Joel is 13! Here he is ready to dig into a very sweet cake, made by Brina.Well, we are the parents of three teens, soon adding a little guy into the mix. Never would have imagined this a year or two ago. What a turn life can take!
Visiting with Maxim went pretty well today, although his temper flared for a short time. He doesn't understand yet that sometimes he will be interested in doing something, and not everyone else will be. He has yet to learn that this is okay. Not everyone has to do the same thing at the same time. We had built a tower of "padded donuts", for lack of a better term. There are a huge number of balls in the same room, like you'd find in a fast food play area. Anyway, after the tower was built, I (Jenna) decided to try making a "basket" into the tower. Maxim went into a "quiet tantrum". He frowned and flailed hard in Daniel's arms, telling me no no no. Of course, we don't enjoy this response and we would like to avoid it. However, I know we can not do what he demands just to stop a tantrum. That will only feed the problem. So I went ahead and made my shot, trying to tell him that is what I would like to do and if there was something else he would like to do, that would be all right. He still wasn't pleased but the tantrum disappeared. The whole thing lasted less than two minutes but is still an indicator that we will have "moments" from time to time, where he's learning that we love him and enjoy him and he will have choices he gets to make sometimes, but he is not in charge. One of life's lessons for any small child.
Everyday, we take a little healthy snack for Maxim to enjoy during our visit. Usually, it's a small container of yogurt and some juice (as well as a chewy vitamin bear). This week, we bought some mandarin oranges at the outdoor market and have been taking one of those each day. Maxim really likes these and it was a good treat when he was still sick. Yesterday, we took two and indicated to him that we would be sharing these among the three of us. He let Daniel help start the peeling and then finished the process, and he shared with us very nicely. He likes to rub his belly and say "Mmmmmmmm." and looks to see if we do the same.
Today, Maxim was going down a little indoor slide and Daniel grabbed his pants to slow him down. Our little guy slipped right out of his pants (happens frequently as he is quite small and his pants are usually too big), losing a sock at the same time. Daniel quickly discovered that this little boy has been hiding very stinky feet. We got out some hand sanitizer and wet wipes to clean him up. At first, Daniel suggested that I take Maxim right into the bath area and give him a full bath, but then we decided this might be considered an insult to the caretakers. A full bath will have to wait until he's with us 24/7. May it be very soon. We did ask his teacher for different socks. She is a very nice person and went right away to track those down for us.
2 comments:
I hope you soon will be able to give him a full bath. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Thank goodness you didn't! Yes, our first "order of business" was to scrub the orphanage smell off of him! Some families bring the play clothes and take them home to wash each day. We brought sandals because it was warm outside and took them with us each time we left so they wouldn't get put into the "sharing" bin!
What size is M?
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