It is official - Aitugan Walks!!!



The walking first began on Superbowl Sunday, but really took shape this past week. She is now at the point where she can predictably walk across a room and, at least once now, she has stopped midway, bent down to pick up a toy, and then continued on.

So much has happened in her development just in the last week. Without warning we began to notice a new tooth emerging. It was not preceded by teething and discomfort, and it is not where we had thought we would see her next teeth.

We met her just prior to her 7th month birthday, and at the time she had two center lower teeth and in the 3-plus months that we have been with her, we have seen nothing further until this week when a lone second incisor on her right side poked through. Presumably her middle teeth are not far behind, but who knows.

Apart from the dental and ambulatory news, as of this week she has also taken control of her feeding. Like so many things it was a gradual progression wherein she first played with her sippy cup, then just held it and sucked air, but now she understands that she must hold it up inverted enough to get her milk, and she delights in showing us how independent she is becoming.

The rate at which all of these changes takes place really is astounding. Sure you hear from others that 'they grow up so fast' but man oh man does it happen quickly when you are there to witness each step along the way and to recognize both the subtle and not so subtle transformations.



A couple weekends ago we left Maine for a quick jaunt across New Hampshire and Mass to Rhode Island to attend a party for some Kaz adoptive friends of ours, and then went on to the Cape that evening to visit with my older brother and his family for the night before returning back to Maine Sunday.

It was terrific to see so many important people and to share time with our daughter in a number of different environments. She did astoundingly well with the adjustments and all of the people. We are very encouraged by the ease with which she adapts and handles new situations.



As well as feeding herself, Tougy delights in feeding us. Each time we take a bite from her she reels in delight.



There is still nothing quite so soothing as her left thumb - and I'm okay with that. It sure beats keeping track of a pacifier.



Since the day we met her, one of her most remarkable qualities has been her amazingly engaging and bright eyes. I can't look at them enough.



Clean up is sure a lot easier with a pair of willing dogs at the ready. They watch her every move and await the 'okay' from us before swooping in for the spoils.



The dogs attention and wants are not lost on Aitugan either, she both taunts and rewards them and has begun what seems to be a universal favorite past time of all infants - the throwing of food!



With a look somewhere between Derek Zoolander and Harry Callahan - Tougy enjoys makes faces.



Judging from the comments already received about this photo, joining your child in the crib is not something every parent does. I see it as sort of a cross between leading by example and the idea that if you cannot beat them, join them.

Both KJ and I (on separate occasions) have climbed in to help ease her into sleep. It is really quite a comfortable mattress.

Perhaps not every crib would welcome a parents weight, but having both designed and built the crib, I knew it would hold us all. That said, it is just a standard sized crib mattress and so the space can be an issue.



Here is our little Tougy enjoying her first solo bottle. A very satisfied little girl!



On a final note, congratulations to both Regina Ruopoli and Susan Serra. Over the course of the last week both of them - longtime readers of our blog - received word from their respective adoption agencies as to which region within Kazakhstan they would be traveling. We wish them the best.

Take Care.

Our little Aitugan turns 10 months old today. I know that before long we'll go from counting months to counting years but for now, we continue to marvel at the changes that present themselves on a daily basis.

Incredulously I revisit the seemingly distant memory of our first day in the baby house playroom with Aitugan and remember that it was just three months ago. Three months ago - how can that be true.

I continue to check in on the Kazak Adoption online forums - as we have for nearly a year now - though the topics and jargon ring out like the names of bands I knew in high school - relics and placeholders of a time long since past.

The I-600's - yeah I saw them back in the day. MFA - didn't they do that song from that John Hughes movie. Dossier sounds familiar, but I was never really into metal.

Our life as a family has moved forward at speeds I never knew existed. I know our passports might proclaim otherwise, but I feel I could convince a lie detector that we have been together all of our lives. How could it not be so? She is our daughter as surely as anything I know to be true.

Take Care.

Well we have just come home after a wonderful several days in John's Island Florida. The weather was chilly and windy, though that sure didn't keep us from having a great time with family and friends.

We stayed with my father and invited our friends Caroline and Winston along with their son Charles. We were fortunate to find that JetBlue recently began to fly non-stop from Portland(ME) to Orlando and so had reasonably simple travel down and back. Aitugan traveled wonderfully, having no trouble with take off and landings, and sleeping almost the entire flight (3 hours).

Being a two Subaru family, we decided to take this opportunity to rent a mini-van to get a sense of what that might be like. Overall, it was apparent what the draw might be in terms of simplicity and space, though I'm not sure we will be heading off to the dealership just yet.

As you might expect, we took a great many photos over the course of several days, so bear with me as I go through and begin to post some of the highlights.

Just to give you a sense of the cull, these pictures are pulled out from over 500 taken over four days, so don't ever believe that every shot we take is a keeper. That said, maintaining order in a library that expands that rapidly takes diligence and time, and is certainly not for everyone.

So away we go!

Aitugan enjoys what is most likely her first encounter with dirt and grass.



Aitugan meets my stepmother Susan, and has now spent time with all five of her grandparents.



Winston with her son Charles









Caroline and Charles share a quiet moment.



Enjoying a certain amount of liberty whilst feeding herself Avocado.



Sometimes there's only a subtle difference between eating and kissing.







Even Poppy pays a price for Tougy's rough explorations.



Off to the beach to introduce both Aitugan and Charles to the wonder of the ocean.









Okay, so maybe we misjudged that wave.





Caroline getting to know her new camera.



How big is Aitugan?



SO BIG!

This past week has found our little Aitugan more often sleeping and fevered than well, though we believe we are on the way to recovery now that it's source - infections in both ears - has been identified and put on notice.

Before the fever set in however, Aitugan enjoyed several days with her Nonna (my mother), and continued her stellar tradition of going anywhere and everywhere with us. After a further 6 meals out in local restaurants this week, she is becoming quite the social butterfly.

She is very engaging and has found a new fondness for waving hello and goodbye to everyone and everything - people, animals, photos and music. As one might imagine, it is incredibly endearing.

Everywhere we go, new friends sprout up. Sure she'll play coy and reserved for a moment or so, but before long it is big smiles, angelic giggles, and her own special dialog of sounds, syllables, grunts, snorts, and groans.

This weekend we are off to Florida for four days of family, friends, sun, green grass, and of course, sea and sand.

We'll spend Friday night with my step mother, then be joined saturday afternoon by my father for the rest of the weekend. Also, our dear friends Winston and Caroline arrive Saturday morning with their son Charles.

We last saw WInston and Caroline at their wedding in Atlanta a couple years ago and, having both begun families through adoption since then (Charles was a domestic adoption), have eagerly sought a time to come together again.

As it happens, Charles and Aitugan are just two weeks apart in age and, as they have been with him since birth, Caroline and Winston have become a valuable resource to us in our process to become parents and to care for Aitugan's needs.

Hopefully the weather and flights will cooperate and we will come back next week with numerous photos and stories of our time together.

Soon all of this 'honeymoon' time with Aitugan and both of her parents home all day will come to an end as KJ is set to return to work on 04 Feb. It will be a rough time for all. But for now, we plow ahead at full speed. Take Care.

Well time has gotten away from us. Thanks for continuing to check in. Things are going great for this new family of three, though the camera has seen limited action in our new 24/7 world together.

To begin, Little Miss Aitugan has amassed a slew of new nicknames. Some will stick, some will fall by the wayside, and certainly new ones will will follow. Currently she is most often Aitugan, frequently Tougy, routinely Monkey, sometimes Tougleton, occasionally Aitutu, and errantly Bokar, Daouda, Midou or KJ.

She has been visited by KJ's parents, my father and older brother, and today my mother comes for a few days. Additionally she has made day trips to Boston, Portland (ME), and Freeport. She's had two pediatrician visits, two chiropractors visits, visited our adoption agency office, visited KJ's vet hospital (3X), gone out to eat a half dozen or so times, gone snowshoeing a number of times and has made several visits to our local YMCA.

At the Y, our courageous daughter first took place in a parent/infant swim class, and then yesterday joined gymnastics/roll around group. In every occasion Aitugan continues to demonstrate motor skill levels above her age and we are greatly encouraged by her willingness to try new things and actively engage in her new world.

Here at home she is definitely settling in very well. She continues to want to walk everywhere, though not yet unassisted. She loves to walk behind her push cart, and climb stairs. For whatever reason she seems endlessly interested in the dogs when they are eating and at every opportunity cruises over to their bowls to look in and watch them eat.

Not surprisingly, the dogs demonstrate the same level of interest in her eating - though perhaps with slightly different motivation.

Our adjustment to our new lives has continued to go well. Seemingly every hour has a moment or two where upon we find ourselves frozen in our tracks amazed, incredulous, or otherwise bewildered by something that has just happened be it a look she gives, a sound she makes, something that came out of her, or something that went in.

All this is not to suggest that these first three weeks home have been nothing but smiles, laughter and glee. There have certainly been some rougher times where we find ourselves with an irate, overtired little girl wrangling in our arms with seemingly nothing we can provide to sooth her, but thankfully these are the exceptions.

Well our little angle has awoken from her nap and so I am racing to finish this with one hand before the bottle in the other goes dry, then it's up to diaper land and back to the playroom for a while. Take Care.

Today was Aitugan's 9-month birthday - 66 days since we met her at the Baby House in Astana.  How ever to begin to make sense of all the changes our world's have seen in the hours since that first afternoon?  

Though I desire to share with all of you the changes we are witnessing and participating in, the truth is, I'm tired and my mind isn't working that effectively.  Suffice it to say that we all have come to appreciate life in ways we never knew possible.  Aitugan has already taught us so much, and while she may not be yet able to verbalize her transformation, her actions demonstrate an explosion of growth.

Hopefully I will find the mental stamina to write a more complete posting soon.  Until then, I hope you enjoy the photos and will leave it up to you to fill in the thousand words that each of them is believed to be worth.  Take Care.

Aitugan enjoying her first solid food - a gingerbread cookie from her Nonna.