Lazy Family Day

Today was our first full day with Peter home since Dzintars arrived. It was fantastic to have the whole family together this morning! We played outside nearly all morning. The boys played soccer together and took turns being the goalie! Dzintars seemed to really enjoy his time as goalie and was pleased that even with my hardest kicks I only managed to score on him twice. Then he requested more baseball! I was surprised to learn that he has actually played baseball in Latvia, it's such an "American" sport I was expecting him to have been exposed to it. But he loves it, in fact I think he likes it even more than soccer! And despite having to use a toddler size bat and wiffle balls he still had a blast and launched a few balls over the fence! Luckily the house next door is vacant at the moment and it's easy to go over and retrieve the balls. We'll definitely have to get a larger bat and take him to the park or batting cages one day! If anyone local has baseball stuff they don't mind lending us for the next 5 weeks I'd really appreciate it:) Some friends gave us tickets to the Dodger game on Monday night and now that I know he loves baseball so much I'm sure he's going to be thrilled!!

My studly soccer stars!

Making playdoh creations with Kaelyn:) He's so sweet to the kids! 

He called me to his side and began miming to me. I wasn't quite sure what he was miming and I've learned from this blog: Babe of My Heart post by another hosting mama never to say YES unless you are 100% certain you know what the mimes are in reference to! We finally figured out he was asking for a rake to rake up the thousands of avocado leaves on the grass! He set to work raking the leaves and was SO PROUD of himself when he was done! He came searching for me in the house to show me what he had done!! His translator told me later that he loves to help with the yard work at the orphanage, luckily for him Brennan also loves collecting leaves and depositing them into the trash can! They are a match made in heaven!

Thumbs up from our new gardeners!! Anyone want to hire them?

He's starting to look to Peter more, now that he's had some time with him. They had fun playing sports together this morning and then Dzintars opened up the Latvian version of facebook and You Tube and showed Peter and Brennan pictures from his orphanage as well other things in Latvia. He also showed them pictures of his adult sister. We know from his bio on New Horizons that he was recently very disappointed as she had promised to take him from the orphanage and yet she doesn't even visit him. I can not even imagine how much that hurts his heart:( We have yet to ask him any questions about his past, or how long he has been in the orphanage and for now I think that's okay. He's just starting to bond with us and trust us so those conversations will come in time!

Several chaperones come over with the hosted children and we are required to have the kids call them at least once a week. His chaperone Aija is so, so sweet and is being hosted in Georgia. We spoke with her yesterday to sort out the cat allergy mess and she called again this morning to check on him. He told her he'd had bad dream last night and was still a little upset by it but she was able to calm him down she said. Tonight when I asked him what it was about he said it was about Latvia:(  Please pray for him, that he wouldn't have any more bad dreams and that if he does he will feel comfortable enough to wake us up to comfort him. If Brennan and Kaelyn have bad dreams at night they call out to us and we go to them, I'm saddened that he didn't feel he was able to do that as well. But assume that it's because at his orphanage he'd have to fend for himself after a bad dream as well.

The kids have been asking to see Madagascar 3 but we put it off so we could take Dzintars with us!

I'm so glad we did. Before we even entered the actual theater he looks at me and says "Stacey, America" and gives me a thumbs up!! I thought my heart was going to burst!!! He has the sweetest temperament. We'd learned earlier in the day that he likes to help and after the movie he asked via google translate to help make lunch! So I got him all the supplies to make some good old PB&J sandwiches for him and the kids! He did a great job! I might have a new sous chef to help me out at dinner time!!

I'm definitely going to become a professional Wii player while he's here! He loves playing and asks throughout the day to play one of us. So far his favorite seems to be Mario Kart. He'd never played it before but is getting better and better. I can tell he's got a competitive side, but in a good natured way. He's clearly proud of himself when he does well but not at all hard on himself when he drives right off a cliff!! He's also super patient when Brennan asks to play with him and Brennan's games go on forever because he just can't seem to get the hang of staying ON the road.

He's my little sidekick, I'm his comfort zone for now and even if he's with Peter he'll usually come seek me out after a short while. We've been told it's harder for these kids to learn to trust men, they've either had negative experiences with their biological fathers or just not much exposure to men in the orphanages. We'll definitely be seeking out some male bonding activities just for the two of them this summer! But for now, I'm happy that he's bonded well with me and he's starting to trust Peter and look to him for his questions.

After the littles napped today we headed over to Peter's parents house for some swimming! We knew from his bio on the New Horizons site that he didn't know how to swim and that proved true. I don't think he'd ever been in a pool before, most of these kids haven't. But he was so happy to give it a try! At first he was a bit reluctant to put his face in the water, but once I showed him the goggles and how to blow bubbles out of this nose we were all good! We had a blast throwing the "torpedo" toy back and forth, tossing water footballs and beach balls and jumping into the pool. I showed him how to kick, how to use a kickboard and how to use his arms, he loved it. He willingly tries everything and is so happy to watch and copy me! I just love this kid!! Today I got a glimpse into my future of parenting a teen boy and it was just so much fun!!! We brought our waterproof camera and he really enjoyed having his picture taken under the water. He'd never swam with his head under the water before today and he dove right in and gave it his all! I'm so proud of our boy! Here are some pictures of our swimming fun! 

On Tuesday he starts his private swim lessons with Head Above Water and he is going to LOVE it! I'm pretty sure his swim teachers are going to love him as well, he's so eager to learn and an all around fun kid to hang with!!