- 2/26/2008 10:00:00 PMMoscow Trip - Day 16We are tired of being cooped up in the apartment.
This evening Dima called and asked if we were interested in going somewhere tomorrow. I said, "yes, please, anywhere". Tomorrow we'll try Red Square again and then go to the Military Museum that was closed from the other day.
Being cooped up does funny things to you. While you have so much time on your hands, your mind begins to wander. We compare and contrast Michael with our other children. His behavior with theirs. It is not necessarily a good place to be. It is not an apples to apples comparison and we need to always keep that in our mind.
One of the things we are mulling a lot is the amount of English he speaks. He knows a few key words here and there but there is very little progress. Here in the apartment, there is not much reason for him to pick up English. He is surrounded by Russian. We are trying to work on some key words. Much of his learning right now is around saying letters and numbers in English. We also introduced some body part names like Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (Knees and Toes). Also eyes, nose, ears and mouth. We are trying not to be too hard on him or ourselves or expect too much.
There are definitely some behavioral concerns we have but I am not convinced they are as much orphan related as they are personality related. He is used to getting what he wants by playing cute and being persistent about it. You may call that an orphan learned survival skill, but I've seen American raised children who exhibit the same behavior. We are trying to be patient, but some behaviors will not be tolerated. One such behavior is indicating that you need to use the toilet and then instead - going into the kitchen and asking grandma for the chocolate wafer that we told you "no" about during lunch because you had soda with your meal. Sorry about that... just venting a little. Serenity now, serenity now...
This will be somewhat of a struggle when we get home. I think mostly because of the language barrier. Once we get a handle on that, I am expecting the situation to change a great deal. While he will be another one of our children, he will not be able to "hit the ground running". It will take some time for all of us to become fully incorporated.
Anyway, as I said, tomorrow we will attempt more sight seeing. I think we'll avoid McDonald's, and pizza with broccoli. Maybe we'll pack a bag lunch.
