Just Over Two Months Home!

I can't believe how quickly time goes by! It's already been two months since we returned home from our trip to Ukraine. Life has become quite different in a very rewarding way.

The boys are keeping Bill and I very busy. Lawrence has been in school (kindergarten) for almost 6 weeks now and is doing absolutely wonderful. His teacher and his classmates are impressed with how quickly he is acquiring the English language. He can already recite the ABCs, recognize them out of order, and knows quite a few of the letter sounds. He can count to 30, which is what he needs to do for kindergarten. He still needs to work on colors and shapes, but we know those will come soon. Lawrence is very eager to learn and please Mama and Papa.

Last week, we were driving somewhere and we asked him what something was in Russian. You could just see his little brain working hard to figure out the right word. He couldn't think of the Russian word and said, "Pa Russkie, chi choot), which means Russian, a little. He's already forgetting a lot of his native tongue. Although we are saddened by this, we want his English to progress with the intent of coming back to the Russian later on.

William has been going to preschool for 2 weeks now and seems to have mixed feelings about it. Some days, he's very excited about going. Other days, he cries and tells Papa he wants to stay home. He just goes 3 days a week for half a day. His English has really started to pick up in the last week or so. He also has started taking more of an interest in knowing the ABC song. We listen to a lot of Wee Sing CDs in the car whenever we go somewhere. He loves to sing! Some of his favorites are "Three Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed," "Skitta Ma Rink," and "Bingo." He has started counting out objects up to five and he's been working on colors.

Today, we took the boys swimming with two of their aunts and two cousins. We asked the boys if they had ever gone swimming before (plavich). They said no, but they were very excited about putting on their bathing suits and jumping in the pool. Lawrence was slightly hesitant about exploring the pool, but eventually got over that. William, on the other hand, has absolutely no fear! He loved the big slide so much, that he decided to get away from dad, cut in front of about 4 people and go down all by himself! Yikes!! He ended up being fine, but I certainly didn't like seeing him go down alone. He did have a life jacket on, so he never really went underwater at the end of the slide. Both boys were exhausted by the end of the 2 hours we spent at the pool.

Until next time, peace & love to all!

Kelly