Hanging out with Duke the Dragon
Splashing on the Water Park Dolphin
A fun-filled Splash Ball afternoon
Who's supposed to be guiding this plane?!
First day of Goddard School for Dylan
Things are continuing to progress along at home as the days pass. We originally had planned not to start Dylan at Goddard until August 17th, but he appeared to be getting bored at home and really missed Kyle, so he started school this past Monday. He looked so excited with his new lunch bag and sleeping bag. Kyle was also very excited to have his "Didi" finally going to school with him.
They are studying Florida this week, so it has been a week filled with fun Disney activities, the Alligator Tales man who told stories at school, swamp building and of course, Kyle's favorite activity: splash day. Dylan is slowly taking it all in. He had a rough morning yesterday when he realized that Mom was not attending school with him, but seemed to get over that fairly quickly. I think that the days are pretty long for him (7:15 - 5), so it will take a little more time to adapt. However, all of the kids in the class are very kind to him, and Kyle has been amazing in teaching him how to do things and the rules of the classroom. Kyle usually gives me the full progress report on both of them each evening! He has found his calling as the Father Hen.
As we did Boot Camp Potty Training with Kyle, we enrolled Dylan in Boot Camp Sleeping Camp last week!! Finally, late in the week, he spent one night by himself but then later wandered into the spare bedroom where he neatly tucked himself into the bed in there and fell asleep. The following night, he made it all through the night in his own bed and in his own room (yeah!) He has never looked back since. I think that he finally feels comfortable in his room. He and Kyle spend about an hour talking themselves to sleep at night. It's pretty funny, as Dylan is talking mainly in Chinese and Kyle is answering him in English (having probably no idea what he is saying), but they seem to have an excellent time together. They also usually entertain themselves with a light show from Kyle's circus spinner.
We continue to keep busy on the weekends. Two weekends ago, we went to Dutch Wonderland and had a great time in both the water park and on the rides. As Dylan is the daredevil, he had to ride some of the spinning, faster rides. He even wanted to ride the roller coaster, but was not tall enough. He and Kyle had a great time on any rides that they could do together. Kyle is also riding many more rides, in order to keep up with Dylan. He is slowly overcoming his fears which has been terrific. Kyle is also already planning our next trip to Disney World, so he can show Dylan all of his favorite rides there.
Last weekend, we went down to Cape May Beach. Unfortunately, the surf was so rough and the waves so high, the boys could only go in very close to the shore. We also forgot how rocky the beach line was (we miss Myrtle Beach sand!) They did a little bit of boogie boarding and then wave riding, but Dylan is still very afraid of the water washing over his head, so he hung back while Kyle did more swimming. They spent the majority of the day on the beach playing in the sand, watching boats zipping by, and advertising planes flying by. The beach was filled with seaweed, so they had a fun time planning with Dad and throwing it all around.
Dylan's English skills continue to increase. He only uses one word at a time, but he seems to really understand things that we are telling him and/or asking him to do. A combination of hand gestures also helps! He is already starting to count and has learned alot of his A,B, Cs. He makes Charlie read him Thomas the Train books nightly; I think that Charlie can recite the songs by heart now, so don't be surprised if you hear him break into one soon - ha.ha. Dylan also really likes cows, so we've had to do several visits to Freddy's Farm to visit all the animals that are out behind the ice cream parlor. I don't know if he had cows around his foster home or not, but he really seems to identify with them!
We are heading to MI tomorrow for a week to see my family and have them meet Dylan. We can't wait.
I am attaching some pictures here of some of our latest adventures!
They are studying Florida this week, so it has been a week filled with fun Disney activities, the Alligator Tales man who told stories at school, swamp building and of course, Kyle's favorite activity: splash day. Dylan is slowly taking it all in. He had a rough morning yesterday when he realized that Mom was not attending school with him, but seemed to get over that fairly quickly. I think that the days are pretty long for him (7:15 - 5), so it will take a little more time to adapt. However, all of the kids in the class are very kind to him, and Kyle has been amazing in teaching him how to do things and the rules of the classroom. Kyle usually gives me the full progress report on both of them each evening! He has found his calling as the Father Hen.
As we did Boot Camp Potty Training with Kyle, we enrolled Dylan in Boot Camp Sleeping Camp last week!! Finally, late in the week, he spent one night by himself but then later wandered into the spare bedroom where he neatly tucked himself into the bed in there and fell asleep. The following night, he made it all through the night in his own bed and in his own room (yeah!) He has never looked back since. I think that he finally feels comfortable in his room. He and Kyle spend about an hour talking themselves to sleep at night. It's pretty funny, as Dylan is talking mainly in Chinese and Kyle is answering him in English (having probably no idea what he is saying), but they seem to have an excellent time together. They also usually entertain themselves with a light show from Kyle's circus spinner.
We continue to keep busy on the weekends. Two weekends ago, we went to Dutch Wonderland and had a great time in both the water park and on the rides. As Dylan is the daredevil, he had to ride some of the spinning, faster rides. He even wanted to ride the roller coaster, but was not tall enough. He and Kyle had a great time on any rides that they could do together. Kyle is also riding many more rides, in order to keep up with Dylan. He is slowly overcoming his fears which has been terrific. Kyle is also already planning our next trip to Disney World, so he can show Dylan all of his favorite rides there.
Last weekend, we went down to Cape May Beach. Unfortunately, the surf was so rough and the waves so high, the boys could only go in very close to the shore. We also forgot how rocky the beach line was (we miss Myrtle Beach sand!) They did a little bit of boogie boarding and then wave riding, but Dylan is still very afraid of the water washing over his head, so he hung back while Kyle did more swimming. They spent the majority of the day on the beach playing in the sand, watching boats zipping by, and advertising planes flying by. The beach was filled with seaweed, so they had a fun time planning with Dad and throwing it all around.
Dylan's English skills continue to increase. He only uses one word at a time, but he seems to really understand things that we are telling him and/or asking him to do. A combination of hand gestures also helps! He is already starting to count and has learned alot of his A,B, Cs. He makes Charlie read him Thomas the Train books nightly; I think that Charlie can recite the songs by heart now, so don't be surprised if you hear him break into one soon - ha.ha. Dylan also really likes cows, so we've had to do several visits to Freddy's Farm to visit all the animals that are out behind the ice cream parlor. I don't know if he had cows around his foster home or not, but he really seems to identify with them!
We are heading to MI tomorrow for a week to see my family and have them meet Dylan. We can't wait.
I am attaching some pictures here of some of our latest adventures!
![Dylan's referral picture](http://<a href="http://lilypie.com/"><img src="http://ladf.lilypie.com/h1VQm4.png" width="400" height="80" border="0" alt="Lilypie" /></a>)
So glad to read that the boys continue to do well together, and that Dylan is just thriving! what a fun family you guys are!! thanks for sharing your adventures with us!
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