What it's like now...

Ebrahim has been home now for not quite 2 weeks. He understands more and more each day. He understands "no" and uses it quite often...he is definately a stubborn kid!:) He has a lot of good examples to follow too...NOT! (by some certain brothers and sisters) We went swimming and he absolutely loves it! When we went to the pool the first time, I said, "take off your shirt" and he started taking off his swim trunks..I'm like no, no, no because were right near the play pool. He just dove right in like he had done this a million times before. He is also starting to realize that he needs to make sure his trunks stay up! Several people have gotton a full moon! When we were at the pool he took toys away from total strangers, so I had to explain to him that he had to ask first. He refused at first, but then did because he really wanted to play with another child's boat. We have also went to the library, he chose some books but didn't seem too interested in having them read to him later. He loved going to the park and went down the spiral slide a million times! Another day we went shopping and he enjoyed getting a pair of tennis shoes and was so proud of them! We also went into the puppy store, but he was very dissapointed that we left without a dog. Lastly, we went to Build-a Bear, so he could have a stuffed animal of his own to cuddle and he of course picked out a black lab and we put the barking sound in. He is really infatuated with sunglasses and wants to wear them all the time...his dog has a pair too! We usually have to call his name several times to get him to respond to us or a request. We have been using a "sit down away from the activity approach" when he is behaving in an inapproprite way and especially to get him to understand the impotance of safety. We are working with him to take turns with DVD player with the other kids. Food has been a challenge! Much of what he ate in ET, he won't eat here. Right now it is plain pasta, eggs and apples. Unfortunately the luxury of choice, I think has made him more choosy. He doesn't like any kids foods like chicken nuggets, hotdogs, spaghettios and mac and cheese which are big favorites here. He did eat fish sandwhiches from BK several times. I have been trying to work with him 30-60 min a day M-F on math and phonics. He is able to add double to single digit so far. Overall he is doing really well. As his communication improves I know everything else will also improve. He doesn't always understand our intentions (like if we reach to turn down the TV, he flips out a little because he thinks we are going to turn it off), or might confuse words...like last night we wanted him to take a bath (which he loves) but he was adamantly saying no, once he saw the bath, he was happy. So, I think he thought we were saying bed time. I think it's been harder to deal with our other kids then him...the sharing, the understanding of his lack of understanding our communication or what it's like to come from having nothing to having so much. We'll get there though and I don't think things could be going any better considering the situation.