Alex's Baptism

What a little trooper! He entered the church in tears, just as he does almost every Sunday. Once inside, we brought him on the altar to practice before the mass began. He got to see the font and I explained everything to him. Once mass started, godfather, James, began doing magic tricks with his fingers to entertain him. He was giggling and having a great time. He was completely relaxed by the time he, Renee (his godmother), James, me, Heath, Richie, Michael and Jake were all called up to the altar. He did so well. He followed directions to the letter and went with what the pastor was doing. He was surprised by the water poured on his head and afterwards, he kept feeling it and then smelling it to see what was put on his head. He even wiped it off with his hand and tried to taste it. I could barely keep from cracking up while on the altar after watching his confusion. As much as we tried to explain it all to him, he just didn't comprehend what the pastor was pouring over his head.

After the baptism, we held his party the next day (the baptism was the Saturday night mass) and he had such a great time with his cousins and friends of the family. He ran with them ALL day. At the end of the day, he was able to open all of his presents. Everyone was so generous and thoughtful with their gifts. He was amazed. He kept opening things and then saying "mine?" and we would say "yes" and then he would smile. When he was finished, he packed it all up and put it in a giant gift bag and placed it by the front door. Our feeling was that if he was leaving, he would have it all there ready to go. I was so sad by that. After several different moves/placements, he doesn't fully accept or understand that he really is staying here forever. I took the bag, with Alex in tow, and brought him into the playroom. I took one of the many large stackable bins we have and emptied it and then carefully put all of his new toys in "his" bin. He still kept saying "mine" and I still kept telling him "yes, this is all yours". Then, we took all of his new clothes and went right up to his room and put them into his closet again repeating that this is all his. He seems to be happy with that. Interesting, huh? Through our training to be certified American foster parents (two years ago) we found that this was common behavior for kids who moved around a lot. So sad for them.

This week we also learning that Alex has an amazing ability to add numbers in his head. He is only in kindergarten. I was doing some review homework with Jake and while he was doing his own homework (cutting and pasting patterns) he started saying the answers to Jake's homework. So we then started asking him problems aloud and he got them all right up to the 20s. He is still learing the other numbers in English otherwise I think he would have got them.

He still has his moments of pouting, stubborness and some anger when he doesn't get his way, but at this point, we understand that every kid does this sometimes, and with normal limits, he is understanding that he can't always get what he wants. After having three other boys, we have seen this time and time before, so we are not shocked or surprised by this at all. He just pouts for a longer time than they ever did. But, he eventually gets over it!