We are beginning to gain some insight into Georgie's behaviors. He is an adorable child, but he does have some behaviors that we will slowly need to start working on.
He is super focused on food. The day we first met him, his caregiver told us that. She said he will eat and never stop, as long as there is food he will continue eating. We have kept his snacks limited and very healthy at visits for that reason. He gets a fruit, a small yoghurt (unflavored Activia, he LOVES that stuff, go figure!) and something to drink. As soon as the food is done, he starts a tantrum. We just ignore it and try to redirect him, which works until we run into the other adoptive couples who are also on the orphanage grounds at the same time. If one of their kids has a cookie, he will scream and whine until he gets a cookie too. Which always works because A) he is cute as a button which makes him hard to resist, B) some of the folks visiting feed their child the entire visit so they almost always have something to eat in their hand and C) I don't speak the language of the various couples so when they give him something to eat I have few ways to tell them "please don't give him anymore". They always do, and he has figured it out. Today, he saw the Italian dad and walked straight up to him. He then pulled on their bag and whined " UUUUUUUUH！” The guy is a total sweetheart and grabs a "biscotti". I attempt to tell him please don't give into the whining for a cookie...but no go and Georgie gets what he wants.
Which brings me to behavior issue number 2. He is a very smart boy. He has a vocabulary in English that I think is quite amazing for the short time we have been here. He can say "food", "bye bye", "walk", "more" and "play". He can (and does frequently) say:" I love you". But he is not interested in using any communication other than whining :"UUUUUUUUH" when he wants to get his way. If at first we do not give in, he will just throw himself on the floor. Poor kid has no idea that he is kid number 6 and therefore has not exactly hit the jackpot when it comes to parents who give in to frequent tantrumming. It is honestly kindof funny, because he will start his tantrum, gets no reaction from us at all, stops, makes eye contact, then starts up his tantrum again once he thinks he has an attentive audience...you get the picture.
The thing is....it works for him. As soon as he walks up to a caregiver and utters an urgent "UUUUUUH" while pointing, he almost always gets what he wants right away. And if he does not, by chance, get what he likes and he throws himself on the floor, he is sure to suddenly get a lot of attention and fuss made over him until he is happy. They spoil him. A lot. Maybe a little too much. Hard not to do because he is so cute...but we will need to work on undoing some of it.
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4 comments:
Please remember that these caregivers have no idea what a child with Ds can do. Therefore they probably have spent no time teaching him how to talk, ask for things or teach him that he needs to be a good boy to get what he wants. They also know that when he turns four, they will lose this precious little guy when he is moved to an institution. That may be why he is a little spoiled. Once he learns appropriate behavior from some good role models at home, he will catch on. It's just my opinion, but he probably has never been taught these things. Like you said he is very smart, so it shouldn't take long for him to learn these from all of you when you get him home and in a stable environment.
Amy
RR
My thoughts exactly, Amy. I figure it will take some time but he can learn very well and he will figure it all out. You are very right about the caregivers probably not having spent much time teaching him these things. It is not a huge deal, just something we will have to work on with him. I think he will catch on pretty fast!
By the way, I love your blog. The pics of your kids brought tears to our eyes, they are amazing!
He sounds like any toddler to me. Especially in that he has given up on whining for more food from you and beelines straight for a known food source.
He looks so happy in the pictures!
That is almost funny!! I know you guys are going ot be great parents for him, he can suck it up! No whining here!
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