Tell Me Honestly...

This morning, Stephen and I were in the kitchen and I was telling him about all the times this week that I've seen Charlie act like a "normal kid."  He is starting school next Thursday and we've all been a little nervous about him not being ready.  But this week I have seen him wait in lines without complaint, use a public restroom properly, request a Book-for-Ice Dream-swap by himself at Chick-Fil-A, and just talk a lot more, in nearly perfect sentences.  As I'm going on and on, in comes Charlie, completely naked, spinning around with his arms in the air saying, "Hold you, Mama!"  So we're getting there, but we're not *there.*

Whenever he is very pleased with himself or someone else, he'll let you know by saying, "Good job!" Good job, Charlie!  Good job, Mommy!  If he is disappointed in you, he'll say, "No good job."  The last couple of days, the weather has been wonderful here, and he will go outside and say, "Wow! Good job, Outside!  Good job!"

In our opinion, Charlie is learning English super fast.  He did have a good bit of exposure at Bethel, and maybe all adoptees learn it this fast, I don't know.  But one thing that probably helps him is he talks all.the.time.  And he never seems to get frustrated or embarrassed at all.  He has started adding lots of additives to his sentences which make them more entertaining.  Like, "Can't ya see?" or "Actually..." or "Tell me honestly..." Today, he dried and fixed his hair and I told him he sure did look handsome.  He sighed and said, "Yeah.  So handsome."  Isn't he though?

Bop-It is his latest obsession.  We had Bop-It in China and he was very interested in it, and liked to quote the lines, but obviously wasn't able to play it. But in the last few weeks, he has gotten extremely good at it and beaten the Novice and Expert levels and is currently working on "Master." A good friend of mine told me today that there are several different versions of Bop-It, which is good news, because it is the perfect game for a kid that can't see well, but loves a challenge.

Speaking of obsessions, he also loooves Minions.  He thinks they're hilarious.  One day at Target last week he begged me to buy him a Minion Mini Movie.  I really didn't think he'd like it, since it is so visual.  I said, "They don't even speak English."  He said, "I no like English.  I like Minion."  And then spoke to me 'in Minion.'  He calls all Minions "Kevin", and he calls anything that is Yellow, "Minion."  For example, when reading Brown Bear, he'll say "minion duck" instead of yellow duck, or when we see a school bus, he'll say, "Minion Bus!  Helloooo Kebin!"

Daniel Tiger has been a wonderful show for him because it isn't that important if you can see what Daniel is doing, because he talks to you the whole time.  The shows are short, simple, repetitive, with great lessons and a song that is easy to remember.  Charlie has seriously learned so many things from Daniel.  "When you get hurt, find a grown up to make you feel better!" (Often a new concept for post-institutionalized kids.)  "You've gotta try new things, 'cause they might taste good!"  "When you can't get what you want, stomp 3 times to make yourself feel better!"  We sing these songs all day long, and they help so much!  Also, whenever he sees someone outside in our neighborhood, or a neighbor out and about, he'll say, "HI, NEIGHBOR!" just like DT!  ;)

Charlie has had several more tantrums this week, but overall has really seemed happy, much more confident, and dare I say-- more mature?  He loves having choices about things and almost always cooperates when given a choice. Sometimes he'll say, "No" when we tell him to do something, but then do it anyway.  He and Kate are still getting along, as you can see...

He is definitely eating better and his new favorite food is the potato.  He loves the game Hot Potato. He loves The Wiggles song Hot Potato and he loves to eat a hot potato. Every time we go to the "supermarket" he wants to pick out the perfect "hot potato for cooking."

We went to the retinal specialist yesterday for the ultrasound of his eyes.  Everything went very well and they got a good picture which they were happy with.  They said that they think it could actually benefit him a little bit to remove his cataracts after all, and the doctors will discuss the surgery, as well as confer with Emory, and let us know.  We are open to it, but after what we have been told, not incredibly optimistic that it will do much for his vision.  It may just be cosmetic.  We shall see.

Sometimes I don't know how much is lost in translation, or if he is just making stuff up, but he says he doesn't know when his birthday is, or how old he is.  My birthday was last week, so that got us talking about his birthday.  It is October 15th and now that is his favorite thing to talk about.  Every night at bedtime he wants to either talk about his birthday plans/wishlist and/or Duodian.  I will ask him questions and he always has an answer.  Again, not sure how much of it is true, but he loves to talk!  Every time he talks about his friends I'll ask him which friend, what was his name?  And he'll say "I don't know." I know he knows his friends' names, so that makes me wonder if some of the stories are made up.  But it doesn't bother me.  They're always entertaining, and it seems to make him happy to talk about it.