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November 2009
George spent some time in Georgia and Florida this month and last month he went to Las Vegas for a long weekend. He was excited about having the opportunity to travel out of state. I was surprised to see how much George learned during the trip. He was constantly comparing and contrasting California and Florida. It was interesting to me to see George's new interest in geography and travel. George is looking forward to getting his amended birth certificate so that we can apply for his passport. George says once he gets his US passport he hopes to go on a cruise with Grandma Sue.
March 2009
George enjoyed a week long trip to Hawaii. This was the
first time George had been on an airplane since he arrived at LAX from Romania at the age of seven. George was very excited about the trip. He enjoyed the swimming and surfing at Waikiki Beach, as well as the shopping and the restaurants. George enjoyed the helicopter ride and the luau. It was fun and a pleasure to take George on this trip. George is such an easy-going teenager and always very thankful for opportunities like this.
November 2008
George is struggling in seventh grade. He is having difficulty keeping up with the curriculum even modified. We have had to increase his academic support as well as hire a tutor for George this school year. George has several periods of resource support and is enrolled in all modified classes. We have to careful that George doesn't fall through the cracks in public school. Because George is a sweet and easy-going kid it could be easy to not notice him slipping behind. When George joined our family at the age of seven he could neither read nor write. In fact George had no idea how to even hold a pencil correctly. George had such coordination issues that he couldn't even catch a bounced ball. Today George can ride a bicycle and is a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. I am afraid that school will always be a struggle for George but I am thrilled that he is trying his best at school and that he doesn't have significant behavioral challenges. :-) We will continue to push George along academically and support him in any way that he may need.
September 2008
George is really growing up, not only physically but also emotionally. I just noticed the other day that George is almost as tall as I am! As a seventh grader, George has shown increased determination in his school work. While he still struggles with specific learning disabilities, George is making a good effort to keep up in all of his classes. His teachers have shared how pleased they are with George's academic and social progress. At home George continues to be involved with Tae Kwon Do, the Saddleback Young Marines and private guitar lessons. Over the summer George spent six weeks at Sea Camp located on Catalina Island. George enjoyed learning how to scuba dive and how to cook seafood. According to George, the best of camp this year was "the girls!" Yes, I am afraid George has discovered girls, I remember this shy little boy, it seems like yesterday. Now George is an outgoing ladies man!
May 2008
George has been taking guitar lessons for the
past couple of months. We are excited about this as
George hadn't shown any interest in learning how to
play an instrument until now. George is learning
quickly. We told George he had to complete ten
lessons before he got his own guitar. We wanted to
make sure that George was willing to stick with the
lessons even if he became frustrated or his interest
waned. So far so good, George should be getting his
very own guitar in the next week or so. Besides
guitar lessons, George is getting ready for summer
camp. He will be returning to Camp Titan in June and
both two-week sessions of Catalina Sea Camp in July.
George continues to be one of our most easy going
and mellow son which makes him a true joy to parent.
February 2008
George is excited about his birthday. His birthday wish is to get a laptop computer. George is taking a computer skills class in middle school. He is struggling with this class. Until now George has had no interest in the computer. While he likes video games, George is much more of an outdoor type of kid. George loves riding his bicycle, skate boarding and swimming. Although he has made great gains academically since joining our family George still gets frustrated if his school lessons move to quickly.
George is looking forward taking keyboard or guitar lessons soon. He has expressed an interest in joining the Silcock family band! I am searching for a teacher who has experience working with children like George. I believe that with right support George can be successful learning how to play an instrument.
November 2007
George is enjoying middle school. He loves being able to walk to school or to ride his bike. After years of taking the school bus, this little bit of independence is a thrill! Initially George was struggling to keep up in the classroom and with his homework. Clearly he wasn't prepared in elementary school to handle the work load in junior high school. After some adjustments in his schedule, George is now receiving resource classroom support and is doing much better.
George is really looking forward to Christmas. He just can't decided if he wants a laptop, or an iPod, or new roller blades or a new game system or... the list is endless! Thank goodness Christmas is only a month away.
September 2007
George graduated from elementary school in June.
As soon as school was over he started attending
summer sleep-over camps. George went to so many
sleep-over camps that we didn't see that much of him
this summer. George said his favorite summer camp
program was Catalina Adventures. George spent three
weeks in Catalina! He loved all of the new
activities that this camp had to offer. George
learned how to snorkel, sail and even cook a little
seafood while he was there. Since most of the camp
programs George attends are in the mountains it was
a big treat to have a camp at the beach. George is a
good swimmer so he really enjoyed all of the water
activities, especially underwater photography and
surfing. George also went to Camp Bravo and Sports
Camp this summer. Although he had a fantastic time
attending camps, George was very excited when school
started again. He was really looking forward to new
adventures in middle school!
April 2007
George is really enjoying the Saddleback Young Marine program. As a new recruit George is learning the ropes to become a successful Young Marine. Like Phillip before him, George is excited about graduating from the Young Marine program in May. So far George has attended a couple of day session and he has attended one weekend encampment with another schedule for later in the month. The program is vigorous and quite a challenge physically and mentally. George seems to enjoy the challenge and is proud of his success so far.
February 2007
George celebrated his 12th birthday this month. He enjoyed having taking in treats to share at school and having a party with Sergei at home. On his actual birthday, George had an audition for a Toyota commercial. Our talent agency sent 16 athletic kids to audition and George is one of only six who received a call-back! We are not sure how many kids will be hired for this commercial which is set to air in Canada. We are waiting to hear from the casting agency when they want to see George again. George is very excited about the possibility of booking this job. If George gets the job, he will be filming on the 14th and 15th of February. We are keeping our fingers crossed!
December 2006
George is getting ready for the MYART production of "Peter Pan." George along with nine of his brothers have been rehearsing every Saturday since September. The show runs two weekends, January 12-14 and 19-21, in Long Beach. George continues to make good progress in school and is becoming more and more independent in his ability to successfully complete his classroom studies and his homework. In Tae Kwon Do, George is now a Black Belt and has received his first white tape. George continues to amaze us with his progress when we consider that Romanian orphanage reports indicate George was unable to walk, talk or even feed himself by the age five!
October 2006
George is in fifth grade this year. He and James are in the same class which helps when we work on homework in the evening. During a recent IEP meeting, George's teacher reported that George was making excellent academic progress. In fact, every staff person at the IEP reported that George was a wonderful and motivated student. We felt so proud hearing all of the positive comments.
George is continuing with his Tae Kwon Do classes and his skateboard riding lessons. He is also a cast member of the upcoming MYART production of "Peter Pan." Just this month George also passed his Red Cross approved CPR and First Aid class. He will receive his official Red Cross CPR and First Aid card in the mail next week. Pretty impressive for an 11-year-old!
July 2006
George did it!
He is officially a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do! We are
so proud of George and his tenacity to complete over
three years of Tae Kwon Do lessons. It was amazing to
watch George test for his Black Belt. Thinking about
the scared and timid little boy who joined our family
from a Romanian orphanage. Only four years ago George
couldn't write his name or catch a ball. To watch
George in action now, you would never think he was the
same child. Not only has George grown athletically but
academically and socially as well. George has been a
tremendous help with James who just joined the family.
George has made a real effort to make James feel
accepted into the family. Next year George will be a
fifth grade student at Perry School and we hope James
will be in the same class.
 
March 2006
George (11) is starting to get excited about summer camps. As he sees me filling out camp forms George has lots of ideas about the type of summer camps he would like to attend. George will be attending Junior Life Guard Day Camp for four weeks and, of course, Surf Camp and Sports Camp. George seems to really enjoy the summer camps with lots of outdoor activities. He enjoys learning new sports and meeting new friends. George's athletic skills are comparable to a child without disabilities and George's confidence level has really helped him to continue to make growth in this area. Before summer begins, however, George is wrapping-up his ice skating season and will begin practicing on a gymnastics team soon. George will also sign-up to play on another basketball team if he can squeeze in the time. In the meantime, George continues to prepare for his Black Belt testing in April!
In April he will test for his Black Belt.
January 2006
George is now a fourth grade student at Perry Elementary School. George enjoys the new school where the environment is less tense. He continues to make academic and social growth. Though his academics continue to be delayed, this year is the first year that George will have enough academic skills to take the state wide testing.
After school George is involved in a lot of activities. In February he will test for his Black Belt.
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George in "The King and I"
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Currently he is a Junior Black Belt and participates in Tae Kwon Do classes three to four times a week. George is also on a basketball team. Although he was
definitely a beginner when practice started, George is now one of the better players on his team. On Sundays George is on an Ice Skating team who will have
their first tournament later in the month. Finally, George continues to be an active participant in community
theater.
Its interesting to see how far George has come over the past three years. When he joined our family he could hardly catch a red rubber ball, ride a bike or roller skate. George couldn't write his name or count to ten. He was shy and couldn't speak English or even that well in Romanian. Even then the social workers felt like he had lots of
potential. We are really proud of George's accomplishments and we look forward to watching George's continued growth.
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