QUITE AN ACCOMPLISHMENT!

This spring/summer, we have been working hard on teaching the boys to ride the bike with training wheels.  

Last summer we started this process.  Here is the video from last June- Jonah has to work so hard to balance even with the training wheels.  He also has to work so hard to pedal.  Steering the bike is also very hard for him.  

There is no video of Ben from last June because he was too scare to really get on the bike for more than a few seconds.

Click HERE for June 2019 video of Jonah riding bike

What a difference a year makes!

This year Ben is no longer afraid of the bike.  He has even tipped and gotten right back up!  Brave boy!  

When Ben wants to learn something, he is very determined and keeps trying.  He wanted to learn how to ride a bike this spring, and he has been working so hard.  

Now he can pedal up to the corner and back and around our cul de sac with little to no assistance from us!  We are so proud and excited for him!

I am also so happy for Ben.  He looks so happy riding his bike.  Just another experience for Ben that every little boy should have.  

Hard to think about what his life would have been if he had ended up in the adult mental institution back in August 2016.  That would have been his fate since he was aging out of the orphanage system in his country.  So happy and so relieved he is instead safe and happy with his family!  Thank you Lord for watching out for him!

Jonah has improved greatly on his balance on the bike and his strength with pedaling!  Steering continues to be hard for him mainly because he has a hard time staying focused.  If he gets distracted, he just lets the bike veer off and ends up falling off the bike, as evidenced by the following video.  But he is farther along than last June so I am quite confident he will eventually get there.

Between the boys, Ben is definitely more motivated to learn new things.  

Jonah's primary goal in life is to have fun- haha!

BEN THE BIRTHDAY BOY

BIG DAY TOMORROW!

Tomorrow we celebrate several amazing people:

1. My Dad!  

Happy Father's Day to the best dad in the world.  He has always been there for us kids, and his love for my mom and our family has been a foundation for all us as we grew up and started our own families!  I love you Dad!

from 2018

2. Andrew!  

Happy Father's Day to my husband and another best dad in the world!  How blessed am I to have two men to claim that title?  Andrew loves us and provides for us in incredible ways.  He is wise and lives a life of integrity.  Thank you for all you do for us!  I love you!

from 2017

3. Ben!  

Happy 10th Birthday to Benjamin Kostas!  We can't imagine our family without you in it after almost 4 years of being home with us.  You are a delight.  You have a zest for life, you are incredibly talented and smart.  You amaze us each day with what you can accomplish.  You have learned how to be part of a family.  We are so proud of you!  We love you Benny!

BEN OVER THE YEARS

3 weeks old, arriving at the orphanage

1 year old, orphanage ID photo

 3 years old, orphanage ID photo

5 years old, orphanage ID photo

6 years old, meeting Ben and playing with him at the orphanage

almost 10 years old, wearing Dad's hat

BICYCLE BUILT FOR SIX!

Family bike rides aren’t possible since our boys are too big for a bike trailer, and they are still learning to ride with training wheels.

So we were happy to find this bike surrey for rent!

Thank you to our older kids for being such good sports about it.  They called it a “clown car”.

STAY WITH SAFER AT HOME?

Being cautious and trying to keep loved ones safe regarding COVID-19...

Sometimes I wonder is this still necessary?

Still having a hard time finding sources that I trust because there are so many differing opinions.

I read these 2 articles today.

They give me lots to consider.

Click HERE for "coronavirus-sixteen-times-more-lethal-for-kids-with-intellectual-disabilities"

Click HERE for "covid-19-straight-answers-from-top-epidemiologist-who-predicted-the-pandemic

Also: Jonah's pulmonary doctor did confirm he considers Jonah to be in high risk category because of his reactive airway disease.  He recommended continuing to keep him home as much as possible.  

So for now, "SAFER AT HOME" 

will continue to be our policy.

ONLY BECAUSE IT'S A ICONIC MOMENT

I  don't like to include photos of me, but because this is my virtual scrapbook to be "passed" on to my kids, I am including this post. 

Today I turned 50.

Hard to believe in my mind, not so hard to believe when I look in the mirror- haha!

Great day: got to float and relax in the pool, got a flowers, pretty wind spinner and soup ladle (don't worry-I strongly hinted I wanted this), sweet card from Andrew, and amazing homemade cake by Lydia.  My family actually threw me a driveway party a few weeks ago along with celebrating Abigail's birthday.  

So much to be thankful for!

Ben was proud of his muscles tonight- 

he said he was the Hulk.

GET A GRIP!

Ben has amazed us with how much he knew coming to us, and then in how much he has learned since being with us.  He is one smart little boy in math, reading, the English language, problem solving, etc.

However, the one area he really struggles with is his fine motor skills especially with handwriting.  

This boy had no therapies during his 1st 6 years in the orphanage so we can definitely see he never was trained how to properly hold a pencil.  

School has worked with him for 3 years now and has basically said they have gotten him to the best point they feel possible with his pencil grip.  They feel like he is functional even though it's not pretty.  We agreed with school since he was able to write legibly.  It didn't seem worth the fight/struggle for any of us to get him to hold a pencil correctly.

Well, I agreed until spending the past 3 months homeschooling him.  

Watching him write, especially during math, is excruciating painful!  

I am a bit of a neat freak and so his messiness, even though he is doing the best he can, really bothers me.  I always taught my older kids that being neat in your math work is half the battle to doing the math accurately.  I still feel that way.  The way Ben chicken-scratches his numbers etc, it is often impossible for him to do his math calculations!

So I am taking on the battle to help his pencil grip- even though many have tried before me, I am going to try myself.  I don't know if I will be successful, but for my sanity I have to try.  Plus I think if he can get a better grip, handwriting will be less uncomfortable for him.  He honestly looks like he is in pain when he writes because of the way he positions his fingers/hand/arm.

After doing some research, I have decided on the following products.  

Today was our first day using one of the pencil grips, and I felt like I saw improvement already.  I also took some photos/videos to show our progress today.

This is the pencil grip I tried in the past that didn't work.  For one thing, I think I ordered too small of a size so it was hard and frustrating for Ben to try and squeeze his thumb and pointer finger into the pockets.  But the other problem is he continues to position his 3rd/4th fingers very strangely since there is no guide for how he should hold those fingers.

So I found this set of 4 pencil grips that you use progressively.  Stage one (UPPER LEFT PHOTO- PURPLE GRIP) is what we used today.  It's nice because the ring on the bottom is for the 3rd finger so Ben can position that correctly.  

Photo of Ben withOUT a pencil grip- his grip is weak and very awkward.  Looks like a real struggle for him to write. 

Ben using the Stage One grip- his grip looked stronger, and he was more in control of his writing.  

 Another photo using the new grip

And another photo showing new grip

Here are two videos of Ben writing

Here Ben is not using pencil grip, and I feel like his fingers/hand are in awkward position. 

In the bizarro world we live in at our house, there are many skills that Ben does better than Jonah even though Jonah has had interventional therapies since 1 month old.  How funny/weird/unexplainable is that?  But one skill Jonah is VERY good at is handwriting (when he chooses to concentrate).  Here is a photo of Jonah writing: great form!

Here is a video Jonah writing.  

Please excuse his teeth-grinding, often happens when he is concentrating on a task.

Finally, here is the other product I purchased to try.  The child has to hold a charm inside his palm to help with proper hand position while writing.  

Let's hope we have some success!  

It can't hurt to try, right?

Here is the link to 4 Stage Pencil Grippers

4 Stage Pencil Grippers

Here is the link to the Pencil Grip Bracelet

HandiWriter