Oleg has been here one month!

Sorry we haven't posted for such a long time.  We have gotten really busy!  Oleg is playing soccer. They practice twice a week and usually have one game on the weekend, sometimes two. Believe it or not, a 14 year old boy is not content to sit at home in the evenings after school.  Our quiet lives have changed so much!  Tonight when I got home from work Oleg asked what we were going to do tonight.  He and Darwin went over to the community center to play basketball while I did a little shopping.

Yesterday Oleg said that he wanted to go to a park to ride his scooter.  He said he wanted to find a beautiful park.  In my mind that meant a park we could ride bikes and he could ride his scooter. We got to the park and he said, "Mama, park?"  I could tell it was not what he wanted.  We found out through our translation apps that he wanted a park where he could jump with his scooter.  He wanted a skate park with ramps, etc.  We tried to find a skate park for him but nothing was open. We took him to Andretti Thrill Park.  He loves the go karts and the arcade.  I'm sure we will be there again.

Oleg seems to be learning English slowly but surely.  We had a conference with his teachers last Friday.  One of them said that she has heard Oleg talking to other students in English.  He doesn't talk to the teachers much in English but is comfortable enough with the students to speak English with them.  Each of his teachers is doing something to help him with English.  His science teacher has a  phonics program she is using with him.  His Language Arts teacher showed us the program she is using with him so we can do it at home too.  We can tell he is understanding more and more when we talk to him.  We still use the translation apps on our phones quite often though.

Oleg has interesting eating habits.  He doesn't really like to eat breakfast.  I am glad that he eats a little something before starting school.  At lunch he eats a lot!  He likes the food at the school cafeteria.  It is much better than the food he used to eat at the orphanage.  His teachers have commented that he eats well at school.  When he gets home he is starving!  He eats a snack and then sometimes isn't hungry for dinner.  He loves bananas and sometimes eats 4 or 5 per day.  We have some banana trees in our front yard.  He will enjoy the bananas when they ripen.

We will try to be better at posting.  Thanks for going through this journey with us!