Tickle, Tickle

What a week! We had a great time at Grandma's. Could do without the drive, but that's the way we get there. The boys really did pretty good riding down and back. We attempted to go fishing. Only caught a few weeds and chased a few ducks. Better luck next time. I'm not sure fishing is all they thought it would be, but at least we can say we tried. There were various games and such played by all and a little rest for some too. Below is a picture of a rainbow we were fortunate enough to see over my mom's house. There was actually a double close to the bottom on both sides for awhile. It didn't last long, but was beautiful.

We've been able to get a little swimming in this week. None today, because Dan was gone and Juan lost the privilege of going today, so I had to stay home with all of them. We did some cleaning up and some playing. Maicol has invented a new game - "Tickle, Tickle". It involves them running and screaming through the house while I chase them. When I finally corner them I am supposed to tickle them. The newer version today involves kissing. After they hide and I find and chase them for awhile I kiss them after I catch them. We did this for a good hour and a half today. Then it was on to sword fighting. I finally had to call it quits and fix dinner. The other reason was that I was tired!

Our big news is that our older son is engaged! I'm going to be a mother-in-law. How could I possibly be that old? So there will be a wedding in the works for next summer. We are very excited and happy for them.

Not much else to report. We continue to work on respect for Mami from all of them, but Maicol in particular. He has been struggling lately, but I do think that we see some progress. I know there is just no way we can understand the depth of the changes they have been through in the past 10 months and the difficulty of their lives before they became our sons. They obviously want to belong and be loved, but it is such a risk for them. While we know that this is the last stop for them, I know that they must still be wondering and perhaps will for years to come. So much more than little boys should have to deal with.

Time to get to bed. I get to go to work tomorrow! I need the rest! Have a great weekend.

Karen

Swimming

This is where we spend at least part of almost everyday - the pool. I told Maicol today I thought maybe they gave me fish in Colombia instead of boys! For children who said they had never been swimming, they have been fearless and learned very quickly. Maicol can swim the width of the pool and back. Juan jumped in and made it across once before getting tired. Andrew doesn't make it very far, but has no qualms about putting his head in the water and swimming. He loves to jump off the side - over and over and over again. They also like to go to the beach and play in the sand. It's not great sand - a manmade beach, but they really enjoy it.

We are off to Grandma's for a couple of days tomorrow. The boy cousins are coming too, so it should be a good time. We are hoping to go fishing. They have talked about this for many months. They have never been fishing before, but evidently it is a much desired activity. Not sure how they'll feel about squishing a worm on the hook and taking a fish off the hook, but we at least have to go once and give it a try. We'll go where there is a playground also, so if the fishing doesn't go well, at least we have the park to play in.

The days continue to fly. We are coming up on our 10 month anniversary with the boys. Hard to believe it has almost been a year already. This time last year we had no idea they existed. We had sent in our dossier a month before and were anxiously awaiting our assignment. What a difference a year makes!

Have a great rest of the weekend.
Karen


Juan and Andrew
Maicol
Maicol
Andrew
Juan
Juan
Juan - taken by Maicol I think.

Our Life

Ah, what to write about? Seems like we live such a boring life - no exotic vacations, winning the lottery, etc. Let's just give you the update on everyone.

Maicol - He has almost finished his first grade math book. He has also almost finished his first reading book. He is a smart little boy, but doesn't really care for doing schoolwork. He can swim the width of the pool and back, so now he is about ready to jump off the diving board without a life jacket. He's also about to break the 50 lbs. mark. I don't know how, cause he doesn't eat much - must be muscle from all the playing. Got his second round of immunizations without a tear - not thrilled with the 4 shots, but managed to get through it.

Juan - He now knows over half of the alphabet, the sounds the letters make and can write them. Schoolwork does not always come easy for him, so this is an accomplishment. His speech also continues to improve. He can make all the letter sounds, he was just too lazy to do it before. He loves going swimming and playing outside. Juan is a great strawberry picker. He likes to do it and is very good and discerning which ones should be picked and which should wait another day. Got his next 2 immunizations, but since he knew what was coming I had to drag him out of the corner and hold him on my lap.

Andrew - What can I say about him? He is as adorable as can be - and then drives you crazy the next minute. This morning he started out great - ate breakfast, played and then it went downhill. Juan injured him and he was crying, so I sat him on my lap and rocked him. Of course, he had no diaper on and in the midst of crying he peed on both of us. I changed both of us and in about an hour he's back in the kitchen with no clothes on. I sent him to get some and he came back with a shirt on backwards and wrong side out, but nothing on the bottom half. So after one more trip to his bedroom he now has pants on too. Didn't want to eat lunch or drink from the sippy cup. I've clean up enough messes of his to know I want him to still have the sippy cup.. He has great difficulty leaving the other boys alone while they do their schoolwork. I have tried giving him something to do with limited success. He is speaking in full sentences (and we understand most of it). He's just always into something - pouring out the laundry detergent on the floor, smearing antibiotic ointment all over himself after a bath, pouring out the shampoo into the tub, etc.

Dan - Took the toilet up and cleaned out the things Andrew had put down it - Bethany's razor, ping pong ball, cardboard, bobby pins and who knows what else. A very unpleasant job, but he did it and didn't complain too much. He is a great support - he always backs me up with the boys. They are still working on respecting me and listening and he has been great in reinforcing that. Splitting wood for the winter and working on the days I'm off.

Me - Still going to bed tired with aching feet every night. Well, I think on the days I work I don't go to bed as tired. Always wishing I could get more done in a day, but I know the reality of what is most important to accomplish and clean floors isn't it. :) Bethany has been a great help to us since she's been home. She cooks and cleans up and does some babysitting. I know the noise drives her crazy, but she has been wonderful.

But as they say on Jon and Kate Plus Eight - it's our life and we love it!

Karen

Starwberries, Pools and Progress?

No pictures since the charger for the camera battery seems to have disappeared. If it doesn't turn up soon I'm going to have to break down and buy another charger.

It seems that maybe summer is here. We have been to the pool twice so far and everyone has had a wonderful time. The strawberries are ripening and it is quite an adventure to take all of them out to pick strawberries. I usually end up giving Andrew a couple to eat so he will let the rest of us get the work done. He will pick anything, as he is not very discerning about what is ripe and what is not. Juan and Maicol are very good helpers tho. They have been very excited to see the strawberries grow and finally get to eat some.

We have had rain and more rain the last couple of days. Over the weekend we made a simple sandbox. We put a tarp over it to keep the cats out and with the rain we now have a little "pool" consisting of the tarp filled with water in the sandbox. Juan and Andrew had a lot of fun yesterday playing in it. They would stand on the corner seat and jump all of about 4 inches into the water. They put their hands up as if they are diving. They even insisted on goggles. They came in soaking wet, but at least they kept their clothes on. Evidently Andrew didn't the other day and Juan wanted to take his pants off to get in the "pool" yesterday, but I quickly nixed that idea.

Funny Andrew stories - 1)we were out walking and saw a police car chasing someone. Maicol was very interested in what was going on. I explained that it was probably someone who had done something wrong and didn't want to be caught by the police (because they are bad they will go to jail - according to Maicol). Anyway, as Andrew is listening to this in his own version of things he tells me that it is a bad guy and the police will stop him and say "go to bed". Can you tell what happens to Andrew many times when he misbehaves? Don't criminals wish all they were told was "go to bed"! 2) I came out of the shower yesterday and he was sitting on the kitchen floor with a container of parmesan cheese. Actually the container was pretty much emptied - all over him and the floor. Not that funny at the time, but in retrospect it is. Honestly, we feed the boy - he just seems to be at the stage where he wants to "get into" things.

On the other hand Juan has spent very little time on his bed lately. He has been doing his schoolwork without hardly any complaining. He has been listening much better to Mami. He has changed in that if he is corrected it seems to hurt his feelings. Before he just got mad, now it really seems to matter to him that he does the right thing. He was very proud that he shared part of his dinner with Andrew last night without being prompted. Maicol has had a hard time lately. He had been becoming increasingly rude and mean to me and to Bethany also. It finally was enough to really punish him about 3 days ago. After he got done crying I sat with him in the rocking chair (he was very reluctant) and talked to him. Since some of this seemed to start around Mother's Day I asked him some questions about his "other" mother. Initially he refused to say much, but finally did talk a little. He has said very little about his biological family and his life before they came to us. His only real question for me was "Where is she?". I answered as honestly as I could since we don't know for sure. Dan and I repeated again how much we love he and his brothers, we are so glad to have them in our family, they are here forever, etc. In the end he seemed to be reassured and went off to bed happy. He has been much happier since then. Wish I knew for sure what was going on in that little head of his. He's a smart little boy and I know there have to be alot of things going on up there.

Not much else to tell. Life flies by for us just as it does for everyone else.

Karen