Our homestudy process is still chugging along. We had our first homestudy meeting on Monday–the social worker came to our house and was here for about an hour and a half to take notes about our daily routines, our home, and why we want to adopt. Since we’re on the ball and were well-prepared, we were able to discuss acceptable/desirable characteristics of the adoptive child, which she would normally do in the third homestudy visit. We have a list of things we need to do, like filling out some forms, getting together some pictures of our family, putting a carbon monoxide detector on the second floor (where the bedrooms are), and making a written fire escape plan. I think we’ll be able to get most of them done this weekend. We were surprised when the social worker scheduled the second homestudy visit for next Wednesday; we assumed we’d have to wait about a month. For the second visit, she’ll spend one hour talking with just me, then an hour talking with just Don. The third meeting will be with both of us again.
In other adoption-related news, the FBI finally charged our credit card. I was getting worried; it’s been weeks since we mailed them our fingerprints. So now I’m reassured that they will process them and send our clearances soon. Also, I found a family doctor to accept us as patients (there’s a doctor shortage in our city, so that’s not as easy as it sounds). We have a new patient appointment on Monday. After that, I can schedule an appointment for a physical to get my medical paperwork done (Don already got his done at the university’s walk-in clinic).
It’s amazing for me to notice the daily advances in Peter’s French vocabulary and grammar. He still uses “moi” (me) instead of “je” (I) (and “toi” instead of “tu” for “you”), but that’s a normal pattern in language acquisition. This week, he suddenly started using the past tense (albeit imperfectly); I’ve heard him say several times, “Moi ai gagné!” (“Me won!”) Questions are new as of about a week ago. We were walking in the woods last weekend and I said (in French) that I saw a ladybug; he responded “Où est?” (Where is?) I was impressed when he was playing on the Wii riding a bike and commented after he turned, “Pourquoi moi est allé ici?” (Why me went here?) As you can tell from these examples, his grammar certainly isn’t standard yet, but he is definitely communicating and that’s what language is all about. He has put together some nice sentences like “Aide-moi avec mon bouton” (Help me with my button).
Don
