A little about Orin

I love how sweet Orin has been lately. At least once a day he'll just randomly say, "Mommy, I love you." The funny thing is that sometimes he'll say "Moooommmmmmy" in sort of whiny voice...I'll think he's about to complain or something and I'll say, "What Orin," in sort of a what are you going to complain about now way. Then he'll say in the sweetest voice, "I love you."

I love that to Orin, everything is in the is in the context of TV. I promise that our kids don't watch that much TV. Plenty of days go by where we don't even turn it on. But they still love it. When Damien is reading to him he'll say, "Daddy, press pause, I need to go to the bathroom." When he comes back he'll say, "Ok, press play."

The other day we were reading one of our Before 5 In a Row books and were talking about a storm. Then we read the Bible story where Jesus calmed the storm. I was asking him questions and he said, "Only God can control the wind and the rain because he is the one with the remote control."

Orin loves school which I find sort of ironic. First of all, he had a hard time learning to sit still and quiet during circle time. He's doing so much better, but still struggles some days. He also doesn't have a lot of friends. Now that I'm volunteering in his class on Fridays I've really gotten to see the dynamics of the class. I had heard him talk about the kids who are "mean" to him but it's been really interesting to see. Ironically, the mean kids aren't that mean to him. But I think it's because he just stays away from them. He spends most of the day just playing alone. I guess he learned pretty quickly not to try to play with them. But he's happy. One day a week his good friend Ethan (or "Efan" as Orin says) is at school and Orin LOVES him. He said that he is kind to him and plays with him. Orin's teacher said that on the two days Micaiah is at school he and Orin always play together (they are on the playground together twice a day). I'm glad Orin has learned to stay away from the kids who are unkind. Other kids haven't learned to do that and I hear some not nice things going on and the outsider always ends up getting their feelings hurt. The other day Orin came home from school and said very excitedly, "I played with Micaiah today at school. Micaiah is my best friend. He's my BEST friend."

I love that almost every person Orin has a conversation with (stranger or friend) ends up finding out about Sora through him. He'll say things like, "You know what, I have a baby sister in Korea and we have to go there to pick her up." Or he'll say, "Sora is my baby sister but she's in Korea and we can't get her yet. But we'll go soon and bring her home." It's so sweet. I don't think he'll have much adjustment at all when she comes.

The other day I was pulling out a suit case and Orin asked me very excitedly, "Are we going to get Sora today!?!?!?" Every week or so he'll ask how long it is until we go get her. Unfortunately I have to tell him it's still a long time.

We've been getting a lot of adoption books as well as books about Korea from the library for the kids. Orin is funny because every time we start reading a new book and it talks about Korea he gets so surprised and excited and says, "Korea is where Sora is!" Obviously he doesn't get the fact that I got those books on purpose because of Sora. The other day he told he me couldn't wait until my tummy "swelled up" and then Sora came out. We had a to have a little birth mom/adoption conversation. I'm not sure he he totally got it. But he was disappointed that I wasn't going to get a big tummy. :-)

I guess Orin noticed pictures of witches in stores around Halloween. He was very interested in them. He said, "Witches are funny. They aren't scary because they just sweep people. That's why they have a broom." I couldn't stop laughing. It totally makes sense. Why would anyone have a broom unless they wanted to sweep, right? Then one day he took our boom and "swept" Micaiah. He didn't like that too much.

Soccer is finally over. If we had to do it over again I'm not sure we would. Orin is just not aggressive enough yet to be playing soccer. You have to go and take a ball away from another kid. That takes some courage. Orin was happy to just run behind the pack...or look at the sky...or stand and look at the kid who fell down and was crying as the game continued down field...or watch the game in the next field over...or spin around, etc... But if we missed practice or a game he would be SO upset. He was genuinely sad when we told him last week that it was his last game. We just didn't get it. He seemed to not be into it at all, but was sad when it was over. Either way, I think he was too young.

For the last couple of months whenever someone asks Orin what his name is he won't tell them. He'll say, "I don't know my name." We've been really confused by this. He's not a shy kid so it's strange that he suddenly clams up. Finally the other day we got him to talk about why. Pretty much he told us that people don't understand him when he says it. Orin has problems saying the "r" sound. So when he says his name it sounds more like "Owin". When he tries to tell someone his name, 99% of the time they won't understand him. It's an unusual name and since he's not pronouncing it correctly it's even harder for people to figure it out. Poor guy. I think he's embarrassed by the fact. He says, "I can't say my name right." I'm sure he'll grow out of it as he gets older but until then we get to tell people his name.