Tuesday, July 31, 2001
We moved into our new house the end of April. I was a little nervous about having our room downstairs and the kids upstairs but it’s been great! They wake up & go potty (they wear pull-ups to bed now), then change to underpants, play in the playroom a while, then come downstairs & get their sippy cups out of the fridge & don’t wake me up until after 8am!
We went to temple one time and I remembered why we don’t go very often. They wouldn’t sit still & kept running up to the front to say hi to the Rabbi! Luckily most people thought it was cute, I was totally embarrassed! Especially when Alek yelled out (in a moment of silence) “Make! Make poo-poo now!”
Sometimes Ana gets too wild (when she’s overtired). I’ll tell her to calm down and breathe. She take’s these big breaths & raise her arms up & down. It’s pretty funny.
One night the thunder woke the kids up & they started crying “Mama bed!” They came down & got into bed with us. Ana was moving around so much that Mitch threatened to leave so I was holding her close to me when all of a sudden, she sits up & says in this really annoyed voice “Ana own bed!” & left! I didn’t know if I should be insulted or grateful!
Alek turned 3 May 21st!
We threw him a party that ended up inside after it rained!
We’ve been teaching the kids that their names are Ana & Alek Cooper (they still say “Pooper”) & their other names are Anastacia & Aleksander. One day Mitch asked Ana what his name was & she answered “Papastacia”!
We went to a party for a Ukrainian friend and we were the only people that didn’t speak Russian as a first language. It was cool because exactly one year before we were in the same exact situation only IN Ukraine & we had just gotten our kids!
Anyway, Ana started screaming MAN! over & over & crying so hard we couldn’t understand. Finally we found out that one man saw Ana eating a piece of ice & was afraid she’d choke on it so he took it out of her mouth & yelled at her in Russian. It took us close to an hour to calm her down & get her breathing normally. The whole time Alek was following us around saying “Alek like-a the man!”
Mitch’s parents came for a visit & the kids realized for the first time that my name is Laurie. Ever since they left the kids have been calling me “Lordy”. Now I keep hearing little voices form the bathroom yelling “Lordy, wipe the butt!”
June 10th was 1 year since we brought them home. I still can’t get over how much they’ve changed!
The kids had their first overnight at my parents the Sat. before our Anniversary so we could go on a date. It was wonderful! And a few days before that I went out alone with a girlfriend! I can’t believe it took me over a year to go out!
We went out with my parents on our Anniversary & I was totally embarrassed when something Mitch taught the kids took on a life of it’s own! They would make a “noise” with their mouth & yell “Mama!” or “Mama pooped!” & wouldn’t stop! They kept getting louder & louder & no one in the restaurant was laughing except us! We were laughing so hard we were crying!
Mitch tapes it & they watch it together every night! It’s on the Disney channel & they actually sit still to watch it! (Except during the opening song when they all dance!)
They figured out that Papa’s other name is “Myth-el” but when he buys them stuff they call him Papa-Claus!
When Ana wants something & I say it’s all gone, she’ll say “Mama go store, buy more”!
Everytime Alek says everybody, it comes out “every every every”!
Ana would say “I need boat! Ana sit Papa lap go fishing!” So…
The kids love the boat, it has a cabin up front so the kids can nap & a little potty. Now the kids say “Aye, Aye Captain Papa”
Alek can be such a good boy when he’s not around Ana. He will sit & play with toys quietly but as soon as Ana walks into the room he tries to do whatever she does & usually gets into trouble.
They are both real big on things that are the same right now. It could be a sign the same color as their shirt or the same kitchen faucet we have in someone else’s house & they start yelling “Same Mama, Same, Look!”
Ana loves yellow, whenever she sees something yellow she says “same as Ana yellow hair! But her favorite color is pink. I think Alek’s is green.
Alek is always saying “Look-a me Ma!”
Every night I tell them the goodnight story when I tuck them in. It’s the VERY abridged version of how we became a family & they fill in a lot of the words. For America & Ukraine they say “Mer-I-ca-ca-ca & Caine”. One day we past some construction, Alek pointed to a crane & said “Look Mom, Caine, same Alek Ana!” … Oops, guess I need to be more specific!
When one “accidentally” hurts the other & has to apologize, they will say “Alek (or Ana) mean! Kiss it right there!”
When Ana doesn’t like a food she says “Too bi-c, Ana no like it!”
When you ask her a question she’ll say “ummm…yeah!”
Everything small she calls “tinee”
She calls me Mom & Mitch Pops when she wants something
She never “wants” anything, she always “needs” it!
She now loves beef in any form but she calls it meap: “More meap peas!”
When she hurts her feet she says “Ouch!… owsie toesies!”
When you tell Alek to do or not do something, he slaps his hands against his sides & says “Oh man!”
When you tell hem again he says (very drawn out) “Oh-kay”
Anything you do Alek wants to do “too” like getting the mail. He’ll say “Alek get the mail too!”
When Alek wants something he’ll say he likes it even if he doesn’t know what it is. “Alek like-a that!”
He will paint to his underpants & say ”Alek man, Alek man pants, Alek like-a the man” (then Ana says “Ana lady pants too”) I have no idea where this came from!
Alek likes to go up to people in stores & restaurants, wave & say “hi man, hi lady, hi people!” then run & hide behind me when they say hi back.
We must do a lot on Saturdays because everytime we say we’ll do something later he asks “Sat-ur-day?”
Mitch has been agreeing with my father lately… “They’ve got cuteness they haven’t even used yet”!!!
BTW, While I was reviewing this page, Alek was standing next to me looking at the pictures and saying "Oh cute" to every one of them!
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