Katie starts Kindergarten!

We've been working hard with Katie all summer to get her ready for Kindergarten. This child has just amazed us. She has learned so much in just three months--like I said, it's just amazing. We truly believe that she has lost her Chinese language unfortunately. This child has switched from speaking ALOT of Chinese when we first got her and singing songs in Chinese to speaking sentences in English. She is not fluent by no means but her English vocabulary is increasing daily. I took her to her school several times and she met her teacher and seem very ready to begin school. She said the night before school started though, "I'm a little scaryed." Remember that is how she says that she is scared. When I went in to wake them for school and said today is the day, she started crying and said she was scared. This lasted for a few minutes and then she was fine. She got right on the bus with big sister leading the way. Marie said Katie did fine until they got close to Marie's school and she knew Marie had to get off the bus and she had to stay on. Marie said Katie started crying hard--so hard her face was red. Marie felt so bad for her sister that she also began to cry. I met Katie at her school a half hour later and she got off the bus and was fine. She said just "Mom I cried a littled when Marie got off the bus.". She walked right into her classroom and seemed very comfortable there. She has a good friend in her class that was also adopted from China. We are good friends with the family. Katie got off the bus after an hour ride by herself and said "Kindergarten is fun!" Thanks Goodness!!! I read Marie's homewook paper from fourth grade after this day and the question was "Would you like to attend a one room school house and if so why?" Marie answered "Yes so that I could be with my sister." This just really touched my heart. There were several other questions and every answer had Marie's sister somewhere in there. One of my favorite pictures is the one where Marie is holding her hand and heading out to the bus--SISTERS!!!

Three Months Since Gotcha Day!

Boy it's hard to believe that tomorrow, August 9, it will be three months since Katie walked into our hotel room and entered our lives. We are one of the very fortunate families to have had such an easy transition. Looking back at her Gotcha Day pictures, we can see how scared she was, but she was so brave. She is doing absolutely wonderful and her English is coming along great. She will be starting Kindergarten in just two more weeks. She is nervous about this since big sister goes to a different school this year. Yesterday I took her to her school and we walked around and she saw her classroom. This made her feel much better. In the last month, Katie had major dental work done (six cavities filled, two partial root canals, and two crowns). Thank goodness they put her under so she doesn't remember any of the work that was being done. She also had her cleft team appointment in Cincinnati Childrens Hospital. This went wonderful. The doctors said she will not need her bone graft in her gum line for about two more years. The doctors could not believe how well she was speaking English after only being home eight weeks. The speech pathologist said her speech was wonderful but she has just a little nasal sound on her S words. She is going to retest her in six months. We've also been in touch with Katie's foster family. They somehow got ahold of our name and address and had sent us a package in June for Katie's birthday. I then in turn wrote a letter to them and sent with many pictures of Katie's birthday party. Just this week, we received another letter from them. They are so happy for Katie. It is obvious they loved her and cared for her very much. We now have their address, phone number and guess what--they even have an e-mail address they sent. Now I can e-mail pictures to them. The girls are getting a long so much better. I really saw a turning point at around two months. They rarely fight now. In the first month, Katie would get upset about not getting her way and would cross her arms and pout and cry but I haven't seen her do that in a long time. She is still a little cautious around Daddy. I think it's because he is big and has a deep voice. Here is a little girl who used to be very nervous riding her bike or hated getting splashed in the face in the swimminig pool. Now she rides her bike just fine all by herself and practically lives under water in the pool! The company where Jim works sent the employees and families down to Kings Island (an amuzement park) three weeks ago. She had a ball riding the rides. About two weeks ago she stopped needing Mommy to lay with her until she went to sleep. It's a wonderful feeling knowing she trusts us. Just in the last week she has started calling me Mother. It is really cute. We were at an anniversary party with a lot of people and I walked away from her thinking she was with her sister. I heard her calling "Mother, Mother". I went over and she said, "Mother where were you? I was calling Mother! Mother! and I was scaryed" (that is how she says scared) She is just too darn cute I tell you. We have sure been blessed with a wonderful child. I am so thankful for our entire family.