You say the sweetest things!

This morning on the way to school, Daniel says to me, 'Mom, I like friends.' I say, 'Do you have friends at school?' He says, 'Yes, I like friends. And I have Mom and Pop.' I say, 'Yes, we're your friends.' He said, 'Yes and I have Mammaw and Pappaw, and Omah and Foffee, and Babushka and Diadushka.....' And he proceeded to list out all of the members of our family and our friends. He said, 'Yes, I like all this.' It was so sweet. I think in his own, limited English sort of way, he was saying, 'I love this new family and this new life.' We love you too big boy! We are still praising God for His wonderful blessings. We can't imagine our world without this sweet little boy!

State Fair

Challenges

Things are going OK at school, well, sort of. I have been debating about this post for awhile. When we were preparing to adopt, we were told that we need to expect to have 'issues' with the children. But I could never really find much solid information about these actual issues. I would read blogs of folks that adopted and everything seemed just peachy. Well, now that I have adopted - I understand. You blog about the good things, the fun things. Someone said to us, 'Daniel is always so happy!' Well yes, he is happy a lot but we also don't whip out the camera when he is standing in the corner and screaming. I guess it's natural to focus on the good. My intent here is full disclosure, for any readers out there that want to know what kind of problems we're having.

Daniel is struggling in school with his behavior. The school sends home a daily report on their behavior. They either get a smiley face, a straight line face, or a frowney face. The first day of school he got a straight line face and the note said that he had to be 're-directed' a lot today. That doesn't really help me a lot. I told the teacher I need specifics. He still doesn't have a lot of English so I can't speak in generals. I need to know what we can work on specifically. The second day of school, we got a note from the teacher that he hit 3 different kids and actually choked one kid with both hands around their neck. I was horrified!! We didn't have any issues like this at day care.

But then I thought about it. When we first brought him home, he used to hit me and Jason. We worked on that a lot over the summer and every time he hit, he stood in the corner. He seems to have learned that this is not acceptable and he hasn't hit me in a long time. But obviously, this was his coping technique at the orphanage. It was allowed (that we saw) and how he survived there. So in a new situation where he feels threatened - that's the behavior that comes out. I should have expected it. So we talked all weekend about not hitting the kids and on Monday we got a smiley face! But of course, things don't get resolved that easily. That's an ingrained behavior and his knee jerk reaction. It's going to take awhile to program in a new reaction to a tough situation. Yesterday we got a frowny face for jumping on another kid. We are still working on it....

Holiday World

Last weekend we took Daniel to Holiday World. It was his first time at an amusement park and he totally loved it! This kid can't wait until he is tall enough for the BIG roller coasters. Until then, we had great fun on the little ones and he loved the spinning turkeys. We rode them 3 times! In the afternoon we hit the water park. First time at a big pool! I don't have any pictures because I was too paranoid about keeping him above water. He really enjoyed the wave pool. We will definitely have to get him in swimming lessons next summer. Here are some pics....

Peach Picking

Another fun day at Huber's farm! It was hot, but that didn't stop us....

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was the BIG day for our BIG boy! Let me tell you, he did way better than mom. I had no idea it would be so emotional. I was all ready and excited. A bit stressed about pulling all of the pieces together and getting him ready, but excited. Not sad at all! This morning reading I came across this verse:

'...whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he.' Proverbs 16:20

I decided that was going to be my verse for today. I trust in the Lord. I know He is going to watch over our big boy, so I am going to be happy about our exciting milestone. That was all good, until I was standing in his classroom watching him sit at that little bitty table and I was just flooded with emotion. He's only been our little boy for all of 4 months, and now I have to let him go. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. His teacher was so sweet. She actually gave me a hug and promised me that they would take good care of him.

What if, what if, what if - the devil is whispering in my ear. And so, I pry my fingers off of the controls and I walked out of the classroom - leaving him in the Lord's hands. And of course, it was great! You should have seen him jumping and smiling and waving when I showed up to get him. He had fun, ate most of his lunch and actually wrote his teacher's name and drew her picture. He is ready to go back tomorrow. I am hoping it gets easier!

An apple for his teacher:

All ready to learn:

Kindergarten Camp

Last Thursday was Kindergarten Camp! This is like orientation. We went to school and Daniel got to meet his teacher, Mrs. Parr. We met in the cafeteria and then the kids went off to see their new rooms with their teacher. I came back 2 hours later and then it was my turn to see the room. It was very exciting and kind of scary at the same time. He's just so little. I can't imagine him at school! Who is going to make sure he eats his sandwich at lunch, and not just the cookie? What if he can't button his pants after the bathroom? What if he gets separated from his class? What if, What if, What if? I needed a firm reminder this week (which came from a friend) that God is in control! Not me! He loves Daniel even more than I do and will be watching over him - all the way at Kindergarten. The same God who knows the number of hairs on his head, will be with him even when we are not. Thank you Lord! I don't know if I could ever let him out of the house without that assurrance!


Look at this sweet boy:



Thursday is D day. I am sure it will be harder on me than on him!

Big Muscles!

When I dropped Daniel off at Day Care this morning one of the teachers told me what she overheard him saying. All of the kids were standing in line and she heard Daniel telling the girls in his class that green beans make BIG muscles. (can you tell how we get him to eat his vegetables?) Then he was demonstrating his big muscles for them. How cute! And so it begins - we are already trying to impress the girls. Oh no!

Weekend in Cincy

We had a BIG time this weekend with Babushka and Diyadushka! We really enjoyed visiting with them and enjoyed the fun around Cincy. They have a great toy store there with a HUGE play area for kids. It is like the Kid's Zone at the Louisville Science Center - except to the extreme. They had a ball pit, slides, a water table, a puppet show area, legos, face painting, a kids mail room, kids grocery store, construction zone, miniatures area, library, dinosaur dig with sand, fishing pond, a train, a maze, and a water fight area. With all of those places to play - we had no idea what Daniel would do first. He headed straight to the ball pit - and stayed there for almost an hour. No ADD here! He had never been in a ball pit before and he had a blast!!

When we finally pulled him out of the pit, we enjoyed some of the other fun areas. The train was fun:

But nothing lived up to the fun of the water fight. I know these pictures don't do it justice. We laughed and screamed and sprayed and laughed some more. He left there soaked!!

And this was just the morning - we still had a baseball game to go to! We had lunch at our favorite spot the 'Greyhound Tavern' and the headed home for a much needed nap. After a bit of sleep, we headed downtown to see the Reds. They lost, but we had a great time at Daniel's first baseball game. I not sure what he enjoyed more - eating, the fireworks for the homerun, or staying out late. The pictures say it all.....

He really wanted to catch a ball in his hat: