Oh, there are so many plans afoot for the summer--which starts next week for me! I'm actually done with school but will be judging the International Science and Engineering Fair this week in Atlanta. Yes, I'm an enormous nerd and cannot wait to be there. I don't know what category I'll be judging. It will either be something molecular biology-related or something medicine-related. All I know is that I get to meet a bunch of Nobel laureates! How incredibly cool is that!
After that's done, I will have Melkamu to myself for a week while Patrick finishes up school. I can hardly believe that he'll be in preschool in the fall, and kindergarten next year! Sniff, sob. My babies are growing up.
We'll definitely be taking some trips to the library, as Patrick and I have discovered the fun of chapter books! We're reading The Mouse and the Motorcycle right now; we read a chapter every night before bed, and sometimes a chapter or two during quiet time. Kamu loves to listen to stories, though he prefers to be able to take the books and flip them around. Board books are a lifesaver with that one, let me tell you! I've been on a quest to find more books with black characters and especially those with transracial families; if you have any favorites, let me know! Some of our favorites are Corduroy, Whistle for Willie, and all of the How do Dinosaurs...? series.
We'll also be going to the pool, and hoping that Kamu likes it. I'm hoping to sign Patrick up for swimming lessons this summer (he will have them once a week in preschool), because he loves the pool. When Kamu came home, he would scream as soon as he touched the bath. These days, he will sit and play in the tub for a little while. He and Patrick take baths together, so I think he saw that Patrick likes it and figured out that maybe it's not quite the torture that he thought it was.
We'll be doing a playgroup once a week, which will be lots of fun. And of course, there will be trips to visit family, trips to the zoo, and perhaps even a vacation to the beach for the four of us!
It's likely that Kamu will be having some therapy sessions this summer as well. We had his Babies Can't Wait evaluation the other day and he is delayed in speech and gross motor skills. Neither of these was a surprise, though he did show off while there--he repeatedly took several unassisted steps at a time and cleaned up toys. He's been taking more steps since then as well, up to 4 at once! I'm sure the speech issues are because English is the third language to which he's been exposed (birth family spoke Hadiyissa, care center nannies spoke Amharic), but we'd be perfectly happy to find more ways to help him communicate with us. His receptive language is getting better by the day, but his expressive language needs help.
But gosh, he's so cute that he could probably get by on that alone: 
3 comments:
Cute IS important!! lol
It sounds like they're doing well and you have a big summer ahead!! My mom is a school guiance counselor and I always loved summers with her. :)
Yeah, I'd pretty much give him the store with that face. Cute doesn't cover it. Cannot wait to see you guys again soon!
Yay for summer! You guys are going to have a blast. We can't let the whole thing pass us by without getting together at least once!
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