First Halloween

For Dennis' first Halloween, he chose a Spider Man costume. Sam wanted the black Batman (aka, The Dark Knight). We looked at the options on line and that's what the boys picked. I took Amber to Party City to buy the costumes. (Amber starts school next week). They didn't have them, so after we bought butterfly for Amber and a fairy one for Amanda, we went to Target and found the right ones for the boys. We also bought about 10 bags of candy and 5 pumpkin buckets for trick-or-treating.

Amanda as a fairy princess

When the day/night came, they actually had school that day, we had take-n-bake pizza for dinner and then they dressed up as quickly as they could!! Dad took them to the community center for trunk or treating and then went to our friend Jamie's house and walked around her neighborhood. They hit a couple of homes in our neighborhood, but it's not big on trick or treating.

 Sam & Dennis being goofy doing action shots

Mom held down the fort at home. I only had about 5 groups of kids come to the door. I think the barking sounds coming from inside our house helped out a lot!

All 5 - Angel, Spider Man, Bat Man, Fairy, Butterfly

Upon their return home they dumped all their candy out on the table and were given until 9:00pm (almost 35 minutes) to eat as much candy as they want/can. This is a tradition handed down by my mother-in-law so as to avoid any more candy being eaten in the following days/weeks after Halloween. My husband was all over the idea. And, since we have candy stealing issues in our house (won't name which members of the family), I agreed that it was probably the best plan.

 See the parallel post on Amber's blog here: 

http://piecesofmyheartukraine.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-halloween.html 

 

The rest of the Halloween photos are on FB here: 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2567921838794.144567.1276629484&type=3. 

Watch the Halloween/candy eating video posted on youtube: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4V0N3THC4c&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 It is really funny!!!

But, what's even funnier is the Jimmy Kimmel Live video about parents who told their kids they ate all their candy!!! Watch all the way to the end, the last two boys are HILLARIOUS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YQpbzQ6gzs&feature=share

SNOW IN OCTOBER!!!

Throw that snowball D!!

My apologies for not having updated the blog very much; my husband mostly took that over since we got home in January. We've been a bit busy as of late. If you aren't aware, we went back to Ukraine in September to adopt a girl we hosted over the summer, named Anya. While she is not Dennis biological sister, Snezhana, she is from Ukraine and speaks Russian with him. He likes her alot! :) If you'd like to read about our journey to adopt her, go over to my blog here: http://piecesofmyheartukraine.blogspot.com/

Dennis & Amanda ready to go play!

Anyway ... back to the point of this post! Yes, is it October 29th and we had our first snow of the season today!!! My mind is a little foggy about if we had snow in January of this year, but I'm thinking we didn't. Sometimes we have snow in early spring and its still on the ground at Easter. I'm not thinking that happened either! At any rate, this is the first snow of the fall/winter season and unusual for Virginia to have snow this year on in the season.

We had to dig through the boxes in the basement to find our snow clothes that we'd put away from last year. Since we didn't have any snow yet, we hadn't bought D any snow pants. In Ukraine I had bought him snow boots, so we got those out and they still fit!

I was unsure if Sam's snow bib would fit D or if D would end up wearing one of Amanda's pink ones (she has 2)!! Ended up that Ashley's brown ones we could cinch up by the straps well enough for him to use them - wheph!! So, they bundled up and went out to play.

 Dennis & Amanda making and throwing snowballs

I have a good excuse for not being outside this time. I have a broken bone in my foot, so I'm in a walking boot for now. I took most of the pics from the cozy house, but a did venture onto the porch for a few!

I think Dennis loves the snow! You can view all our snow pictures on FB here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2558644646870.144192.1276629484&type=1

First Pumpkin Carving

Even if you don't participate in Halloween, it is still time for pumpkins and harvest, and then Thanksgiving. Of course they already have Christmas decorations up in the stores!!!

  Amber helping Dennis with the pumpkin carving

Dennis came home in January, so this year has been and will be year of firsts for Dennis. We started with his birthday party in January, then Valentine's Day back in Feb, followed by first Mother's Day, Easter, Father's Day, 4th of July (during which his sister was being hosted by us), first day of school, and now we have arrived at Halloween.

Brian took the kids to pick out their own pumpkins. Sadly, not from a pumpkin patch, but from the Giant grocery store. Pumpkin carving kids, complete with sample images to use, were also purchased. After watching all the other kids choose their images and create jack-o-lanters, Dennis chose a cat for his pumpkin carving.

Due to his CP and lack of fine motor skill set necessary to puncture holes or use the small cutting tool, Amber carved his pumpkin while he watched. Thankfully Dennis has a very laid back personality, so his physical struggles do not usually frustrate him very often. Today was one of those days and he was happy to just watch while she crafted a cat for him. At one point he tried to help and accidentally knocked off the cat's tail - oppps! Dad to the rescue used a large staple to re-attach the tail back on the cat.

If you're interested, the rest of the carving photos are on FB here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2556193905603.144105.1276629484&type=3

Bunny ears go with everything, if you're from  Ukraine!

The orange

Melissa has been doing flash cards with dennis and this story is second hand.

The other day she went through a stack of flash cards and at the end he asked where the orange was. Apparently he has come to enjoy saying "The orange is orange"... So much so that they asked me to come over so he could show me how well he does on it.

Water park

The kids went to the water park today. Dennis is Progressing on getting used to the water... He road the big kids slide and came home quite pleased with himself.

He also surprised Melissa when she told him we were having chicken tonight. He always says "I'm chicken" but this time he said "I love chicken". There were a few other good communication items around dinner tonight too.

Dennis did get his favorite teacher at school again this year... She moved up with her 2nd grade class. Amanda and Sam got their assignments too... From what I know, the schoo, really does not have any bad teachers... Everyone was pleased.

Only one week u til school starts and two weeks until the boys go to gma and gpa... Three weeks until melissa, Ashley, and I head to Ukraine. Woohoo!!! Prayers please.

IEP meeting

The folks are really helpful at school and Dennis' teacher is on his short list of favorite things in his life. That said they clearly want Dennis in a dedicated special Ed class. I know the real reason... If you take all his needs together, he is a unique case for them. If you ignore his age and look at him as a non-English speaker with developmental delays he is normal. But it is hard for them to separate the age and the delays... Concerns over standardized tests and such. The vice principal almost was straight with us about the reason, but not quite.

For us it is easy, basic math and reading/writing is all we care about this year... He doesn't need to know who the President is or what year the first Olympic games was held.

Anyways, I think we are ok here. They understand and are willing to agree to a plan that includes OT/PT but not a dedicated special Ed class. The special Ed teacher was there trying to sell us on it... It is at a separate school with an hour bus ride each way instead if 5minutes. The big selling points were that we could put him in or take him out at anytime and that it is the only environment where he will be educated with peers. So I asked how many kids have ever left the program... None. What are the ages of these peers... 2 in kindergarten, 2 in first, 1 in 3rd, and 1 in 5th. I wasn't really getting warm fuzzies here.

So the agreement was that he will stay in the normal school/class and we will reevaluate at the end of the first qtr after Melissa has gotten to visit the special Ed class. Honestly I just want ELL with some basic math to demonstrate his ability to learn now that he is in a good environment... That is what he needs this year.

I want to go to Ukraine?

So as Dennis' sister Snezhana was going through an emotional last week, Dennis decided he wanted to go back to Ukraine too. Much if this was being encouraged by an emotional big sister who had to go back.

One of the days he was sitting on my lap at the computer and he brought it up again. I asked why and he said "Ukraine good". Seizing the opportunity I asked him what it was he really liked... He named mama, papa, his teachers, school, Gus, Troy, Ashley, a neighbor girl, chicken, and Ukraine borscht. When I reminded him all those things are here in America, including the borscht we make that he loves, he quickly decided he'd only like to go to Ukraine for a short visit. So I chuckled and told him when he gets older.

He's been talking a lot about his sister coming here forever... The other girl we hosted too. He says staying in Ukraine would be bad with a big thumbs down and coming to America is good with a large smile. That's his main topic every night for prayer time. He's a sweet [stubborn] boy and he has it figured out.

IEP

IEP eligibility meeting went fine today. We rejected the first one based on recommendations including the development specialist we saw. Unfortunately the obvious "developmental delay" label is not allowed in Virginia as a determination for kids over 6.

The school administrator still wants to push him into a traditional special Ed class at another school and I have my own theories as to why but won't discuss them here. To a large extent the way the system works in Dennis case really allows us as parents to choose. Basically we can reject the entire IEP thing if we want in which case he still just gets ELL which would be good for this year. We could be making the wrong choice, I don't think so... But that is what being a parent is about.

Dennis really wants to go see grandma macy. At least he's replaced his asking if there is school tomorrow every day with whether he is going to see grandma tomorrow.

Amanda and Sam are fine with school starting in a few weeks. Not really all that excited. Amanda is excited about being able to stay with a friend.

Ashley doesn't want to start school though I think a lot of that is a fear of being new to middle school. She is really excited about traveling with us to Ukraine though. She will be the keeper of the iPad while there... I'm not sure which she is more excited about... The iPad or the trip.

I (dad) am not at all excited about school starting. I've been enjoying being able to have a more relaxed morning schedule. I maybe be working until 10p all the time but in the summer I tend to be able to schedule things so I don't have to set an alarm. And homework... I hate homework... Mine or the kids. I was the guy in college who would figure out what grade I'd get when I don't do any of the homework and cheered when the teachers lost TA funding as homework suddenly was no longer part of your grade at all. I am excited about another trip to Ukraine and what that means for the family when it is complete.

We still only have one chicken laying eggs and they are pretty small. Considering the eggs started coming 3 months earlier than I expected I'm not going to complain.

Major Fail

Wow..did we mess this one up.  Melissa and Ashley went away for a retreat this weekend and we didn't think anything of it.  Well... we didn't think ANYTHING of it... like it is the first time Dennis has been without mom overnight since they left the orphanage on Jan 11th.

It took me until about 4p today to realize the reason he majorly regressed this afternoon was likely that he was having a hard time with that.  It was a weekend for just those two and they had some important stuff to get done so we hadn't taken time to call them.

Dennis just got off the phone with mom and understands she is coming home after church tomorrow.  He has a big grin.

We will have another shot at this to do this better next month with the girls (Ashley, Melissa, and two hosted girls) going away for a girl's weekend.

But wow... the only thing I can say in my defense is that we forgot cause Dennis has so well integrated into the family.

Today Sam ended up in urgent care for a sting/bite he got on Thursday.  It got worse last night... whatever it was spread fast.  It went over 2" down his arm from the time I left home to when I got to urgent care.  The doctor still couldn't explain the clear blistering at the edge of the swollen area... that was just weird.  He blamed it on poison oak or something but I seriously doubt it... I guess the only way to know for sure is if someone else gets it too -- but it won't be me as I'm not allergic :)

As a second part of Sam's birthday present we got more fish... at first that is a crazy idea but the Platys' haven't bred as aggressively as the Swordtails so we were down to one platy and 40+ red velvet swordtails.  I had also let the water ammonia level get a little high which inhibits their breeding and makes them die off quicker so our population dropped from the 80-90 fish.  So we decided to add some color to the tank.

School wrap-up

Thursday was the last day of school for the kids so we started summer vacation.  Playing outside, sleeping in, catching up on cleaning out rooms, etc.  We are preparing for the girls to come in 1.5wks.

We never did get ahold of Snezhana.  I have had a SMS on Skype going 24x7 for a week.  Skype will retry for 24hrs at a time and then fail... it'll also tell you when it was successful.  Unfortunately this means S' phone is off... I doubt she got a new SIM card as they are at camp.  Hopefully it's just that she lost the ability to charge it.  It's hard as D wants to talk to her every day now that his mornings are free and the last time we talked to her she was really sick and couldn't really talk.  Right now we just ask for prayers that everything is ok and she'll be able to come for hosting.

If there is something wrong with the phone we'll have to find a way to get her a new phone... for both the girls actually assuming things go as planned.  We'll also have to figure out a way to get more minutes for the phones as we only have 7wks of minutes left.  With the SDA shutdown in July for a while it gets a little more complicated but God will work things out.

Back to Dennis... we have an educational meeting on Friday where we understand the school is going to try to put him in special education at a different school because he's so far behind.  Um... a kid who was NEVER really in school, is 4 months in a country with a new language, and you are concerned that he's not ready for 3rd grade?

Yes, he certainly has learning difficulties but NO ONE knows what they are or how severe they are.  All the standardized learning tests are meant for people who know English, were born in America, and are educated in America... he scores at essentially a preschool level "floor level" for nearly all categories.  As an example of the culture bias, the tester made a big deal of pointing out he thought he was 7 and he didn't know his birthday... well, he was supposedly 7 when he went to the orphanage and the kids there lose sense of time.  Even his sister who is quite intelligent had lost track of the age of her siblings and still thought Dennis was 7 until I walked her through it.  On the birthday... he didn't even get a birth certificate until 2007 and we actually don't believe it is accurate... but more so, he was in a culture where he probably had never had a birthday celebration and would not have a reason to remember the day.  The tester dies not on nearly every test that it is potentially invalid.

In American after 2nd grade he'd have a [hopefully] stable home, 2 yrs pre-school, 1yr kindergarten, and 2 yrs elementary... not 4mo of school.  Anyways... I rant, please pray that the administrators will listen... even the specialist we saw told us NOT to let the schools push him into anything yet.

On a humorous note on his evaluation... they asked him what an oven was for in both English and Russian.  His answer... "chicken!".  I burst out laughing when I read that in the report.  If you'd read previous posts, he LOVES chicken... he'd eat it every meal if he could and starts asking if he can have chicken when he wakes up. He KNOWS an oven is generally for cooking but from his perspective it only serves one important purpose... I bet he'd say the same thing about the BBQ.

He impressed us this morning... he was reading the brand on the cheap sunglasses we bought him that he loves.  He's never been asked to think and simply looks at things (letters, colors, shapes, etc) and spits out whatever he wants.  With reading it's always "D E N N I S".  So I decided to see how well he's doing retaining what he knows since it has been a week since he really did anything in school... "P L A C E".  Right the first time... so Ashley grabbed the alphabet cards and he only missed 1 after an initial review.  That's really good... we were all impressed.