Dimcho is overall a pretty happy kid. He smiles and laughs easily. He is quite affectionate, often running to grab and hug you about the knees, or if you are sitting down to jump on you and hug you. If he is watching a video on the TV (something we limit to a couple of hours a day) he will ask you to sit next to him. He doesn't always like to be held in your lap, though, and will squirm to get off.
He likes to play cooking and making tea. He uses the outdoor smoker as a toy over/storage unit, and one of his favorite toys is the toy tea set we bought. Even at the playground he will pretend to make coffee and bring it to one of us.
Dimcho also likes to pretend to drive a car, though his favorite part seems to be pretending to close the door and making a sound like a door slamming shut. When he is "driving" on the couch he will sometimes invite one of us to sit next to him, or make us move if we are in his "driver's" seat.
Dimcho is capable of playing by himself quietly for long periods of time. We worry this means we will overlook him, because he does not constantly ask for attention. Lately however he has been skipping going to the playground (more about this in another post) so he gets a couple of hours a day of one-on-one time with Donna.
Dimcho is no angel. He loves to lecture people, especially his brother but also his parents, wagging his finger. Like most kids from institutions, he is emotionally delayed, and often acts more like a 3-year old than a five year, albeit a sweet-natured 3-year old. He has meltdowns, especially when he is frustrated, and his music tablet has a web of crack across it from his throwing down in frustration. (We are getting new, simpler music players for them, now that we know better what they like and what they can handle.) He is harder to get to "redo" than his brother, for example, if he throws something down in anger it is difficult to get him to pick it up and put it back nicely (which Elisey will do more willingly). When he is in a bad mood, however, he can be jollied out of it, or at least softened, by laughter and simple tickling.
He should be taking a short nap in the afternoon, but right now we can't get him to do that. He starts to fall asleep shortly before dinner, but then at bedtime he gets a burst of energy, even if we kept him awake, and insists he doesn't want to sleep. Usually after about 30-45 minutes however we get him to sleep, and he sleeps through the night with only brief wakings to pee.
Bulgarian is rich with diminuatives and affectionate nicknames, and following his brother's lead we often call Dimcho "Dimmi" or "Dimka."
