Just one last post about my son.
I promise last one then I will give you a break, some of you might be aware that my wife and I recently adopted our first child, he is an amazing little Thai boy who is just about to turn 18 months old, this little champion came into our care almost three months ago and has been in Australia about 2 months.
What that means is that until next year....
I'm a Fulltime Dad.
That's right my crazy wife was somehow convinced that it was a smart idea that I care for our child day to day for the first six months which means that not only am I responsible for his daily needs enough nappies already little man but I'm also responsible for keeping his little mind working and growing during the day which brings me to what this post is all about.
If you want to read my perspective on some of the adoption process you can read it here Our Adoption Adventure
The Worry.
Everyone cares about their children progressing and developing as well as possible but the development of an adopted child can have a whole lot of extra hurdles in its path.
Opportunity? The children's home our son came from was no gulag in fact as far as they go I was really impressed with the entire place but just for a second I want you to imagine now that you have spent the first fifteen months of your life one of the twenty-five children in the care of just two lovely, caring nannies in just one of the many nurseries in your particular home. Just how much personal time dedicated to your learning an development do you think you could get?
Now I want you to imagine two strange white people come and take you away from everything you have ever known, all the familiar faces, sounds and smells, making a strange sound at you that bear no resemblance to any soothing sound your nannies may have used when you're sad or upset. Two weeks later you find yourself bundled on a plane and in a new country pretty freaking traumatic right. Any chance that might impact your development?
Perhaps you have attachment disorder because you had no consistency, and learned that it didn't matter if you cried because chances were that nobody was coming to comfort you in the middle of the night. How well do you learn and grow when if you haven't learned to trust the adults around you?
Our best tools.
After laughter, fun, play, copying games, and a bunch of swimming with the little man to build trust we had to find some way to start communication with him, after all, he wasn't speaking Thai yet and so far he has only been listening to English for nearly three months now.
Thank god for sign language, not long before we went to pick him up we had talked briefly about teaching him baby sign, it made sense for my wife both she and her sister had learned to sign as kids due to a high number of the deaf in the family, for me I was not sure until I got the chance to see baby sign in action with one of my friends children. Wow, I was sold.
No, we are not going to make him deaf we teach the words along with the signs.
Progress.
If you a parent you know that kids are amazing, they soak things up and learn at an incredible rate, it feels like every single day he makes me incredibly proud when he displays some new skill, he has about seven words, fifteen signs and can string together signs like "more food please" sign lets him tell us what he needs or wants instead of us just guessing, he LOVES book, and can run like a champ, he is starting to be gentle to the dog, and his verbal understanding it to quote our social worker was better than she would expect of a girl his age without the adoption issues.
All those things above used to be my favorite things after I had a fair bit to do with his learning them but nothing compares to...
Imaginary Food.
Just yesterday you little man showed us my new favorite thing in the world he started to really play with his imagination.
A simple game that started by pretending to feed the dog make-believe food that progressed to feeding himself, his mother, and me laughing and giggling the whole time.
I know that sounds like just your usual toddler play and it is but its also much, much more than that, its the beginning of wonder, the beginning of dreams and hopes and visions of the future, its the beginning of magic and the thought process that has landed man on the moon, and imagining what lays beyond the stars.
That's why it's my new favorite thing in the world to see and I don't think that anything will replace it.
Kind regards
Peter
My Wife is also a great Steemian worth a follow check out her most recent posts here.
ULOG #8 - First Father's Day with our adopted son: Plus DIY Gifts
#20 What is it? First to guess right wins!
