I guess that is because things have become so normal.
Daniel has been going a modified day at school. That has been really great because it has given Daniel and I an opportunity to really spend a lot of one on one time together. It is my anticipation that his days will begin increasing very soon. We requested testing be done in order to have Daniel receive more one on one help. He had zero school experience before this year, so obviously he is behind all the other children. We received the preliminary report yesterday and it was very encouraging. Again, delayed in everything, but taking into account his situation with English and background, he is not considered to be mentally delayed, more so environmental.
My gut tells me academically we are going to have a stinky couple of years and then he is going to come around and do well. And when he graduates I am going to get kicked out of the auditorium for whooping and hollering. Yes. I will be "one of those people."
I love the English acquisition. It has given me such insight into what goes on in his head. A few nights ago we were at the dinner table and he was lolly gagging (no surprise there) and he said,
"When I was a baby in the tummy Jesus is talking to me. When I am in detskiy dom and I am wondering what to do, Jesus is talking to me. All the time, all the time."It is so encouraging. And thrilling. And sometimes heartbreaking.
Today he saw a picture on my Facebook page about the political situation in Ukraine. He looked so sad and said, "I have no home."
Such a ball of beautiful and hard and fun and laughter and yuck and different and blessed.
The children are getting along really well together. Playing and laughing. Wyatt talking to Daniel in his version of a Russian accent.
Last night Daniel finally spent the night in the room with the rest of the kids. It had been our intention to have all the children together from the get-go but while I was with Daniel in Ukraine I noticed several things that made me think he should have his own space for awhile; rocking, trouble falling asleep, snoring. The trouble falling to sleep quickly resolved once he was detoxed from all that garbage he was being dosed with at the orphanage. The rocking is hit or miss. I would say he maybe rocks for fifteen minutes every week and a half or so. Very rare. The snoring also seems to have resolved. I think it had something to do with all the fat he was carrying around from the aforementioned drugs.
Tonight he is back in his own room. Even though he did well last night I don't want to push things. If there is a transition to be made I would prefer to do it over Christmas break. We have church tomorrow, so if he doesn't sleep well, we are going to have a beast on our hands.
As far as hard goes...I think right now the struggle I am facing is having every single behavior reported to me. He threw a lego in class? Tell his mother. He laid down in the snow? Tell his mom.
Let me lay this out: Daniel has struggled with A LOT of things coming home. Language, new culture, being in a family, riding in cars, going to school, being around different people on an ongoing basis. He has been blasted with NEW. At first this looked like tantrums, aggression, fear, etc. We have POURED into him to help him regulate those behaviors. And it is working! So, hearing about a lego being thrown, or whatever other act of child-like behavior my CHILD has engaged in, is kind of overwhelming. Sometimes I just want to say "ENOUGH!"
I am just really so thankful that things have been going in a consistently positive direction. Sometimes it is two steps forward and one step back, but it is moving forward steadily. And I think when you begin having good days you realize that you will have more and more. And things get easier. And new hard things emerge, but the relationship is growing and you just keep swimming. And you don't deny the blech, but you don't embrace it either.
And life goes on.
And it is crazy beautiful.
So much of what you've written is very familiar to our family and what he have and continue to go through with Cava. You're doing a great job. We are praying for you guys.
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