Health and Language

Liana woke up throwing up alllll over the place. On her bed, on the floor, down the hall, etc. Nice start to the day! She started perking up around noonish and then she asked for oranges. Lots of 'em. She even joined the other two for a tickle fight on the floor (see pics posted yesterday). I was getting worried that her lunch wouldn't stay down, but she didn't throw up again for the rest of the day, and even ate all of her supper - spaghetti!

The clinic called to say that Adam's stool sample needs to be redone because two vials in one pack didn't have the same stool in it. (From the same bm.) Apparently he tested positive for giardia too, and they want to make sure. Looks like we get a week of Adam throwing up also.

Adam had his PT appointment yesterday. They gave us some stretching exercises that he should do a few times a day so his tendon in his leg will be loose enough to make sure it will grow at the same rate as the other leg. The doctor said the scar on the back of his heel looks like it was from a surgery to help correct the tendon. Adam had told us previously that that scar was a dog bite, and then yesterday he told us it was from a bomb while he was in the "militia." WhatEver. I got the creeps from that one. I sure hope he doesn't do that a lot, and I Sure hope he doesn't actually believe them. Since this is the first "crazy lie" we have heard (understood?), I just have to keep reminding myself that he is a nine-year-old boy who loves to play, and loves drama and loves to have sympathy, etc.. It's so hard because we can only know our children "to a point" right now with the language barrier in the way. Very hard to know exactly what is going on in their heads.

Speaking of language barrier, I talked to the ESL coordinator at the University the other day (was it yesterday? It's been so long ago now!) She is actually my old Spanish teacher from high school, so it was fun to reconnect. She is working up some contacts and resources for us and will get back to us.

The ESL teacher for the school district we're in finally got back to us yesterday. She is also rounding up some resources for us, and is going to get back to us with some of the answers to our questions.

It is stressing me out that we aren't doing anything formally with their schooling yet, but John keeps reminding me that in the grand scheme of things, we haven't been home long at all, and that the kids need US more than they need English right now... and truly, their English is coming along nicely. The advice from the district is "put them in school right now." (Came from the lady I talked to previously and this one as well.) I'm sure that in a normal situation that might be the best, but these kids have everything BUT a normal situation. When I think of how vastly their lives have changed in these last few weeks, it is amazing to me that they are settling as beautifully as they have! Don't want to rock the boat. They need some stability and lots and lots of TLC. The ESL teacher understood better once I explained their situation a little better.

We are reading to the kids probably 2 hours + per day. Adam LOVES to be read to, so that's a big relief that we don't have to fight him on that. Right away in the morning all three are in the mood to read, so I don't mind putting off breakfast an hour to get some reading time in. Believe me, they let me know when it is time for them to eat!

Tonight we had to run over to the clinic to get some more vials for Adam (!), and on the way home we stopped at Krispy Kreme. (Just so happened that the Hot Light was on...) The kids Loved watching the doughnuts bake, but the smell made Liana's tummy turn again and she wouldn't even try them. Since Mama didn't want a mop handed to her, we made our stay pretty short...

Speaking of our trip out tonight, I had a sad moment... The kids LOVE airplanes, and get super excited EVERY time they see one. Well, this time when we went outside to go to the clinic, a plane was flying overhead and instead of them shouting "SEMALYUTE!!!" they said, "AIRPLANE!" Great that they are making progress with their English, but it is also sad to see their birth language fade. It's like a part of them is dying and they don't even know it. Can't explain it, but it is like they are becoming different people. I need to take more video of them chattering. Their Russian/Ukrainian is going to be all gone before we know it.