School, Feelings, and Donny

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL: 2007

School has begun. Hannah has adjusted beautifully. She once again loves her class and her teachers. She did cry today (on the 6th day of school) for the first time, but not when I dropped her off. She cried when it was time for speech (which is normal..it was the first one. She has always cried the first time she's gone to speech anywhere..she never cries the second time) for just a little. And she cried when her class went to they gym. For the first time, I wasn't there. Our classes have the gym at the same time. So I always see her there. But today, I had stayed in my room to deal with a situation I needed to handle and sent my class on without me (with my aides of course!). So, Hannah saw my class and not me and when I got there she was crying. But, after a quick hug, she was fine and ready to go play. That happened several times last year where I needed to not be in the gym, and it usually didn't bother her. But, she's still new at this school so not quite as confident I guess. Though, you'd never know it by her attitude the rest of the day. She marches in her classroom and announces "I'm here!". She parades down the hall with me before and after school (as we're heading to her room and leaving) and stops EVERYONE to say "hey! I got a new backpack. It's sparkly!".

She is getting pretty good at talking about her feelings these days. Which is also kind of funny. She's always SHOWN her feelings, and it's neat to see her now name them. "I am happy". "I sad", "It's scaring me", "I mad!". Today after school, I asked her if she went to speech. Here's our conversation:

Me: "Did you go to speech today?"

H: "Yes"

Me: "Did you have fun?'

H: "Yes" (she really did too, once she got past the first few minutes)

Me: "What did you do there?"

H: "I cry. I sad"

Me: "Why were you sad?
H: "I miss my class".

On the way home, she was happily chit chatting about other things such as her snack, circle time, etc. Then she got quiet for a while. And then she said "mommy, I sad in gym. I missed you". So, we talked about how I was sorry she was sad, and sometimes I had to do work in my classroom for a few minutes, but I was still at school and would see her later. And then she was fine, off on some other conversation about drawing with chalk in art.

Later she started telling me about a little boy in her class (who she named, but I won't) who touched her and she didn't like it. (He wasn't being mean, she was just in one of those moods at the moment I guess and didn't want him to touch her). I said "Did you tell him 'please stop?'. She said "NO WAY! Keep hands to yourself! Be nice Hannah!" (translated: "no way! I said keep your hands to yourself. Be nice to Hannah!")

Hannah's speech and language still has a good ways to go, but I've been reminded this week just how far she has come! That she can not only tell me what she did at school, but answer some simple questions (though that one is still hard for her), and even describe how she was feeling. That is amazing to me!

(this cool bus loft is in my classroom. Hannah loves it and plays on it after school while I finish whatever I need to do before we head home)

As far as MY first week at school: I love my school, the people I work with, and the kids. I do have a challenging group this year, but that's okay. I had REALLY easy classes the last two years. I guess God knew I needed a break during the time I was doing the paperwork and in Hannah's first year home. And it was very nice that I had that. But now He's said "hey, I got some kids I need you to work with. Get busy!". And that's good, because I like a challenge.

Speaking of Hannah expressing her feelings, she has two "mad faces". One is her genuine mad face that kids get when they are really mad. But the other is her "I want you to think I'm mad, but I'm really not" face. When I tell her to do something that she doesn't particularly want to do, or she asks for something she can't have, she gets this look on her face:

(This one was "staged", but it's pretty close to what I actually get spontaneously!)

I think at first, she really thought this look intimidated me. But now, if I just look at her and wait, she can't hold it in for long. She'll break out into a big smile and start laughing. Then, we move on to whatever it was she was supposed to be doing. I must say, it's a FAR better thing for both of us then the meltdowns and mini-meltdowns of her early days and better than the whining of her later days. Not to say those NEVER occur, but now they are reserved for when she's really tired or REALLY upset over something. So, my friends who just returned from Wuhan with your own strong-willed children: take heart! The "fall apart everytime they're told no" thing won't last forever! :-)

And who is Donny from the title of this post? Well, tonight Hannah wanted to look at her "China pictures". So we did. And we looked at the ones her foster parents had taken with the disposable camera I'd sent to her. We've looked at them before, but not in a while. All the pictures are of just Hannah except one that includes an older boy (maybe 7ish). I've always thought that was her foster brother. I know she had a foster brother that was older and the orphanage director had said that was who she was most attached to. But, when I showed Hannah the pictures earlier, she did not react to the picture of this boy at all. And her language wasn't to the point she could really explain or answer questions about what she remembered. Now, I honestly don't know if she remembers much about her foster family or not. I wish I had pictures of them for her, but that's not allowed from her orphanage. But, I really do think this boy is her foster brother. So anyway, we were flipping through the pictures and when we got to that one, Hannah said "Look!". I asked "who is that?". She said "that..that..that..somebody else". I asked "was he your brother in China? Did he live in your house in China?". She said yes. (but I don't really know if she really remembers or was just answering that way). I asked "What was his name?". Her answer: "His name Donny". Ha! I don't know where she heard the name Donny, but I really doubt that was his name. Although, I'd love to know if in fact his name was something Chinese that sounded kind of like that..hmm..some questions may just always be unanswered.