Wow!

(picture of Ruslan on his scooter>)

So much has happened in so short a time we just can hardly believe it. We have not even been home 3 weeks. In some ways it seems like much longer. I have not had much time to post (as I’m sure you have noticed). With Ruslan home everyday, I have hardly had time for the essentials like showering or eating.

We have made amazing strides in our bonding. Ruslan lets us kiss and hug him, in fact, he spontaneously hugs and kisses us fairly often. Lately, he has wanted Mama to hold him and rock him before bed. He is letting down his guard some and is allowing us in to love him. He is also opening up some about his hurts and fears.

We continue to be amazed at what a special boy Ruslan is. A friend from church (and an ESL teacher) has been tutoring him. He already knows the ABCs by heart. We had a neuro-psychological and medical evaluation of Ruslan last Thursday, by a psychologist and medical doctor, both specialized in international adoption. We got some great news. The medical doctor said “Ruslan is the perfect child that every adoptive parent is looking for.” He is smart, handsome and healthy. It confirmed much of what we thought. In fact, in some areas he is testing at an 8-yr old level. Nonetheless, due to his emotional issues and lack of schooling, the psychologist is recommending starting him in kindergarten right now. In fact, he will start on Thursday. The good news is that we got him into a good school in Foster City, Audubon. We were almost going to have to put him in a lesser school in a nearby area since all our Foster City schools are full at the 1st grade level. Since the psychologist wanted us to hold him back a year, it turned out good for us. The school we got him in is much smaller than the one we would otherwise go to, so I think it will be less intimidating. Nonetheless, I am a little freaked about him going at all. I will miss him so. It seems like I just got him, now he is going off to school. Oh no, my baby is going to kindergarten. I know that all moms face this tragedy, I just didn't think it would happen so soon, usually moms get a few years to bond before sending their babies out into the world. The great news is that Ruslan seems to be very excited about it.

Things are going well overall. Each day there is new progress. We had Noah over on Thursday and Friday this last week and some serious strides were made between the two of them, although the 1st day I thought I would go crazy with them both complaining about each other every other minute (definite sibling type rivalry). By the end of the second day, they were actually laughing and playing with each other. Ruslan was really trying to be a big brother to Noah, and Noah didn't really want anything to do with it. We took them both to a SF Giant’s baseball game on Friday night. They both loved it. Ruslan mostly loved the cheering and yelling (and the big slide). Noah was actually very interested in all details of the game, especially the guy “standing on his knees,” catching the ball behind home plate, “that is my favorite guy,” he said. We all had a lot of fun there!

My brother Bill from Seattle just left. We had a short, but sweet visit. He came for dinner, since he is here on a business trip. He's hoping to get back again on Wednesday. Ruslan warmed up to him after about an hour, then they were out playing soccer in the backyard. He called Bill, Uncle Goofy. We agreed that it fits. Of course, I’m Mama Goofy and Ken is Papa Goofy, too.