Nine Weeks In...

Hello Everyone! Kolya has been here 9 weeks now and what progress we have made! We no longer have the pouting fits and stubborness. Communication is definately a barrier when it came to these behaviors. We began to use an interpreter immediately after he misbehaved to explain why he needed to do what what we asked of him and it worked wonders. One day he decided not to participate in school. I recieved an e-mail from his teacher saying he wasn't acting himself and he refused to do a group project. The interpreter asked him if he could refuse to do school work in Ukraine and he said "No." She explained he could not do that in America either. He also was unable to sit in a dental chair and get 2 cavities filled. He heard the drill and started screaming and crying. He was numbed twice and could not feel anything but pressure, but he was too scared to endure it. That was a visit I should have used the interpreter for as I think she could have explained that he would not feel any pain and calmed him down. We had her explain to him that he would have to be put to sleep for the dental work and his response was, "No I won't. They fixed it." It was then I told him we didn't even start because he was so upset. This definately made him mad.

But that was several weeks ago and since then he has figured out that he needs to do as he is told. He has called the orphanage several times to talk with his best friend, Losha. The last time he called he had to say his name 4 times before someone recognized it was him. How soon they forget.

He has gone to Elitches, our amuzement park, and was very excited to be able to ride 4 roller coasters. He has had a successful season in soccer. Typical of any child, he complains about attending practice and games, but enjoys it once he is on the field. Next he will take swimming and Karate. We found out that he THINKS he can swim but when he jumped into the deep end of the pool this summer and almost drowned, we figured out he needs to take lessons!

He no longer makes his bed in the morning because his siblings do not. I was bummed about that. But what can I do? If I don't enforce it with the older two, I can't make him do it. He does keep his room clean though!

More later.