First of all, Bereket is doing really well. He is smart, affectionate, thoughtful and creative. I can't wait to see more of his personality unfold as his language skills develop.
Secondly, when I say he is doing "really well", I mean in the context of everything he has experienced... Losing his family, and then his orphanage friends, adjusting to a new language, a new family, new expectations... Given everything he has been through, he is doing great. Please understand, though, that this does not mean everything is sunshine and roses. Temper tantrums do not make cute Facebook status updates! There are many things that we take for granted which are actually learned skills: taking turns, sharing, waiting for anything, playing gently, hygiene, telling the truth, table manners, complying with parental instructions. ;)
I share this, not to sound critical, but to be, well, real, about the transition. And also so that you understand some of our parental fatigue... It is hard to be "on" 24-7, especially when our previous kids had finally gotten to a relatively independent stage. We just never know what he is going to do... Bite a ball (popping it), spray the hallway with a toilet sprayer, run into the street... it is impossible to stay 2 steps ahead all the time! Although we obviously now require hand holding at all times in public (much to his chagrin)!
Ok, now that I've got that out, I'd love to share some of the "fun" things... the moments that let us glimpse the "real" boy who we no doubt will see more of as time goes on...
~Bereket is very creative. He loves to draw pictures in his journal and "write" stories. And he loves to share what he has created with us... He will explain in as many words as he has exactly what is in the picture. One day I still wasn't getting it, so he got out the ESL picture dictionary and found a photograph of the "excavator" he had drawn.
His notebook is filled with pages he has copied out of various books... He even found my notebook where I had written our flight numbers for our tour of Ethiopia and he carefully copied it all down.
~Bereket loves card games. He learned how to play Old Maid within 2 days of being with us! He has also learned "Go Fish" and "War". War is pretty funny... He starts off pretty "honest" but after a few hands, he starts trying to claim any cards, even if his "3" is clearly less than my "7". So you have to watch carefully, and it's not a great game for him to play with the other kids. Faith and Thomas have both learned to play Solitaire, and Bereket desperately wants to play too, but it's just a little too complicated (descending alternating colors, etc). So he has made up his own version that always ends up with him as "champion"!
~Speaking of "champion", Bereket is VERY competitive. He LOVES to win and is very distressed if he doesn't. We are working on the idea of being a gracious winner AND loser. As challenging as this particular trait can be, I also like to think it is a sign of a person who pursues excellence. ;)
~Bereket loves to play with Playmobil. I wasn't sure if he would, as I've heard that older adoptees sometimes don't "play" the way we westerners traditionally do. But he loves playing with the little miniature figures. People, animals, and bicycles are his favorites so far! A gift idea would be assorted Playmobil animals, or maybe the Super Spy series. He has shown me that page in the catalog many times. ;)
~ Despite the fact that it must sound like an absolute sea of words, Bereket (usually) likes story time. We have read two chapter books since picking him up, and he actually sits better for those than the picture books. He asks every night for "story-story" and is very disappointed if for some reason it is not happening (late night, etc).
~Like Thomas, Bereket loves playing sports. He is pretty coordinated, and I can tell his strength will improve over time. As I said above, he is very competitive, and it works best if we find a way for he and Thomas to be on the same "team" against one of the older boys, or they often end up fighting. I'm hoping as Bereket's language and family skills improve, the boys will be able to play together on their own.
~Bereket is an awesome helper. He made our bed, and has helped me with meal prep and washing dishes. If he is melting down about something, I can often distract him by getting him to help me with some random task.
~Bereket loves self-portraits. He has filled my phone camera with pictures of his chin and nostrils, but he occasionally gets a good one!
~Bereket loves to count. He can count to mid-teens in English and much higher in Amharic. He often will count things for no apparent reason. We are working on matching the numerals with the number of objects they represent. (Ie, he can count seven cars, but if I show him the number "7" he might say "five")
~Speaking of counting, Bereket has spontaneously figured out the "I love you more" game... When he says "I love you", I usually say "I love you, too"... Just the other day, he replied back with "I love you three" and we went up from there! After about 15, he jumped to 50, and then 100, and then we went up by hundreds until we got to "one hundred zero" which I think is 1000. So cute!
I hope this gives you a little glimpse into our newest boy... We love him so much and are so proud of him! He will have many challenges to overcome, but we can tell he is a fighter!
~Bereket loves card games. He learned how to play Old Maid within 2 days of being with us! He has also learned "Go Fish" and "War". War is pretty funny... He starts off pretty "honest" but after a few hands, he starts trying to claim any cards, even if his "3" is clearly less than my "7". So you have to watch carefully, and it's not a great game for him to play with the other kids. Faith and Thomas have both learned to play Solitaire, and Bereket desperately wants to play too, but it's just a little too complicated (descending alternating colors, etc). So he has made up his own version that always ends up with him as "champion"!
~Speaking of "champion", Bereket is VERY competitive. He LOVES to win and is very distressed if he doesn't. We are working on the idea of being a gracious winner AND loser. As challenging as this particular trait can be, I also like to think it is a sign of a person who pursues excellence. ;)
~Bereket loves to play with Playmobil. I wasn't sure if he would, as I've heard that older adoptees sometimes don't "play" the way we westerners traditionally do. But he loves playing with the little miniature figures. People, animals, and bicycles are his favorites so far! A gift idea would be assorted Playmobil animals, or maybe the Super Spy series. He has shown me that page in the catalog many times. ;)
~ Despite the fact that it must sound like an absolute sea of words, Bereket (usually) likes story time. We have read two chapter books since picking him up, and he actually sits better for those than the picture books. He asks every night for "story-story" and is very disappointed if for some reason it is not happening (late night, etc).
~Like Thomas, Bereket loves playing sports. He is pretty coordinated, and I can tell his strength will improve over time. As I said above, he is very competitive, and it works best if we find a way for he and Thomas to be on the same "team" against one of the older boys, or they often end up fighting. I'm hoping as Bereket's language and family skills improve, the boys will be able to play together on their own.
~Bereket is an awesome helper. He made our bed, and has helped me with meal prep and washing dishes. If he is melting down about something, I can often distract him by getting him to help me with some random task.
~Bereket loves self-portraits. He has filled my phone camera with pictures of his chin and nostrils, but he occasionally gets a good one!
~Bereket loves to count. He can count to mid-teens in English and much higher in Amharic. He often will count things for no apparent reason. We are working on matching the numerals with the number of objects they represent. (Ie, he can count seven cars, but if I show him the number "7" he might say "five")
~Speaking of counting, Bereket has spontaneously figured out the "I love you more" game... When he says "I love you", I usually say "I love you, too"... Just the other day, he replied back with "I love you three" and we went up from there! After about 15, he jumped to 50, and then 100, and then we went up by hundreds until we got to "one hundred zero" which I think is 1000. So cute!
I hope this gives you a little glimpse into our newest boy... We love him so much and are so proud of him! He will have many challenges to overcome, but we can tell he is a fighter!
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