We have been so busy over the past weekend and my cell phone has been acting up, making for some tiring times. My cell phone has decided that it does not like for me to have a complete conversation. It will drop calls at random times (usually at a crucial point in the conversation) or randomly not vibrate or ring with calls or texts. This happens in direct relationship to the importance of the call or text that I am expecting. And then every once in a while just to mix it up, it will lock up! Argh! So I apologize to those trying to get through to me - I am not doing this on purpose - it is my phone - really.
On Saturday, Amanda was in the studio for 5 hours, and in between, we took all the kids to a new trampoline park that opened up. They had a lot of fun, but got really tired out. Then it was rush, rush, rush to get to the airport to welcome another family bringing their kids home from Ukraine. Alex knows the boys and was excited to be able to meet them.
After getting home finally that night, Amanda and G4 crashed, so Alex, G3, and I ended up outside again for another "talk." This was the first time for G3 to be involved in these talks and I think he realizes now why I love these times so much. Alex's English is getting so much better. He is very comfortable speaking to us, but was explaining that it is harder to speak to others he doesn't know as well. He had visited a family earlier that day that he had met on his previous visit to America and just clammed up. He was not able to communicate as well as he can with us, but we reassured him that it would come in time.
Alex talked for two hours straight. He was just full of info that he wanted to share. We heard about trips that he had taken to Kiev with friends, to St. Petersburg with his dad, and others. We heard about his time on the streets and run-ins with police. He opened up about his struggles with smoking and why he stopped. He talked about friends that he had and their struggles with drug use. It was great to see how open and honest he is with us. We just listened and commented appropriately - not really reacting or judging. I felt so honored that he would share this information with us. I know that it takes a lot of strength to share these memories, and I am so happy that he felt he could share them with us.
He seems very comfortable with us now and is definitely hanging out with us more each day. When he first got here, he would just interact with the family when he had to, and spent most of his time with me. Now, he still spends a lot of time with me, but hangs around more. Yesterday in fact, he just hung out in the living room for a while playing with his dog while G3 and G4 were talking. He helped me cook dinner last night and hung out in the kitchen for a while as well.
Schoolwork was kind of forgotten this weekend, so yesterday, I decided we needed a little science to liven up our life! The kids and I went out and got a bunch of different kinds of sodas and mentos. I hope everyone has done this - it is so much fun. We have a special geyser tube that fits on 2 liter bottles to make it even more spectacular. We must have set off 10 bottles! It was so much fun - Alex had never seen anything like it and enjoyed participating. Unfortunately some of the scientific explanations were lacking through google translate - but it was still fun.
I need to keep doing more things like this as he and I work on English together. He is not big on formal work, so if I can keep him engaged with fun things, I will teach that way. He definitely seems to like my unschooling style. And even last night as he and I were sitting outside while he ate dinner number 2 at 11:30 at night, he mentioned that it was back to the books today! So he is gradually learning our ways!
I am surprised how great he is doing and how resilient he is. He is still worried about moving and last night was talking about it again. He is having a hard time understanding why we would want to move and is going to miss Utah - but I keep trying to reassure him that it will be ok. I don't think we will have problems once we get moved, but until then, it will be difficult. I hope he trusts us enough now to take care of him. I keep reinforcing the concept with him that we are a forever family and that he is stuck with us as well. I don't want him thinking that there is a choice here! He is ours and we would be devastated without him. Very quickly, he has wormed his way into our hearts and become an integral part of us. G4, Amanda, and I were talking yesterday about how great it has been to have him here. They are getting closer to him day by day as he is to them. In fact, they are really treating each other like siblings now - complaining about each other! G4 was complaining about the music Alex listens to while he was complaining about G4's trains. They were laughing and joking with each other. Amanda was joking around with him as well - as they were each trying to proclaim they were the strongest. Poor Alex just doesn't stand a chance yet until he grows more! The kids agree with me that he has completed this family in a very special way!
Today it is to the oral surgeon to look into getting the wisdom teeth removed and then all afternoon in the studio for Amanda as she prepares for Nationals again this summer. Updates later......
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