Headed towards the big K!

I know this is two posts in a row on Hannah. I have some things to update soon on Sadie too and she's doing GREAT. But, I'm just feeling all sentimental about Hannah right now I guess. In less than one week, she starts kindergarten. Kindergarten..the big K...I really didn't think it's be that big of a deal to me. She's been in the school system since she was 3 (well, really about 3 weeks before her 3rd birthday!) in the preK program. She spent this past year in the same school she'll be in for kindergarten. I really thought I'd look at it as just another grade jump. And I did until recently. But I guess this week it's hit me that she's not a preschooler anymore. Kindergarten starts the big world of "elementary school". And it is different. Class size is bigger, not as many adults per classroom, new skills, higher expectations, not as much hand-holding as we do with our little bitty ones, more independence. And you know what though? I'm really not very nervous. I feel really really good about it. I love our school. It's a wonderful place to work and I think it's a wonderful place for a five year old (almost!) to start her journey through school. I'm thrilled with her teacher this year (but to be honest - there are so many good teachers!). And you know what else? She's READY.

One thing I've been a little concerned about for kindergarten prior to this moment was her age. She will most likely be the absolute youngest child in her class. She turns 5 August 30th. The cut-off date to start K is to be 5 by September 1st. I know of many parents who choose to delay kindergarten for their children who are very young for a year. And in many cases, it's a good choice. It's a choice I might have made for Hannah if circumstances were different. But, because she was already in the PreK program at her school and because that same PreK program doesn't accept children who are old enough for kindergarten (for a good reason I might add!) AND because not working is not an option for me (my kids and I all like to eat!), my only other choice would have been to pull her out of the school and put her somewhere else for a year, then bring her back to the school. To me, that was going backwards and didn't make any sense given her situation. So, I've known basically from the time I got Hannah, that at this moment, she would go to kindergarten ready or not. But like I said, she is READY! She's a quick learner with things that involve memorization. She's known her alphabet and numbers since she was 3. She's known most of the sounds for the letters for at least 1/2 a year now. Not due to any great effort on my part - she simply absorbs and remembers things like that. This summer she learned to create rhyming words (that was tough..but she did it because she wanted to and was determined. I did not work with her - she just kept constantly..CONSTANTLY saying "do these words rhyme?") She can tell you her whole name (and her chinese name), her phone number, her address, and my name. She can write her name. She can draw and cut and glue. She can follow directions and routines (in my opinion - far more important than the academic stuff at this age anyway). She's independant with almost every self-help skill needed: bathroom, hand-washing, clothing fasteners, opening her milk carton and snack, etc.. except she can't tie shoes yet (but I also know she certainly won't be alone in that area and she has velcro tennis shoes now anyway). She loves to look at books and make up stories. She puts on "shows" at home. She knows that a clock tells you what time it is and a calendar tells you what day it is. If you would have asked me in April, what was I concerned about for her transition to kindergaren, I would have told you: social skills and language. Socially, she has seemed to lag just a bit. Understandable..but I wanted her to have more confidence, be less sensitive when things didnt' go exactly her way, and handle conflicts with peers appropriately (i.e. - without falling apart). And I've talked before how she still has concerns with speech and language.

But this summer - she has again made huge jumps forward in both of those areas. See previous post about her and her little t-ball friend...yeah, I think she can handle conflicts. She has walked down the halls of school with me all week as I've been getting my classroom ready. She stops and talks to everyone. She tells them she is in kindergarten and she can tell them exactly where her room is (it's a big school so that's quite an accomplishment! But then again, this is the kid who gives me directions to go places and tells me when to turn right and left - accurately!)
Socially, she's going to be fine. Maybe too fine - I hope she doesn't get in trouble for talking too much! Hannah knows how to answer questions that could be perceived as sensitive with confidence. Questions like: why doesn't your mommy look like you? Where is your daddy? What happened to your mouth? You know, those questions parents of adopted kids know they will have to face one day. Hannah doesn't get them a lot..but she has gotten them and she can answer them. She's compassionate and knows how to make good choices. (I'm NOT saying she always makes the right choice- but she does know how to). Language..well, she still struggles some with that. That's why she's still in speech. But it's so not a big deal. She has some weird word order sometimes and her questions skills still need fine-tuning. Sometimes she asks "how" when she means "why" or she answers "when" like it's a "where" or things like that. But with a little patience and clarification, her teacher will be able to make Hannah understand what she's asking for. (And her teacher this year will be great at that!).

Today, I had Hannah's end-of-session final conference for speech. We do it every semester so this was her summer semester conference. I was shown a report on a language sample that was done earlier this summer that measured Hannah's growth in language. And the speech student's advisor and I talked about Hannah's progress not just this summer but over the last two years. It's amazing. She is now only scoring about 6 months behind her peers in language. That means at almost 5 years old, her language ability is about that of a four and a half year old. That's HUGE! There are still some speech articulation delays..but that also has improved dramatically. In fact, I noticed this summer that I was no longer interpreting for Hannah to people we don't know. In the past, if Hannah got into a conversation with a new friend or someone who wasn't very familiar with her speech patterns, I found that I often had to interpret some of what she was saying. I'm not sure when it hit me that I hardly ever do that anymore. Even though she has errors in her speech, the majority of the time, people understand her and she can stand on her own. She also has the confidence to try again when they don't. She'll say, "no - I said...." and repeat it. Her progress is nothing short of a miracle. I mean, this is the kid who two years ago couldn't make ANY sounds except vowels, m, and w. I'm so grateful to her surgeon and cleft team, to her wonderful speech therapists she's had (she's never had a bad one! they've all been great!), her preschool teachers, and mostly I'm grateful to God for placing this incredibly spunky, persevering, determined little girl in my life and then allowing me to see His work in her. Yeah, she's ready for the big world of kindergarten! And I'm so proud of her!