Eight Months Home

Seems like just yesterday we climbed off the plane in Mpls with our crew. I know I say that with a lot of my "X Month Home" updates, but seriously, time has flown. On the other hand, haven't the kids always been here? Can't imagine what it was like before they came home!

Adam has had two steps forward and one step back with school stuff. He hit a plateau with his reading, and it was getting to be too stressful for him to go further for right now, so I have backed him up a bit, and instead of finishing his reading curriculum at the end of May, he'll be finishing it in July instead. Our relationship is too important, and too delicate at this point to push him harder than he feels comfortable. He's been the hardest to bond with of the three. He likes to push buttons, and he will hone in on them and press them alllll day long if we let him. He truly is still trying to see if we'll still love him "if..." He needs the most hugs, most praise, etc. of the three right now. He's also been the one we've had to watch most closely, as he can be really sneaky. I'm so thankful we homeschooled him this year. He really has needed this time to learn to fully trust us. (Which he hasn't fully learned yet.) And I know he probably wouldn't have gravitated toward the right kind of kids because of his emotional age not matching his chronological age.

We've set up an extra computer for the kids to play games. We also have some Nintendo-like game thingie set up for them on the tv. Thankfully, they don't "need" to be on them all the time like lots of kids, but they do enjoy the games, and hopefully it will help Adam's hand-coordination a bit by pressing those buttons. The nice weather has drawn their attention outside to where there might be some neighbor kids to play with instead. That's an extra relief for us because I think Adam would be the most likely to sit and veg for hours. (We wouldn't let that happen anyway, but it is nice we aren't having to deal with daily controversies over it.) They are also still as book-wormish as ever, even with the nice weather outside. We're reading "Mary Poppins" right now. (Did you know that in the book there are FOUR kids? Jane, Michael, John and Barbara.) I've wanted to break into song a few times so far (What's Mary Poppins without "Supercalafragilisticexpyaladocious?") Before that, we read "The Borrowers" which has been the toughest read so far. We even had to renew that one in order to finish it.

Liana has blossomed this month. She is now using words like "wonderful," "serious," "splendid," "curious," etc. She's also made a little progress in her need-to-control. She definitely has a leader-type personality, but she seems more willing to trust us when we tell her to do something "our way." She's going to be an awesome anything-she-wants-to-be-when-she-grows-up, because she can run anything. She decided she knew how to change her cousin's diaper a few weeks ago, and pretty much went for it. (With Grandma's help and supervision.) Fearless.

Speaking of fearless! She pulled her tooth out the other night! It wasn't "just hanging there" either. There was blood and everything. She had to yank. Thankfully, I got it on video... It's hard to believe she just plain yanked it without flinching. Don't most little girls whine and complain and not let anyone touch their loose teeth for fear it might hurt them? Not Liana. She yanked the thing out on cue. Very excited girl!

Aleksa is also making progress. Several times in the past week while her brother and sister were struggling to remember what sounds certain letters said, I'll on a whim say, "Aleksa, what does the letter 'N' say?" And then she'll tell us, and then her sibling can read whatever word. She's still charming as ever with the free world, but now it is in the form of smiles only. (Most of the time anyway!) She has grown a ton, and is proud as punch about that. She is also nearly over her fear of being upside down, but we've also found that it matters "who" has her. She'll let me flip her upside down all I want, but she's still occasionally freaked out when John tries it. Not as much though. Still can't get her to copy her name on paper, but she will write different letters. She also has been asking for paper and pencil when she watches her "letter" shows on tv/dvd. She takes notes! One day she showed me a page full of "P's" after one of her shows. She is also good at sorting, loves to find things that are the "same" and loves to do her pattern-block puzzles. But, before she can do her puzzle, she likes to dump all the blocks out, and sort them by color/shape. Then, she goes to work. She likes things orderly. Too bad that doesn't carry over to her picking up her room. Only to specific projects. Oh well!