Day 31: My Boy's Got Skills

I've written before that some adopted kids come with instructions, like Rex did, which is an advantage. I've discovered another advantage. Rex has skills, already. He's very good at certain things that we never taught him. When he showed up at our house, he just started doing them. I don't know if his foster family taught him these things, or if he showed up at their house doing them too, carryover skills from the orphanage.

The first is praying at mealtime. When one of us says, "Time to pray," the boy gently folds his hands and bows his head. If Colette, Asia or I aren't at the table at that exact time, he'll say, "Mommy, pray" or "Asia, pray" and so forth and keeps saying it until whoever is missing makes their way to the table. His request becomes more insistent the longer it takes for the whole family to be at the table. Sometimes he's slightly yelling at the person who is not praying. He'll be really good at making altar calls or tele-evangelizing someday.

Rex is also really good at cleaning up. He can mess up a room like the toys have to be played with or they'll dissolve at the end of the day, but when it's clean-up time, he's committed. He places the toys in their proper place, saying goodbye to them. That's another thing he's good at--saying goodbye. When it's time to go to bed, he'll say, "Goodbye Asia, goodbye Mommy, goodbye kitty." And it doesn't stop there: "Goodbye balloon, goodbye duckie, goodbye shower." It's like he's used to saying goodbye. My boy's got skills.