Rich has one that is a Moscow area club team.

Each day Roman is socializing more. He is not as afraid of strangers but he is wary. If he likes them, he will hand them a toy or a balloon, or something interesting he has found on the floor. At certain times when our hotel room becomes too confining, we will go to different parts of the hotel. One area is the White Rabbit Room; a bar with a pool table, some toys and a TV. Roman decided to climb up on the pool table and started throwing the pool ballsi n the pockets and everywhere else. We managed to catch most of the balls but a few hit the ground. They are loud when they hit and he has the best laugh. Roman also likes to go up and down stairs any chance he gets. He can climb up by himself on all fours, butc an climb up properly if we hold both his hands. In fact, he likes to climb most anything.

He is starting to cut his canine teeth. Sometimes he’s a bit cranky as a result, but mostly he’s a happy, giggly guy. Feeding time is always interestinga nd at times deliciously messy. We found out that he likes spaghetti, as you will see from the photo. Our little trooper usually eats pureed babyfood, but we have been transitioning to more grown upfood the past few days. We have had some super (“cynep” in Russian) messes. We are slowly dialing back his schedule to fit ours better. He actually slept until 10:30 am today. He usually takes about 2 naps a day and is very difficult to wind down. He is also starting to like having books read to him. When we first read to him, he seemed more interested in putting the books in his mouth. Now he pays attention, looks at the pictures,and will bring a book to us for us to read it to him. We think it is because the English words are beginningto make sense to him now.

We can’t wait to get home! We missed our pets so much the other night that we called our wonderful housesitter Mari and had her put the telephone to Missy’s ear just so we could say hi to her (she apparently responded by licking her chops).

We have met many wonderful people over the last four weeks here in Russia. The Russian people have been very kind and welcoming. We can’t wait for all of you to meet our son. Roman has now been with us for 10 days. Our love for him is indescribable (but if you have children, you will know). From that first night, when he fell asleep in Helen’s arms, every day has been magical. Our agency WACAP and the people in that organization have been great. There are frustrating moments but overall it has been fantastic. Every few nights we find ourselves in tears of happiness over this joyous occasion. It has been highly emotional, stressful,and at times, overwhelming, but we wouldn’t trade any of it.

See you soon,

Helen, Rich and Roman

Roman's Day

2008-02-18T11:55:00.000-08:00

dada, ugh?, mama, caaaa...., gurgle...

(translation) Howdy Comrades! Roman Green, triple nationality, boy traveler here..

Many people have asked me how my schedule has changed since I left the baby home. Well, here are some pics of what my typical day is like with my mummy and daddy at the Vlad Inn.

Hope you like them,

Cheers,

Roman

Roman David Green!

2008-02-15T00:26:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!

We got the best Valentines gift of all….our little Diaper Dude!

Tuesday was a whirlwind of a day for us. First, we had to go to the Leninsky Vital Records Office to obtain our adoption Certificate and Roman’s new birth certificate. Then we had to visit the Russian passport office to file his passport documents.

Finally, we went to the orphanage to pick up our son. It was right in the middle of his nap time, so he was a little sleepy. The caretakers brought him out to us wearing bright green tights… then we changed him into his new clothes (as you can imagine, he was rather cranky since he’d just been woken up, and getting him into his snow suit was quite a challenge). Each of his caretakers gave him a kiss goodbye, and wished him lots of luck. Of course, he had no idea that he was leaving for good.

He slept all the way back to the hotel (about an hour’s drive), then we carried him in, still dozing. Once we got him into the room, he stirred, and looked annoyed that we’d woken him up, but when he noticed that he was in a brand new place his eyes got really big . . . and suddenly it was time to explore. Within in his first five minutes “home” with us, he attempted to turn on the stove, open the window, stick his fingers in the radiator, and scale every piece of furniture he could find.

Our first night, we holed up in our hotel suite, just enjoying being a family. Roman was excited to be with us and did not show any signs of being upset. He loved the Russian spinning top we had bought him, and spent almost an hour running back and forth through all the rooms playing with it. We will especially remember his first night with us, as there was a power cut for about 90 minutes! There we were, brand new parents, chasing after a toddler in the pitch dark. No one told us toddlers can see in the dark, but it certainly seemed like it…it didn’t stop him at all. Rich got the video camera out and put it in “night vision” mode, so we could see what he was up to!

Roman’s first meal was some peach baby food and formula. Formula is an important part of his diet because he has a lot of catching up to do. The baby home had taken him off formula and we were a bit worried that he wouldn’t go back on it, but he loves it! Since then he’s been eating us out of house and home! But of course, when food goes in one end, you get a return on your investment. Rich was rusty at best atc hanging diapers, and Helen had never had the pleasure in her lifetime. The poor kid didn’t know what had hit him. Of course, it didn’t help that the baby home swore he was potty trained. Of course a 17 month old boy isn’t potty trained!!!!! The business at hand(and in the diaper) was messy. We are now much better with another 48 hours of experience. He never stops moving and that makes it difficult to change him but Helen is getting good at changing him on the move (you’ve just got to be sure to catch everything).

He has been sleeping very well but to get him into bed we have to cuddle him until he falls asleep, then gently move him into his crib. He screams like a wailing banshee if we try to put him in his crib immediately. We were worried that he would have trouble sleeping since he was used to sleeping with nine other kids, but so far, he has been sleeping through the night. Helen and I are night owls and he is used to getting up at 6:30 am. The first morning he slept until 6:40 am and woke up happy (we woke up cranky). He takes two naps a day usually. We say usually because on Wednesday he missed his afternoon nap due to a doctor’s appointment and signing legald ocuments for his passport and visa. On the way home about 6 pm he fell asleep and didn’t wake up until the next morning at around 5:45 am. He woke up happy again and he was running around again nonstop.

We are thrilled that we have such a good-natured little boy. He is bringing us such joy. Valentine’s Day was the first full day where we didn’t travel anywhere. We took him around the grounds of the Vlad Inn in his stroller (which he loves). There is a little play area with a slide, swings and the usual kid stuff. He enjoyed swinging, but he was kind of like the little brother in “A Christmas Story” since he was so bundled up. We were worried he might try to lick some metal and get his tongue stuck.

We took him back inside to play in the kids area and he loved it. There were balloons and a little kid fort that he was running in and out of. Since he is a rough and tumble kid, he also took his first header with us. He slipped off the couch and did a nose-dive into the portable potty. (The potty hasn’t been used yet and is more of a toy to him.)

Roman is also getting a little more comfortable with strangers. He usually buries his head in Helen’s shoulder and cries, but today he wasn’t showing thef ear that he had been displaying earlier. His institutionalization shielded him from outsiders, especially men. We are happy with his progress but don’t be surprised in the future, if he shies away from you if he hasn’t met you before.

Tomorrow we go to the US Consulate here in Vlad. This will be our final official business. They will be asking us questions and getting the paperwork ready for his US visa. Once that is done, we just have to wait for his paperwork to be processed in Moscow. That will take about a week and our wonderful Russian advisor Tatiana will be taking care of that so we know it will be done correctly.

Russia is treating us well. The people are so kind and wonderful, and the food is excellent. There is no such thing as fast food here. There are no McDonald’s, Wendy’s etc (Rich might lose a few pounds because of that fact!!) The grocery stores are quite interesting to shop in. At times the language difference hinders certain communications with people and full understanding but in the end it doesn’t matter that much. We have met some wonderful people who are also adopting, and cherish our new friendships because we know what they are going through. Rich is homesick but hanging in there thanks to FOX News Channel and American Idol on the STAR ASIA channel. Helen is also homesick but prefers to watch BBC World and the Australia Network (although she does admit to being hooked on American Idol too, which we get only 9 hours after it airs in the US, wow!) We’re trying to keep Roman away from TV as much as possible (he’s at risk for ADHD due to his birth mom’s nicotine use, and early TV exposure has been shown to exacerbate that). We do admit though, that he may have caught just a bit of American Idol tonight, we hope it hasn’t scarred him for life!

We both want to get home because we miss our fourlegged kids, friends, and relatives. We cannot wait to bring Roman David Green home. (His passport says Roman Devid Grin). This process, although frustrating at times, has been more than worth it. We have been blessed with the perfect boy for us. We are so thrilled to be his parents. We cannot believe how lucky we are. Random chance brought him and us together and we are blessed.

Thank You for being our friends.

Spaciba Bolshoi (Big Thank You)

Helen, Rich and Roman

The Great Diaper Caper

2008-02-11T23:40:00.000-08:00

Prevet everyone,

We hope you had a good weekend.

Today, when we handed Roman back to his caregivers we knew that it would be the last time we would have to leave him at the baby home! Tomorrow, we officially become his parents and bring him into our family forever! One of his caretakers told us that he is the most active child in the baby home. OH BOY!!!! Time toget the running shoes out. But he is a wonderfully affectionate little guy, and we already love him very much.

We have been extremely busy buying diapers for Roman's baby home (we have included a photo of what $1000 worth of diapers looks like.) We bought Huggies, Pampers, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese diapers (we guess the Russians don’t make their own). We are just glad we don’t have to change all of them at once!

Since we can’t visit Roman on the weekends, we decided to do some exploring. On Saturday, we hired an interpreter and driver for some more sight seeing,a long with our friend Heather (who is also adopting through WACAP). First stop was a monument dedicated to the originators of the Cyrillic language, St Cyril and Methodious. It is located at the highest point in Vladivostok and has one of the best views of the city and harbor. Next, we stopped at a beautiful arch, built for the Tsar in 1912. There is a children’s puppet theatre nearby that we hope Roman will enjoy. Just down from the arch is a World War I era submarine converted into a museum. After clambering around inside, we can honestly say, we’re glad we never had to live in one of those things!

As we were exiting the submarine there was a vendor selling some Soviet era memorabilia. We purchased some for Roman. (Lenin is starting to feel like an old friend, or should we say Comrade?…there are statues of him everywhere). Later, we visited a fortress with a huge array of weapons on display… Kalashnikovs, Tank busters, RPG’s, Antiaircraft guns, a cruise missile and a Surface to Air Missile. It is scary to think that at one poin tthose missiles were pointed at us!

Sunday, we were more adventurous and took the local train into Vlad ourselves. The rail track runs right along the bay, and we were able to see hundreds of people out on the ice., fishing, driving and ice surfing (similar to wind surfing). The train was no frills and very dirty - Helen says it reminded her of old British Rail. By the way, don’t ever go to the bathroom in a Russian train, in fact never go to a public restroom anywhere in Russia. Hmmmm … maybe those diapers aren’t such a bad idea….!! If you do have to go, you’ll need 10 rubles per visit (about 40 cents). Oh, and bring toilet paper too. That costs extra. We just carry an extra roll with us. And it wouldn’t hurt to bring a seat.

Once in Vlad, we went to a café called Studio Coffee. We couldn’t understand a word of the menu but after pretending to study it carefully for ten minutes (as if we were having trouble deciding) we said“ cappuccino pazulsta (please)” and “mocha pazulsta.”That seemed to work and the coffee was fantastic. Better than some of the Seattle coffee shops. After that we walked around the downtown area and had a nice relaxing day, although it was bloody freezing. We rode the train back to our hotel without any problems, although people often tried to talk to us in Russian, and we just smiled politely (apparently we look quite Russian, except when Rich is wearing his Green Bay Packers hat).

We have now moved from our small hotel room to a suite. The hotel very kindly let us move early so that we could get ready for Roman’s arrival tomorrow.

We miss you all and thank you for your kind wishes, advice, and emails.

Helen, Rich and Roman.

Roman and Alexander's Excellent Adventure

2008-02-07T22:41:00.000-08:00

Only four more days to go before we get custody of Roman…we can’t wait!

On Tuesday, we were given permission to take Roman to have his picture taken for his Russian passport and US visa. We arrived at the orphanage and were presented with a squirmy bundle that looked for all the worldlike the “Michelin Man” (you will see what we mean when you see the photos). Our friend Heather was also given permission to take her little boy Alexander (whoa lso bore a striking resemblance to the Michelin Man).

Roman did great in the car and enjoyed looking out of the window but Alexander didn’t seem to enjoy the car ride at all. However, as soon as we got into the photography studio, Alexander was all smiles, while Roman burst into tears and clung to mama and papa. We had a really difficult time getting a good passport picture, and we ended up having to sit him on Helen’s lap, the photographer then photoshopped Helen out of the background (we had a feeling that this wouldn’t be acceptable to the US authorities, and sure enough it turns out that we will have to get his picture taken again for the US visa…we’re not looking forward to that).

We realize now that we will have to take things slowly on Tuesday as all the new surroundings and people will be overwhelming for him. We had known that this is the case with children who are adopted from orphanages, as they don’t get to experience much of the outside world, however, we had thought our sociable little guy might be more curious than frightened. Our plan for Tuesday is to come right back to the hotel and just enjoy being together, play with toys, maybe go out in the snow, take a nap, have a bath, and read some bedtime stories….just have fun being a family. The three of us are already feel like a family. Roman calls us mama and papa, and imitates some of the words we say. He loves to play peek-a-boo with papa, and when he is upset he holds his arms out and runs to his mama. At the moment, he especially loves to exploreour faces and pull our hair! He likes books but prefers eating them to reading them. In fact, the onlything Roman doesn’t put in his mouth is food. So far,he has refused to eat any snacks we’ve tried to give him (although he did enjoy playing with them).

Tomorrow, we will be buying $1000 worth of diapers for the orphanage. All adoptive parents make a $1000 donation to the Russian orphanages. They asked us to spend it all on diapers, so we will probably be buyingt he entire stock of the supermarkets in Roman’svillage. We’ve been trying to figure out just how many diapers that will be! In one of the pics you will see Rich with Raisa, the“babushka of the baby home.” She is 70 years old, and her main job is to take all the children out in strollers one at a time. She is a wonderful lady, and we told her we would like to adopt her too!

We will be visiting Roman again tomorrow, sight seeing on Saturday, having a lazy day on Sunday (our last child free day for oh, at least 17 years), visiting Roman on Monday, then picking him up forever on Tuesday. We just can’t wait for Tuesday!

Hope you all have a good weekend,

Dasvidanya,

Helen, Rich, and Roman

More Pics of the Russian Rascal

2008-02-04T21:41:00.000-08:00

Hello. We had a nice Monday. We spent three hours with Roman at the baby home. He doesn't immediately cry anymore when he sees Rich. He was very active today playing, throwing, exploring and laughing.

We have met some nice couples here adopting also. We can't say too much due to privacy issues but it is nice having others around to chat with.

Tomorrow we are allowed to take Roman out of the baby home to get some photos taken for his Russian passport and US visa. Hopefully it will be around 20 degrees or so. A warm day in the Far East is above zero. At least it has been sunny everyday and there have not been any power outages.

Helen, Rich, and Roman

From Russia With Love

2008-02-01T20:42:00.000-08:00

Prevet everyone!

We have good news! We had our court appearance today, and despite being grilled by some very severe babushkas in uniform, our adoption of Roman has been officially approved by the Russian government. We now have to wait ten days until we get custody of him and can begin the US visa application. February 12th will be the day he officially becomes our son (we can't wait)!

Roman is getting very talkative, although he only knows a few syllables and doesn't say actual words. He does say "dada" "mama", and "papa." We're not sure if he only calls us mama and papa, as kids in orphanges tend to call all the women they know "mama" and all the men "papa." However, we haven't head him call anyone else mama and papa yet, so we're quite encouraged by that.

We were so excited yesterday as he made his first attempt at a real word... and it was an English word! We were reading a book to him with lots of animals in it. It had a fuzzy picture of a cat that he could pet, after we said "cat" a few times, Roman said "caaa", "caaa"! That's wonderful considering he has not heard much English.

These pics are from our Wednesday visit with Roman. Our camera is out of action at the moment because the orphanage electricty burnt out our battery charger (a Russian power surge was too much for it). Anyway, we hope to be able to take photos again soon. Meanwhile, Rich is working on a video. It was originally quicktime but he had to convert it to WMV, and something didn't work quite right. He's working away at it furiously anyway, thanks to everyone who offered tips on how to make it work!

Back in the USSR!

2008-01-31T00:17:00.000-08:00

Drasvoyte from snowy Vladivostok, where the temperature is a balmy 5 degrees (Fahrenheit).

Today (Wednesday) we saw our son for the first time in 2 1/2 months! When he first saw us, he didn't remember us, and (just like last time) took one look at Rich and burst into tears. He was even a little scared of Helen this time. The care-takers explained that this was probably because he now understands Russian quite well, and our foreign language seemed strange to him. When we saw him in November he didn't seem to care what language we spoke, but in the last 2 1/2 months he has become very responsive to Russian (although he doesn't say any words yet, just syllables). He was inconsolable for about 5 minutes, then gradually we won him over, and suddenly he was back to the old Roman we remembered ... an absolutely lovable bundle of energy!

This time we played with him in the orphanage gym, with a couple from Chicago who are adopting a little boy called Alexander. The care-takers also brought some of the other children in to play. This was the first time we had seen Roman with other kids. He was the most outgoing and rambunctious of the lot, and we noticed that the other kids followed his lead. They had all kinds of activities in the gym, including some equipment that we don't think would be allowed in a toddler gym in the US (not really age appropriate). This included a set of wooden monkey bars, which Roman managed to climb up to the third rung (we are so glad we have bought a crib tent, not only to keep the cats out, but to keep Roman in!) He also played on a tricycle, and while his legs are too short to reach the pedals, he will definitely be riding one soon.

We've realized that our house doesn't just need to be child-proofed, it needs to be Roman-proofed (which requires an extra level of safety). He's very curious about everything, especially our video camera and, unfortunately, the other couple's video camera too (fortunately Helen managed to catch it before Roman got hold of it).

Roman doesn't seem to have grown much at all, and doesn't have any more hair. We were surprised to see that he was wearing a 9 month size onesie, which is a lot smaller than we expected. We brought a variety of sizes with us though, so we're hoping that we will have something small enough. He's just a tiny little guy but very active and inquisitive. We can't wait to fill him up with some good American food (not McDonalds). Actually, what we will be filling him up with is formula, as he still needs all the nutrients. Unfortunately, the orphanage has already taken him off formula so it may be difficult to get him back on to it, but it's necessary for his physical development.

Well, we will sign off now, as it's 12:15am on Thursday here.

Our court date is Friday and we have a rehearsal for it tonight.

Paka Paka! (bye bye)

Back to Russia!

2007-12-28T01:28:00.000-08:00

Drasvoyte Everyone!

We have some exciting news! Earlier today, we received the phone call we have been waiting for ... we will be returning to Vladivostok on January 27th to pick up our little boy Roman!

It's been six weeks since we returned from Russia, and it has been an anxious time for us. We didn't know how long it would be before we would get to see Roman again. Today's phone call was a complete surprise, as we had been told not to expect to hear anything until after January 8th (due to the Russian Christmas holdiays). Our court date in Vladivostok is February 1st. We then have a 10 day waiting period, during which we will be able to visit Roman at the baby home every day. If all goes well, the adoption will be finailzed on February12th. We will then have full custody of Roman, and the three of us will hunker down at the hotel in Vladivostok while we wait for the adoption agency to take care of Roman's US immigration paperwork in Moscow. We should then be able to return to Seattle on February 20th.

As you can imagine, since we got back, we've been rushing around trying to make the house kid-friendly. We are moving our bedroom downstairs so that we will be on the same level with Roman. His room will be our old family room just down the hall from us. Our room will be Helen's old den (otherwise known as "the Wine Bar" for those who have attended our Christmas parties). We are in the middle of painting Roman's room with some Disney themed paint called Bibbidi Bobbodi Blue. The molding and windows will be white. Rich has beenc ussing because that room has a ton of trim and more windows than usual. But, Rich is very happy that the TV has moved into the living room (which Helen swore she would never allow). The upstairs will change into a family room/spare bedroom.

The cats are not enjoying all the changes... they hatec hange. They have demanded that we feed them more since we have interrupted their schedules. We're not sure how they are going to react when we bring our little tail-pulling terror home with us! Our other furry child, Missy the Basset Hound, is ecstatic because her short legs don't have to climb the stairs as much. She likes us being mostly on the ground floor. She is, however, concerned that Roman may enjoy pulling her long ears!

Due to the December rains in Seattle, the basement is getting a bit of an unplanned makeover too because it flooded. Sadly, Rich's "Man Room" (featured on national television) was hit the hardest. We just never expected a flood since we live on a hill.

Helen has read just about every adoption book she could get her hands on. Rich has been reading about the Green Bay Packers. Go Figure!!! Rich will eventually read a couple of the books... someday...maybe....Anyway, we are getting ready for the arrival of our son. We couldn't resist sending a couple more pics of Roman. In one of them, you will notice that he already knows how to handle cats! We are so appreciative of all your thoughts and prayers.

Thank You for being so supportive.

The Greens

Privet from Russia!

2007-11-16T18:51:00.000-08:00

(that's "Hi" in Russian)

This will be our last missive from Russia, as we will be heading home tomorrow. We will be leaving Vladivostok at 3pm on Saturday and are due to arrive in Seattle at 11am on Saturday ... we arrive in Seattle before we leave Vladivostok! Saturday is going to be 42 hours long for us.

Today was a sad day as we had to say goodbye to our wonderful little boy. We won't see him again until January, possibly even February. The Christmas holidays will probably slow down the process because Russians (like the British) take two weeks off at Christmas.

It was so difficult to leave! Even though we have only known Roman for 5 days, we really feel that he is our son. We didn't tell anyone this before, but we fell so in love with him that we made the decision to adopt him even before the results of his hepatitis C test came back (his birth mom had hep C). We knew that, no matter what, he was our son, and if his result was positive we would find a way to deal with it. We were over the moon when we found out it was negative!

We will still have to watch him carefully for any signs of learning difficulties, but that's OK. We love him so much, we'll help him through whatever comes along.

Yesterday evening we took the adoption staff out to dinner at a traditional Russian restaurant. We wanted to thank our Russian Adoption agent Tatianna, our translators Ylena and Ylena (we called them Ylena 1 and Ylena 2) and our wonderful driver Sergei. We had a Russian drink called Kvas, dumplings, chicken pie, and crepes with honey.

We can't wait to show you more photos in the future, plus of course the HOURS of video we have shot :-)

Dasvadanya,

News from Russia

2007-11-14T17:11:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

We are proud to announce that we are going to be the parents of an adorable baby boy named Roman David. In a couple of months, if everything works out properly, we will be flying home from our second trip with him.

Roman is his Russian given name and we decided to keep it. We thought of all sorts of other names but ... "Roman" just fits. "David" will be his middle name in honor of our friend Dave Campbell who passed away recently.

Roman is cute, cuddly, friendly, inquisitive, and very active. He likes to play and loves quick snuggles and kisses. He smiles all the time and is making good sounds vocally.

We have gone to the baby home the last three days and have spent time with him playing every day and he just loves both of us. He has a super disposition. He rarely cries. He seems to learn quickly. He had not learned to wave goodbye, so we were teaching him yesterday. Well, today he waved goodbye to us when we had to give him back to his baby group.

Although he is 14 months old, his physical development is that of a 10 month old. This is normal for a child raised in an institution. For every 3 months a child has been institutionalized, their physical, emotional, and cognitive development is delayed by 1 month. He seems to be a little delayed emotionally and cognitively but it is hard to tell at this stage. He actually seems quite smart to us, as he imitates our actions and picks up on things quickly. His motor skills seem to be right on track for a 14 month old. He stands up and loves to walk (he also likes to climb on things).

We're determined to help him catch up in every way. There is a possibilty of some learning difficulties when he gets older (due to his birth mom's alcohol use). That's something we will have to watch out for, and we'll do everything we can to help him. We love him so much already!

We are going to be his forever family. We are overjoyed and we hope everything works out properly.

We met with his social worker Svetlana today and our interpreter Ylena helped us with questions we had about Roman and his biological family. The social worker just adores him. He is quite popular. We found out that his mother was 22 when she had him. She is considered attractive, tall and slim. He will probably tower over us when he is full grown. For the most part his background and family information on the biological side is good.

Last evening we had a delightful dinner with two residents of Vladivostock whom we contacted through Helen's friend Katie. Olga works for the Port of Tacoma as the representative here in Vlad. Her husband is a wholesale meat seller. They are wonderful people and they may try to help us on our second trip with various things to make our lives easier.

We are meeting a ton of adoptive families and parents from all over the country. Everybody's story is a little bit different. This hotel, the Vlad Inn, is like Grand Central Station for adoptions.

At Roman's baby home, the staff treat the children extremely well. The baby homes are government supported but they don't have a lot of extras. They are very grateful for any help that people can provide. We bought diapers for the children yesterday and some toys. We do not get to see the other children when we are visiting our child. If we did we would want to take more home.

Tomorrow is another big day. We will be visiting Roman, signing the official forms and then taking some of our adoption staff out for a meal.

We love you all,

Rich and Helen

Drasvoyte!

2007-11-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

Hello from the Russian Far East!

It's bloody freezing here in Vladivostok, but thankfully we have borscht and vodka to warm us up! We spent last night in Seoul, but didn't get to see much as we were just staying in a hotel near the airport. We did sample some Korean food though - we love "bibimbap" (beef, rice, sesame oil, and a chili sauce with a fried egg on top that cooks as you eat it) but we're not so keen on "kimchi" (a kind of spicy cabbage).

Tomorrow (Sunday) a driver and translator from the adoption agency are going to show us around Vladivostok. Then, on Monday morning we have our meeting at the Department of Education. They will refer a child to us, and the agency representatives will take us to the orphanage (known as a baby home). The baby home could be here in Vladivostok or up to a four hour drive away. If it turns out to be further away, we'll move to a hotel that is closer to the baby home.

We won't be able to keep in touch as often as we would like as the hotel's wi-fi does not work with our Mac laptop. So we have to pay 300 rubles ($12) an hour to access the internet. We'll try to check our email once a day though.

If you'd like to give us a call, we're in room 216 at the Vlad Inn (4232) 38-88-88. We're not going to call you because it costs hundreds of rubles!

Dasvidanya,

Rich and Helen

PS. We're 18 hours ahead of Seattle, 16 hours ahead of Stoughton, 15 hours ahead of Atlanta, and 10 hours ahead of Newton Abbot!

Off to Russia!

2007-10-27T20:03:00.000-07:00

Drasvoyte! (that's Russian for Hello!)

We have some exciting news! We will be leaving for Russia to meet our new son or daughter on November 8th! We fly directly from Seattle to Seoul, spend the night in Seoul, then fly to Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.

All we know is that we have been matched with a healthy child between the ages of 9 months and 18 months. We weren't expecting to be matched with a child until next spring, as couples usually have to wait a few months after their dossier has been accepted by the Russian authorities. Well, our dossier was only submitted three weeks ago! It turned out, that the two couples ahead of us wanted to adopt a girl, and the Russian authorities couldn't guarantee there would be a girl available. Since, we don't mind...we jumped to the front of the line! (So, there's a good chance that we will be adopting a boy).

Russia requires adoptive parents to make two trips. The first one is for about 10 days, where we visit the orphange (known as a "baby home") every day, and spend time with the child we would like to adopt. We then complete all the Russian paperwork stating our intention to adopt a particular child.

The second visit takes place about 2 months later. This time we spend about three weeks in Russia. We have a court hearing and are given custody of our child. We then have to wait for various documents to be couriered back and forth to Moscow, before the adoption is finalized and our child's US visa comes through. So all three of us (the Brit, the American, and the Russian) will be hunkered down in a hotel room in Vladivostok for three weeks!

We'll keep everyone posted via email (if we can get organized, we'll start an adoption blog!)

The Greens

PS Our friend Mari will be housesitting while we're gone, and will be looking after our five furry children.