Five Months Home

Yesterday marked our Five Months Home day.

Adam's school work has seen the biggest improvement this month. The curriculum we're using perfectly fits with his learning styles and preferences, and he's been really clipping along. The "glazed over" look that we got from him so often the first few months when doing math has been replaced with an eagerness to get at his work. He has chugged through his math workbook quickly and easily, and as a giant shock to me, he even pulled out a dot-to-dot to do just for fun on the side. I almost fell over. Not only did he enjoy doing it, but he did it well. He's still terribly behind with his math, but I think the initial terror has dissolved, and that was a major, major victory. I'm so thankful for our Math-u-see curriculum!

His speech is also improving, though he still sounds somewhat hearing impaired. Hard to explain, but that's just what he sounds like. He is still frustrated with not being able to fully express himself in English and struggles like crazy to find the words he needs, but he can usually make himself understood one way or another. He will often just say the most important words that he knows *need* saying, and then lets the hearer fill in the blanks for him. But, there is a definite improvement this month.

Liana's English is sooooo good. The other morning she said, "Mama, Aleksa doesn't have clean underwear on." I pointed at Aleksa and said, "Liana, I just put some on her!" She shrugged and said, "Mama, I think I need contacts." She's just talking up a storm, and scowls whenever anyone says any Russian/Ukrainian. (She still says "ni" quite often though). She gives the hardest, longest, and seemingly most heartfelt hugs of the three. Her bossiness is still an issue, but we've been trying to work on that, and truly, she is a helpful, sunny, sweet girl. I call her my Sweetie Pie. She likes that.

Aleksa's English is really good too. Never any Ukrainian from her, but the word order still gets confused at times, and that word "ni" still pops up quite often. She's probably undergone the most radical changes in her personality these last five months. Our battle-ready "warrior princess" little girl we adopted has become the sweetest, most easy-going, easy-to-please kid you've ever meet. She is still occasionally petrified of little things (like gummy bugs!), but for the most part, her fears have eased or disappeared entirely. She's also become more and more anxious of strangers (she hung on my leg for the first half hour of the reunion on Sunday).

Everyone is settling in to family life beautifully. We seriously could not have asked for a nicer bunch of kids.

Since we've hit that 5 month mark, I think it is time for me to start posting less often. I've been trying really hard to get my nightly "chores" accomplished early, but with homeschooling, plus all the housework that needs doing around here, it is getting harder and harder to do. I'll post when something monumental happens, but otherwise, I really need to keep my priorities straight and take care of my house and fam. Plus, it's been too long since I've curled up with a good book.

Hopefully there are people out there who have been encouraged to adopt - and not only that but to adopt older or "multiple" children after reading about our family. If so, I'd love to hear from you and I'd especially enjoy seeing pictures of your little ones when they come home. Keep in touch!!