FOUR WEEKS HOME: Smoke Alarms, Socks and Snow
It doesn’t seem that we have been home four weeks already. In some ways it seems like we have been home longer and in other ways it seems that we have only been home for a couple of days.
Last Friday we took Jack and Alex to the doctor for initial exams. It was quite an ordeal. I had a list of things that the International Adoption Clinic at Boys Town e-mailed me. The list is what needs to be done for older children from Eastern Europe, if anyone wants me to e-mail the list to them let me know. Each boy was weighed and measured. Jack is 5’1/2” and 113 pounds. Alex is 4’7” and 89 pounds. They had to read the eye chart, Alex has one eye that doesn’t see all that well. We knew he had trouble with it, it is the same condition that Matthew has in one eye. We have an appointment at the eye Dr next Tuesday. They had four vials of blood drawn, flu and hepatitis A shots. Jack had a TB test, and Alex had a chest x-ray (because he previously tested TB positive) and a back x-ray for scoliosis. Both x-rays were fine, no TB and very minimal scoliosis that he will probably outgrow. Jack’s TB test came back positive so he needed a chest x-ray on Monday, but it was fine too. Most kids from Slavic countries (Ukraine, Russia etc) test positive for TB with the skin test, I think it had to do with a vaccination they receive when younger. We also had to do stool samples over the weekend to check for parasites which are very common. I was really dreading it but Jeff took care of it. Jack has an infection in his ankle from a cut he got last summer, so the doctor gave him an antibiotic that should take care of it.
Alex pulled the fire alarm at school last week as well. He is fascinated with all buttons, switches and anything electronic or mechanical, so I am sure the fascination to see what the fire alarm did was too much for him.
Alex has started Social studies, Science and Math in the fourth grade classroom instead of the ESL room. I am not sure he gets the concepts but the exposure to the English is good for him. He had his Christmas concert last Thursday, he doesn’t like vocal. He sang the first couple lines of Jingle bells and then just stood there. Oh well at least he didn’t cause trouble.
Jack wrestled JV on Tuesday night. He got his first pin! He was pretty excited and it was the perfect time to do it, he has a full crowd of family members there to watch him.
They aren’t fighting as much and their English is growing. Jack is a teenager so he doesn’t speak much to me, but he talks a lot to Jeff on their way home from wrestling. Alex talks my ear off and he doesn’t care if it makes sense or not.
At school on Tuesday, someone took Alex’s socks during PE. My guess is someone got their socks mixed up with Alex’s because there was a pair left there. He refused to put on someone else’s socks (I don’t blame him) and went the rest of the day without socks. We both thought it was pretty funny and Alex called several people to tell the story.
We had a snow and ice on Monday night so Alex and Matthew’s pee-wee wrestling was postponed until tonight. Alex is very excited-I don’t think Matthew is.
Last night at supper Matthew took a bite of something and said very seriously "very tastey." He is a funny little guy. He still hasn't adjusted to not getting a nap because his preschool is in the afternoon. He is very hard to deal with at night, I hope he gets used to it soon.
Keep the prayers coming for our adjustment and bonding as a family. This is the hard part of adoption-learning to live and love like a family. It takes lots of patience, prayers and time.