Ferndale Academy!

Our homeschooling is going very well! We have 2 students enrolled in Ferndale Academy! They are smart and adorable girls! Sarah is doing very well on her 1st grade Saxon math! She seems to like it and is proud of how well she is doing! I really like the saxon program, although we don't do absolutely everything in it (because it could take a good portion of each day)- it is very thorough. It has many concepts that she needs to learn that may not be in other MAth programs- such as distinguishing between morning, afternoon, evening and night; discussing more and less, and early word problems, (etc).  It is repetitive and builds on previous lessons! We love it! She is on book C from Explode the code and I have already ordered book 1! We are doing a little HOP and Before Five in a Row. We will start Rosetta Stone english, soon... I think? The girls are now enjoying being read too! That is huge progress! It is one of my favorite things to do!

We are working on our last name- I think she's got the spelling down! The days of the week, the current month and our telephone number!

Anna loves to be in the school room with us! She colors, looks at books or finds something to get into! What a blessing these two girls are to this family!

NO BOY!

Last night we started gymnastics. The girls were very excited to start gymnastics! Sarah had a lovely leotard on and Anna... well, she didn't... have a lovely leotard on. Sarah spoke often of her lovely leotard and was quite surprised that... Anna didn't have one. Anna was a bit oblivious to the leotard issue but not Sarah- she was as proud as punch to wear something so pretty! She spent a fair amount of time looking at herself in the mirror before and after the gymnastics lesson. 

Anna's lesson started 15 minutes before Sarah's and Mom needed to be with Anna. I had no concerns going into the lesson but once we were there and Anna saw all the things she could play on she no longer had any interest in the teacher what so ever. As Anna consistently wandered away and was adamantly not going to sit on the pretty yellow star my mind drifted to Lucy and her dance lessons. I wanted to run and get the camera but I don't think others found it so adorable and as amusing as I did- so leaving "the wanderer" and getting my camera was not possible.

At one point a little boy sat very close to her- she looked at him like "excuse me, who are you" he looked at her and blew a big raspberry in her face. She was appauled, flustered and disgusted with this little boy. As soon as she calmed down she looked him in the eye and very loudly said "NO BOY"! She repeated herself numerous times in efforts to get her point across. I have many boys so it wasn't to big of a deal but inside I did say to myself- yeah Anna!

The rest of the class went well as long as we kept moving and Anna spent time climbing. balancing and rolling frontwards and backwards! After class as we were waiting for Sarah's class to finish, the same little boy pushed Anna- he was her size but 10 months younger- she burst into tiny tears and again I could see her frustration building- very loudly she said... again... NO BOY. A couple people chuckled and one mom said "you go girl!" 

There is no messin with my 27 lbs soon to be 3 yr old!

My Kitchen Helpers!

The girls love to help with dinner! The step stools are all over the kitchen so they can reach all the dangerous things they are not supposed to reach - I mean, so they can help me out wherever we are in the kitchen! They are adorable little helpers!

Homeschooling is going great but Sarah and I did visit our local Catholic Elementary School. I felt like I needed to just check it out to educate ourselves- and see what is out there. I know Sarah would love the other children and in many ways they would be good for her too- she needs someone other than a 2 yr old as her role model ;-) They were very nice and welcoming and I know they would love to have Sarah at the school. This year there are only 18 in the class but next year it jumps in size. I happened to mention that Sarah cannot read yet and I did get a surprised Ohhhhh- of course she can't read she is just learning to speak the language and learning her ABC"S. Anyways- it was very apparent that she is just not ready to go to school and this school does not have the special services she would need. Too bad- our older kids loved it there! After our visit we homeschooled - wow is she doing great! I am so thrilled with her progress and eagerness to learn. She is understanding that it is okay to get something wrong sometimes- we just say oops, correct it and learn from our mistake. We are going to think thru our options for more socialization for Sarah. Hmmm... any ideas?

Playgroup!

We went to a gymnastics gym with our playgroup today! The kids loved it! It was all set up with tons of things to do- trampolines- about 9 of them, jumping pits, balance beams, rings to hang from and rings to swing from, bars- even and uneven, forts, mazes- tons of large muscle activities! The kids were in heaven and ran from one activity to another! They seemed to like the trampolines the best!

After that, the group went over to MacDonalds and had a nutritious lunch- okay- just kidding- but we got food and hello kitty watches in our kids meals!! It was lots of fun for everyone! Sarah seems to be improving with interacting with the other kids! She talked, laughed and played with them! Anna also seemed to do better with interacting with the other children! hurray! I actually got a chance to visit with the Moms!

It is good for the girls to be home! We had a wonderful time in Florida but the do much better in their home environment! It feels very good to be home!

We saw my sister in the airport. Sarah did not recognize her. We also have had a few situations where she had no recollection of something we did or something we told her. I have heard that adoptees often forget many things from the first 2 months. I read it somewhere and others have said that it happened to their new child, too. I have know idea why but I wonder if it is not because this is such a life altering event and rather traumatic. Plus, they are learning a new language and forgetting their old language- huge transitions are happening right now and even though everything seems so fine it is still a huge adjustment for them. So today again - Sarah just learned that the children we meet with for our playgroup are all from China. She was thrilled- just as she was to relearn that Anna was also from China!

Conquering her fear of water! And how old are you?

I have loved  being able to blog in the evenings! It has been a wonderful vacation! Tomorrow evening we will be back to reality and back to the chilly Minnesota weather! Reality is good - the weather is yuck!

We are thrilled with Sarah's progress swimming! She is so comfortable in the water! She still will not go over her head but she is bobbing up and down, gliding, jumping off the side and doing back floats with a little help- all the time! She is under the water more than on top of it- it is amazing to see this much progress in such a short time!

One of her favorite things to do is visit the park and swing! Such a simple thing and yet it brings so much joy!!

Her birthday is coming up in early March! She is so excited for it! I don't think she really knows what a birthday is- she will soon find out! We thought about changing her birthdate but her age is appropriate for her. It just wouldn't work for us to do that and it would not be beneficial for Sarah.

Someone, somewhere asked me how old Sarah thought she was when she came home vs her actual age. I am sorry I am not sure who asked the question but here is the answer. She said she was 9 yrs old. We had an interpreter tell her she was 8 yrs old. At first she said no she wasn't but the interpreter told her in America that is how old you are- she also said how do you know you are 9? Who told you? Well, we are telling you that you are 8 yrs old. She also didn't know when her birthday was/ is. She has no concept of time regarding years and months. We are working on that now- I think it will be awhile before she understands it. There are so many things she needs to learn. It is exciting teaching her and yet amazing that at 8.5 yrs old these concepts were never addressed- even in Chinese.

I do look forward to when she can speak better english and we can talk about so many unknowns in her life before she came to live with us.

Florida Fun!

Happy Valentines Day!

We are dressed in our Valentines outfits at the pool today! These two girls have stole the hearts of this family! We are so in love with them!

Sarah has been taking swimming lessons- 4 private lessons. Her progress was slow. She seemed very rigid in the water and was fearful at times. I was beginning to feel like maybe we should stop, give her more time and try again later. Then in the last lesson she began to make progress! Today she was swimming with us and she did fantastic! No floating devices at all! She spent more time under the water than on top-by choice that is! She was so much more relaxed and ventured over her head while holding on to the side! She went under and picked up goggles off the floor on the pool. She is practicing her kick and can do the back float with a spotter. I cannot believe how well she is doing in the water! Anna on the other hand- jumped in without her water wings and went straight to the bottom. Jim grabbed her- she came up with a smile- she is a fish. Well, a fish that doesn't know she can't swim, that is! We got those water wings on quickly!