Graduation Day Pictures.
Summer fun: just add sprinkler!
Well, we're almost at the 4 month point and the changes in Bo and our family are incredible. In the past month Bo met his Nai Nai Marsha, Nai Nai Karen, and his great grandparents Tom and Joanne. Ryan graduated from LSU on May 15th and we had a fun time celebrating afterwards with some end of season crawfish - yum! I had two hand surgeries this past month and Bo was very sweet to me and let me carry him with one hand instead of two each time (LOL). He's growing up fast and really becoming his own little person. His English is getting so good I almost forget he doesn't understand it all sometimes. He has been speaking in broken phrases at home and finally started speaking a little at school. About a week and a half ago his teacher told Ryan that Bo had called her Ms. Carolyn for the first time. She was so excited. That was on a Thursday and by the next Tuesday when I asked about it the teachers told me that he's been calling his friends at school by name and he says "OK" and "yes/ no/ no more/ thank you" quite a bit. He acts liek he doesn't want to go to school each morning, which we attribute to general laziness and wanting to play video games all day. Once he gets to school he enters the classroom smiling and he has no issues of homesickness, etc. during the day. So we do whatever it takes to get him out the door in the morning and then all is well. He went through his "aw, man" phase a couple weeks ago where that was his response for everything we said.
Me: "Bo get dressed" Him: "aw, man"
Me: "brush your teeth:. Him: "aw, man"
and so on. Literally 30 times a day, I was pulling my teeth out to not hear any more aw mans.
Now he has switched to "good job", as in I bring him a sippy cup of milk and he says "Good job, mama". This is much sweeter than the aw, man phase and I am truly enjoying it. Such an ego boost to be complimented on every little thing you do during the day. He is also very good at his "thank you" and tonight at dinner after scarfing down two bowls of jambalaya I gave him a piece of sugar free cake and he took a bite of it then kissed me. Such a sweetheart!
Speaking of sweetheart, Bo made it through his first babysitting experience quite well. His babysitter was 12 yr old Ashley (and her mom and dad nearby). She kept him happy for 2.5 hrs and when I picked him up to go home he grabbed her arm and tried to drag her into the car. Seems he was smitten with her and wanted to take this new playmate home with him. He really is such a ladies man and at school he still plays mostly with the girls. It really makes sense when you think that most of the orphanage workers are female. Being nice to women was a survival instinct and it stuck. He's all boy in his play time but when he needs something is when he pours on the charm.
Swimming is still his favorite hobby by far and he is currently in swim classes. He swims very well under water and is trying to learn how to stay on the surface. It would probably help if he had an ounce of body fat because his skinny butt sinks so fast. We'll see if 4 more classes helps. Ryan took Bo to Blue Bayou last week and they both got season passes so I expect they will go there once a week in the afternoon. With my pump water parks are a challenge so I will probably only join them once or twice over the summer. For now, it's a boy activity and I am just fine with that.
We'll be in PA visiting the rest of the Hawkins clan July 2-8th and will definitely attend a softball game while we're there to catch up with the old gang. Hope to see some of you then!
