Our walks with Nam are going very well. We got up to almost
2 miles on one of our walks last week. We’ve discovered that if we can find grassy areas that he
can run free (rather than having to hold our hands), he does much better. It is
fun to watch him take off! He has a unique running style…he holds his arms out
to his side like he is trying to take it all in! The walks are good to let him
run off some energy, plus Dennis and I both need the exercise!
Last Tuesday, we took Nam to visit Pappy and Rue (Thiess and
Gina). We are trying to get him comfortable with them, so they can occasionally
keep him. I think he will be ready before very long. He loves going to their
house, and he does really well with them! I’m hoping to do a trial run for an
hour or two within the next week or two. Besides them wanting to have him from
time to time, it will be great to have a back-up, in case we need one sometime.
So far, he hasn’t stayed with anyone other than Dennis and me. Jessica was
going to keep him one night, so Sheila could attend a work dinner, but Sheila was
sick and they had to cancel.
After our visit with Pappy and Rue, we met up with Sheila at
The Schoolhouse, where she registered Nam for preschool, starting in the fall.
He was a little shy, but he loved all of the toys! He is excited about the idea
of going to school. We did find out that he attended some type of preschool in
Vietnam. (The girl that he Skypes with told Sheila about it.) It will be good
for him to have more interaction with other kids. Right now, he is limited to the
kids at church, once a week, and some occasional kids at the park. It will just
be 3 days a week, for half a day. Sheila would also like to sign him up for
some special programs this summer at the zoo or museum. I really think he would
enjoy those classes!
Sheila took Nam for his first dental checkup Friday morning.
The dentist and hygienist are both Vietnamese, so they could talk to him about
what all they were doing to where he understood them. Sheila said he did really
well! His teeth looked great, too.
Friday was the Lunar New Year, which is called Tet in Vietnam.
It is a really big celebration in most Asian cultures. Sheila and I took Nam to
Asia Times Square in Grand Prairie, where they were hosting a celebration,
including the lion dance. We arrived just in time for the festivities to start
and got a good place to observe. It went on a lot longer than we expected, and
the lion dance didn’t start for probably 40 minutes or so. Sheila said it wasn’t
as good a performance as last year’s was, but Nam seemed to enjoy it. After the
lion dance and then the dragon dance, the dancer’s came out in costume to
interact with the audience. One of the lions came up to Nam and greeted him. He
loved it! Afterwards, we went inside the mall and found a place to sit down and
eat lunch. Then we shopped for a bit, buying a couple of souvenirs and some Banh
Tet (the traditional food eaten at Tet) to take home with us. (Neither Sheila nor
I liked it, but Nam was excited about eating some.) One of his souvenirs was a
Lion dance puppet, which we ended up cutting the strings off, so he could use
it with his action figures. Sheila said he played with it most of the rest of
the day!
Since Sheila is off for President’s Day, we have the day off
also. I’m enjoying having a slow day to catch my breath! Usually I take it
pretty easy on Saturdays, but with the Tet celebration, that didn’t happen this
past weekend. Sundays are pretty full, with picking the folks up and entertaining
them in between services. We did end up having to eat out for lunch yesterday. I had made
up a chicken enchilada casserole Saturday night to stick in the oven to cook
yesterday morning. When we got home, though, the oven was off. I guess I set it
(for slow cooking) and either forgot to hit the start button or accidentally
hit the off button instead. Either way, we didn’t have lunch cooked, and it was
almost 1:00 before we made it home. So we just grabbed something quick, then I
cooked the enchiladas for supper.
The folks were both doing very well yesterday. They are
really settling in (FINALLY!) at Brookdale now. They play Bingo twice a week
and have started finding other individuals to play other games with. They are
also starting to join in on some of the outings that Brookdale takes its
residents on. They are planning to go to the fish place on the river this week.
They seem happier and more content than they have since they moved in. The lady
who runs Brookdale had told us to expect it to take about 6 months for them to
adjust. It ended up taking them twice that! But I’m thankful that they have finally
decided that they are better off being there and looking for things to enjoy.
They are so much better off physically now than they were a year ago!
Dennis decided to try working on the house (to a limited degree) last week. He took Nam with him to Weatherford to buy supplies, which he LOVED! It was his first time to ride in Grandad's pickup! Dennis is trying to finish out the garage interior. He still had a few sheets of hardie board to cut and put up around the door leading into the house. Then he'll trim out the door. After he finishes out there, he plans to (finally) finish up the trim in the kitchen/dining room/laundry room. We'll see how much he can actually get done, having a 4-year-old "helper".
Well, I guess I had better try to get a few things done
today. I’m wanting to try out Snickerdoodle cookies on Nam to see how he likes
them. So far, we haven’t come up with any homemade cookies that he likes. But
he loves cinnamon/sugar donuts, so I’m hoping this will be the right choice for
him!
Enjoy the day off (if you are fortunate enough to work where you got off today) and have a good week!
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