Gosh, people, sorry. Having the kids out of school and my hubby gone, I just totally let this ball drop. Where has the time gone.
Well, great news first,hubby got home 2 weeks before expected. He worked really hard to be able to do that. We were able to go to Ohio to a big family reunion type party. We have also had valuable time together as famiily. He leaves for SOS school tomorrow, but should be able to come home on the weekends!!
Anastasia finished the school year and passed to 2nd grade! She only had to take the math part of the standardized testing, and she passed! Her problems learning seem to be self created, meaning she will do something perfectly one day, then the next claim to have no idea. It can be very hard to know when she is faking, and has made teaching her stressful. I'm just being honest people. But she really is smart. I also must point out that these episodes get farther and farther away. I thought she would just realized that faking or being lazy only makes it take longer and causes me to not know what she knows, which results in more work. I let her learn the hard way when it came to swim lessons this year, I told her before we went in, that she had to show them that she could swim or they would put her in the baby class.The girl can swim, she can float, etc... She got in the water with the instructor got her signature smirk on her face (this is how we know something is about to go downhill) and she didn't do a single thing for the instructor. So she was put in the baby class. I told her next year I will not pay for her to do swim lessons if she is not going to try.
On a brighter note. She did a play they put on at the base here. The Missoula Children't Theater comes every year to most bases and puts on a play with the kids. Try outs are Monday and the show is Friday. She had to go by herself while Mom and Dad sat on the side. The whole family went to support her, and she really tried. She was trying to get over her shyness because she really wanted to do the play. They let all the kids who try out be in the play. She had to go to practice by herself, and the day of the play they had dress rehearsal all day. She was a seagull, in Treasure Island. She did awesome! I was so proud of her. They had to walk along the stage and sing and flap their wings. I think it really helped her self confidence. We took her out for icecream after to celebrate.
She learned to pedal a 3 wheel bike. She's been begging for one, so we went ahead. At first she was excited, then just like with the other bike I bought her she decided it was too hard and did not want to try at all. I stood out in the 97 degree heat, telling her over and over again, You will not give up, you are not getting off this bike, you can do this, God gave you legs use them,you can do this and you will do this etc... She was not happy with me, there were tears, there was whining, etc... But by golly she learned how to pedal that bike. And let me tell you, the look on her face when she took those first 2 or 3 pedals was priceless!!! The neighbors may have been watching me through the windows, but I don't care. That is the kind of mothering my daughter needs, she will give up on herself before she even begins, and I won't allow it, she is better than that. To celebrate I put her on my lap on the bike and took her for a ride, the bike is the 360 by Razor, if you turn the handles sharp is swirls around, the back 2 wheels are castors. We were a couple pounds over the recommended weight and I almost threw up after we whirled arouns so many times, but man did we have fun!
Lastly, I know everone always wants to know how her legs are doing, is she walking normal, etc... Her walking is not normal, but it could be close to it. Does that make sense? She is 8, she is child, she does not care right now, she does not like the PT and the stretching. It is harder for her to accept than children who have these therapies from the time they are born. She progressed a lot at the begining of the summer, then regressed, and that is where we are at now. But we plug along. We will not let her give up, and we are trying to teach her the importance of it all. As she is able to do more and more, I think she is starting to realize. I really thingk it will come with time. I think her improvement is more exciting to us than it is to her, but maybe that is normal at this age.
She is one fun loving girl, as anyone who has met her knows. And I think she has really enjoyed her summer. She has a friend from down the street that she plays with often. She can even walk down to the girls house without crossing the street, so she has been allowed to do that. She does not want to go back to Russia. And she tells me about 50 times a day that she loves me.
IF anyone ever reads this blog and wants more information on adopting from Russia, hosting, CP, adjustment of an older adopted parent, etc... Just email me privately. This is the last post I will like this. I feel like it's a picking apart, like I'm evaluating my own child. I think this will help prospective parents know what they might expect, but I think we have reached a stopping point for these types of posts.
I will post some summer pics soon.
And sometime this week, I will have our newest blog started, www.1moremakes6.com
That's right, Anastasia is getting a sister, she is over the moon excited. And so are we. She is 2. We cannot disclose her country. She was born premature, and they think she may have mild CP like Anastasia. Can't believe I have forgot the labor pains of paperwork already. The rewards are def work the work. Adopting Anastasia was a privelage from God and we feel blessed to have another child entrusted to us.
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
1 Year Ago Today
A Russian judge declared us Anastasia's parents effective immediately! We were the last known adoptive parents to have our 10 days waived in St. Petersburg, I never felt like we wouldn't have the 10 days waived even though everyone said this judge never waives it, etc... God is good, that was a financial blessing and a physical blessing, we were tired, and getting around Russia with no stroller and a child who couldn't walk on her own very far at all was not fun.
In some ways it seems like yesterday in others it seems like forever ago.
We will not celebrate until the 22nd, this is our "Gotcha Day" know in the adoption world as the day you got the child. Plus I just like that date better!! See my kids birthdays are 2-22-01, 2-20-04, and 2-2-02. I don't believe in luck so I don't have a "lucky number per se" but the number two sure does seem like my blessed number doesn't it. And we picked Anastasia up from the orphanage forever on the 22nd!!
I promise promise promise I've got the one year updates coming soon. I think you will be surprised how far she has come in 1 year. We had no idea what to expect and really had no expectations, we had never done this before!!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Lots of 1 year updates
Hi Everyone!!
Sorry Wendy didn't mean to make you worry. The next couple weeks I will be doing posts to kind of calaborate our experiences this past year. Anastasia is doing great all around. I will try to be as honest as I can be in these upcoming posts, well, I will be totally honest, I will bare as much as I can (not like that!!)
Generally we are doing good. We are almost to the 4 month mark on the deployment, so 2 more to go, whoohoo!! This has not been easy, and it's not something I could do as often or for as long as some women do it. When I say I couldn't I mean, we wouldn't, it's not for our family. This deployment and any other deployments in our future are a service to our country, we are beyond grateful for the reliable job he has. BUT we would never put ourselves in the position to do this for an entire year at a time, or continually over and over again. I admire and pray for those who do, and you should too. I don't mind the extra work, the extra yardwork, doing all the household duties myself, etc...The toll it takes on the kids is the worst. Cooper still has anxiety at times, he is doing better with it, unfortunately I think this is something he will struggle with. Cody still will not talk on the phone or skype with his Daddy, makes him cry. Anastasia and Cooper both love talking to him. I finally got their Daddy Pillows made that I wanted to make before he even left. They love them, I will post later, even Cody does, I was afraid he wouldn't want his, but he loves it!
The hardest part is that sometimes my children do not get the best of me. They are in school all day so I'm able to get most of my chores done then, and after school and evening time are all for them. But come the weekend, I can have a lack of patience. It can be hard having 3 children's attentions only be directed at you ALL THE TIME. Just being honest. But at the same time, I love my time with them on the weekends, they are all so much fun and have the best sense of humor.
Gary has to leave about 3 weeks after he gets back to go to a training school. I cried when he first told me, overreacted really, something I do often. He will only be 3 hours away and the school is 5 weeks long, we will be able to see him on weekends. I just hope Cooper takes it well. It is an honor to be chosen to go to this school in person, most people do it on the computer, it is better for your military career for you to go in person. We decided since we will be able to see each other on weekends, he absolutely should go.
PCSing, PCS stands for permanent change of station, not sure why, there's nothing permanent about it. The list of locations that we could PCS to came out last month, we were not thrilled with the job or location choices. We may be here for another school, MAYBE. My best friend will be PSCing in Sept. I'm not a happy camper to be without her, that's me pouting, and come September I will be pouting even more.
Sorry Wendy didn't mean to make you worry. The next couple weeks I will be doing posts to kind of calaborate our experiences this past year. Anastasia is doing great all around. I will try to be as honest as I can be in these upcoming posts, well, I will be totally honest, I will bare as much as I can (not like that!!)
Generally we are doing good. We are almost to the 4 month mark on the deployment, so 2 more to go, whoohoo!! This has not been easy, and it's not something I could do as often or for as long as some women do it. When I say I couldn't I mean, we wouldn't, it's not for our family. This deployment and any other deployments in our future are a service to our country, we are beyond grateful for the reliable job he has. BUT we would never put ourselves in the position to do this for an entire year at a time, or continually over and over again. I admire and pray for those who do, and you should too. I don't mind the extra work, the extra yardwork, doing all the household duties myself, etc...The toll it takes on the kids is the worst. Cooper still has anxiety at times, he is doing better with it, unfortunately I think this is something he will struggle with. Cody still will not talk on the phone or skype with his Daddy, makes him cry. Anastasia and Cooper both love talking to him. I finally got their Daddy Pillows made that I wanted to make before he even left. They love them, I will post later, even Cody does, I was afraid he wouldn't want his, but he loves it!
The hardest part is that sometimes my children do not get the best of me. They are in school all day so I'm able to get most of my chores done then, and after school and evening time are all for them. But come the weekend, I can have a lack of patience. It can be hard having 3 children's attentions only be directed at you ALL THE TIME. Just being honest. But at the same time, I love my time with them on the weekends, they are all so much fun and have the best sense of humor.
Gary has to leave about 3 weeks after he gets back to go to a training school. I cried when he first told me, overreacted really, something I do often. He will only be 3 hours away and the school is 5 weeks long, we will be able to see him on weekends. I just hope Cooper takes it well. It is an honor to be chosen to go to this school in person, most people do it on the computer, it is better for your military career for you to go in person. We decided since we will be able to see each other on weekends, he absolutely should go.
PCSing, PCS stands for permanent change of station, not sure why, there's nothing permanent about it. The list of locations that we could PCS to came out last month, we were not thrilled with the job or location choices. We may be here for another school, MAYBE. My best friend will be PSCing in Sept. I'm not a happy camper to be without her, that's me pouting, and come September I will be pouting even more.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Checking In
OK, so I'm delayed getting the other blog started up. Thanks for those who emailed me or left me a comment, I appreciate it. A blog with no commenters is kind of like just talking to yourself! You don't have to have a blog to leave a comment either.
Wendy, thanks for all your comments, I always appreciate them, you are not to bold, you remind me of myself.
To the person who comments in Japanese or Chinese, I have no idea what you are saying, or if you are spam? Sorry! If they are true comments, thank you!
Betsy, thank lady, I love you, and your family!
Josie, thanks for leaving a comment, it's very sweet of you, I'm thankful for facebook and the ability to keep in touch with friends like you.
In Anastasia News,
She got glasses. Again, if you have followed you remember when we hosted her she got glasses, well she was not happy, and the orphanage told her she didn't need them and took them. She is far sighted, has astigmatism, mostly in her right eye. Already I see a difference, and her handwriting has improved, it never sat on the line, it does now!She looks super cute in them, and she has accepted the fact that she needs them, I'll post a picture soon.
I forgot to post about her CRCT practice test scores. The CRCT is the state mandated test here in GA. Not a big fan of it, but it did give us an idea of where she is at, and her testing skills. I am happy to report that she averaged a 50% on all 3 tests! And with the fact that her reading skills are way behind and her other difficulties she has with focusing, I think that is great! Her teacher agrees. I attend a meeting today to determine if she'll have to take the real CRCT, she has to do the Math part, but she may qualify due to her language to not have to take the language and reading. I don't see any reason to have her do it, it will only discourage her. The week she took the practice tests her brain was moosh, I couldn't get anything out of her the entire week.
Wendy, thanks for all your comments, I always appreciate them, you are not to bold, you remind me of myself.
To the person who comments in Japanese or Chinese, I have no idea what you are saying, or if you are spam? Sorry! If they are true comments, thank you!
Betsy, thank lady, I love you, and your family!
Josie, thanks for leaving a comment, it's very sweet of you, I'm thankful for facebook and the ability to keep in touch with friends like you.
In Anastasia News,
She got glasses. Again, if you have followed you remember when we hosted her she got glasses, well she was not happy, and the orphanage told her she didn't need them and took them. She is far sighted, has astigmatism, mostly in her right eye. Already I see a difference, and her handwriting has improved, it never sat on the line, it does now!She looks super cute in them, and she has accepted the fact that she needs them, I'll post a picture soon.
I forgot to post about her CRCT practice test scores. The CRCT is the state mandated test here in GA. Not a big fan of it, but it did give us an idea of where she is at, and her testing skills. I am happy to report that she averaged a 50% on all 3 tests! And with the fact that her reading skills are way behind and her other difficulties she has with focusing, I think that is great! Her teacher agrees. I attend a meeting today to determine if she'll have to take the real CRCT, she has to do the Math part, but she may qualify due to her language to not have to take the language and reading. I don't see any reason to have her do it, it will only discourage her. The week she took the practice tests her brain was moosh, I couldn't get anything out of her the entire week.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Hmmm..
I think this blog is coming to an end, as far as frequent posts, Anastasia officially became ours 9 months ago today.
I said last year I was going to start a family blog, to make up for not scrapbooking, then have it made into a book, well, that lasted all of 2 months. But I am going to try again, and try a little harder this time.
So, what to name it, any suggestions?
Not really sure how many people still follow this blog since I don't get very many comments, thanks a lot people!!
But if you want an invite to the new blog, I should have it up and running this weekend, just leave me a comment with your email, or email me privately, and I'll send you an invite, it will be private. My email is not private! Here it is
cmsuttles4@hotmail.com
So most of anything about Anastasia will be on the family blog, anything that happens occasionally with her, milestones, etc... I will still post to the adoption blog, if I think it will help people reading it for that purpose.
I said last year I was going to start a family blog, to make up for not scrapbooking, then have it made into a book, well, that lasted all of 2 months. But I am going to try again, and try a little harder this time.
So, what to name it, any suggestions?
Not really sure how many people still follow this blog since I don't get very many comments, thanks a lot people!!
But if you want an invite to the new blog, I should have it up and running this weekend, just leave me a comment with your email, or email me privately, and I'll send you an invite, it will be private. My email is not private! Here it is
cmsuttles4@hotmail.com
So most of anything about Anastasia will be on the family blog, anything that happens occasionally with her, milestones, etc... I will still post to the adoption blog, if I think it will help people reading it for that purpose.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
More Bday Pics
Ahh, I forgot blogger posts pictures backward of the way you uploaded them as far as the order goes. All well. Here are a couple more
Birthday Party Pictures!!
Her first birthday party went great! I made her a castle cake, and made everyone promise not to tell her it was "a little wonky" She thought it was great.
As one of her birthday presents she wanted to get her ears pierced. She has been asking for this since we met her when we were hosting her. She is a glam girl. Once she got in the chair though she covered her ears up and started pitching a fit. I told her mommy didn't care if she got her ears pierced or not, but if she was going to do it she could not do that or she'd end up with some messed up piercing! She decided the glam was worth the pain, and she did great. They have a case of piercing earrings to choose from, of course she wanted the biggest CZ ones they had, they were HUGE! I told her she was 8 not 80 and she went with the smallest cz ones to please us both. For birthdays in our family you get to pick where the family eats dinner. A new chickfila just opened down the street, so she choose that. I think she loved her first birthday!
Saturday, January 30, 2010
First Birthday Party Ever
I only have a few minutes for this post, actually I have no minutes, but I'm taking them anyways. Tomorrow is Anastasia's first ever Birthday Party!! She is so excited. I will post pics, hopefully early this week. 2 of the other girls who were adopted from the same Desky Com are coming, and most of the little girls from her class. She said it's like a Russia-America Party. Tuesday is her actual Birthday, she is so excited she can hardly stand it. It is birthday month in our house, ALL of my children were born in Feb, all with number 2's, the 2nd, the 20th, and the 22nd, and Anastasia was even born on 2-2-02. Don't worry, I promise to post pics of her Birthday party, I know I never did post pics of Christmas. And trust me you have got to see the face she makes when she opens presents!! It will make your day, well it makes my day, it will at least make you smile!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
OK I WAS Back
My desktop computer is broke again, it worked for a couple days, then the hard drive quite working. So, my awesome computer fixer (aka my bestest friend's hubby), helped me pick out a new hard drive, but he came to put it back in and it hadn't copied, soooo I'm having withdrawal. This computer wigs out and then I have to log off and back on. I can't print my online coupons. I can't webcam with my hubby, and neither can the kids. I am really praying that we don't have to buy a new computer, but if we must we must. We are very grateful to have someone who is able work on it for us, at least if we have to replace it we know it is absolutley necessary.
On the Anastasia front, she is doing great. She went to her first all girls birthday party last night, I didn't let her sleep there, I wasn't ready for that, and we very rarely ever let our kids sleep at other people's houses. She started crying when I went to pick her up, she wanted to stay so bad. The Mom said they did notice she wouldn't stay away from the punch and candy, surprise, surprise. So we had a short talk about only drinking and eating our share when there is unlimited food. Hehe, that is worst behaviour issue when left without me, I think she is doing great!!
I don't have self control around unlimited candy either, ha!
Her birthday party is next Sunday, she wanted to have it at a play place here that is a lot like Chuck E. Cheese.
It is so funny the things we assume she has an understanding of, but does not. She asked me today who chose what day her birthday was on, me or her other mom?
I didn't understand at first. I had to explain that it was the day she came out of her Mommies belly, and that no person picked, you have to be in your Mom's belly for a certain amount of time, then God chooses your day and out you come, and that day is your birthday!!
She also told someone the other day that we changed her name, we did not, but it seemed like it to her. We have always called her Anastasia instead of Nahstya, becaue this is what they referred to her as on the hosting listing that we found her on. She had no clue that Nahstya was a nickname for Anastasia. I explained to her what a nickname was, like Joey for Joseph, Nate for Nathaniel, Bob for Robert, etc... I think she gets it now. I asked her again if she would like us to call her Nahstya and she said no, she does not like that name.
She is so excited about her birthday, we are only going to invite girls, I think she's overwhelmed already so I want to keep the numbers reasonable. I haven't told her that on her birthday that she gets to choose what or where the family gets to eat dinner that night, she takes food serious, I know it's going to be stressful for her to decide!!
On the Anastasia front, she is doing great. She went to her first all girls birthday party last night, I didn't let her sleep there, I wasn't ready for that, and we very rarely ever let our kids sleep at other people's houses. She started crying when I went to pick her up, she wanted to stay so bad. The Mom said they did notice she wouldn't stay away from the punch and candy, surprise, surprise. So we had a short talk about only drinking and eating our share when there is unlimited food. Hehe, that is worst behaviour issue when left without me, I think she is doing great!!
I don't have self control around unlimited candy either, ha!
Her birthday party is next Sunday, she wanted to have it at a play place here that is a lot like Chuck E. Cheese.
It is so funny the things we assume she has an understanding of, but does not. She asked me today who chose what day her birthday was on, me or her other mom?
I didn't understand at first. I had to explain that it was the day she came out of her Mommies belly, and that no person picked, you have to be in your Mom's belly for a certain amount of time, then God chooses your day and out you come, and that day is your birthday!!
She also told someone the other day that we changed her name, we did not, but it seemed like it to her. We have always called her Anastasia instead of Nahstya, becaue this is what they referred to her as on the hosting listing that we found her on. She had no clue that Nahstya was a nickname for Anastasia. I explained to her what a nickname was, like Joey for Joseph, Nate for Nathaniel, Bob for Robert, etc... I think she gets it now. I asked her again if she would like us to call her Nahstya and she said no, she does not like that name.
She is so excited about her birthday, we are only going to invite girls, I think she's overwhelmed already so I want to keep the numbers reasonable. I haven't told her that on her birthday that she gets to choose what or where the family gets to eat dinner that night, she takes food serious, I know it's going to be stressful for her to decide!!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
I'm Back, A's detailed school update
The computer is fixed, thank God, and Kevin, my friends husband, whoohoo. This month is the first month we were going to be able to put extra payments on our adoption debt, and it almost looked like that money was going to have to go to buying a computer. I am truly thankful to have someone care enough to fix it for me, what a God send.
So, how is my Girl doing? Pretty well. I would say. I didn't really have any expectations when it came to school for her, not that I expected her not to excel, I knew she was smart, but I had never parented a child who had never had any schooling, spoke a different native language and was about to be stuck in 1st grade. So she has been in school 5.5 months.
She can read at a low first grade level, she is progressing nicely, this is one of the areas she is behind in compared to others in her class, but I did not expect her to be reading as well as she already is.
Math, I would say she is doing very well in, it takes her some work to get some concepts, others she gets easily. First grade is not what it used to be, they are doing things like adding 2 digit numbers, like 35+12, they count by 2,5,10, to 100, foward and backwards, they do word problems (which is her weakest point in math) they count money (took a lot of extra tutoring for her to get that one, etc...
She often gets 100 on spelling tests or only misses 1 or 2, how awesome is that.
Overall her behavior is great at school. For the most part she has stopped pretending she doesn't know something. She does like to read books to an adult, but she does not like taking the inituative to read instructions on a paper or a short story she has to answer questions on, etc... This is something we are working on, it's hard and she doesn't want to do it. She is a little bit bossy, what girl isn't!! And a very sore loser, very, very sore winner, like, in your face I won, haha. Not sure if this has anything to do with her past, I think it is just her personality, makes me laugh inside sometimes but we don't allow her be cruel to others, something that has taken some getting used to, being cruel to others was just fine in the children's home, certainly not a punishable offense.
I am so proud of how well she is doing school, she really works hard at it. I was reading someone else's blog, she was trying to decide wether or not to send her older adopted children to school or homeschool them. The schools explained to her that she would basically have a lot of work to do with them in the evening for them to catch up. So basically this mother said "I would be sending them to school during the day, and homeschooling them at home also" Yes, exactly the school told her. That is very much what it is like. I enjoy helping her learn and don't mind it one bit, but it does take time. We had debating homeschooling her for sometime before sending her to school. She wantd to go to school, and I think that it was the right decision, she needed to learn things from school that are not academic related, like how to interact with others. I am not at the school nearly as much as I was in the beginning, but I am still there every morning, if the teacher is teaching something new, I stick around for the lesson so that I can help her learn it at home if it is not something she grasps at first. Her teacher and I have a great understanding of what I expect from Anastasia behavior wise and it has worked out well. Her teacher knows that she can send home a paper that Anastasia has had a hard time with and that I WILL reteach it at home. I don't know the methods to teach a 1 st grader how to add 2 digit numbers, her teacher does, and she is great at teaching, but no school has time to tutor a child for hours. If you are going to adopt an older child, I think it only right to expect that you've got to step up and do the extra work to make sure the child does as well as they can.
I had asked the ESL teacher if she thought Rosetta Stone would be helpful for Anastasia language developement. From what I've read many older internationally adopted children do very well in school, go on to be head of their calls, valevictorian even, but are still behing in language. So I wanted to give her as much as I can in that area. They don't have the time to do it in school she told me, but Anastasia could have free subsricption to it and do it at home!! How great is that, she started on it last night and she loves it. So far I think it is great, and I think it will help her tremendously. And I don't have to pay for it.
Sorry this was long. This post isn't really for those who like to come here for a short update or for entertainment. But I like to encourage those who have just adopted or are thinking of adopting a school aged child.
So, how is my Girl doing? Pretty well. I would say. I didn't really have any expectations when it came to school for her, not that I expected her not to excel, I knew she was smart, but I had never parented a child who had never had any schooling, spoke a different native language and was about to be stuck in 1st grade. So she has been in school 5.5 months.
She can read at a low first grade level, she is progressing nicely, this is one of the areas she is behind in compared to others in her class, but I did not expect her to be reading as well as she already is.
Math, I would say she is doing very well in, it takes her some work to get some concepts, others she gets easily. First grade is not what it used to be, they are doing things like adding 2 digit numbers, like 35+12, they count by 2,5,10, to 100, foward and backwards, they do word problems (which is her weakest point in math) they count money (took a lot of extra tutoring for her to get that one, etc...
She often gets 100 on spelling tests or only misses 1 or 2, how awesome is that.
Overall her behavior is great at school. For the most part she has stopped pretending she doesn't know something. She does like to read books to an adult, but she does not like taking the inituative to read instructions on a paper or a short story she has to answer questions on, etc... This is something we are working on, it's hard and she doesn't want to do it. She is a little bit bossy, what girl isn't!! And a very sore loser, very, very sore winner, like, in your face I won, haha. Not sure if this has anything to do with her past, I think it is just her personality, makes me laugh inside sometimes but we don't allow her be cruel to others, something that has taken some getting used to, being cruel to others was just fine in the children's home, certainly not a punishable offense.
I am so proud of how well she is doing school, she really works hard at it. I was reading someone else's blog, she was trying to decide wether or not to send her older adopted children to school or homeschool them. The schools explained to her that she would basically have a lot of work to do with them in the evening for them to catch up. So basically this mother said "I would be sending them to school during the day, and homeschooling them at home also" Yes, exactly the school told her. That is very much what it is like. I enjoy helping her learn and don't mind it one bit, but it does take time. We had debating homeschooling her for sometime before sending her to school. She wantd to go to school, and I think that it was the right decision, she needed to learn things from school that are not academic related, like how to interact with others. I am not at the school nearly as much as I was in the beginning, but I am still there every morning, if the teacher is teaching something new, I stick around for the lesson so that I can help her learn it at home if it is not something she grasps at first. Her teacher and I have a great understanding of what I expect from Anastasia behavior wise and it has worked out well. Her teacher knows that she can send home a paper that Anastasia has had a hard time with and that I WILL reteach it at home. I don't know the methods to teach a 1 st grader how to add 2 digit numbers, her teacher does, and she is great at teaching, but no school has time to tutor a child for hours. If you are going to adopt an older child, I think it only right to expect that you've got to step up and do the extra work to make sure the child does as well as they can.
I had asked the ESL teacher if she thought Rosetta Stone would be helpful for Anastasia language developement. From what I've read many older internationally adopted children do very well in school, go on to be head of their calls, valevictorian even, but are still behing in language. So I wanted to give her as much as I can in that area. They don't have the time to do it in school she told me, but Anastasia could have free subsricption to it and do it at home!! How great is that, she started on it last night and she loves it. So far I think it is great, and I think it will help her tremendously. And I don't have to pay for it.
Sorry this was long. This post isn't really for those who like to come here for a short update or for entertainment. But I like to encourage those who have just adopted or are thinking of adopting a school aged child.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Broken Computer/Blessings Abound
I swear the devil attacks families when a spouse is deployed. Ask deployed spouses how many things have broken while their husbands are away. So yesterday a virus pops up on our main computer, man. But I am very blessed to have a bestest friend with a hubby who happens to be my hubby's bestest friend who can fix computers. But he came over armed with virus fighting instructions for the virus that was on there, and the stinking virus was armed to dismantle every way to fix it, he couldn't even access the hard drive. Sooo, he had to take my hard drive with him to hopefully fix it. It was very sad!! So best case scenario is that it is easy to fix and will take a day or 2 or it could take a lot longer, or it could be unfixable. So right now I am on our ancient laptop, it also has something wrong with it, has for 3 years, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So this post could end any second.
But I feel so blessed that I can email my hubby, ancient laptop or not. I feel so blessed that I get to talk to him almost every day. I feel so blessed that while some husbands only feel the need to call home once a week my hubby does everything possible to email/call me when it is next to impossible. I love that man so much.
I was so excited to finally get a video up, and yesterday I was in process of uploading a before video of her walking, when my computer went whacky.
People have asked if Anastasia understands what is going on, I think for the most part she does. The people at the Desky Dom had told her that Daddy's go to fight while Mommies stay home to take care of the kids. Thankfully my hubby is in a very safe job, and so we can tell the kids honestly that he is not fighting, that he just has to go far away to work for a very long time. If anything, I think this experience will build her trust and bonding,to see that he really does come back and is still the hubby and Daddy.
But I feel so blessed that I can email my hubby, ancient laptop or not. I feel so blessed that I get to talk to him almost every day. I feel so blessed that while some husbands only feel the need to call home once a week my hubby does everything possible to email/call me when it is next to impossible. I love that man so much.
I was so excited to finally get a video up, and yesterday I was in process of uploading a before video of her walking, when my computer went whacky.
People have asked if Anastasia understands what is going on, I think for the most part she does. The people at the Desky Dom had told her that Daddy's go to fight while Mommies stay home to take care of the kids. Thankfully my hubby is in a very safe job, and so we can tell the kids honestly that he is not fighting, that he just has to go far away to work for a very long time. If anything, I think this experience will build her trust and bonding,to see that he really does come back and is still the hubby and Daddy.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
Friday, January 1, 2010
Bad Blogger
I know, I'm not a good blogger. I didn't do a Christmas post or a New Years post. I sat down to do one yesterday, but my computer says it's full and I cannot download any pictures, really the same week my husband leaves my computer decides it is full??
2 of the Wii remotes won't work, the cat has decided she would rather poop on the floor rather than the litter box, etc... so is the life a military wife with a deployed spouse. All of our pictures have been moved to an external harddrive, I compressed, I emptied the recycl bin, yadda, yadda, still won't let me download.
Our Christmas was great, the kids had a blast and loved all of their presents. Papaw came for a surprise visit and to visit with Gary before he departed for his deployment Monday morning. We spent the evening with close friends. A very laid back, but joyful Christmas.
My youngest is 5 and he is having anxiety issues, not letting me leave him anywhere. church, babysitters, his friends house, etc...and if I do he cries for a long time. This all started after we told him about the upcoming deployment about a month ago. Yesterday we went to a play place, kind of like Chuck E. Cheese, he sat with me for 2 hours before he would finally get up and play. Tonight is the first night that he did not cry himself to sleep since Gary left. He says he wants to go have fun, but that he does not want to leave me where he can't see me. As soon as we are in a situation he fears this could happen, his stomach hurts. Poor little guy.
So New Years Eve we spent with friends, had a great time. When we headed home a little after midnight, it was very foggy out. We got a little more than half way home, and all of a sudden I couldn't see anything, total white in front of me. I braked hard, then slowwly pulled off to get off the road. The car that came up behind me did the same, and the car after that slammed on his brakes and almost rearended us all. My anxiety child was freaking out, thinking we are about to die, or never make it home, etc... So, I get out of the car to see where I am, there is one of those huge brick mailboxes about 2 feet in front of my car, it was so foggy I couldn't see if from my car. So I pulled into that driveway, so we would be out of harms way. I decided it would be best to turn around, like one of the cars behind me did. I figured maybe the main roads would be better. They were for a while, then all of a sudden, a big line of cars ahead of me were braking suddenly, some with their hazards on, all of a sudden couldn't see anything, but a solid white cloud. So I decided our safety, and Cooper's anxiety level or more important than getting home and we turned around and went back to our friends' house to sleep for the night.
The yard I pulled over into has my tire tracks in it today, oops sorry, but Thank God I didn't get stuck in their yard, and thank God we were safe.
Today I am working on undecorating our huge tree and taking down the Christmas decorations.
I don't feel like saying Happy New Year, when half of it will be spent without my Best Friend. But I know like all hardships, God has great things in store. I will be stronger and have more empathy for others who do this all the time. It feels wrong to feel like I just want the first half of this year to fly by so I can have our family back together, I pray for strength, patience, and wisdom every morning before I even get out of the bed.
So, keep me company, leave me a comment, not a pity party, I give myself enough of those, say Hi, tell me a little bit about yourself, ask me a question, people always have questions about the adoption or military life, talk to me people.
2 of the Wii remotes won't work, the cat has decided she would rather poop on the floor rather than the litter box, etc... so is the life a military wife with a deployed spouse. All of our pictures have been moved to an external harddrive, I compressed, I emptied the recycl bin, yadda, yadda, still won't let me download.
Our Christmas was great, the kids had a blast and loved all of their presents. Papaw came for a surprise visit and to visit with Gary before he departed for his deployment Monday morning. We spent the evening with close friends. A very laid back, but joyful Christmas.
My youngest is 5 and he is having anxiety issues, not letting me leave him anywhere. church, babysitters, his friends house, etc...and if I do he cries for a long time. This all started after we told him about the upcoming deployment about a month ago. Yesterday we went to a play place, kind of like Chuck E. Cheese, he sat with me for 2 hours before he would finally get up and play. Tonight is the first night that he did not cry himself to sleep since Gary left. He says he wants to go have fun, but that he does not want to leave me where he can't see me. As soon as we are in a situation he fears this could happen, his stomach hurts. Poor little guy.
So New Years Eve we spent with friends, had a great time. When we headed home a little after midnight, it was very foggy out. We got a little more than half way home, and all of a sudden I couldn't see anything, total white in front of me. I braked hard, then slowwly pulled off to get off the road. The car that came up behind me did the same, and the car after that slammed on his brakes and almost rearended us all. My anxiety child was freaking out, thinking we are about to die, or never make it home, etc... So, I get out of the car to see where I am, there is one of those huge brick mailboxes about 2 feet in front of my car, it was so foggy I couldn't see if from my car. So I pulled into that driveway, so we would be out of harms way. I decided it would be best to turn around, like one of the cars behind me did. I figured maybe the main roads would be better. They were for a while, then all of a sudden, a big line of cars ahead of me were braking suddenly, some with their hazards on, all of a sudden couldn't see anything, but a solid white cloud. So I decided our safety, and Cooper's anxiety level or more important than getting home and we turned around and went back to our friends' house to sleep for the night.
The yard I pulled over into has my tire tracks in it today, oops sorry, but Thank God I didn't get stuck in their yard, and thank God we were safe.
Today I am working on undecorating our huge tree and taking down the Christmas decorations.
I don't feel like saying Happy New Year, when half of it will be spent without my Best Friend. But I know like all hardships, God has great things in store. I will be stronger and have more empathy for others who do this all the time. It feels wrong to feel like I just want the first half of this year to fly by so I can have our family back together, I pray for strength, patience, and wisdom every morning before I even get out of the bed.
So, keep me company, leave me a comment, not a pity party, I give myself enough of those, say Hi, tell me a little bit about yourself, ask me a question, people always have questions about the adoption or military life, talk to me people.
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