We have been awfully busy trying to keep up with our business, changes in our lives, and of course,the addition of a 9 year old child! Thankfully, this is our slowest time of the year so we have the extra time to give Dema the time and attention he deserves and needs.
The first question most ask us is, "Is he still eating as much?" The answer is no, but he still eats nearly twice what I do in a day! We visited his new family physician--Dr Jason Henninger in Tyrone on Friday and he weighed in at 71 pounds, Monday, we went to his new pediatric dentist and he weighed in at 74.5 pounds! We are looking forward to getting his Ukrainian medical report translated to see what his height and weight were the day before we left...we are fairly certain that he is a good bit taller since he arrived. And, we KNOW he has added several pounds, but we still can't find any fat on him! His energy level is...well, let's just say he never stops! This morning he told me he watched his Sponge Bob DVD until 2:00, then he was up and ready to go at 7:00--all we need to do is figure out how to harvest all that energy!
Dema is working hard to learn English, he has his Skype lessons 4 or 5 days per week and we work with him daily to reinforce his lessons. We bought him a Leapster game console with several reading, mathematics, and kindergarten level games--this has been extremely valuable! While in Ukraine I found a computer game designed to teach young Ukrainian children the basics of English--the game uses characters such as Winnie the Poo, and many of the other characters the Disney movies to teach word recognition, numbers, and beginning phonetics. This week he has started to communicate with short sentences, and he told his tutor that he understands most of what we say (we had better watch it!).
We have found that his plans for the future have been a valuable tool of encouragement in his learning English! Many of you remember that he told us he wants to be a business man, so we told him that once he learns English and we can communicate better we would buy him a bunch of chicks and he could start his own egg business! Most days he helps me feed the chicks in the brooder, so the plan is to order his chicks for a May arrival--22 weeks later he will be in business...assuming he can care for them and nurture them to laying age! We have also used other "encouragements": he will be able to help mama in the kitchen, or he will get his own 22 rifle and we will go squirrel hunting with his "brother" and nephew Bubba, or we will get him his own bow and we will be able to shoot at targets. I think we will have a good little red neck on our hands--almost daily, he points at my buck mount in the living room and says Dema, papa shoot deer! (No, I didn't "encourage" that comment--he came up with it on his own!!) We have found that google translate is one of the most valuable tools we have...
Monday we began to "fix" the physical problems Dema has had to deal with. The biggest problem he has is his oral health. So, we made an appointment with a pediatric dentist in State College. Dr Kelly truly is as good as our friends say he is! When you enter the office, the waiting room always has a childrens movie playing on the TV, there are video consoles for the kids to play, a jungle gym to play on, and toys everywhere...definitely a place for kids! When we were called back, there were kids in front of a large mirror learning to brush and floss properly, and there were more video game consoles for the kids to play while they waited for their cleaning. I just can't speak highly enough of the facility, but the care that Dr Kelly showed Dema was beyond words!
Beyond the kind child friendly environment was the reality of why Dema was there--he ended up with 4 extractions and there are 2 more to go! Unfortunately, there were complications with the first round of extractions because Dema had an "anatomical anomaly" and there was a vessel where it shouldn't be. We ended up spending 5 hours in the State College ER. The Doc tried to chemically clot the vessel, then she moved to a clotting sponge, then sutures, then finally an electric cauterization tool...nothing worked! She finally sent us home at 2:00 and said to go to the dentist Tuesday morning. By the time we got to the office at 8:30, the bleeding had stopped and his mouth was feeling better than before we went to the dentist. The biggest problem was the numbness--he told Liliyan that he had a tooth pulled in Ukraine and it relaay hurt but at least he could feel his mouth when they were done! I'm guessing no Novocaine!!! We'll go back in 10 days for the last 2 extractions--we were happy to hear that there were no adult teeth that needed to be extracted!!!
Next, we will address the lazy eye...the family physician told us that there are three steps normally taken to correct this problem. The first and easiest is to patch the good eye and force the brain to use the other. We really think that will work because in the short time he has been here, the left and right movement has increased and it doesn't seem to be drifting as much. But if that doesn't work, other options include corrective lenses and finally, surgery. We will visit a specialist next week to assess the problem.
And, all of this is leading up to SCHOOL!!!! Today we visited Great Commission in Altoona and St. Matthews in Tyrone. It looks like we will be sending him to Great Commission--they offer exactly what we are looking for--a faith based education that teaches the moral and social values that we share. While talking to them today, we decided that they would allow him to join them for 3 or 4 days prior to him joining them on a more regular basis. We plan to start with 5 days a week, for 1/2 days. The first part of their day includes bible study, math, group play , phys ed, and reading...and of course lunch! We will plan on this schedule until he either asks to be there full days or we see him becoming comfortable with the new environment. He will finish the year with the third grade class, then we will talk with the teacher to decide whether or not to move him to 4th grade next year.
Yes, our lives have taken a drastic change, but neither of us would trade it for anything! We are amazed daily...either by how quickly he is learning, or watching his expression as he experiences new things, or seeing how much he loves his entire extended family--he does belong here with us, and we with him!!!
