Perspective

Got the transcript of D's last conversation with S... well mostly S' aunt and boyfriend.

Aunt as expected was great.  D says he "Love it here" and he's doing well in English.  Her cow had a baby and she's going to milk it after the call.  That was pretty funny but you can tell she really tries to engage him.  She made sure he's going to get a hug and kiss from S when she gets here.

Boyfriend... well, that is a different story.  He seems to be a nice guy with no ill will but D really wasn't nearly as engaged and you can tell it from the conversation.  Starts out good saying S is coming and D confirming he really misses her, and that he's "fed well" with "ice cream" -- followed with boyfriend chuckling -- ... then it goes to where the perspective is key and it is hard for boyfriend to understand.  That mixed with not paying attention and responding with "yes" as an american child would whenever his name is mentioned (like by me prompting him to pay attention) or a mix of English "what?" leads to some rather humorous nonsensical exchanges.  The oddest one...

B: "What else will you tell me?"
D: Nothing
B: How come nothing? Do you want back home?
D: yes

This one can really irk you on face value.  Is he saying he wants back to Ukraine?  Well... you have to know D and remember he just told Aunt explicitly that he "Loves" it here -- not a yes/no answer that you can't be sure of.  First he may be responding "Yes" thinking that he was asked if he was doing nothing... ignoring the second part of the sentence... or responding to me and ignoring the entire question all together.  Second he thinks of OUR house as his home AS HE SHOULD.  He's never referred to any other location as home -- well, except the fort he and Sam made of their bed--. You can ask D, THIS is HIS home.  So obviously he wants to be home.  Third, boyfriend may be thinking he's on vacation as the conversation talked about that a few times and home is home... I would expect boyfriend to say "Ukraine" or "School" if he meant going back there.

Anyways... if he's even responding to the actual question, I classify this like the "Are you learning English" -- "No, not at this moment" --, "Are you going to school?" -- "No, not at this moment" --, "What are you doing?" -- "Nothing but talking to you at this moment" --, and such questions where he just doesn't get the implicit context.  So wanting "back home" leads to "why" boredom questions...

D says he's bored but his siblings play with him and he's excited about the checkens... yes, at this point he is really bored on the phone... he wants outside and off the phone.  I don't think boyfriend got that and D doesn't get the temporal question.  I kept having to prod him to talk.

D says he's been swimming in the ocean... heh... he can't swim and we haven't been in the ocean since last summer.

D says his favorite thing is cartoons.  We don't watch TV (no cable, no antenna) and nearly never see cartoons... that comes from left field. The question was about what he's done recently and likes most.

Anyways, it is mostly humorous if you step back and S will see what reality is with him happy and home.  She missed most of the conversation as she was sick and seeing the doctor at the time.

BTW he is still behaving and responding well.  He is fully integrated into the family.