Yummy donuts!!!
Yummy donuts???
They LOVE school. I’m so glad we found a place for them so close to the end of the year. It’s a good fit and the staff are very understanding and loving towards the girls.
They are going to a school that is affiliated with our church. Kelly is in Pre-school and Monica is in Pre-Kindergarten. Kelly’s class has 13 students and Monica’s 8. Their favorite thing to do at school is to play on both the indoor and outdoor playgrounds. The other students in their classes have been so sweet by literally taking the girls by the hand and making them feel comfortable and included.
A huge blessing and answer to prayer is the fact that one little girl in Kelly’s class lives only 4 houses away from us. We had never met them until now. And, to top it off, her mom is a Spanish teacher/adjunct professor at UC. Wow! We had hoped to surround our girls with both Spanish speakers and people of Latin descent. Now, there is someone just around the corner.
Here are a few pics of Kelly’s first day in class. (Monica and I were both a little overwhelmed on her first day so I forgot to take pictures of her first day in class! I only got the one of her on the way to school. Sorry Monica.)
Kelly says:
No touch
Thank you
Hi
Bye Bye
1,2,3
Okay
Nokay
Be careful
You’re welcome
Almost
Amen (at the end of a prayer and at the end of a book)
Our Father (from the Lord’s prayer we say every night before dinner)
I love you too
I don’t know
Blanket
. . . and a lot of gibberish that she thinks is ingles 
Monica says:
Oh no
Thank you
You’re welcome
I love you
Good girl Kenzie
Up
Kenzie come on
Almost
Hi
Bye
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12
Our Father
Puzzle
We just figured out yesterday that Monica has been waking up scared in the night and turning to Kelly for comfort. Monica is a silent cryer so we never hear her (unless she falls out of bed). Kelly opened up to us and explained that Monica has been waking her up in the night ‘miedo,’ then coming over to Kelly’s bed and hitting her to get her attention. We had no idea this was happening. So, we explained to Monica that if she ever wakes up scared or sad she can either call for mami and papi (we sleep with a monitor next to our ear) or she can come into our room and wake us up. We told her that as soon as we hear she is scared or sad we will come running, give her a hug, stay with her until she is feeling better, and be there for her as much as she needs. She was surprised to hear that, but we believe she was quite relieved. Last night she woke up 3 times and called for us and we came right in and comforted her. She went back to sleep immediately.
I write about this because I never would have thought pre-adoption that a child wouldn’t know that he/she could wake up his/her parents for help when scared in the night. I was sad myself to realize that she had been keeping her fear from us, as if she thought we wouldn’t comfort her. Thank God she believed us and called out to us last night so that we could help build her trust in us; that she would know that we will always take care of her. If I had known pre-adoption that this would be a misunderstanding with my children I would have been sure to explain right away that they can always count on us to comfort them, day and night, without fear.
Hopefully they will both get a good night sleep tonight because their first day of school is tomorrow!!! Yay.
I’m a temporary stay-at-home mom and my head is spinning. Here’s what the first 2 weeks consist of for the girls:
1. collect stool (YUCK)!
2. kill lice
3. 5 hour IAC doc appt.
4. kill parasites
5. bone scans
6. blood work
7. dentist appt.
8. children’s museum
9. opthomologist appt.
10. zoo class
11. museum again
12. walk in the park
13. speech pathology appt.
14. swim at the pool
15. play date with neighbor who speaks spanish
16. pediatrician appt.
17. visit girls’ school
18. swim lesson
19. audiology appt.
20. audiology appt.
21. psych appt.
22. opthomology appt.
23. psych appt.
24. new niece
25. latin festival
I’m not sure what these are called. They remind of a pogo ball (remember those from the 80s?) but for the butt. The girls love them. And we couldn’t stop laughing as they bonged around the basement. I’m also amazed that no one (yet) has gotten hurt.
Fun note: if you look to the side you’ll see big garbage bags full of jackets and blankets. They are part of our battle against head lice which, I’m happy to say, has been fought successfully. I hope.
