The other day the boys and I were sitting at the island counter eating lunch. The boys were playing around with their grapes. Ben put one grape in each cheek so he looked like a little squirrel. He said, "Mommy, look, I have nipples", as he pointed to his cheeks. I had to think about that for just a moment and then I asked him, "Do you mean dimples?". He did and we both had a good laugh.
The dad and I took the boys to the 'family swim' time on Sunday. The place where they take lessons allows families who are paying for lessons to swim on the weekends for $2 each. I think there is a two hour time frame on Saturday and on Sunday both. So we took them on Sunday afternoon and we were in the pool for about an hour and a half. In retrospect, we realized that was too long for them, when Nick was completely falling apart before bedtime. We both agreed that next time we will only swim for maybe 45 minutes; definitely no longer than an hour.
The boys had their second swimming lesson Tuesday and it went very well. They both did well even though they were being encouraged and pushed a bit to put their faces in the water more. I was surprised at how well they did. I think the swim time on Sunday helped a lot too.
When we first got into the pool on Sunday, Ben was very tentative and careful about his movements and he wanted to stay on the steps. It was not long at all before we had moved to another area where the water came up to their necks and they were both jumping in off the side and getting splashed in the face a lot. The difference in Ben at the beginning of family swim time versus at the end was amazing. He was cautious again when getting in at his lesson on Tuesday but I think it is a bit less and less every time. They are both having a great time and have a smile on their faces the entire time they are in the pool (so far). I really enjoy watching their lessons too. It is fun to see them learning something new and watching how they behave with someone else in a 'teacher' role.
Our last post placement report is almost finished and I will be taking it to OKC for apostilles next week and then mailing it off. We also received a court date for our Oklahoma readoption. It's kind of funny because everyone treats it as if it is this really big deal, as if this is THE adoption, or so it seems. Meanwhile, I really want it to be this low-key, non event kind of thing. The only reason we are doing it is so that the boys will have Oklahoma birth certificates. It is a formality, to make their lives (and ours) easier for those occasions in life when one must present a birth certificate or one loses their original and must order a new one. I don't want them to remember this as a big event. The big event took place 3 years ago and it was very special. I don't want them thinking they are just now being officially adopted. So, I will definitely be downplaying it as much as possible.
And now that I have brought it up, I missed posting about our 3 year anniversary of adopting our sons. We don't think about it much these days, although it does come front and center when we have to another home visit and they start asking what we are doing to help the boys keep their Russian culture. Hmmmm. Right now, we are not doing anything about that. I know there are day camps available in the summer where children adopted from Russia can get together and learn about Russia's culture and get to know others with whom they have this in common. Maybe some day, when they are old enough, they might want to do that. We will leave it up to them.
2 comments:
Hi Lea,
My kids are not adopted but I'm from Ukraine living in the US. So I'm also trying to introduce Russian culture and language to my kids. Here in Kansas we have weekend Russian language school for kids. We also have online meetup Russian group that have some activities regularly including some activities for kids.
I did a search for Russian language groups in meetup for you. You might find a group in your area: http://www.meetup.com/find/?keywords=Russian+language&country=us&locationPickerRef=0&dbCo=us&dbOutsideUsLink=&zip=&op=search&resetgeo=true&style=&submitButton=Search
Gala
We don't do anything other than say "Paca" for "bye-bye" every once in a while for a joke. We all say it like a chicken call because thats how the boys said it when Lyra first came home. It's a family joke.
Lyra is an American who doesn't remember a thing about Ukraine unless we show her pictures and talk about it- which we do on occasion. The other day, she and Solomon got in an argument about where she slept at the baby house because he thinks he knows all these things (he used to think that he was from Ukraine too until we straightened him out on that one). She tells him "you don't know because you weren't there, SOLOMON!":). But when I ask her if she remembers where she slept, she can't tell me either. I think Solomon thinks he knows inside info because he knows some of her old buddies from the baby house. We do get together with them every year so maybe that counts as keeping the heritage alive?
We don't use the term "birth mom" either. We call her "Ms. Z" because we have never seen the sense in telling a child "you have two mommies". That, in my mind, is confusing and damaging to a very young child.
That said, we'll do anything that SHE shows interest in later. If she wants to study Ukrainian history or learn Russian, we'll do it as a family. If she wants to try and find biological relatives, we'll help. But we're not pushing any of that on her right now. I think it's healthier to just let her lead the way on those things. JMO:).
Funny story about the dimples. Kids say the funniest things:
).
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