First Day Of Preschool #2

Yesterday was Emilia's first day of preschool.  She only attends two days a week from about 8:30 until 4:30.  After discussing her needs with the staff at the center, we decided to place her into a toddler room with children aged 18 through 36 months where she fits in terms of her physical size and development.  Of course, being the mama bear that I am, I stayed with Emilia all day yesterday to ease her transition and help her feel safe in the new environment.  On the whole, she did very well, but let me tell you the story in pictures.

Here's Emilia headed out the door in the morning, ready to take on the world:

After circle time with the group, the children get to play on their own.  Emilia's absolute favorite item in the classroom was the mirror at the right height.  She kept returning to it throughout the day to check herself out:

Is this an intense runway look or what?  I guess she wasn't too happy that the paparazzi disturbed her in her self-study:

My biggest disappointment with the day came during the meals.  I had spent a great amount of time and effort preparing the teachers, cook, and administration for Emilia's dietary needs and feeding issues.  I explained everything from her motor delays that require her to have assistance with silverware and finger-feeding to her difficulty chewing solids to her dislike for cold drinks.  Still almost everything went wrong with her meals yesterday and she had very few calories.  It would have been even less if I hadn't been there to step in.  Today I made sure to send back-up food for her, so if she struggles with the menu at the center, she can at least be fed something else.  Here are the tots awaiting their lunch which is served family-style:

We had beautiful weather yesterday and the children spent upward of two hours outside throughout the day.  Emilia was so excited about pushing this cart on the bike path:

She even pushed it alongside her new friends who were riding tricycles:

Emilia surprised me by eventually getting onto a tricycle herself. She had to move it around the path Flintstone-style because she couldn't quite reach the pedal in the far position, but she really tried to hold her own.  She also took some time to explore the play house:

And looked at a walking stick:

As well as navigated the play structure all by herself and came down the slide without assistance several times:

If her teachers can do better with her meals, I think this will be a good placement for her.  We'll keep an eye on it and make adjustments as necessary.

Oh, and here's Emilia all dressed for her second day of preschool which happens to be Pajama Day:

Help Zack Fundraiser

Meet Zack.  He is 11 years old and lives in Eastern Europe.  In fact, he was born in the same country as our Emilia.  He is a bright and engaging boy, so why does he look so sad?

You see, up until June, Zack lived in an orphanage for younger children with his best friend Maria. When Maria was adopted by my friend Katherine, Zack was transferred to an older child orphanage.  These children who had been like siblings for a decade were heart-broken over their separation.  One went to be a cherished daughter of a loving mother, the other is facing an uncertain future in a tough environment.  Zack knows what a family is and he is waiting for his parents.

Katherine, Maria and I have been advocating for Zack since the middle of the summer.  We helped get his file onto Reece's Rainbow where you can learn more about him: http://reecesrainbow.org/?s=zack.  Now we are trying to get some funds into Zack's RR account so that a family who would commit to adopting him would have some financial aid in their process.  This is why today Katherine is kicking off a fundraiser for Zack.  Please visit her blog and help if you can.

More importantly, please spread the word about Zack.  Please link his profile to your blogs and Facebook pages, so that his family can find him.  When his parents bring him home, this will be their little boy, a child with a beautiful smile, with happy eyes and with a determination to make the very best of his life.

In The Eye Of The Beholder

Chromosomal anomaly, obesity, strabismus, heart defect, global developmental delay, severe mixed receptive-expressive language disorder, unspecified encephalopathy, failure to thrive, hypotonia, cleft lip and palate…

Beauty, sweetness, courage, and happiness...

Joy, love, curiosity, and resilience...

We are blessed and grateful.

Emilia - Forty-One Weeks Home

Saturday marked forty-one weeks home for Emilia.  I wish I had a whole lot to report on this little lady, but as it is she is just marching to the beat of her own drummer.  She’s happy and loving and opinionated and busy, busy, busy.

Emilia hadn’t gained much weight at her last check-up, but she must be growing nonetheless.  The 9-months onesies we bought for her last winter are now way too small and she is wearing 18-months ones with a bit of room.  I was surprised, too, that some clothing that she tried on in early spring which was much too big then is now the perfect size.  Too bad it’s the wrong season.

A few new developments include Emilia’s ability to put a loaded fork into her mouth unassisted, her willingness to walk on bone dry grass barefoot (in the spring she screamed when I put her on lush green grass with shoes on), her imitation of motor actions as long as she does not perceive them to be structured work as well as her attempts to comb her hair and to hold her own open cup to drink.  She can take off her shoes by undoing the velcro properly and then removing the shoe and she is also trying to put her shoes back on.

Emilia starts speech therapy later this month, but she proved to us at a recent birthday party that she can speak when she wishes.  First, she was playing with a helium balloon and when that got tangled up, she asked one of our friends for the “ball.”  Yep, she said ball.  I literally did a double take and asked, “Did she just say baw?”  And my friend answered, “I actually think she said ball.”  That’s what I’d heard, too, I just didn’t quite believe my ears.  Later on Emilia wanted to be picked up by the birthday boy’s grandpa and when he did not respond quickly enough, she demanded clearly, “Uh-uh-uh.”  She is such a little stinker.

Our Climbing Little Monkey

I thought I was going to give potty-training a go soon because I had Miss E’s poop times pretty well pegged down, but lately she has been changing it all up on me.  She’s also napping later in the day.  She used to sleep from about 1:00-3:00, but now it’s more like 2:00 – 4:00. Strangely, it hasn’t impacted her night time sleep which is still from about 9:00 to 7:30.

I recently read an interesting bit in a German book about different personality types or temperaments in children.  One description jumped out at me as being Emilia right on. It said that there are children who choose to hit milestones very late because they do not want to gain new skills too quickly.  They realize that new skills mean new demands and that each step toward independence represents a certain loss of childhood. These children are very sweet and easy-going if left to their own devices, but will stubbornly resist developmental progress that is not on their own terms and timing.  The good news is that these kids do meet all the milestones eventually and turn out just fine.  This is pretty much Emilia in a nutshell.  And we love her just the way she is.

Emilia watching Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

First Day Of Preschool

We survived the first day of preschool.  Rex did great and came home with a glowing report from his therapists that included things like "excellent job with 1:1 work", "attentive during story time", "engaged in music", "had so much fun with the sand", "loved the fire truck."  I am so proud of this kid!

When Craig arrived at the school to pick up Rex, he was sound asleep in the cuddle swing.  I guess he'd had an exciting day.  Rex had one big tantrum at re-entry at home, but since then it's been a quiet night with calm children.  The day really couldn't have gone any better.  Here it is in pictures.

I wanted Rex to have no problems at lunch, so I packed his favorites: a nutella sandwich, pirate's booty, sweet potato tortilla chips, vanilla yogurt, and a cookie.  I also added half a banana and some carrots, but knew he probably wouldn't eat them.  I will continue to offer those healthy choices and maybe someday he'll surprise me.

The breakfast of champions: homemade banana pancakes with peanut butter and nutella.  The nutella wasn't actually in the plans, but what can you do when your son goes into the pantry, gets the jar, hands it to you and signs spoon?  You pretty much have to give in, right?  Also, yes, this is my "perky" pre-7:00 am look after a semi-sleepless night of worrying about Rex at preschool.

Strapped into the car seat and ready to go with his bedding and lunch box.

While Rex was at school, I got to spend quality time with this pretty little lady who cannot stand still for even one photo.

We had some fun with wet sand on the deck.  I feel pretty confident now that Emilia will love her birthday trip to the beach.

Got a pile of laundry done.

Made my first attempt at dairy free, egg-free graham crackers.  They're not pretty, but they do taste good.

Got started on some gifts in a jar for an upcoming adoption fundraiser.

Roasted vegetables.

And turned them into a delicious soup for dinner.

First day of preschool - it's on the books.

Preschool Jitters?

Nope, I guess that's just me.  Rex is cool as a cucumber.

Ready, Set, Preschool

The time has come: my little boy is going to preschool.  Tomorrow is his first day and I think we are all set here with our preparations.

We asked Craig's mom to sew a blanket and pillow case for Rex that look like the Armenian flag. I wanted him to have something at school that represents his heritage.  They turned out beautifully and even have Rex's name embroidered on them.  Thanks so much, Grandma.

I spent an obscene amount of time trying to pick a lunch box.  Seriously, I spent many days over several weeks. For a while I got all caught up in the elaborate world of Japanese Bento boxes.  I had no idea they had their own little universe of styles and accessories and such.  Wow.  But in the end, I knew this was the right lunch box for us when I saw it: a Goodbyn Original.  I bought two because you know some nights I might be lazy and not feel like washing it.  These Goodbyns are deep and I love that I can put other containers or whole pieces of fruit into them and they still close.  The different compartments allow me to keep food well separated, too.  Once the Goodbyns arrived, Rex practiced eating his lunches out of them at home.  Here's one of Rex's lunches I packed him for camp.

It wasn't difficult to settle on an L.L. Bean backpack.  Seems like people swear by their durability.  We got the junior size with a monogram of sorts.

My last terrific find came at the suggestion of a fellow adoptive momma.  I knew that I had to put Rex's name into his clothing and wondered what the easiest, quickest way to do so would be.  Enter the clothing stamp.  In just a few seconds I have any piece of Rex's (or Emilia's) wardrobe permanently inked with their names.

Everything is ready for preschool except this mama's heart.  I miss Rex already.