21 Things About Axel

2012-2013 school year, 5th Grade

1. Axel was born in Kragujevac, Serbia

2. Axel communicates using ASL

3. Since we got him 23 months ago he has grown 16 inches and 23 lbs!

4. Axel's favorite show is Thomas the Train.

5. On weekend mornings he talks Asher into opening their bedroom door to "go find Papa" when it's still dark outside!

6. When Axel first came to us he brought with him a toy cell phone. It's been replaced a couple of times but he ALWAYS has a toy cell phone with him and carries on lengthy conversations.

7. Axel eats anything we give him. When he first came he didn't care for meat but now he'll eat anything. Even pickled herring.

8. Axel started swimming lessons about 6 weeks ago and he's almost swimming on his own!

9. He just participated in his first Special Olympics bowling tournament. (it didn't go so well.)

10. Axel LOVES playing with his toy trucks! It's so fun watching him enjoy them.

11. He is really enjoying having a brother and sister. They all three get along very well together.

12. I don't think there was ever a kinder big brother.

13. Axel really loves school and is starting to tell me about his days. He is (sometimes) able to tell me what he had for lunch, or that he had gym class. (this is all done in ASL)

14. I'm going to guess that one of his favorite things to do with Papa is go fishing at Uncle Dave's because he asks about it all the time.

15. Axel can go to the bus stop by himself now and doesn't need me to meet the bus either.

16. He is slowly overcoming his fear of heights (as in, he doesn't like his feet to be off the ground at all!) and because of this is LOVING his new bunk bed!

17. In July Axel learned how to pump a swing. After school he likes to swing and will spend an hour swinging HARD and singing a song that we assume is about his day.

18. Axel loves to sweep the floors and dust. He's kind of a neat freak. Took me 8 kids to get one.

19. Axel thinks he's boss of the dogs but they don't listen to him at all. Probably because they don't understand Serberinglish.

20. Axel asks for chocolate milk at every meal, even though we rarely have it.

21. Axel's spoken vocabulary is growing every day, but he tends to speak on rapid-fire phrases, and not in the right context. His favorite phrase is "getouttahere" followed closely by "don'tcopyme". Yesterday morning he showed me a new sign. "Forgot". As in, he came to the breakfast table buck naked. I asked him, "Umm...where are your clothes?" and he replied with "forgot".