Its just over a week that we have been home and things are going well. We are settling into a routine and recovering from the stress of the last few weeks. We haven't done much but stay at home. I am really amazed at how well Ricardo is doing. He has dealt with tremendous change over the last few months but he still has a big smile on his face most of the time.
Ricardo's experience of life in the foster home was pretty limited. Most of Ricardo's life was spent in the living room watching tv. He had never been to a park or grocery store or even played outside on the street. His companions were the other foster kids who were 3 and 4. His only glimse of the outside world was when the foster mother walked him to school. She treated him like he was young in fact he was still sleeping in a crib at the foster mothers. And he is almost seven.
In the first few days with him, I could see that he had never experienced much outside the home. I had to watch him all the time and explain many things to him. But what amazes me is that he has greated most new situations and new places with great enthusiasm. He loved getting to new hotel rooms, going out in the taxi or going shopping. He also liked the flights as well.
One of the few things that he hasn't been keen on is meeting other children. He is naturally shy so backs away from groups of kids. I think he also feels intimitated by other children his same age as they have so much experience and therefore they seem more confident. I know that school is going to be an issue. When we took Ali back last week we walked through the school yard and I explained to Ricardo that he was soon going to go to school too. He said, "No, I don't want to go".
He is getting on really well with Ali. She is also very happy because now she has a living person to play with instead of a doll. Once she taught school to the dog and a doll. Now she has Ricardo and Ricardo, being easy going, does what ever she says. She directs him to write out letters, then to pack up his books because school is over and she marches him back to his room. She even had him doing yoga yesterday. And he is totally happy playing along in whatever roll is assigned.
He is not talking much English at this point. He still using the words "swimming" and "bubbles" and has added "all done" and "Sit down Daisy" for the dog. And is favourite words are "mini golf" which is uses everytime we pass the place with the pirate ship and the giant shoe. I have been trying to get him to speak more English but I was getting the feeling that he doesn't want to speak English. One day he told me that his family speaks Spanish so he doesn't want to speak English. I tried to explain that his foster family spoke Spanish but that his new family speaks English and he will have to learn English too. I wil see how he progresses in the next week.
So this week we will stay home again and rest up as I am still tired. Last week I was totally exhausted but I am feeling a little better this week. I am going to start getting Ricardo out more next week. I need to build up his confidence in dealing with the outside world. Sitting here at home is similar to what happened in Honduras and I know that he needs to take some steps forward because he is going to have to go to school at some point. I am going to look into some activities for him that we can start next week.
Ricardo's experience of life in the foster home was pretty limited. Most of Ricardo's life was spent in the living room watching tv. He had never been to a park or grocery store or even played outside on the street. His companions were the other foster kids who were 3 and 4. His only glimse of the outside world was when the foster mother walked him to school. She treated him like he was young in fact he was still sleeping in a crib at the foster mothers. And he is almost seven.
In the first few days with him, I could see that he had never experienced much outside the home. I had to watch him all the time and explain many things to him. But what amazes me is that he has greated most new situations and new places with great enthusiasm. He loved getting to new hotel rooms, going out in the taxi or going shopping. He also liked the flights as well.
One of the few things that he hasn't been keen on is meeting other children. He is naturally shy so backs away from groups of kids. I think he also feels intimitated by other children his same age as they have so much experience and therefore they seem more confident. I know that school is going to be an issue. When we took Ali back last week we walked through the school yard and I explained to Ricardo that he was soon going to go to school too. He said, "No, I don't want to go".
He is getting on really well with Ali. She is also very happy because now she has a living person to play with instead of a doll. Once she taught school to the dog and a doll. Now she has Ricardo and Ricardo, being easy going, does what ever she says. She directs him to write out letters, then to pack up his books because school is over and she marches him back to his room. She even had him doing yoga yesterday. And he is totally happy playing along in whatever roll is assigned.
He is not talking much English at this point. He still using the words "swimming" and "bubbles" and has added "all done" and "Sit down Daisy" for the dog. And is favourite words are "mini golf" which is uses everytime we pass the place with the pirate ship and the giant shoe. I have been trying to get him to speak more English but I was getting the feeling that he doesn't want to speak English. One day he told me that his family speaks Spanish so he doesn't want to speak English. I tried to explain that his foster family spoke Spanish but that his new family speaks English and he will have to learn English too. I wil see how he progresses in the next week.
So this week we will stay home again and rest up as I am still tired. Last week I was totally exhausted but I am feeling a little better this week. I am going to start getting Ricardo out more next week. I need to build up his confidence in dealing with the outside world. Sitting here at home is similar to what happened in Honduras and I know that he needs to take some steps forward because he is going to have to go to school at some point. I am going to look into some activities for him that we can start next week.
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