School 2011

I have a kindergarten student, a freshman in high school and a junior in high school!

Funny Stuff!

Just in case you needed a little energy to get you moving Monday morning....

M.Y.O.B

I am guessing that Soph was baiting her teacher (who is no weanie) by being naughty and "daring" her to write me a note. I love the "needs to mind her own business".....my girl is all up in everything at home and now at school. Heaven help me....

*yes I know she wrote to instead of too....but lets be honest spending your day with 4 year olds is going to result is some tired note writing.***

Re-Adoption Birth Certificate

We have been home with Sophie since September 2007. We have yet to complete the paperwork that would provide her with an "american" birth certificate. I am conflicted about the birth certificate stuff...if I am not mistaken, I think it lists us as her parents. Yes, I know we are her parents, but a BC typically lists your birth parents. She still can't president of the USA even with her American birth certificate.

Sooooo

What are the benefits of completing the paper to get Sophie a NC birth certificate?

Happy

Soph is one happy girl! Here she is with some of her pre-school peeps. She is rockin' her "China" outfit for their class CNY party. She brought red envelopes with Chinese gold, oranges, fortune cookies, a zodiac coloring book, a book for her class to keep and some yummy red velvet cupcakes. Her teachers describe her as a happy girl....what more could a mama ask for??!!

working

I am working on a blog post about our attachment journey and the impact ( I believe) that Sophie's SN had on her becoming securely attached to us:)

In the meantime check this blog out. Cute family.

What's your Word?

In the book and movie Eat, Pr@y,L0ve the characters discussed their "word". The ONe WORD that best describes who they are, who they want to be, what they want their life to be. Hop on over to Lisa Leonard's blog of beautiful:) and enter to win a necklace with your "word"

My word....Time. Make time to enjoy the blessings in my life, find the time to take care of myself, spend time with those I love, and last but not least.....stop wasting time.

Good luck!

Part 2 of "More or Less"

I posted the previous post/question on f@acebo*k and got lots of replies. Many saying their kiddo was a mix of both....but most were consistent with the emotional/independence levels were lower than same age peers. Part of Soph's lack of maturity I chalked up to being the youngest in our house and having 4 big people around her to help, talk to etc. and I am sure that is part of it, but I also think that her tramau and loss are another (if subconscious) part of her emotional maturity. Sophie often pushes for independence typical of a kid her age " I can do it!" "Don't help me!" but on the other hand she often wants to sit on my lap at dinner to eat, have me carry her ( she is getting heavy and I am getting old!!) I admit that when she lays on the bed our couch and waves her arms and makes baby sounds it annoys me. I am not sure how to react to her wanting to be a baby. Do I tell her I want me big girl? I am all done with babies? Let her be a baby? (which I sometimes do, but usually I try to redirect that baby behavior by reading a book or engaging her is some play. I am guessing she is acting like a baby because I have been busy and she needs some attention from me).

Sleep has definitely improved. I can snuggle her for a few minutes and say good night and leave the room while she is still awake. We just go rid of pull-*ps due to miss lazy peeing in them while she is awake! I am still going in at 11:00 and putting her on the potty. Most nights she is sleeping the entire night and waking up dry.

She is academically ready for kindergarten. We will see how well she does with the "demands" of kindergarten. Soph turns 5 in May and believe me I have considered not sending her to kindergarten since she is likely to be among the youngest kids in her class. My fear is that she started pre-school with many kindergarten skills already in place ( letter recognition, letter sounds, concepts of print, writing letters, drawing pics with details, number recognition, basic number sense to 10 etc.) and if I held her back behavior would become a BIGGER issue than it is now plus the maturity piece would also be set back...so Soph will be heading to kindergarten next year. Good news is that she will be coming to the school where I teach:) I won't see her much since I am rarely on the k-2 hallway, but it will be nice to have her there.

Thanks for all your comments....it is good to know the spectrum for our kiddos.

More or Less?

I find Sophie to be less mature than her peers...definitely less mature than Ben or Hannah at that age. As a mom and a teacher I would say compared to Soph's peers she is more like a kiddo who just turned 4 years old, not a kiddo who will be 5 years old in May. She often "acts" like a baby. I know we can say that some of that behavior could be due to her not having much "baby" time in China, but we did a lot of regressing as part of our attachment journey. On the other hand, she can seem to be very mature, staying focused on a particular task, being able to entertain herself when needed, and teasing or being "snarky". The girl definitely gets the appeal of pulling someones leg!

So tell me do you find that your child from China is more or less mature than their peers?

I'm kinda a planner

I suppose everything happens for a reason. I like to make "plans". I like to stick to the plan most of the time. Sure I can be flexible, but I like a plan. Planning for Sophie to have another surgery was a bit a whirl wind. We spoke with her specialist and got things scheduled and in order fairly quick. I made lesson plans for the entire month for my sub. Meal plans for the month etc. Oh and worrying and worrying some more. We have made a big decision for a little person who will some day be an adult. It was not an easy choice to make, and we believe it will be the best thing for Soph in the long run. But the emotional "plan" has been a lot harder this time and Sophie getting sick right before we were to go sent me over the edge for a couple of hours.

BUT.............

Sophie is rescheduled for March 24th. It actually works out better since my time out of school will end just as our spring break starts. So instead of having 4 weeks (including our 5 day hospital stay) at home with Sophie I will have 5 weeks, and that is a good thing.

So it all worked out. Sophie is feeling better and heading back to school on Wednesday. I have accepted that plans change....ok that is a lie. But I have accepted the new plan:) Thanks for all your kind words and support. It is good to know you guys are still out there checking in on us!

CANCELLED

Sophie has the flu. No surgery for 6 weeks. I can't make this stuff up. I keep crying. The stress of preparing to go, and now the change of plans....she can't have surgery until February.

For two weeks I have kept her away from kid germ breeding areas...school, playgrounds etc.

We went to get her pre-0p physical done on Thursday. It has to be done 30 days prior to surgery...we didn't get that info or the form until Tuesday or I certainly would have had it done sooner. I didn't want to go in the germ hub of kid crud. 3 days later she has the flu.