No matter how one receives a child, it is a miraculous gift from God.
Once upon a time, there was a family of one. This family was blessed but had an open heart and home. By choice, we have become a family, first in our hearts, and finally in breath and being. We are an open family and hope everyone with ties to Kendall Alejandro or Allison Elizabeth stay in touch.
Kendall was still not feeling that great this morning coupled with the fact I was off today, he did not go to the YMCA. We have been putting benzocaine on his lip today. He did have to go with me to all my appointments which were the dentist for me (he loves the dentist because it is at the mall or as he calls it the Multiplaza and they have a toy vending machine), we stopped by my financial advisor's office to see his assistant since her son, his wife and 2 children were moving in 2 doors down from us today but she was watching her grandkids, the mercado (for a veggie tray for work and taco fixings for dinner) and Cordelia's vet appointment (where we met Shannon's son Robbie, her daughter Ellie, and Liam who was up for adoption - by the end of our visit we were taking Liam home. Kendall added Luis Diego so is full name is Liam Luis Diego but we have been calling him Liam).
I had a teleconference with Jefferson School of Pharmacy about the upcoming Pharmaceutics Lab at 2pm and Kendall watched some TV. After that I reminded Kendall that he still had to do school work and convinced him to do the work early before dinner. He did a fantastic job with putting the letters in the correct order (he had 3 wrong T U V but corrected it when I pointed it out) and sang the alphabet song very well - high five's we are almost there! He is still having trouble with numbers in English from 12 to 20. Then he did abcmouse.com for 2 hours. Mostly because you have a pet hamster and he wanted the habitrail and cool toys. Tickets are needed and he did not have enough. You get tickets by completing the work - good job, Kendall!
Liam explored the whole house today. He is very fast and fearless. Rosalind and Liam definitely need to get used to each other but everyone feels at home. Kendall remembered his first day home and he did the same thing. We had taco boats for dinner and fried yucca. And yes, fried yucca is better than fried potatoes!
Kendall took a bath and discovered the handheld shower head tonight. He loves it and cleaned the bath/shower. The bathroom was very wet but muchas gracias Kendall! We ended the evening watching Benji. I loved Benji when I was young. As a refresher, Benji is a lovable stray dog who lives in a small Texas town where he has befriended many local people, each of whom calls him by a different name. He gets plenty of food and attention whenever he visits with one of his acquaintances. He meets another white female stray dog with long fluffy hair, and the two dogs form a bond. Two children whom Benji loves are kidnapped and held for ransom, the dogs try to help, and Benji seeks out friendly people to assist him in freeing the children. He loved the film and is ready to watch the second film.
Kendall did a great job with his letters, a good job with his numbers and REALLY tried to read tonight in English with abcmouse.com. He really liked the Mount Rushmore song since it is about US presidents and he knows that some US presidents are on paper money (big bucks!). So as a reward we went outside to ride the scooter. I was talking to our neighbor, Steve, and Kendall rolled up the street. He walked back with a broken helmut, swollen lip, bloody mouth and nice scrape on his shoulder. He told me I didn't see him and I told him he didn't wait for me. And even if I had even there this still would have happened. I cleaned him up and he is sitting on the couch with an ice pack on his lip. We are watching Scooby-Doo! Adventures: The Mystery Map! through Verizon Fios. I'd ather pay to watch a movie than watch SpongeBob! Buenas noches!
This is what Kendall told everyone today. After I picked him up from the YMCA, we went to Treasure Island Pet Center & Tropical Fish to get fish food and we picked up another fish so we have again Kevin and Kendall. We had dinner and worked on the alphabet by putting letters in order, saying which letters were which and counting them. We also did a few 3 digit addition and subtraction math problems. And then we went out to ride his scooter and skateboard. He is very comfortable with the scooter and needs practice balancing with the skateboard. We chatted with the neighbors before calling it a night.
He is now 9 years old! I thought he may get up early this morning but he slept in. I made sure I was ready and the car was packed for his afternoon fiesta before I woke him at 7am. I had him get washed up, dressed and teeth brushed before he opened all his regalos. I had hidden all of his presents as they came in so they would be a surprise. I set the presents in guest room so he wouldn't know my hiding place :-). There is a video of him opening presents below. His favorites were the scooter, skateboard, pirate flag, money and spirograph from Kevin, Eduardo, Kattya and Luis Diego. We opened all of the cards in the evening before he went to bed.
We went to the 8am church service. He was very good in church and tried to sing more songs today. He was also the only child for the children's sermon and he did a great job when he went up to talk to the Pastor in front of the whole congregation. He announced that it was his happy birthday and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him!
We went to Wegmans to pick up his cake. They did a fabulous job for an unbelievable price. The cake was marble inside with a chocolate buttercream filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. It was decorated as Jungle Buddies and before we served it we added Superman and the number 9. I have a photo below. We went to the Dollar Tree for 3 Mylar ballons then headed home. Kendall wanted to play with his new toys.
Kendall was very excited since this is his first birthday party solito. About 12:15pm we headed to the YMCA pool with a quick stop for ice. While I set up with the YMCA ladies, Megan and Lisa, Kendall went in the pool. We had 4 tables with lots of ballons and a Happy Birthday sign. It was overcast and windy but once the party started, everyone was in the pool or making water balloons. The YMCA had a special spigot for the water balloons and I bought a special hand pump everyone used as well. It was a water ballon lollapalooza :-). After about an hour the wind picked up and it poured (and I mean it poured!). We would have gotten soaked moving everything so we stayed outside for cake and soda. After the party, Kendall swam in the indoor YMCA pool until 4:30pm. He has greatly improved with his floating, diving and swimming and he asked me to video him so there are some videos below. He told me it was a cool fiesta but not a muy cool fiesta because of the rain.
We went to Burger King for his corona and kid's meal. I get one also so he ended up with 2 toys. At home, I cleaned up a bit and set up for tomorrow. Kendall helped a bit since he wanted me to work on his bike tightening all the bolts and screws and adding a new light and bell from the Abuelos. It was still overcast and thundering a bit so he rode his bike just in our cul-de-sac. Later in the evening, we talked and thanked the Abuelos and they sang to him and he sang to them.
Just before bed, I gave Kendall his final gift - a special book called On the Night You Were Born By Nancy Tillman along with an On the Night You Were Born Polar Bear that was extra soft. A good friend from work, Laura Leon, translated the English to Spanish for me - muchas gracias! The English words are below and we cuddled, spoke his magical name and he made the polar bear dance while I read him the book in Spanish. I bought a recordable book so he can see the words in English and hear my voice say the words in Spanish. This will be our birthday tradition. There were a lot of 'I love you's' tonight.
On the Night You Were Born (Escritor Nancy Tillman)
En la Noche Que Nacistes
Kendall - Usted esta temeroso y maravillosamente… Salmos ciento treinta y nueve
You are fearfully and wonderfully made…Psalms 139
On the night you were born,
En la Noche Que Nacistes,
The moon smiled with such wonder
La luna sonrio can tal maravilla
That the stars peeked in to see you
y la estrellas se asomaron a verte
And the night wind whispered,
Y el veinto de la noche te dijo
“Life will never be the same.”
“La vida nunca sera la misma.”
Because there had never been anyone like you…ever in the world.
Porque nunca abido nadie como tu… nunca en el mundo
So enchanted with you were the wind and the rain
Estaban tan encantados el viento y la lluvia
That they whispered the sound of your wonderful name.
Que susurraron el sonido de tu maravilloso nombre.
It sailed through the farmland
Y navego entre las tierras de cultivo
High on the breeze…
En lo alto del la brisa…
Over the ocean…
Sobre el oceano..
And through the trees…
y a traves de los arboles…
Until everyone heard it
Hasta que todo el mundo lo eschucho
And everyone knew
Y todo el mundo sabia
Of the one and only ever you.
de ti, y unicamente de ti
Not once had there been such eyes,
Nunca jama an existido tus ojos,
Such a nose,
Tu nariz,
Such silly, wiggly, wonderful toes.
tus curiosos deditos de los pies
When the polar bears heard,
Cuando los osos polares lo escucharon
They danced until dawn.
Ellos bailaron hasta el amanecer.
From faraway places,
Desde lugares lejanos
The geese flew home.
Los gansos volaron a casa.
The moon stayed up until
Y la luna sigio despierta hasta
Morning next day.
El siguiente dia en la manana.
And none of the ladybugs flew away.
Y ninguna de las mariquitas volaron
So whenever you doubt just how special you are
Entonces cuando ti dedes de los especial que eres
And you wonder who loves you, how much and how far,
Y te preguntes quien te ama, cuanto y en que medida,
Listen for geese honking high in the sky.
Eschucha los gansos graznando en lo alto del cielo.
(They’re singing a song to remember you by.)
(Te estan cantando una cancion que les requerda a ti.)
Or notice the bears asleep at the zoo.
O notes ques los osos esten dormiendo en el zoologico.
(It’s because they’ve been dancing all night for you!)
(Es porque ellos estubieron bailando todo la noche para ti!)
Or drift off to sleep to the sound of the wind.
O te quedes dormido al sonido del viento.
(Listen closely…it’s whispering your name again!)
(Escuha fuertemente… El viento esta susurrando to nombre otraves!)
If the moon stays up until morning one day,
Si la luna se queda despierta hasta la manana de un nuevo dia,
Or a ladybug lands and decides to stay,
O las mariquitas aterrizan y deciden quedarse,
Or a little bird sits at your window awhile,
O un pajarito se siento en tu ventana un ratito
It’s because they’re all hoping to see you smile…
Es porque estan esperanzados en verte sonrier…
For never before in story or rhyme
Ya que nunca antes en las historia o rima
(not even once upon a time)
(ni siquiera una vez en un tiempo)
Has the world ever known a you, my friend,
El mundo te ha conocido, amigo,
And it never will, not ever again…
Y nunca jamas lo ara, nunca mas…
Heaven blew every trumpet
Los cielos soplaron las trompetas
And played every horn
Y tocaron cada cuerno
On the wonderful, marvelous
En el asombroso, maravilloso
Night you were born.
Noche en que nacistes.
Thank you to everyone that sent a card, gift, Facebook message, thought of us, prayed for us or were involved with or in his party and celebration of Kendall's birthday and making it even more special.
We did not go to La Mancha today. Kendall's lip was a little swollen and he was concerned the little dogs would lick his face. I told him he did not have to put his face near the dogs but I know I usually have pain when I get a cold sore. I made buttermilk pancakes and arroz con leche pudding and we watch cartoons.
Kendall wore Abuela Linda's SuperNino t-shirt and Phineas and Ferb sneakers. He loves that they are slip-ons! He decided to wear camouflage shorts, his sunglasses and Costa Rica Pura Vida cap to complete his SuperNino disguise. He told me heis now ready to help all people and animals. :-)
We stopped by Bikeline to have them look at his bike since it looked like a screw was missing. It started making a noise the other day. There was a screw missing and they were able to help us out with a replacement. Kendall also helped someone else put air in their bike tires - SuperNino in action!
We went to the Kimberton Fair to have lunch and enjoy lots of rides. It was a beautiful afternoon and for $15 Kendall could ride all the rides he wanted until 5pm. He had so much fun. His favorite was Starship 2000 - he rode it 4 times! The ride is completely enclosed, with padded panels lining the inside wall. Riders lean against these panels, which are angled back. As the ride rotates, centrifugal force is exerted against the pads by the rider, removing the rider from the floor, due to the slant. The ride can reach a maximum speed of 24 rpm in less than 20 seconds. At this speed, you can experience centrifugal force equivalent to three times the force of gravity. Everyone coming off the ride exited quickly and were dizzy. Kendall took his time getting off the ride and each was ready to ride again - my astronaut. The other rides Kendall like were the Cliff Hanger, Indy 500 and the Toy Box. He also liked the Swings and lost his Phineas and Ferb shoes during the ride but don't worry we found them. Disney's TRYathlon was there and we had fun checking out building, soccer, basketball and dancing. And we tried a few games. Today we worked on looking out for other people, waiting in line and asking first. Since it was the last day of the fair, we won a fish. His name s Kevin :-) We went to Rita's Water Ice on the way home. Kendall had a Mango Water Ice and I had a Swedish Fish gelati - a nice way to cool off. Then we Skyped with Hogar Baik (where the children sang Cumpleanos Feliz to Kendall) and Kevin, Eduardo, Kattya and other family. Each time he did a Gangam Style performance :-). As an aside, Kendall wanted so much to dance for the children at Hogar Baik but they were so exited to have cake and visitors. Each child gets to blowout candles and there were 2 children with birthdays at the Hogar. The connection was so so and the call was dropped several times. Thank you to Eduardo for being so patient. The children we're loud inside they couldn't hear Kendall. Finally a few children headed outside and Kendall danced for them. Eduardo told me they sent video to Kendall. While he was upset they wouldn't listen to him, they also sang Cumpleanos Felz to him. We talked about learning to be patient.
He practiced his letters with the reward of one gift tonight. He wanted to open the gift with the baseballs that the Cardoso's sent. It was an Air Hogs Adventures Play Set and he played with it upstairs and downstairs. Muchas gracias to the Cardoso's!
Today I worked 11:30am to 8pm so I dropped off Kendall at the YMCA at 7:30am. We enjoyed the extra 1/2 hour. I was able to pick up a few things at the mercado for Kendall's birthday. I also was at the West Chester Social Security office at 8:30am so I could be one of the first in line to get Kendall's Social Security number. The fourth time is the charm and we should receive Kendall's Social Security number in 2 weeks. Felicidades Kendall!
I was able to head home to wrap most of gifts and organize gift bags and other things for his party. Cordelia also had some extra time outside. Nikki picked up Kendall at 4pm and they went to their usual McDonald's in Gap. Kendall loves the basketball hoops. They were watching TV when I arrived home. Kendall told me he was a good boy so he was allowed to open the Abuelos package, which contained a a piggy bank made from recycled materials that the Abuelos made, a raincoat, a pair of Phineas and Ferb slip on shoes and 4 cool t-shirts that Abuela Linda put superhero emblems on. Fabuloso - we called them to thank them.
Kendall has a cold sore brewing on his top lip. I get them as well so we did some hot salt water. He is is tired and so am I. Mañana is 1 day or 24 hours until his birthday. We need some sleep :-)
Today started off as no different than any other day. I picked him up from the YMCA and we had dinner. He practiced his putting letters in alphabetical order. I told him to try to do it by himself while I cleaned up and tried to get all of our trash out. He is getting more letters correct and I made him do it again. He seemed surprised that I said otra vez but he has a habit of completing what I ask and not trying. I want him to try and finish tasks. I hope by the end of summer this sticks in his head. He had many more letters correct and I sing the ABC song when I check the letters. He prefers Gangam Style. Then I made him count the letters. He has 13 down but then guesses 19 until 20 but is able to count to 26. We'll keep practicing. We talked yesterday about repeating second grade and being able to keep up with his class. I explained that the students in his class have learned all this already so he needs to catch up.
He then went on the computer and worked for a bit. At that point we had some misunderstanding. He felt he was done and I told him 20 more minutes on the computer. Then I heard him in the shower. So he told me he did not hear me and I made him spend 20 more minutes practicing letters. It was ten I checked his YMCA behavior chart. It seems he hit another boy (and by default did not keep his hands to himself), did not share and did not pay attention (and by default attention to details). So I asked him about this and since he took time to explain I knew he did do these things. I told him no TV or toys tonight and he can have the Abuelos package tomorrow if he is a good boy. We talked about his behavior today and what will be expected of him in school. I explained again that he may not have ESL help every day and he is going to have to think before he acts. We also talked about possibly switching schools and he brought up a school where ninos are muy loco. I asked him if he was crazy and he said no so I told him no just a different school to help him better. We'll talk about this some more.
Since no toys or TV, he watched me clean. I asked for him to help me finish cleaning but he sat there with a Treasury Book of Children's Stories he wanted me to read. At 8:30pm we headed upstairs and read Fuerte de Chatarra again since it was muy costoso for me to read the a story from the Treasury Book of Children's Stories in Spanish once it was in English. It was a quiet night - Mañana será otro día - Buenas noches!
It was a beautiful day and I wished I didn't have to go to work. Today Kendall's YMCA trip was to Bell Tavern Park. When I picked him up it was even more beautiful and he had told me he had mucho agua divertido at the YMCA and the park.
Tonight we worked on 4 pages of math. There were a lot of math problems on each page and it took us until 8:20pm to finish. When he finally realized he needed to complete the peoblems to watch TV he did do a great job. We sat together at the table and I only helped him when he tried first and couldn't figure it out. We both made number lines and used our fingers. I told him he needed to understand what the question was asking and how to solve it since I will not be with him at school. We sat at the dining room table and I was using the iPad when he wasn't trying. We developed a system that he would try to do the problem first and if he needed help he would say 'ding dong' and we would finish it together.
He took a quick shower and he was able to watch 30 minutes of SpongeBob before bed. He also had a splinter we removed tonight from his finger. Lots of kisses and a band-aid. Before he went to bed I heard him say - Mañana es tres dias hasta Kendall's cumpleanos [And in English Tomorrow is 3 days until my happy birthday]. :-)
The ESL program has changed for next year and I spoke to the Jason Palaia, Coatesville Area School District Director of Elementary Education/Curriculum and Instruction 3-5/Special Education K-5, today about Kendall. The new ESL teacher will rotate every 3 days so I want a plan in place for Kendall when the school year starts and throughout. He will go to the same school for now but I will investigate other options (Collegium in Exton) as well. One of the YMCA counselors told me he speaks English well but as soon as he hears something he doesn't like he speaks in Spanish. We are working on learning that he has to listen and he may have to do things he doesn't like because his group or class is doing it together. We have started to talk about the new school year and expectations of him in the classroom.
On the way home I asked Kendall if he listened to the story at reading time today. He told me no but when I told him I would give him $10 if he could tell me what the story was about he sat up. Then he told me about some cookies that were sent in the mail to be eaten. Not sure if this was the story though! Today he did get into some trouble for spitting (escupir). He lost 30 minutes of TV time. When I asked him why he spat, it took him a bit to answer then he told me he needed to spit since he ate insects. I told him he should not eat insects and he should spit into a napkin! Usually when he takes time to answer he did do what he hould not and is trying o ome up with a good reasonwhy he did it. There is no good reason to spit nd 2 exclamation points were on his behavior sheet so he did it more than once.
Two packages were on our doorstep from The Cardoso's. They are also waiting for a match from Costa Rica through Pearl S. Buck International. When I explained to Kendall who the packages were from, he told me I had to call PANI immediately to tell them to match them to children in Costa Rica. Part of the package was ripped so he has an idea what it and is excited to open the present!
We did the letters M to Z to finish the alphabet. He told me the cursive F and T and the K and X look the same. He was right and we went over the differences. He still has trouble counting from 12 to 20 in English and we are working on that, too.
Feliz Lunes! Both Kendall and I did not want to get up this morning. We had to find his sunglasses for his mochila for YMCA (and I forgot to put his swim goggles in his book bag - he told me while he was doing his homework in the evening that he had pain in his eyes since I did not pack his swim goggles). We were about the fifth car in the YMCA drop off this morning.
He painted the duck at the YMCA in the last photo as a surprise for me. His behavior sheet was filled out also and he did a good job today. We need to practice listening.He told me tonight he wants to wear his bathing suit to the YMCA every morning so he is always ready for the pool :-) Tonight we practiced letters and numbers. He wanted only to do 4 pages in the 2nd grade book but I told him he had practice writing the letters in the book and putting the letters in order. I told him he had to do all 26 letters and he argued for quite a bit. After 2 pages, he told me he only wanted to do 4 pages. Since we were just getting back to studying I cut the letters in half. He tried for 10 letters but I told him 13 was the final answer. He is as good as Abuelo Ricardo with negotiating :-). He had to write the uppercase and lowercase letters 3 times and trace 2 words beginning with that letter. Then he had to count the pages The first photo he is actually saying 'I love you' to me and the other is just before he finished the 13 letters. Can you see the page numbers!
I love 'Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?' Instead of SpongeBob, we watched this and learned about a lot of places in the world.
