A Walk in the Park

Luka and I ventured out into a little park in downtown Hannibal this week. As the Home of Mark Twain would have it, this little park is surrounded by white picket fence so Luka enjoyed the freedom of running around, untethered. His adjustment has been surprisingly smooth and we have been rather astonished at his ability to learn. While in Russia, we worked to use signing as a language barrier-buster. Within four days, he learned to communicate "more", "eat", "drink" and "again". Now I struggle with learning signs to keep up. He has added "bath", "dog", "bubbles", "cereal", "all done", "book", and "cook". He has invented his own gesture for baby by patting himself on the belly (as in, "like me") when he sees a picture of another child. Yikes. Thank goodness for Baby Sign iPad app...

Alena has taken on the role of Big Sister with excellence! She is happy to share, eager to read him stories, and helpful with meal and bath times. I have yet to get a *great* picture of the two of them together but the one I do have is still sweet <3 .

I'm one step closer to getting some video posted but so far, I've only managed to get the audio to play... Hmph. Stills will have to do for now...



"HIIIIIIIII!!!!" --- in case you couldn't hear it from there.


This is lingual concentration.


Big Guy


Makes me giggle.



I love a good black and white