That last post may have led some of you to believe that we don't have any issues with Zhenya. Wouldn't that be nice. ;) Zhenya is our outright disobedient one. He's not manipulative; he just tests all of the limits. He's the kind of child where once he has some more English, I anticipate an encounter along the lines of "I'm painting on the walls--you said we couldn't draw on the walls". He's also our whiner, and very good at it. He does get disciplined for whining and we are seeing a decrease in that. If I had to guess, in the orphanage the squeaky wheel got the attention so we are retraining the boys away from some of those behaviors. If I don't mention our issues with Zhenya as often it's simply because he is more straightforward. Dima is a little more complicated to figure out. ;)
The boys' English is coming along so well. Many people feel that we should allow them to watch TV to help their English or put them in a group setting like a daycare. However, seeing their behaviors and knowing their histories, we are not doing either of those. And go figure, they're still learning English. :) We are getting to the point where they will use their English with us first, and then fill in with Russian. The problem right now is they simply don't have enough vocabulary to express everything they want to say in English. We have lots of picture books and their voculary of nouns continues to grow, but they are lacking in being able to describe feelings, desires, and questions in English. It will come, and it's encouraging (and humorous!) to hear their progress. I was cooking dinner the other night with "icken bot", known to most of us as chicken broth. :) :)
We have an appointment with the St Louis Children's Hospital Adoption Clinic on Feb 13. The boys will get a full screening by a doctor, audiologist, psychologist, occupational therapist, and a social worker. We will have a translator with us the whole time which should be interesting. The boys have not responded well to anyone speaking Russian to them outside of the limited Russian we speak at home. Our guess is that they associate anyone speaking Russian with Ukraine, and possibly the orphanage, and aren't sure that that person isn't going to take them back.
The boys' English is coming along so well. Many people feel that we should allow them to watch TV to help their English or put them in a group setting like a daycare. However, seeing their behaviors and knowing their histories, we are not doing either of those. And go figure, they're still learning English. :) We are getting to the point where they will use their English with us first, and then fill in with Russian. The problem right now is they simply don't have enough vocabulary to express everything they want to say in English. We have lots of picture books and their voculary of nouns continues to grow, but they are lacking in being able to describe feelings, desires, and questions in English. It will come, and it's encouraging (and humorous!) to hear their progress. I was cooking dinner the other night with "icken bot", known to most of us as chicken broth. :) :)
We have an appointment with the St Louis Children's Hospital Adoption Clinic on Feb 13. The boys will get a full screening by a doctor, audiologist, psychologist, occupational therapist, and a social worker. We will have a translator with us the whole time which should be interesting. The boys have not responded well to anyone speaking Russian to them outside of the limited Russian we speak at home. Our guess is that they associate anyone speaking Russian with Ukraine, and possibly the orphanage, and aren't sure that that person isn't going to take them back.
And of course I can't close without some pictures. :) They LOVE baths (please forgive the stained grout--it came that way with the rental house).
The boys' first 1000-piece puzzle (we didn't let them help for too long).
3 comments:
I don't think I can tell you enough that your boys are just beautiful! I love seeing pictures of them and hearing of their/your progress.
I am so glad they are able to get into the adoption clinic and will be praying for a very cooperative visit. I hope this visit will be of great help for you and Mark to have a more thorough understanding of where the boys are developmentally.
As always, in your our thoughts and prayers!
It is amazing reading how much the boys have changed since you met them. Second guessing yourself is all part of being a good parent no matter how stormy or sunny the moment is. I really enjoy the concept of a time in.
We look forward to getting together with your family when you and the boys are up for it.
~kristin
Congratulations on every little success you have had! We found weeks 4-6 to be T's peak of frustration. (Like the "I'm so done with this" feeling we had in Ukraine!) We found T would talk Russian to Ukrainian friends from church that came to our house. He liked their 14 year old boy so much we used him as our weekly reward to go for play and tutoring in Russian.
We will continue to pray for their and your adjustment!
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