This post will be very quick, because I've gotta get to work.

Iliya had a hearing screen yesterday, and it went really well. The appointment was first thing in the morning - and then we had a couple hours to kill, because we had an ENT appointment that afternoon. We grabbed an early lunch at McD's - and then headed back to the doctor's office complex. We made Iliya a pallet in the back seat - he laid down & took a nap while Nathan & I both read. We were late for the ENT appointment because I had it in my head that the appointment was at 1:30. At about 1:05, I thought I should look at my planner & make sure....sure enough, the appointment was at 1:00 - but fortunately, we were in the parking garage & only had to go up to the 2nd floor.

We went to the ENT because our pediatrician referred us. At our appointment with her (pediatrician) a couple weeks ago, she noticed that Iliya has a bifid uvula (which, we had never noticed - but now that we know to look for it, looks weirdly cool - basically, his uvula is split almost in half - in layman's terms, it looks like he has 2 "hanging-down-things" in the back of his throat). Anyway, this is often associated with a cleft palate, and since the pediatrician is not a specialist, she referred us to one, just to be sure everything checks out okay. The ENT looked at it, felt around in the roof of Iliya's mouth (which Iliya did NOT like) and told us that he didn't really feel anything. He said that bifid uvulas are not all that uncommon, and as long as it doesn't interfere with eating or drinking (hahaha...interfere...surely you jest!) then he should be fine. He mentioned that if Iliya seems to have trouble with speech later on, then we could reevaluate. So that appointment did not last so long, thankfully.

Interestingly enough, the ENT did say that - should anyone ever suggest taking out Iliya's adenoids - we should never, ever do it unless it was a complete & total emergency. He said that because of said bifid uvula, Iliya may (though not necessarily) have trouble with speech - and the disappearance of the adenoids would most certainly create a void that would almost certainly create problems, if he didn't already have them.

So there we are. Now...on to dinner.

At dinnertime, we hold hands & say a prayer before we eat. It's something my family has always done, and something we plan to continue. Remember Iliya's impatience for food when we first came home? Well, we decided - back then - that we would have to start somewhere with dinnertime prayers, so basically, we started with holding hands while Nathan said something very quick, like "Dear God, Thank you for the food, Amen." We figured God would be okay with us acclimating our little one by using short prayers. You can be sure that during these very quick (3 seconds, tops) prayers, our child would literally scream. Over the past month, Nathan has been able to lengthen the prayer (not by a whole lot) & talk a little slower. Iliya now expects the prayer - he will hold out his hands for us, and silently wait for the end of the prayer. But lately, I've cracked my eyes to see what he does during this prayer now.

He looks from me to Nathan & back again through the whole prayer. He has this smile on his face - and as soon as Nathan says "Amen," Iliya grins, squeals, & laughs...and reaches for his plate. I guess instead of "So Be It"....to Iliya, amen means "time to dig in, folks!!"

But either way - I told Nathan, last night, that one of these days, I'm going to get a video of this. It is absolutely sweet.

Oh, and my Russian child? Yeah, he doesn't "do" mashed potatoes. What is up with THAT? I get not liking cabbage (he'll eat slaw, as long as it's crunchy & not stringy), but mashed potatoes?! He's very sweet about it - he will eat them, but he has this horrible look on his face the whole time. I think it could be a texture issue - I can't be sure. But this not liking mashed potatoes (or, at least mine) has gotten me perplexed!

And tonight, after little one is off to bed (thank goodness for TiVo!) ...the Season Premiere of House, M.D.!! We are not big tv-people, but we can thank our friend, Jarred, for getting us hooked on this show. And Thursday is the premier of The Office. The only 2 times our tv will likely be turned on this week, is for these 2 shows. Very exciting!!