I had planned to bore you to death, tonight, about the regrowth on our trees after our month-long drought & string of days with 100+* weather. But all I will say about it is that our trees, bushes, and just about everything went pretty dormant. Our tulip tree lost all of its leaves and many other trees were working toward complete bareness. Our hydrangea looks like it is about gone, and our huge azalea in back has a completely dead spot. (we were gone for a month - and didn't realize it all needed watering!) Anyway, now that we've gotten a few spots of rain and temps have cooled off to the mid 90's (cooled off? hmmphf) things are budding & blooming again, just like in the Spring, only without the beautiful spring weather.

Now...to more interesting matters. Giardia. (snuck that one in on you, didn't I?) I won't spend much time on this, but we got the stool sample results back. And my child suffers from giardia, which is a parasite that comes from drinking less-than-stellar water. He hasn't presented with the most typical symptoms (diarrhea) but it could be the culprit of some of his stomach issues lately. Another adoptive mom told me - before we went back for court - that her son (who came from the very same baby home Iliya came from) had giardia, and to be prepared for it. She recommended that we not co-bathe or anything like that with him till we knew for sure. We took this to heart, and asked the IAC if we could take meds with us, to treat him, just in case we got there & he had symptoms. They told us that kids really have to be tested for it before they'll medicate them & to wait till we got home. Which we did. He didn't have the symptoms, so we hoped we were in the clear, but we're not. It's really not that big of a deal (in fact, I read today that some doctors - don't know who they are - don't treat giardia unless there are symptoms. hmm...). We've been practicing safe diapering (well, no gloves, but good soapy water afterward)...and this is the reason that we wouldn't let him go to the pool w/ his big cousin, Nat, just yet. We were afraid he would contaminate the water if he pooped in it. Good thing we held off of that. The IAC is calling in medicine, but they said it tastes nasty, so it has to go through a compounding pharmacy (which means - they can make it taste good, i think) and it should be ready tomorrow. He'll have 10 days of medicine @ 3x/day (whew!) and then we'll retest & make sure it's gone. So...my PSA for the night: If you are an adoptive parent, be cautious. Even if it seems like your child is fine, go ahead & be wary. Practice safe diapering (I wonder if that's really a phrase or if I just coined it?) and overall, just be careful. Make sure to get him/her tested when you get home. It could save you lots of pain & hours in the bathroom!

Now, on to what enticed you to read in the first place: Fingerpainting. I would've pulled paints out long ego, except that I had no fingerpaints at the house, and kept forgetting to pick them up when we would hit the stores. Well, yesterday...I remembered.

As with most other things, I think this will take a little bit of time for Iliya to fully enjoy. Of course, it doesn't help that the paint looked appetizing to the child. When he stuck a fingerfull of it in his mouth, he found that it doesn't taste as good as it looks. When he puts something in his mouth that tastes bad, he does "the face" (you will see pics of this in a sec) and makes this hacking/hissing/clearing throat sort of noise. I got lots of "the face" and audio to go along with it. Fortunately, I had the foresight to bring the camera to the table. Unfortunately, I also brought my little video camera (thinking, other people have got to see this), only to find that my memory card was full. Oh well. The pictures are still great.

And not to worry, it's Crayola paint...which means that it is non-toxic. I tried to keep it out of his mouth - but it was like he just had to keep testing it, to see if it was an aquired taste. I laughed the whole way through the experience; unless he snuck one in there somewhere, my child didn't even crack a smile once. Oh well...maybe fingerpainting can be an aquired interest.

Noooope! khhhhhkkkkhhhh


stiiiilll tastes bad!

but I have precious hands


i'm really not liking this at all


but i'm just so cute!


here mom (he's handing me a fingertip full of blue paint he literally picked up)


cool, this stuff doesn't move!


sweet, pudgy hands


maybe the blue will taste like blueberries


Nooooope! foiled again!


no....really, mom, i'm FINISHED.

really. really finished. with blue paint in my mouth.