Strawberries and doggies

This weekend we had Kipper the dog stay with us for several days. Kipper is a very cute little black dog who is a second generation cockapoo -- meaning his grandparents were poodles and cocker spaniels (in other words, a mutt). He tolerated being around a five year old quite admirably, and even got to appreciate Ethan by the end of the weekend when some of the chasing and fussing calmed down. I had to remind myself that the little boy asking if Kipper could "stay long time" and cuddling with him in his bed was the same one I had brought back from Kazakhstan who screamed and insisted on being picked up whenever a dog was within a 100 feet of him.

Ethan and I also went to a strawberry festival at a nearby farm in Concord. We did a hayride, and Ethan got to climb onto a real tractor, which you can see here. We were too tired to pick strawberries, but we got strawberry shortcake and kettle corn.

Yesterday we went swimming at an outdoor pool as the guest of our neighbors. At first Ethan was clinging to me in fright. Then at some point he realized out that the outdoor pool was really just like the indoor pool, and then he happily paddled around until complete exhaustion took over.

Six months and 2.5 inches

Saturday was the 6 month anniversary since Ethan landed in the United States. Very exciting! This also means we can start filing the paperwork to "readopt" him in the U.S. This will enable him to get an American birth certificate, as well as adding another layer of finality on the adoption process.

We went to the doctor on Friday (refrain in the car going there:"No shots! No shots? Please no shots! Shots?? No shots! Please no shots!") to have his vision checked for school (no shots, and his vision is fine). We also measured his height, and he has grown 2 and a half inches in the last six months! Wow! A bunch of people had mentioned he seemed taller, but I wasn't sure since we see him every day. Anyway, I was very excited.

He, she, it

Important things I've learned:
--Hold Ethan's hand even when he says not to
--When Ethan runs away, it means he wants to be picked up
--When Ethan acts crazy, he is almost always hungry, tired, sick, or needs a hug
--Ethan is really good at picking out what to take to "show and tell"
--5 year olds like to bargain

For some reason, mysterious to me as a native English speaker, Ethan finds it really difficult to figure out when to use he, she, and it. He consistently mixes them all up. The other day I was trying to explain that the girl next door is a "she", not a "he", and that it is "her" brother even though he is a "he". Not sure it got through.

School Play

Tonight Ethan was in his preschool play, which consisted mostly of the kids putting on adorable animal costumes (Ethan was a dragonfly complete with purple wings), parading into the room, and then standing up and saying something about the animal. Ethan, in a rare moment of shyness, didn't want to stand up when it was his time to say something, but he was a real cutie anyway. Afterwards all the families had a picnic (which would have been outside if it wasn't raining and in the 50's).



I also saw this drawing that Ethan had made on the wall of his classroom. He tells me that it is a person inside a tent, the stripy thing on the right being the door (the frilly things around the outside are completely mysterious to me). What I was amazed by was that it's the first drawing of a person I've seen Ethan make where the body has form rather than just sticks, plus it seems to have not only a nose (a recent feature of his drawings), but also square ears. (?) You can also see he has written his name on the right side. The letters are actually in order, which is unusual, although the concept of orientation is still not there. I asked him what "Lizard DVD" meant and he said: "I don't know."

Lions, lions, lions

A neighbor brought over a set of large paper and some markers that her daughter no longer needed, and gave them to Ethan. He sat right down and drew these three lions with the orange marker -- papa lion, mama lion, and baby lion -- all by himself. I love how one of the lions is standing upright, mostly because he ran out of room on the page. The extra leg on the middle lion is actually a baby lion (?). What's remarkable to me about this drawing is the fact that Ethan didn't know how to draw anything when he first came over. Luckily, his preschool provides the kids lots of artwork and drawing opportunities since we're not very good about doing art projects at home.

Ethan and I have had play dates with Roberto and his mom Lisa once a week for the last couple of months. Lisa and I have been friends for ages, so it's a double 'date'. At first Ethan didn't want to play with Roberto since he's only 2 years old, but now Ethan looks forward to seeing Roberto every week. This week Ethan was able to convince Lisa to be a bad lion, and he and Roberto pretended to be baby lions hiding in the tent. Lisa was a very good bad lion, by the way. Afterwards we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant in town where Ethan enjoyed chewing the ice cubes, and both boys behaved themselves.