Santa Baby

And so it begins!

Off to the mall we went for the Great American Santa Claus Photo. It was a success! Don'tcha just love a good sweater vest?

Milo thought Santa was swell, but he was apprehensive at first about sitting on his lap. Once mom showed him how to do it he was game. It took only minor prompting to get that dazzling smile.

Video: Mr. Chatty

Milo is getting very verbal, and as you can see he loves calling out to our Chihuahuas, Paco ("Caco") and Delilah ("Lalila".) He also loves gadgets, especially cameras, as you can hear by his whining for mine in this video. We gave him one of our cheap ones as a toy; it is his favorite thing at the moment. I just love the way he says "yes" at the end of this!

This is what daddy and Milo were working on in the video.

Here are a few more random photos from the last few weeks:

Having tea with the queen?
Nope, just looking spiffy on Thanksgiving!

Now that's what I call a guitar hero.

The Dynamic Duo of Love

Milo loves to "cook." He gets the pots and pans
himself and asks for peanuts or raisins to
stir up in the pot! He also likes to care for his teddy bear.
He puts diapers on him, puts him on the potty, feeds,
hugs and kisses him and lays him down
in the bed to go night-night. It's the sweetest thing.

Cheeks, lashes and lips galore

A rare, pensive moment watching the birds

With Aunt Rosie on Thanksgiving

Riding his Radio Flyer Retro Rocket
with cousin Gabrielle

Watching the movie "Where the Garbage Goes"
with his buddy, Nigel. They are fascinated with it.
Check it out at http://www.littlehardhats.com/
He is mimicking the motions of taking a picture.

With our early intervention therapist, Shea, whom we love!

This 'bad' photo would have been deleted, but
something about it reminds me of Chuck Barris
from The Gong Show. Remember how Chuck would
always pull his hat over his eyes?
Come to think of it, Milo acts a lot like Chuck!

(That's his cousin, Kirsten, in the background.)

Thanks for stopping by. We wish everyone a joyful and magical holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving

We cannot count the number of times we have said thank you this year. It has been a year that we have felt embraced and supported like never before, during perhaps the most difficult season of our lives. We owe boatloads of gratitude to many people, and I'm still working on the thank you notes! ;-)

Most of all, we are deeply thankful for having the most incredible little boy in our family. Milan Damir Ruopoli, thank you for being you. You, glorious you.

Big love and warmest wishes to everyone this holiday season!

Milo gives Delilah a peace offering

VIDEO: Tennis Anyone?


AND happy 9th anniversary, my sweet Frank.
You are still the sunshine of my life.
Oh yes, and happy Franksgiving!

National Adoption Day

Happy (belated) National Adoption Day!

We celebrated this special holiday yesterday by attending an Adoption Day Ceremony at Azalea Park in Summerville.

I was honored to help write and officiate at the candle lighting ceremony for the event. (I am a certified civil Celebrant.)

Many families braved the drizzle and huddled beneath the gazebo and under umbrellas. We enjoyed music, shared stories and lit candles. I was excited to be one of the parents who shared our adoption story. Of course Milo, the perpetual ham, wanted to take over the microphone! After the event we joined several families at a restaurant for dinner and playtime.

It was interesting to re-read my blog post from this same day last year, and remember the very different tone of this holiday for us then. Proof positive that a whole helluva lot can happen in one year! (Oh yes, his eyes were sparkling.)

Milo has been extra huggy and kissy this week. Earlier tonight he gave me the longest goodnight hug ever. I could tell he really meant it. I am still in a puddle.

The above photo will be appearing in a 2009 calendar of Kazakh kids.
Check it out: http://www.twoheartsforhope.blogspot.com/

VIDEO: Kitchen Table Montage

Halloween and Crunchy Fall Fun

Howdy partners! Our little buckaroo was a swaggering cowboy this Halloween. We thought the look fit him well, plus it was also a hats off to my dad, Rudy, who is an avid fan and collector of memorabilia from the classic Riders of the Silver Screen, such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.

We visited some family members and then went to a friend's block party, which has become a tradition. He blocks off his entire cul-de-sac and sets up a stage and has awesome special effects and decorations, etc. He owns a prominent local stage lighting and sound company, so this is his thing and he does it well. Milo had a blast.

Here are some photos from our holiday, as well as a few from earlier this fall.

Also, I've written a general update at the bottom of this post.

Enjoy!

Get along little doggie!

He was not a fan of the process of drawing the mustache, eyebrows and
sideburns on his face, but he liked the results in the mirror.


His carseat never looked more appropriate.


This town ain't big enough for the two of us!


I decided to make my costume easy this year: Sarah Palin.
It was a no-brainer since I hear comments daily from
strangers about how much I resemble her.
The timing couldn't have been better,
although I can't say that I'm voting for her ticket.
I'm a proud Obama Mama!


Daddy's costume was pulled together by frantically
diving through our costume bins 20 minutes before we
left for the party and seeing what came out!
To tie it into my costume, he called it
A Typical American after a McCain/Palin Administration!



Honking noses is Milo's favorite new thing.
He especially delighted in doing it to daddy's weird mask.
Milo wasn't one bit afraid of all the scary costumes.
He just giggled. A true Ruopoli!



The boys cozied up to the bonfire, which gave Milo
plenty of opportunity to practice one of his favorite words, "Hot!"

Trick or treat! Actually, it sounded more like, "Trih-cheet!"



Not your traditional, Olan Mills, family photo!


MORE FALL FUN

We loved the Boone Hall Plantation Pumpkin Patch!
Understandably, he thought that the pumpkins were big orange balls.

Cutie patootie!


Ready to stop snuggling and start exploring

A late afternoon hayride


Sweet child of mine


With his buddy, Nigel, who gave him the cool "Boo" shirt.


At what age do kids actually keep sunglasses on?


No fear

Rolling his new "ball" at home


Chasing squirrels through the pine straw


Lovin' on Aunt Rosie


Angel baby

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NOTES FROM THE VORTEX

Oh, how I miss the days of carefully crafting each blog post, agonizing over each sentence and trying to capture the true essense of our emotions.

I could have written a book since bringing Milo home 11 weeks ago! But the very experience I want to write about so deeply is what takes too much out of me to sit at the computer in my free time and type. I look forward to a day in the not-too-distant future when I can get back to some serious blogging. I feel like I'm not doing Milo justice!

Until then, here is another quick update:

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… fall! The fall weather in Charleston has been mostly divine, and we have enjoyed many outings to the park, the aquarium, friend’s houses, museums, musical performances and pumpkin patches.

Life is so sweet, and definitely different. The sounds of soothing melodies, swinging rhythms, and harmonic complexities were once the means to a relaxing evening, but now it’s the sound of a wooden mallet pounding on a Fisher Price Xylophone at 200 beats per minute that makes an evening complete.

And we wouldn’t change it for a lifetime supply of Cheetos! Milo continues to be the center of our newly shifted universe, and we love pouring ourselves into him. He is so full of enthusiasm and vitality. He relishes every waking moment and is always ready for a laugh or a fun adventure.

Milo loves music, dancing, books, animals, cars, playing outdoors and simply being chased around. Being chased is probably his all time favorite. He plays with his toys in creative ways and seems very intrigued by how things work. For instance he would rather take a pen apart than draw with it, and he would rather open and close DVD cases than watch the movies. Baths are still the pinnacle of our evenings. Lately he likes to lie all the way down in the tub, with the water covering his ears. He holds very still and enjoys the strange, watery silence for awhile before splashing around to hear what that sounds like underwater.

We have seen huge progress in Milo’s development in every area. He continues to amaze us. His speech has really taken off, as he uses about 60+ words, with new ones added every day. He is practically becoming a chatterbox, constantly identifying objects, repeating after us and repeating words over and over to get them just right. My favorite word to hear him say is “home.” He says it every time we pull into the driveway, and it sounds like he has a cockney accent. My heart always melts to hear it. Yes, baby, we are home.

He was evaluated by an early intervention specialist from Baby Steps, who was highly impressed with his communication skills. She said that in her professional opinion he was doing remarkably well considering how long he has been home. She recently informed me that Milo did qualify (barely) to receive some special instruction to help him with his sensory-seeking behaviors and further improve his communication and socialization. We look forward to having an expert come into our home and share her insight and advice on this.

Our sweet son continues to sleep and eat like a dream. Gawd, I hope it lasts! He even likes broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts, raw tomatoes, guacamole and sauerkraut! He sleeps about 10-11 hours a night, usually doesn't wake. He uses the potty several times a day, although he is still in diapers full time. Full blown potty training shouldn’t be too difficult in a few more months, especially since they had him doing it at the orphanage.

The good days with Milo are awesome, but there have certainly been days when he was extra willful and defiant, with more than his share of tantrums. Those days have required as much patience and persistence as we could humanly muster. We can now entirely understand those people who admired us for daring to jump into the deep end of parenting a 2-year old right off the bat. What an interesting Jekyll and Hyde-ish stage this can be!

We are still working hard on helping Milo play more independently, as he is still very demanding of our time and attention. He refuses to play alone for more than 30 seconds. Overall he is much calmer, but occasionally he morphs into “Extreme Milo" when he becomes exceedingly impulsive, unfocused and hyperactive. This usually happens when he is in a new environment. We have learned to bring the stroller with us everywhere, which helps keep him restrained when he is overstimulated and turning into a whirling dervish. We have also learned to keep certain outings very short for now. Our code phrase for when it's time to leave is “The switch has flipped!” This is exactly what seems to happen when he gets into this zone.

Last month we saw some minor push-pull behaviors of the attachment process, but those have mostly subsided and given way to greater intimacy. It seems like we crossed another threshold and have grown even closer. He even willingly snuggles with us for long periods of time and seeks our physical and emotional comfort more and more. When he is in my arms I can't help but just breathe him in. His natural baby scent is the most wonderful smell in the world. I wish it would never go away.

Milo doesn't have a shy bone in his body. We feel so lucky that he is a sociable, happy, affectionate, well-adjusted kid. His engaging personality, million dollar smile and super kissable cheeks have brought him a lot of attention, which he eats up. He is a special little guy and having him in our lives is such a privilege.

It’s so exciting to imagine what his future holds. Sometimes I want him to grow up quickly so I can know him better and see who he becomes. On the other hand, I want him to stay this age forever. I know I’ll miss it when it’s over. Maybe even the tantrums!

Pssst...Hey future Kaz adopters!

Update: Thank you to Lori Strobbe, who won this auction! Lori is with the same agency and coordinator as we were.

She has a blog at : http://goingtokaz.blogspot.com/ although I imagine it will go private soon. Best wishes, Lori!

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If you are preparing to travel to Kazakhstan to adopt a child, you might be interested in this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260303177141#ebayphotohosting


Now that we're home, we have lots of items that other adoptive parents could use. So we are having a Ruopoli Adoption Going Out of Business Sale!

We are auctioning a package on eBay that includes important things every family will need to either prepare for their trip or to use during their trip.

I had wished someone was selling a package like this last year because it would have saved us a lot of time and money. This is a great bargain AND a huge convenience.

We hope this will make someone’s life a little easier, and also bring in some extra moolah for Milo's college fund.

Full details and a photo are on the listing -- just click on the above link. The auction ends this Wednsday evening.

Thanks, and we will be back to our regularly scheduled program, Adventures with Milo, very soon!

Blog is Public

You will no longer need a login or password to view this blog. I made it public now that my former fellow traveler, Alysa, finally has custody of her son, Braden (Brady) Kyler. Congratulations my friend! I look forward to a cross-country playdate soon!

These Eyes, Part 2

I wanted to share some photos of our sweet, handsome boy taken after his surgery!

As you can see his left eye was slightly under-corrected. The surgeon did this intentionally because in his experience the eye will tend to drift further outward once the muscle has been loosened. It should fall even closer to perfect alignment over the next couple of years.

It moves in sync with the other eye when he is looking to the right. When he looks left it only moves to slightly left of center, as you can see in the 7th photo down. This should also improve with time and natural drifting.

The blood tests came back negative for Toxocara Canis, but I read that it doesn't always show up on blood tests. But alas, we will probably never know what caused the retinal fold, although the doctor insists there is scar tissue so it must have been some sort of trauma or infection. No matter... unless medicine makes monumental strides during his lifetime, he will never regain vision in that eye.

Isn't it amazing what a difference a few centimeters make? We didn't even see his crossed eye anymore after our first week with him. It was strange to see it sorta straight at first!

We think he was gorgeous before, and here is the after...