Challenging day

Today was very difficult.  We are having many challenges with all of the kids, but especially with Juan Manuel, as he is extremely rambunctious and has very little self control.  Jason and I are feeling torn in so many directions and are trying so hard to keep up.

In our hotel room there is a desk that is covered with a sheet of glass to protect the wood surface.  The glass sheet was not affixed to the desk top, and today Juan Manuel ran through the room, somehow knocked the glass to the floor and it shattered all over the place.  Mind you, the floor is carpeted, so he really whacked it hard.  He has gotten in the habit of laughing when he has done something that he knows he shouldn't, and he thought it was funny when the glass broke.  My first concern was safety.  Christian wasn't in the room when it happened, but Santiaguito was 2 feet away from the glass shards, barefoot.  I had to walk over and carry him to safety, all the while trying to make sure that Juan Manuel didn't come over to the broken glass.  Juan Manuel doesn't seem to have a good sense yet for what is safe and what isn't, and he doesn't always listen to us yet, this is definitely one of our biggest challenges with him.

So I put Juan Manuel in time-out and sent Satiaguito to the other room to play.  The hotel staff came in to clean up the mess, but here is another challenge we are struggling with...the people here give us the stink-eye every time we correct our children.  The maid came in, went and sat down with Juan Manuel in his time-out and was telling him that it is ok, it's not a big deal, the most important thing is that he didn't get hurt.  While that is true, it was just a stroke of luck for us that neither he nor his brothers got hurt or lacerated.  We know that we've only been together as a family for 4 days, but part of our challenge is not knowing what is "normal" for our boys.  We don't know if Juan Manuel is acting out, or if this is typical for him.  We have the feeling that it may be typical since the ICBF paperwork said that he can be "spontaneous"...hmmmmmm...spontaneous is putting it very very mildly!  He is still a very loving boy, and a good kid, but we are having a tough time getting through to him on his behavior. 

We are thinking that we probably need to modify our time-out theory.  We are getting the impression that he thinks time-out is funny, and he would rather behave badly and then just accept the time-out punishment.  We are thinking we may try deducting time at the pool, or time playing at the park...but we really don't know.  We are trying to be so loving in all of our interactions, but we have to find a currency that has value to him, or I don't think that he will stop and think about what he is doing.  Are we expecting too much?  We just don't know...   We are hoping that tomorrow will be better, or at least not any worse than it was today.

Today we learned that Christian goes poop in the potty!!!  He hadn't pooped since we've had him, and we were going to visit the pharmacist today to get some stool softener for him.  We've been trying to pump him full of fiber-rich foods in hope that it would help, but were starting to get worried about him.  Then this morning he started to whine and pull on the seat of his pants.  I asked Juan Manuel what was wrong with Christian, and he said that he had to go "popo en el bano".  REALLY???  He's so little, yet he sits on the big toilet with his bottom hanging in and hangs on for dear life.  Of course we helped him, and sure enough, he went poop in the potty.  Crazy!  They didn't tell us that in our meeting with ICBF, so we were pretty shocked by it.  But now we know what to look for, so hopefully we can help him out.

Santiaguito had a bit of a challenging day today also.  He is starting to come out of his shell, and like Juan Manuel, is testing the limits.  In general though, he seems more concerned about what we tell him is allowed or not.  Tonight he told me that he wants to learn English, too cute. 

So, we are surviving, but the days are definitely getting harder and not easier.  I was talking to one of the German couples that are here to adopt also, and they described our hotel setting as the "golden cage".  It is not real life, and there are so many times that you can walk around the "compound" before the kids look at you and ask, "mama, papa, donde vamos?".  We have been trying to burn off energy outside...playing in the pool, at the park, playing soccer, you name it.  Jason even tries to get the boys to run laps around the basketball court.  That goes over about as well as a screen door on a submarine!!

Here's hoping that tomorrow will be a better day than today was!