(More pictures below)
I'm sitting here now with Shrek playing on the TV (yea...for me and not any children!) and thought I'd post a few notes about life. Here is how I see my children a week and a 1/2 into our "new" life.
Uno: It seems as though she is really enjoying being a big sister, especially to baby Siete. She walks around with him on her hip and it's pretty funny to watch. She's been truly amazing in how she's handled the new kids and how helpful she and Dos have been. She also had too much on her plate with the Gifted program at school. She was going to the GEM program, which is a program for the gifted kids in Mayberry. It's held at a different school for 2 days of the week. She is perfect for the program intellectually, but emotionally it took a toll on her. I was driving her to GEM on Monday and she was so worked up, she puked in my hat!! Wife and I discussed it and decided it just isn't worth the emotional toll on her. She's an A+ student at regular school, and that's more than awesome. Maybe she can try the GEM program next year. But now she can just enjoy her new siblings and be the best big sister 6 kids could have.
Dos: What an amazing little guy. He has also embraced being the big kid in the house. Watching him play with Cinco, running around the house and being boys makes me so happy. I'm so stinking happy that he finally has a brother to play with. And when Dos comes near Siete, Siete just smiles and giggles. Dos has been so helpful and has sacrificed some of his little life to help out a tired and frazzled dad a few times this past week. It's funny to say, but I wouldn't have been able to be as good a dad if it weren't for Dos and Uno's unselfishness and great attitude towards helping out! In 2 weeks Dos and I will be in Dallas to see the Patriots beat the Cowboys...I can't wait for that 1 on 1 time with him.
Tres: She has taken well to be American :) We have a good amount of work to do, in terms of manners and learning how to interact with her new siblings. I assume orphanage life does this, but she tends to be very bossy and tell the T.O.T.'s (see previous post for definition) what to do and how to do it. I've had to raise my voice a few times with her and she doesn't like that too much. We had a melt down the other night at dinner when I tried to teach her to say "Yes Sir" when I tell her something. She told me no. She promptly went to her room wailing. After about 10 minutes of wailing, she calmed down, we talked (as well as we can) and now she knows and says Yes Sir when I give her direction. All of our kids have learned...it's yes ma'am, yes sir, no sir, no ma'am. We are the parents, not their school yard buddies. That all being said, she has been so much fun to play around with. She has a GREAT sense of humor and she gets it when I'm joking around with her and she even jokes back. I love that.
Quatro: I'll say this about Seis as well...Our African-American daughters have taken to talking African!!! I guess it sounds cool or being around it all day, it just rubs off on you. Quatro has actually been a lot better since the kids came home, compared to before they were home. She's slowly embracing being the 4 year old of the house, not quite a big kid, but not a little kid either. Although she really, REALLY, REALLY wants to be Tres. It's funny to watch her walk and talk like Tres . She comes out of her room and tells us how she has pretty hair like Tres or she is big like Tres. Pretty funny stuff.
Seis: So Seis has reverted back to being in pull-ups and "forgetting" how to put on her clothes. I think her place in the family is in question in her mind. It's frustrating but understandable. She was the baby of the family and now she's a big sister and one of 3 toddlers/pre-schoolers her age. She's such a a funny little girl and has such a goofy spirit. I hope we can help her through this adjustment time and she can just enjoy being the Seis of the family. She also talks about Siete as if he is a girl..."Her sock is off...She is laughing...." Drives me nuts!! :)
Cinco: Oh our little Cinco...our little human tornado. Everything he does, its loud, messy, clumsy, boisterous and full of chaos. It's hilarious to watch him just bounce off the wall because he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, fall to the ground, pop back up and run off to play. He has no sense of pain, as Dos will attest to, listening to Cinco slam his head into his head board at night and not wake up!! I also think the boy is French. Everything is prefaced with "le"...le car, le truck, le peepee, le drink. It's funny to hear. It also makes it hard to teach him to talk normally. He doesn't quite comprehend what we say to him most of the time, so he just repeats what we say or says "yeaaaa". You ask him, how do you ask nicely, his reply: how do you ask nicely. :)
Siete: Still one of the coolest babies you will ever meet. He has learned that being an American baby means, cry for whatever you want. Granted my precious wife has fed into it...something I would NEVER do *wink. Still though, he cries when hungry (which is every 18 seconds) or if he is tired (seems to be every 18 hours!!!). I taught him how to give kisses, which is awesome. Big huge wide mouth kisses, drool everywhere, can't beat that. Wife has started teaching to wave bye-bye, which makes him smile huge. He has put on some weight since being home, he is a whopping 15 pounds now. And to keep him "distracted" (as that "helpful" lady in Liberia suggested), we have found if Siete has a "forbidden toy" he is so happy. A forbidden toy would be: a block, maybe a random sock, a plastic cup, any toy Cinco may have breathed near.
Well that's all for now. Life is still awesome. It's tiring and hectic but as my good friend Jon says:
It's Worth It.
1 comment:
It has been a huge blessing to read your(the dad's) perspective on how the family is doing. You paint a wonderfully rewarding and realistic picture for my husband and I. You are all truly blessed! Great kids with great parents.
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