The Barney Update
We called Barney this morning; first I’d a chat with his French maman, who feels things are improving. She says he’s still a bit reserved at times, but that’s just Barney - he’s quite a self-contained person (gets it from me, obviously… stop sniggering). He had to call us back though, because he was - shock! - in the shower! I don’t know what they’re doing to my son over there, but I like it 
We also received a “report” this week from the guy who runs En Famille; he spoke with Barney last weekend (they have regular points when they get in touch, as well as being available any time they’re needed). It sounded more positive than we’d expected too.
When Barney called us back he sounded so much better than he has in the last few weeks - far brighter, far more like himself. His French is improving quickly; in fact he even had trouble remembering to say “for” instead of “pour” while he was talking to me 
But the main thing is that he just sounded normal - even trying to wind me up. He chatted briefly to all his brothers, mostly about how to achieve certain levels on computer games 
He told Scratchy about going to the movies and told him the title of the movie in French - so quickly that Scratchy couldn’t understand it. He said it was weird to have both his sets of parents talking to each other - it’s great that he feels that he has two sets of parents Scratchy asked him about school vs home-ed again, and he still thinks he’d prefer to be home-educated when he returns - but we’re not going to ask him about that again for a while, we don’t want it to seem like a big deal.
The most difficult part for Henry was the second month, and things just got better from that point on; I’m hoping the same is true for Barney. He’ll have been away for two months next weekend - one-third of the way through his time in France. I know there will still be times when it’s difficult, when he’s down, when he wishes he was back here - but I think, and hope, that he’s turned that corner.
I’m just so glad to hear him sounding cheery again 
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Really pleased to hear all that Deb, for your sake as well as his!
Its great he is sounding brighter, I really hope this turns a corner for him
That’s good news, so glad he’s sounding happier. Elle
It must be a relief to hear him sounding happier.
It certainly is! I was so glad to hear him sounding himself that I cried when I got off the phone (again - but for different reasons this time :-D)