Keep moving forward!

That's one of my favorite lines from the Disney movie "Meet the Robinsons." It didn't get much attention, but TRUST ME...great for kids but also enough adult innuendo to keep it funny.

Laura and I met with Anyssa’s teacher yesterday just to get an idea of how she’s doing. I guess the short answer is “pretty well”…especially when you consider that only a mere 11 weeks ago, she was still in an orphanage in China. Mrs. Knizek commented that she is surprised at how Anyssa holds her pencil. Since we don’t know what to expect from other 5 year olds, we can’t be good judges of exactly how well she is doing. When we saw examples of other children in her class (most of who were born here) I can say that her writing is extremely good. She knows the alphabet song, but not the letters yet. We are also working on colors. I’m sure she knows the CHINESE words for them, but when I hold up a red crayon, she just kind of shrugs and says “pink.” Her motor skills are good. She happily joins in the class and tries her best to communicate. She also has 2 friends that she hangs out with…one named “Izzy” (Isabel) and I think the other little girl is Lily. That was GREAT to hear. All of the kids are good with her and want to help. Mrs. Knizek told us that before Anyssa’s first day, she got in front of the class and began teaching in Spanish. After a few minutes, she stopped and asked the class if they understood what she had said. They all looked puzzled and said “no.” She then told them about Anyssa and how SHE would feel so they should try and understand that and work with her. Apparently, that worked…the word is that they are all very helpful.

Mrs. Knizek also told us to be prepared in case she needs to repeat kindergarten. That is a question I had been pondering for awhile. I don’t want to hold her back, but I also don’t want to push her if she’s not ready. She had (has?) enough stress and I don’t want to put undo pressure on her. I would like to her to move on so she can stay with this group of kids, and also to take the pressure off of Laura so she can be more flexible in her work hours. However, if it looks like she could benefit from repeating this class, I respect that observation and will support her. Only time will tell.

Now, let’s work on those colors…

Magic bus

Our little girl has taken another step forward. She now takes the bus to and from kindergarten. They pick her up in front of our house and drop her off at the neighbor’s driveway. I cannot tell you how brave this kid is. It seems totally unfathomable that only 10 weeks ago, she was still in an orphanage in central China, not knowing what to expect from the future. How could she possibly imagine that she would end up here with us. I’m still blown away…I know I’m repeating myself, but it all seems so surreal. If I get up during the night, I’ll go into her room and just watch her sleep. If her hand is out, I will hold it. We’ve wanted a child for so long that it is so hard to process that she is finally here.

She is such a trip. She is so excited to show us everything she did in school and what she has brought home. She keeps shoving 1 paper after another at us so fast you can hardly see what it is. She appears to be doing quite well at school…as well as I could expect which is kind of a stupid statement, because I had no idea what to expect. She made us both sit down to show us (she just points at each of us and then at a spot on the sofa.) Yesterday, her class had PE. Then she started this little exercise routine that they had oviously done in class. She made us stand, then proceeded to make us do it with her…she gets such a kick out of showing us stuff…even if it is just the Scholastic book order form!

The other day, as I turned down our street, I saw that she and mommy were outside. As soon as she saw the truckster, she started jumping, pointing and yelling “Daddy! Daddy!!” When I stepped out, she threw her arms around me and it was the greatest feeling in the world.

I wonder how she knew that was exactly what I needed.



Our little scholar

I think I'm going to have to switch this into a weekly update. You might not believe this, but kids take up a LOT of your time!

Well, Anyssa is now in school. She attends kindergarten at Liberty Elementary in Plainfield, afternoon session. She appears to enjoy it. I've been in constant contact with her teacher and have been discussing plans and her pace at school. Her teacher (Mrs. Knizek) is working with her one-on-one to bring her up to speed on letters and numbers, letter sounds and counting. We have also been working on writing. It seems like she hasn't figured out whether she will write with her left or right hand...she switches back and forth. She seems to do better with her right hand. It's neat to see how far her writing has come in just a week. She gets frustrated sometimes when a letter doesn't come out "just right" but we are being positive and giving her positive reinforcement. Watching her everyday, it looks like her progress is low, but given the big picture, she is doing great. ESPECIALLY when you consider that a little over 2 months ago, she had NO contact with the outside world or the English language!