Last week we decided to take the kids to buy their school supplies. This was a nightmare (for the parents) and pure bliss (for the kids). I mean, really, who knew it would take 20 minutes to pick out a pencil box??? And backpacks? Holy Moses. We did that one a few weeks ago but it took an hour. The kids alternate years for getting new backpacks. This year is the girls' year. Last year was really, but with so many expenses associated with bringing the boys home, we just had them switch around instead. It worked out great because the backpacks were still in pretty good condition and lasted almost the whole school year.
Today we've been going through all of our clothes. Girls stuff gets a little complicated because the youngest three are soooo close in size that we have to do this every few months. On the bright side we hardly ever have to buy anything and we just move the clothes from one drawer to the next. The boys are a different story. BoyOne is quite a bit older than his brother and therefore quite a bit bigger. He's growing out of his clothing so quickly though that everything is in really good shape, so we are just stashing it in the closet for a few years. Hopefully styles don't change too much. (it's worked for the girls. Four is starting kindergarten this year and has some clothing that One wore in kindergarten. One starts 6th grade this year!!)
I'm happy to report that BoyOne is officially out of size 12 clothes and BoyTwo is officially out of size 5. They have both grown so much! BoyTwo is still suuuuuper scrawny and I'm thinking about having him drink straight cream until he can pack on some pounds. haha
BoyTwo got a lunch box this year. I didn't really want to buy him one because 1)I don't think he'll be staying at school for lunch, and 2)if he does happen to stay for lunch, I hate making home lunch. There's just too much to do in the mornings. If the girls have home lunch, they make their own. BoyTwo is not capable of making his own lunch so it would just be easier to have the school take care of it. Anyhow, I ended up letting him pick one out because every once in awhile I like to be the nice parent. On the way home from the store he said to me, 'Mom, you know? I never had a lunch box before. This my first time! Thanks!' It made me happy to see him happy.
It's funny, when we brought them home, there were a lot of things they had never had or seen or done. They owned absolutely nothing. The clothes they left the orphanage in, including their underwear, were clothing that we brought for them. We bought them stuff they needed and took them to do things they had never done (because it was fun for us to show them around and more importantly to spend time together as a family). For the most part, they weren't especially grateful or pleased to have 'things' or to do 'things', which we knew would be the case, but it is always surprising to other people when they find this out. Now, almost a year later they are learning to be grateful for things. While we are not in it for the 'thanks', it is nice to know that they are learning to appreciate things and that they are grateful for us, just like we are grateful for them.
Aww. How nice. I remember those firsts with my son - the urinal, automatic opening doors, m&m's, Coke, McDonalds, indoor game place. Mostly, he surprised us by what he hadn't experienced. Some of the things were so commonplace to us that we didn't even think about it, like the wallet and money thing. In Ukraine, I gave him a wallet and put Grivna in it for him to spend. I am not sure he knew exactly how buying-getting things was supposed to work. At first, he didn't spend the money. At the end of the day, I took it back bacause I was not going to send him back to the orphanage with a wallet with money in it. He had a fit. Shopping? That's something I don't do much with him. When I do take him, he goes to the vidoe game section and plays the games while I get everything. He never leaves, he's there the whole time. Except for the first time when he didn't know where the video game section was. He went wandering aroud the store, constantly, while we, constantly, went searching for him. I am still not sure he knows enough to be cautious. Lately, though, I just don't take him if I plan to do any shopping. School supplies, I bought them about as soon as school was out. He'll probably hate the art box and the scissors. But, too bad. And, your boy one is twelve-ish? My son is 12 and...um...I don't want to say huge, but I've seen some little bitty former orphan children. My son must have some GOOD genes. I think he wears a size 16 boys pants and size 11 shoes! adult size! His feet a bigger than mine! I think he weighs about 110, so he's not fat, but he's shaped kind of funky. He has what I call horse-rider hips. They are longer and wider than most Anglo boys around here whose hips are so narrow...well, you know. This may create problems in the next few years - not his hips, his size. His Ukrainian mother didn't send him to school, so he was 9 and in the first grade when we got him. So now, he's going to enter 5th grade at 12 and leave at 13. He'll leave 8th grade at 16 and high school at 20. But, his maturity is just about right for a 5th grader.
ReplyDeleteHave your boys talked about abuse in the orphanage? My son has mentioned some things, but I'm almost afraid to ask him questions, I don't know that I want to hear the answers, and he's been here three years now.
I'm so glad your boys are finally getting some gratitude. Ira is still VERY far from that. As a matter of fact, she just got a "The world doesn't owe you anything" talk yesterday. No, I'm not in it for the thanks either. That's not why I went to get her. But I do know that she is going to be one miserable adult, always screaming that life isn't fair, if she doesn't learn to be grateful for things. Since I don't want THAT to happen, I hope I can find some way to help her understand. I'll do my best anyway. :)
ReplyDelete