Tuesday, August 04, 2009

No puking

Hooray! Our pediatrician was able to find a one-dose treatment for the giardia and the girls had no side effects from it. They took mebendazole, which is normally used to treat pinworms. I could not find good info online that it can also be used to treat giardia in one-dose, but I know our pediatrician did a lot of research as well and I trust her research options better than mine. No puking this time around and I am so glad I spoke up and asked for a different medicine!

No one has been waking up at night since we took out the nightlights (or at least not waking up upset!). The girls are sleeping soundly enough that I can go in their room at night. When all of the kids first came home, they did not sleep soundly at all. Dima and Danielle would both startle awake at the slightest noise or touch. Now everyone sleeps soundly, telling me they are comfortable and feel secure in their beds and that we are there with and for them (that, and they're exhausted from playing all day! :)).

It has been so much fun to watch Dima's progress this summer. He is really started to gain some maturity. He is not "over" all of the survival behaviors that he learned in the orphanage, but he is making tremendous progress. I think it has helped him to have the girls at home, as he gets to be the big brother now. He always was before, but since he and Zhenya are so close in age I think they always felt more like twins than big brother-little brother.

The boys have decided that they want to be called Alex and Tim for school this year. We have been spending time with all of their names this summer, and they have requested to be called Alex and Tim (or sometimes Timmy). I'm trying to get in the habit of using their first names by calling them Alex Dima and Timmy Zhenya, but it's hard! LOL Every time I remember and say "Alex Dima" he always turns around and says "Thank you Mama for calling me Alex Dima" so I think it's something I need to work on more diligently. Please forgive me if I mix up names in the blog--this is going to be a harder transition for me than the boys! :)

4 comments:

BT said...

Thanks for following up about the nightlight topic. Once sort of settled into home in Canada, our boys started sleeping easily and well, too. And they still do. That is why we have never messed with the system they liked of total darkness. And it's why I am still hesitant to mess with it! But I do want to see how they react to a nightlight. I think I will turn one on later in the night after they've been asleep for a few hours and see whether any issues show up. Their room gets so dark that I do worry about their ability to find their way to the door if they need to go to the bathroom. So far, this hasn't been an issue, but who knows? We are also looking at starting the Love and Logic approach to sleep/bedtime in early 2010, and I am curious about what will happen with sleep patterns then. We'll see. Anyway, thanks for the follow-up.

Courtney said...

BT: We do have a nightlight in the bathroom, and we always have (since the boys came home) so I think they're used to just that. We leave the boys' door open a little bit so the light from the bathroom can be seen through their door, but it doesn't actually light up their room. Right now the girls' doors are closed because they have pocket doors and they were having a hard time sleeping through Mark and I walking in the hallway. I would like to leave their door a little bit open so that Danielle could get up and go to the bathroom, but we just haven't transitioned to that yet and it hasn't seemed to be a problem for her. :)

The Flying Eagle said...

yea! no puking! so happy for you all. I am going to have a hard time with the transition as well but it is a great idea to start it at the beginning of the year. The kids will adjust so quickly!

Unknown said...

hooray for no puking! And the name thing...I call my boys the wrong name all the time. I even sometimes call A.J. "Jared" because he reminds me of my brother. Ridiculous, since I haven't lived in the same house as Jared in more than 10 years! Good luck with the switch!