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December 2010
Rishi continues to do well in school. While his ADD does often make it difficult for Rishi to remember exactly what he has for homework or to organize his work, he generally gets everything done. Rishi has made friends with his classmates and even has play dates every once in a while. Rishi still struggles with copying the behavior of those around him. Since he classmates are good students who enjoy school, Rishi behaves the same. This is definitely one of the benefits of Rishi attending Kline School. The staff demand appropriate behavior from all of the students and Rishi, true to form, follows those around him. At home, we are dealing with some behavioral challenges from the other boys and unfortunately Rishi is quick to copy these behaviors. We continue to try to help Rishi develop his sense of self, and to learn to resist making poor behavioral choices despite what others around him are doing.
Medically, Rishi has been pretty stable. We continue to push fluids on him through out the day and he is pumped water all night via his g-tube. Keeping this level of hydration is helping maintain Rishi's kidney function. Eventually it is predicted that Rishi's kidneys will fail, but we are making every effort to keep his kidneys going for as long as possible.
April 2009
Rishi continues to do well in school. He loves to learn and stays after school everyday to complete his homework and to spend some extra time with his friends. Rishi's report card reflects his extra effort to keep up with his classmates despite his multiple hospitalizations.
Since getting the g-tube placed Rishi has been able to stomach all of his medications. The combination of the medications was too much for Rishi when he had to take the medication orally. Now the medication is delivered through his g-tube while Rishi continues to be able to eat orally.
Recently Rishi participated in a poetry writing workshop at Kline School. The children all wrote poems on different subjects. Several months later the children read their poems in front of an audience of parents and friends. Here is the poem that Rishi wrote and read to us at the Poet's Cafe.
To My Mom
Mom, you are my favorite person to love.
Your eyebrows are the most beautiful color
that I have ever seen.
Every day I look forward to talking
about school with you.
To show my love on Valentine's Day,
I wish I could give you a bunch of red roses.
If we could spend the day doing something special,
I would love to eat ice cream and watch a movie a movie with you.
When I grow up, I hope to help kids
just the way you do.
by Rishi, age 7
November 2008
Rishi has been spending quite a lot of time in the hospital lately. Rishi has had one kidney infection after another. Because of his disability we have to be very careful to monitor Rishi's kidney function. Rishi doesn't like the hospital much and always gets very unhappy when he is admitted. We try to spend as much time with Rishi as possible when he is there. The boys are more than happy to hang out with Rishi in his hospital room and play video games or watch videos. The boys also like to bring him rice and beans from El Polo Loco which happens to be Rishi's favorite foods at the moment. Luckily Rishi was home for his birthday and for Halloween. Rishi was recently discharged from the hospital once again. Rishi is hoping to be able to get back to school soon. Rishi, unfortunately, has had spotty school attendance at best. He misses school a lot and even tries to study his spelling words at the hospital! We are hopeful that Rishi's health is on the upswing and that he will be able to stay well and out of the hospital through the holidays.
September 2008
Rishi started off the school year in the public school system but we quickly discovered that he wasn't being challenged. We were thrilled when Rishi was accepted at Kline School where the teachers are instinctively tapping into his potential. Rishi is technically in first grade but is completing second grade work at Kline School. Rishi is an eager and motivated student who seems like a perfect match for the rigorous Kline School curriculum. We are excited to see Rishi's academic potential.
Rishi has also been suffering from some kidney infections lately. He has had to be hospitalized three times since his placement. Due to Rishi's birth defect he has lots of medical issues related to his kidneys and will likely require future hospitalizations. When Rishi is feeling well he is a spunky and bright little boy but when he is sick, he is REALLY sick. Even while in the hospital Rishi is asking for his school work!
July 2008
Rishi recently returned from a week at sleep-over camp. He LOVED his first experience at summer camp! When he returned home, Rishi came running into the house with tons of camp stories. He showed us every art project that he made, read us his elephant jokes, showed everyone his camp picture. Rishi said his favorite part of camp was "dancing on the stage at the talent show and on the court during the dance." Rishi also took some pictures for the camp newsletter. Rishi will be going to several more day camps and one more sleep-over camp this summer. Besides going to camp Rishi loves going to Wild Rivers and most especially enjoys going to the beach. Rishi spends hours looking for sand crabs and he is getting to be one expert sand castle builder! We get a smile on our faces when we see Rishi's enthusiasm for all of these fun summer activities.
June
2008
Rishi (7) is joining our family this month. Originally adopted
from India a little over a year ago, Rishi's first adoptive
placement didn't work out for a number of reasons. When his
first family decided to look for another home for him we called
his parents.
After many lengthy
discussions about Rishi's special emotional and medical needs we
were selected to be Rishi's new and "forever" family. Rishi has
a similar medical condition as our sons, Val and Sergei.
Rishi also has some
behavioral and attachment issues much like many of our boys who
have come from orphanage settings. But, despite his challenging
needs, Rishi is also a beautiful and bright little boy who loves
to learn and play.
Rishi will be flying in
from Texas later this month.
We are excited about
parenting Rishi. As Rishi's parents, we hope to be able to help
him build a strong sense of self and develop firm and long
lasting attachments.
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