Zoya's first week of school went fabulously! Her teacher is AH-mazing :) Every single day I picked her up she gave Zoya a compliment about her day. Talk about building trust and confidence. I really like the Montessori concept and Zoya's teacher really seems to understand that Zoya really needs to build a foundation of trust and know that she is safe, in order to effectively learn. Her teacher is the perfect mixture of nurture and high expectations.
Zoya has this amazing talent, you see, where she can walk into a room of 25 people and find each and every single person who has low expectations for her and totally play those people. Seriously, I don't know how she does it, but she certainly knows when she can get away with behaving in a way she'd never get away with here. I'm so happy that her teacher already has her card and knows that she is capable of behaving like her friends. Of course Zoya struggles a little more with some aspects of behavior such as attention to task and impulsivity, but she can clearly follow the same directions (just maybe with more prompting) as the rest of her class.
Zoya comes home each day exhausted, but singing songs she has learned and talking about her favorite friends. Sometimes she tells me things that really happened, while other times her information is not so accurate! haha! Her speech is still limited, but I try hard to ask a lot of questions about her day. I'm so proud of her great first week. I know not every week will be just as great, but I'm confident with her team this year, we can roll with the punches and make adaptations/accommodations that are in Zoya's best interest!
Yay Zoya! And HOORAY for a teacher with high expectations!
ReplyDeleteI almost said "great expectations" but I think Dickens is a little too literary for Zoya at this age...
Way to go Sweet girl! Hope you have many more weeks JUST like this one!! <3
ReplyDeleteI have been working from the beginning forward on your blog for weeks now. I am so blessed to be able to read about you and your fantastic family. My new husband and I are very drawn to adoption through RR, and as soon as we are in a home where we can have a home study I know we will be ready to commit to one of the angel's listed. My heart is overtaken by Yana, and it so hard to know that right now we can't go get her, and praying that she finds a home very quickly with some great mommy and daddy while knowing you want her in your home with you but can't.
ReplyDeleteI know you have to be in a bigger than a 1 bedroom house to have a home study, and we plan on buying a home after the first of the year, what else will we need to do before committing to a child? We got married just a couple of weeks ago, is there a minimum of years married to adopt? I actually live in the same city as Carrington's family and have been reading their blog from when you started it, so I just contacted her also. I hope I get to meet her.
Fun fact, I was thrilled when I saw you started Zoya in Therapeutic Horseback Riding, because that is what I do! I have seen my kiddos with DS improve leaps and bounds through the therapy and I just love working with them. I want to grab all of those poor neglected kiddos off of the RR website and sit them on a horse :)
Thank you again for being such a faithful blogger, it really brings encouragment to those of us reading, and for just a little while I get to live in your joy of having those precious babies that I just can't wait to have of my own!
Gotta give a girl credit for TRYING to get away with something! That's too funny!! Thank goodness she's in a place where they understand about accountability while nurturing and building trust. You go Zoya!!! Yay for you having such a great week!!! (((BIG HUGS)))!!!
ReplyDeleteSo glad things went so wonderfully for your sweet girl, Sarah! Did Mila seem to miss not having her big sister around? I bet she enjoyed some special time with mama and daddy! Way to go, Zoya--keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteI'm thrilled that the first week was a great success. As we enter the first week of preschool here I hope we have the same results. Although I'm not sure who is more nervous her or me. :)
ReplyDeleteI love Zoya's excitement over school and her readiness to face things in front of her. I share the photos with Izzy and we talk over what Zoya is doing and I just pray that is helping to ease her fears.
So proud of you Zoya!
Hi Sarah I loved reading your adoption story.ay update on Laina? I did not see anything after September 2011 and I was wondering if she was still in the orphanage unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteHI
ReplyDeleteI have been following your blog since the first day.
I don't usually comment, but this time i feel i should.
I found a blog about a couple who is adopting two Children from EE, and the conditions that this children are living cannot be describe in words.
They have adopted 5 children in two years , so all their savings are 0.
They are trying to finish this adoption in two months, because one of the children is in so bad conditions, that they dont think that he will survive more that 2 month in the institution that he is living , but they don't have the money needed to bring them home in that time and they are asking us to share and help.
Please all the readers please, please go here
http://doloski.blogspot.com/2012/09/raising-funds-for-real-life-love-story.html
or here
http://www.tinygreenelephants.com/2012/09/urgent-prayer-request-for-everett.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TinyGreenElephants+%28Tiny+Green+Elephants%29
Please donate , share , pray... all that, is really really needed.
I don't even know them, but I feel that I have to do something.
Please ,please help