Bits & Pieces & I600 approvals

It has been way too long since I posted but life here has become very busy recently. The two pups are growing like weeds. I took them in for their 2nd round of puppy shots last weekend and they have more that doubled in weight. The harnesses we bought when we brought them home no longer fit. And, of course, as they get bigger, the more they can reach to get in to. They have already chewed the audio cable on the kids computer. and, also of course, since A plays all these fighting games and insists that he has to have the sound up, I haven't made a strong effort to get new speakers. Bad Mom!

Both A and C have had a couple of bad weeks at school. A because, for some reason, he just quit trying and started putting the first thing that came to him down as the answer without even making an attempt to read the instructions or the story that went with the questions or anything. This doesn't make for good grades - let me tell you. His teacher talked to him, I talked to him, I tried bribing him, threatening to take away things from him, nothing worked. Then his reading teacher found the key. She told him that she would be checking with his regular teacher and if he hadn't made a good effort on a paper, he would come in to her room and stay until he did his best on the paper. He'd miss computer time, specials, recess, whatever, until he had done the work to the best of his ability. This was the key, he is now back on track and doing better. I don't know what set him off, but he is an A/B student and for him to be bringing home 43's and 25's was bad. He is dyslexic, but they didn't think that was it at all. It may be related to bringing home little brother soon, he has said that he is a little afraid that LB won't like him and he is also loosing his 'baby of the family' status, but he always seems eager to go get LB.

C, on the other hand, is learning that she needs to ask for help studying for her tests. She has straight A'd it since coming home 3.5 years ago, but it has been on memorization alone. This year, in 4th grade, she is having to learn, to think, and to reason and since her comprehension isn't at a home-grown 4th grader's level, it is hard for her. For some reason, she just won't admit that she needs help or that she doesn't understand/know something. As a result, she is not doing as well as she could.

The furry babies are 3 months old now and start puppy kindergarten tomorrow. This should be an experience. I don't know if they will let me take pictures, but if they do, I'll post some.

And last, but not least! I got my i600 approval this morning. This means that the CIS has determined that LB is truely free for adoption under international adoption law and I will be able to get a visa and bring him home. They expect me to be able to travel in a couple of weeks, but I told them that unless I can be home in time for Christmas, I'd rather wait until after. If I could afford to take all the kids, I wouldn't hesitate to go for Christmas, but since I can't, I don't want to be away from them. So I can wait a couple more weeks. LB won't know the difference. We'll save his presents for him and have another smaller Christmas when he gets home.