jancofamily

So I know it has been a while since my last post.  I really want to try and get into more of a groove of writing.  Journaling is such a great way to preserve memories, and I this form of it is nice because I get to share it with you, my Internet audiance.

New Rooms
We got right down to business once we got home from vacations.  We decided to turn our den into Mathieu’s room.  We moved the desks, packed some stuff up in boxes, Grampa came down and helped us paint.  We put up some new curtains, a few shelves, and moved Mathieu’s furniture in!  It is very nice.  And the kids for the like having their own - especially Shana.  Shana is much less axious at bed time, and at naptime, instead of putting up a fight about laying down - she will often just go into her room a play for a while.  Not sure what we wil do if/when our family grows any more (that is a topic for another post).

It’s Potty Time
Mathieu!  My son who has only known our home (and our country, language, culture) for 6ish months is starting to use the potty.  He is not fully trained, but he really knows what/when to go - and has been relativily dry most of the time!!!

There have been a few times where we are openly praising Mathieu for his ‘accomplishments.’ And the funny thing is, Shana says “I could use the potty, but I don’t want to.  I want to be a baby!”  This whole potty training thing is not happening exactly the way I thought it would.

Grace may actually be trained before Shana - She has been sitting on the potty, and gets the idea a little.

You are the greatest thing I never seen!
Just a quick comment on Shana cute language acquisition…For her age, her mastery of the English language is exceptional.  But I love the cute occasional misuses like this one:  she sees and is excited about Nonna stopping by and says: “You are the greatest thing I never seen!”  Very cute.

We are all having a blast here at Hilton Head with Nana.  Shana and Mathieu had their first ride in a convertible and their first ride in a golf cart.  We spent a few days at Nana’s and now we are at a really fun, cool beach house on the island!

We been going to the beach, swimming in the pool.  And today we had a birthday party at ‘The Bear Mill’ where the kids picked out and adopted a little stuffed animal.

41 years ago today, the supreme court declared VA’s anti-miscegenation law unconstitutional.  This helped to overturn the last of these laws in the southern states.  Our country has seen many good changes in regards to race relations in the past fifty years.  I know we have a long way to go (though I can only empathize to an extent (being a white upper middle class male)).  I only hope and pray that events like this one, and the fact this year we will have the first African-American presidential candidate for this years elections help to pave the way for a more equal and fair future for my son and other minorities.

Happy Loving Day

Mildred Loving

Binkies
Recently we hit some pretty significant milestones with Shana and Mathieu. All three of our kids use ‘binkies’ to help them fall asleep at night. Well, last week they both put all their binkies in a bag, and we took them to Toys R’ Us to trade them for a fun toy! Shana picked a rocking horse, and Mathieu picked a radio controlled car. That night and the next few nights were a little rough for Shana, Mathieu was fine. Shana wanted to take her rocking horse back, and get her binkies back.

Now that it has been about a week, they are both are falling asleep without any mention of their binky!!! We are so proud of them. And Shana, when asked about her rocking horse will recount the entire story for you verbatim.

Dentist
Both Mathieu and Shana had their first visit to the dentist last week as well.  The did exceptionally well!!!!  I have met 32 year olds who have a harder time going to the dentist then my kids!  They had their teeth cleaned, they got water squirted in their mouth (they though that was very fun).  And the learned how to brush their teeth by brushing an alligator’s teeth.  Hopefully, we will continue to have such a positive experience at the dentist with them in the future.

All I want for Christmas is 16 more teeth.
So, the dentist reported that Shana has all her baby teeth in.  Mathieu has all but his two back molars.  Gracie on the other hand….has two on the bottom….two more coming in right now on the top…..and that is it.  Which means she has 16 more teeth to go.  And judging by her pain threshold, it is going to be a long year!

English
Though he still has a pretty significant lisp, Mathieu is saying many, many more English words!  He understand pretty much everything we say to him.  And every day he will surprise us with another word he has learned.  And when we are trying to teach him a word, he is so intent.  He really pays attention to what your mouth is doing, and tries to do the same.

Wow…there is so much to talk about, but I must get to work.  Good day.

This weekend we took the kids to South Park, and one of the fun things we did was ride some horses. Mathieu was not to interested, as he was a little scared of the horses. But Grace rode once and Shana rode TWICE!!!! Here is video of her second ride. She absolutely LOVED riding.

Ok, so I really didn’t plan on a silent blog for over 2 months! We have been quite busy. But now that we have a moment to breathe, I though I’d catch you up on the happenings at the Janco homestead.

Graduation

Earlier this month, I attended commencement ceremonies at Eastern University and received my BA in MIS (Management of Information Systems) {actually, my official diploma is due to arrive in the mail in the next month or so}. My family and a few close friends attended commencement with me. Twelve years and five schools later, I finally finished. I feels really good to have accomplished this, and I was glad to go to commencement (though it was kinda weird to be hearing pomp and circumstance for me!). Graduation was great too because it was mostly older folk like me - it was the graduate and school of professional studies graduates only. Now on to my MBA…maybe….we’ll see.

What happened mama?……Huh?

The following dialog happens about 20 times a day:

Grace drops her bowl

Mathieu: “What happened mama?”

Sara: “Grace dropped her bowl”

Mathieu: “Huh?”

Sara: “Grace dropped her bowl”

Mathieu: “Huh?”

and so on. It gets kind of old after a while, but I suppose he is learning. Soaking it all in. The day to day is getting better, but it was really rough at first. Mathieu is still very attached to Sara, but he is warming up to me. He used to really freak out when Sara would go somewhere, but now I can watch him, put him to bed; and he doesn’t make much of a fuss.

He understands nearly everything we say, and is speaking more and more english every day. He has a lisp, as he say almost everything with his tongue sticking out. But he is very intent on learning, he will repeat a word with you over and over, trying to learn it and say it right.

He consistently wants to do EXACTY what Shana is doing. This is usually great, as they are playing together better and better. They can often be found chasing each other, or playfully pushing each other. We do have to watch, though, as they can hit a tipping point where they get mad at each other. It is really great, because they are sort of acting like twins. I can’t wait to see how this ‘twin-ness’ manifests as they get older.

Shana, big sister/artist/communicator

Shana is really growing. She has really taken on the big sister role. She will step in and help Grace usually. She will enforce the rule, and follow them herself sometimes. And though she can throw a good hard tantrum every once in a while, she is usually good at communicating her feelings to us. She can talk your ear off….I love it!

She has been quite the artist lately. Most of the stuff she draws is illegible. But she has been drawing smiley faces that are incredible. They have two eyes, a nose and a mouth — they even have two ears and two eyebrows!! I will try and post one next time she draws one for us.

Gracie-BOP!!!

At first, Gracie-bop was just a cute nickname we would call Grace sometimes. But lately she has been living up to that moniker. She moves about with a confidence and fearlessness of a adrenaline junkie bent on jumping off the highest heights. She will without fail, try and take stairs a full step at a time. She thinks she is about 2 feet taller than she is, which has cause her a few bonks on the head. Sometimes she will get down off a chair, face first! Though she is not speaking one word, she is expressing herself in ANY way she can. Her squeals really crack us up.

So we have a few quiet weeks at home, and then we are off to fun in Hilton Head; the hills of West Virginia, and who knows where else.

I will try and keep you all posted a little better. Till then.

With so much time and effort spent on ‘the twins,’ we really haven’t spent much time on updating youz guys about Grace. So without further ado, I present Grace’s first steps!!! (she has actually taken a few steps for a while now, but this video shows her walking about 10 feet or so!!!)!!!!

So some things are getting a little smoother. The kids are really getting along well. Grace is not really picking on Mathieu as much. They are sharing momma a little more. Some nights are easier than others. Tonight was a tougher night. Grace took a long time to go down; Mathieu went down easy; but Shana really did not want to go to bed. She wanted to stay up and play. One on one time with her has really suffered since bringing Mathieu home. She has really stepped up and has been very mature.

Tonight while she was throwing a fuss about going to bed, I asked her to be a big girl, quiet down, settle down. Later while Sara was putting her down she said “I don’t want to be a big girl” Sometimes things have been rough especially with Mathieu and Grace, and times like this strangely enough give us hope.

So thank you Shana….we will try and baby you just a little longer

So, two weeks ago tomorrow we arrived home from Haiti.  Honestly, it has felt like longer than two weeks.  Three under three is alot of work!  I guess I hope that The Goslings  aren’t reading this, since they have six that are three and under!  Anyhow, besides getting a little less sleep, we are all adjusting.  Mathieu is really doing well.  He is only acting out on occasion, and it is mostly when he must do something he doesn’t want to do, like take a nap.

Mathieu has really attached to Sara.  This had really affected some of our family dynamics.  Since he is at Sara’s side (or in her arms) almost as much as an infant, Grace has been very jealous!  In fact on more than one occasion she has pulled his hair, pushed him or hit him in trying to get to momma first.  And sometimes they all scrum for momma at the same time.

Overall, everyone is getting along.  Mathieu is very affectionate.  He will freely give many kisses and hugs (at least as long as momma is around).  So even though Grace has been rough with him, he has for the most part been sweet to her.  We tried going out into the snow, but the only one really having any fun was Grace.  Shana did for a few minutes but then was ready to go back inside.

Mathieu will have a couple rounds of initial doctors appointment, but at least for his first visit, they gave him a clean bill of health.  He isn’t saying much in English yet (however we don’t know how much he is saying in Kreyol versus just baby talk.  He was surrounded by babies in the orphanage, so he didn’t have much of an opportunity to learn language skills.  When we first had him home he would wolf down anything we put in front of him, but now is being a little more picky.  This is a good thing as it shows he is getting more comfortable with us.

Shana is really stepping up.  She is being very mature though this whole thing.  We are very proud of all of them, but especially Shana.  She is really acting like a big sister.  She is even helping momma out (as much as a 2-1/2 year old can).

The next big thing is a birthday party for Grace this Saturday.  This will be the first time for Mathieu with this many people in our house….We’ll let you know how it goes!