Our first "family" photo:)
He's pretty quiet and shy and speaks only five English words (yes, no, thank you, your welcome and toilet). Google translate has become my new BFF!! The language barrier hasn't phased Brennan one bit. He jabbered away at Dzintars all the way home from the airport and ran around the house trying to show him everything last night when we got home! When it came time to explain how the shower and bath tub work and what bottles were for what the ENTIRE family decided to join Dzintars and I in the bathroom (I think even Bentley the dog was in the bathroom with us). Poor Dzintars was probably terrified we were all going to stand there and watch him bathe:) Seeing as how most Europeans don't bathe as frequently as Americans we're pretty stoked he was willing to take a shower on his very first night (and again tonight as well, yay!). After a shower and a little TV he headed off to bed.
The moment he stepped out of his room his buddy Brennan was by his side! They played soccer, baseball (they tooked turns pitching and hitting, and Dzintars was surprisingly good at both), blew bubbles, tossed a football and a blow up beach ball! It's safe to say Brennan is LOVING having a big brother around! Kaelyn had a bit of a hard morning, she kept standing at the door saying "Play with me Brennan! Play with me!" Poor girl just got replaced as favorite playmate. At the moment she's quite smitten with Dzintars, the girl is BOY CRAZY I tell you! Which basically means she'll throw flirty eyes at him and smile but doesn't want to get too close.
After the kiddos were at school Dzintars and I headed to Target to pick up a few needed items and try and find some snacks and fruit that he would actually eat. I'm sure we were a sight to see in Target, me holding everything in sight up to him and trying to figure out if he liked it. We even bought some Target popcorn...which was all he wanted for lunch. Nice try buddy. Once he saw me eating a PB & J he decided to eat the one I made for him as well. We also picked up a Crayola "Story Studio" pack at Target. It allows you to create your own comic book character (similar to creating your own Mii when playing Wii) and then insert it into a comic book story. He LOVED doing this! It was fun creating the story and characters together. Then we printed it out and he set about coloring it! He's quite a detail oriented guy. He spent nearly a half hour coloring and only did this one page!
Up until this point of our day there were lots of silences and he wasn't saying anything to me unless I spoke to him first. He finally started opening up when I showed him the Wii and we battled it out at Mario Kart! It was clearly his first time playing it, as evidenced by the way he frequently drove his cars right over the cliff, but he took it all in stride and smiled often. I'm pretty competetive and while I don't play Wii often I know the courses on Mario Kart well enough to come in in the top three. Personally I don't mind losing as long as I'm not getting creamed so for his sake I decided to tone down my skills and follow his car right off those cliffs! I didn't let him beat me every race, but I made sure I was at the back of the pack with him and truth be told sometimes I drove off those cliffs on accident because I was too busy watching him smile as he played:) He must have liked playing it because he asked me to play it again in the afternoon!
Seeing as how it's Friday night we decided a trip to the Monrovia Street Fair was in order. Serious FUN was had by all! First stop was pizza. Then the boys hit up the bounce house obstacle course! Dzintars LOVED LOVED LOVED this! And Brennan was so excited to do it with him! They had a blast, he smiled the entire time! Pure joy! I was so happy to be able to tell him we get to come again next Friday!!
This is my favorite picture so far:)
He'd has his eye on the ponies while waiting for the obstacle course, so we headed over to find out if he was still within the size limits to ride! Luckily he was! It was his first time on a horse! We love the family that runs the pony rides, such sweet people and they were more than willing to allow him a ride even though he may have been a teeny bit big:)
From there we headed to the "Bubble Guy"! After seeing how he reacted to bubble blowing at the house this morning I was certain this would be a hit and it was. The "Bubble Guy" is quite the character, if you live in Monrovia you know what I mean, but once we explained that Dzintars knew no English he was super sweet as he demonstrated how to properly use a "bubble baseball mitt" to catch bubbles. He had a blast catching and popping bubbles, it's the simple things that just delight him! The ones our American kiddos have been experiencing practically since birth! Once again, I'm thankful that the Street Fair occurs weekly and we'll be able to enjoy the "Bubble Guy's" antics all summer long.
We then headed over to Miss Cindy's toy store (Dollmakers Kattywompus). Brennan showed him how to play with the trains and Dzintars gleefully explored the battery operated toy cars. He pushed every button and smiled every time the wheels turned, sirens blared or horns honked! He kept calling me over "Stacey, Stacey!" to show me just what he was doing. So precious! Miss Cindy knocked our socks off by making all three kiddos balloon swords which was a huge hit!! Balloon sword fights are awesome!! And a great ice breaker for a nervous kiddo to boot!!!
Once we explained to Miss Cindy that Dzintars was from Latvia she went and retrieved a flag pin for him and pinned it on him. Declaring him an official American boy:) He was so PROUD of that pin, he immediately called Brennan over to show it off! Miss Cindy is so, so good to not only my kids, but every kid that comes into her store! She knows my kids by name and just loves on them weekly. We are so blessed!
We finished our Street Fair trip with Coldstones. Our first ice cream trip of the summer. We'll definitely be doing that again. Yum.
We found some time for a few more balloon sword fights once we got home too!
We've had a great first day. The only slight issue has been the way his nose increased in stuffiness and his eyes became redder by the minute. Finally mid afternoon he called me over and pointed to his nose and I just knew we were in trouble. I'd already inquired via google translate if he might be allergic to cats or dogs. He'd said no, but clearly that wasn't the case. Maybe it got lost in translation??? So I dialed up the New Horizons translator and told her what I suspected was the culprit then handed the phone back to Dzintars. He told her he'd been exposed to cats at school occasionally and had this same reaction. And that while he was inside our house he felt this way but when outside of the house he felt fine. UH OH! Such a bummer and honestly one of the few fears I had about hosting because really what are our options?? We hit up the on call doctor for New Horizons and she recommended some over the counter meds but I really can't see them helping enough to keep him from being completely miserable for the next 5 weeks. I feel terrible for him:( Still not sure how we're going to combat this problem! If anyone wants to take in two soft and cuddly indoor cats for the next 5 weeks (or forever) please let me know!
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