Just another Wednesday
Well we've had Andrei for one week now, and I think things are getting better. At least he is not running around putting our headphone jacks into wall sockets (we hid them) or turning the TV volume up allll the way because he doesn't know what buttons to push on the remote (we hid that too)
Today we all slept in until 8 AM - since we finally got online, I 'accidentally' stayed up until midnight catching up on things. Andrei has been sleeping about 12 hours a night, so we're happy for that. haha
We tried the school thing again and Andrei colored a picture and wrote his name and did a puzzle again. We played an Andrei version of Memory with Skip-Bo cards. Then I tried to show him how to make a snowflake out of a folded papertowel, but he cut it in half. We only had adult scissors so it was proably kind of hard for him. Then he cut some shapes out of a workbook. Then we sang and he covered Brent's mouth the whole time. Then he counted the leaves on the wallpaper - in English! Lots of high-fives for that. Then he ran off and we let him go.
New words - nose, ostrich, elephant (sometimes), Good Job, and 1-2-3-4 :)
I went online and found a bigger grocery store a little further down the road, so I ventured out for lunch. I also found a huge book store and bought some clay, a copy book, some construction paper, and some kid's scissors. Then to the grocery store which was the nicest I've seen so far. Also down that road is a coffee place and a kid's clothing shop which I think we're going to try for tomorrow.
Also on the way home I stopped at a little kiosk that sold these quesadilla looking things but deep fried kind of. I'm not sure what they were, but I bought a cheese one for myself and meat ones for Brent and Andrei. They were about a dollar each. I liked mine, Brent was indifferent, and Andrei wasn't hungry, or maybe he just didn't like it because it sort of had gotten cold.
The neighbor pounded on our door again (the husband this time, not the angry wife) and I made Andrei come listen so he knew to quiet down.
After that we decided to go out again. I had seen a park on Google Maps so we tried that, but it really was just a big mud hole. Well, an iced over mudhole. No play equipment or anything. So Andrei and Brent thew snowballs at a tree, and then a littered water bottle. Then I didn't feel like cooking so we walked to TGIFridays which I had seen on my earlier walk. It was nice to eat Americanish food and read an English menu (Interesting fact: the English translations of menues are signed and notarized by the government - probably the health department).
After that we went home, watched some TV and then got ready for bed. It was a little bit of an ordeal because he can not settle himself down. If he gets on a kick, he just hits and yells and laughs and can not stop himself. We try to hold him close but that seems to work him up even more. We're still trying to figure out what to do. If we were at home it would be better because we wouldn't have to worry about these neighbors and he could get some more energy out.
Every day is a new day. It's getting better.
Today we all slept in until 8 AM - since we finally got online, I 'accidentally' stayed up until midnight catching up on things. Andrei has been sleeping about 12 hours a night, so we're happy for that. haha
We tried the school thing again and Andrei colored a picture and wrote his name and did a puzzle again. We played an Andrei version of Memory with Skip-Bo cards. Then I tried to show him how to make a snowflake out of a folded papertowel, but he cut it in half. We only had adult scissors so it was proably kind of hard for him. Then he cut some shapes out of a workbook. Then we sang and he covered Brent's mouth the whole time. Then he counted the leaves on the wallpaper - in English! Lots of high-fives for that. Then he ran off and we let him go.
New words - nose, ostrich, elephant (sometimes), Good Job, and 1-2-3-4 :)
I went online and found a bigger grocery store a little further down the road, so I ventured out for lunch. I also found a huge book store and bought some clay, a copy book, some construction paper, and some kid's scissors. Then to the grocery store which was the nicest I've seen so far. Also down that road is a coffee place and a kid's clothing shop which I think we're going to try for tomorrow.
Also on the way home I stopped at a little kiosk that sold these quesadilla looking things but deep fried kind of. I'm not sure what they were, but I bought a cheese one for myself and meat ones for Brent and Andrei. They were about a dollar each. I liked mine, Brent was indifferent, and Andrei wasn't hungry, or maybe he just didn't like it because it sort of had gotten cold.
The neighbor pounded on our door again (the husband this time, not the angry wife) and I made Andrei come listen so he knew to quiet down.
After that we decided to go out again. I had seen a park on Google Maps so we tried that, but it really was just a big mud hole. Well, an iced over mudhole. No play equipment or anything. So Andrei and Brent thew snowballs at a tree, and then a littered water bottle. Then I didn't feel like cooking so we walked to TGIFridays which I had seen on my earlier walk. It was nice to eat Americanish food and read an English menu (Interesting fact: the English translations of menues are signed and notarized by the government - probably the health department).
After that we went home, watched some TV and then got ready for bed. It was a little bit of an ordeal because he can not settle himself down. If he gets on a kick, he just hits and yells and laughs and can not stop himself. We try to hold him close but that seems to work him up even more. We're still trying to figure out what to do. If we were at home it would be better because we wouldn't have to worry about these neighbors and he could get some more energy out.
Every day is a new day. It's getting better.
posted by Tracy at 12:07 PM
3 Comments:
Sounds like you're getting things figured out. By the time your wait is up, you'll be experts! You can write a mini-book on how to survive!
Just think about how easy life at home with Andrei will be after experiencing this!
Have you tried the red, yellow, green light or card system? I know for a lot of older kids in school they use it to tell them about their behavior. Most kids in any culture know this from soccer or traffic lights. I know it might seem early, or hard to enforce some loss of privileges, but that's what you're supposed to do if they get a red card. I don't know if that will help him settle down or not but it will definitely help him understand that his behavior is not liked or acceptable. Just a thought! We are excited to hear that things are going better! Your first week as a family sounds very memorable...LOVE YOU 3!!!
We do let him know when his behavior is unacceptable. We're not ready to take away privileges yet. I don't think it would be fair since it's a self-control issue and not a disobedience issue.
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