School
When you birth a baby the time between meeting your child and the day they go off to school is long and filled with years of beautiful moments together. But when your heart gives birth to a five year old who asks daily if she can go to school, that time together at home significantly shrinks. It is a miracle that after only two months home we are even talking about school. It is an even greater miracle that she may even attend a regular kindergarten class at our elementary school next fall. She wants to go. She needs to go. And most of my being is excited for her and thankful for this incredible opportunity.
But there is another part of my soul that was hesitant to make that first call to the school. The part of my heart that still needs to grieve the time lost. We have spent the past two months on a whirlwind tour of childhood. Playing with baby toys, going through picture board books, spending the mornings at the park and the afternoons up to our elbows in chalk and playdoh. She has progressed from being carried in the backpack, to riding in the stroller, to walking beside me. She will now sit through a simple story book and today she wrote the letter A.It has felt like parenting in fastforward.
I kept saying that I was waiting for the MRI results before we called the school. And I was. But I think there was another part of me that just wasn't ready to think about her going away to school. It took me another week to make the call. I started to do it about three or four times and just kept doing the dial and hang-up dance. Took a deep breath, prayed for the strength and actually allowed the call to go through.
When you call to set up an appointment with the school you talk to the assistant principal. Just the night before this phone conversation, she had a long conversation with Eliana at a school fundraiser. I had no idea and neither did Kevin. Guess we were really keeping a close eye on our kids. The AP wasn't sure if she was just a friend of our family or a new addition to our crew, but learned all about Elie's new shoes and knee high socks. She couldn't believe that she had only known English for 2 months. The conversation calmed my nerves and we set up an appointment to begin this party.
So Monday was our initial get together with the assistant principal, speech specialist, kindergarten teacher, special education teacher, guidance counselor, school psychologist and a woman that does educational testing. I left the meeting feeling encouraged and supported.
Apparently playing with play doh and going to the playground is just what the teacher orders. And having a crazy three year old sister who talks to you incessantly from sun up to sun down is also helpful. I love that the guidance counselor stressed how important it was for Eliana to be home right now and that bonding was top priority. Just what this mamas heart had needed to hear. Each person there shared that they cannot wait to meet her and to work with our family. The next step is to have her evaluated for dual language testing. This will determine if she should be tested in English or Mandarin. I know she understands and can speak way more Mandarin, but good luck to anyone trying to get her to do just that. I told her this evening that at the testing tomorrow she should tell the teacher "Ni Hao". Elie told me "I don't want to Ni Hao." This should be interesting.
But there is another part of my soul that was hesitant to make that first call to the school. The part of my heart that still needs to grieve the time lost. We have spent the past two months on a whirlwind tour of childhood. Playing with baby toys, going through picture board books, spending the mornings at the park and the afternoons up to our elbows in chalk and playdoh. She has progressed from being carried in the backpack, to riding in the stroller, to walking beside me. She will now sit through a simple story book and today she wrote the letter A.It has felt like parenting in fastforward.
I kept saying that I was waiting for the MRI results before we called the school. And I was. But I think there was another part of me that just wasn't ready to think about her going away to school. It took me another week to make the call. I started to do it about three or four times and just kept doing the dial and hang-up dance. Took a deep breath, prayed for the strength and actually allowed the call to go through.
When you call to set up an appointment with the school you talk to the assistant principal. Just the night before this phone conversation, she had a long conversation with Eliana at a school fundraiser. I had no idea and neither did Kevin. Guess we were really keeping a close eye on our kids. The AP wasn't sure if she was just a friend of our family or a new addition to our crew, but learned all about Elie's new shoes and knee high socks. She couldn't believe that she had only known English for 2 months. The conversation calmed my nerves and we set up an appointment to begin this party.
So Monday was our initial get together with the assistant principal, speech specialist, kindergarten teacher, special education teacher, guidance counselor, school psychologist and a woman that does educational testing. I left the meeting feeling encouraged and supported.
Apparently playing with play doh and going to the playground is just what the teacher orders. And having a crazy three year old sister who talks to you incessantly from sun up to sun down is also helpful. I love that the guidance counselor stressed how important it was for Eliana to be home right now and that bonding was top priority. Just what this mamas heart had needed to hear. Each person there shared that they cannot wait to meet her and to work with our family. The next step is to have her evaluated for dual language testing. This will determine if she should be tested in English or Mandarin. I know she understands and can speak way more Mandarin, but good luck to anyone trying to get her to do just that. I told her this evening that at the testing tomorrow she should tell the teacher "Ni Hao". Elie told me "I don't want to Ni Hao." This should be interesting. 
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