Yesterday, or maybe the day before--the days blur together and we don't always remember to check the mailbox--the boys received their official certificates of US citizenship. They were of course already US citizens the moment we entered the US with their visas. But it's always nice to have a piece of paper.
Speaking of papers, when it comes to homework the boys are much more interested in the question of to whom the paper belongs, rather than the homework itself. We can do the homework with them, but it's often a battle as to who gets to touch it. Yesterday Elisey brought home a sign that read "no touch" and some pictures of things he is not supposed to touch (light switches, television, computers), the point being he is supposed to rehearse what he is not to touch without permission. But he just wanted to show off the items he had been given, and was uninterested in the content. Again, this comes out of their deprivation of any possessions at the orphanage.
Yesterday Donna and I tried again to out to lunch. Although they had done pretty well the last time, this time Elisey really acted out, to an extent that our babysitter had never seen before (although it sounded familiar to us).
Along those same lines: when we enrolled the boys at school, we tried to warn them about their behaviors. "Oh, we've seen that kind of thing before and we have tools to handle it," they assured us. Now they are signalling that, no, they haven't seen this kind of child, and are desperately trying to figure out how to manage them. Us too.
Cudos to the school for their efforts, however. And we are seeing some huge improvements, in their English, in their writing, and in their counting. When they are calm--and that is the big issue--they both are quite interested in learning and practicing what they have learned. (And, for example, when Elisey is in a happy, compliant mood, he will eagerly say, "I'm not touching." ) We are very happy with that.
And so it goes.
The next couple of days will be busy--I am meeting with a colleague tomorrow morning, and on Friday we have phone calls and meetings with members of our support team, so it may be a couple of days before I post again. Overall, the course is steady, if not as smooth as we would like.
