Kindergarten Countdown

Micah will still have an IEP next year.  What I feared most was that the school district would say he did not meet the eligibility criteria to receive services.  He will attend mainstream, half-day kindergarten (yes, our district is one of those throw-backs to the 1960s) and receive 30 minutes of speech therapy per week aimed at improving speech and articulation.

Meanwhile the class size will increase from around 13 or so in both of his pre-kindergarten classes (which was up from six to nine in his Summit Speech School classes), so there will be more noise and voices to filter out to be able to hear the teacher.

They will also provide an FM system compatible with his BAHA.  Supposedly the principal had already contacted our case manager at Dutch Neck specifically about Micah and the FM system.

Micah will return to the ENT in August to have his ear canals freshly flossed out prior to the start of school and we'll be talking about getting a newer model BAHA for him.  I would like him to have one that sits a little more flush to his head.

We won't find out which of the four kindergarten teachers at Wicoff will have the privilege of teaching Micah.  Same for finding out about whose class Thea will be in.

And just when we thought all hopes for PIACS starting in the 2011-2012 school year an email came in saying that there is still a possibility that the school will open in September.

Vacation, in more ways than one

I haven't felt much like blogging since early May.  Too tired, too much to do and left undone at the end of the day.  Just not feeling it, feeling more like a hamster on a wheel.

Meanwhile, we finished the long march to the end of the school years for both kids, the end of spring soccer, the last Brownie troop meeting and making an autograph quilt for the troop leader (yes, smart move, figure out how to make a quilt and then start the quilting class four days later), the second grade field trip to the Philadelphia Zoo, the end of Mandarin Sunday school and its graduation ceremony, an unplanned trip to Dr. Choe to check out Micah's ears, Micah's final IEP meeting of the year, a solo trip to Maryland to see my mother, Micah's kindergarten orientation at Wicoff School, several South Brunswick zoning board hearings regarding the charter school, several birthday parties, the repair of a broken water pipe that sent our water bill sky high, the repair of another pipe in the lawn. . . . not necessarily in that order.  Photos of some of this included in the previous post.

And now the summer starts, with a rotating schedule of summer camp programs:  Princeton Friends Camp, YWCA, WW-P Community Education, YingHua.  To know where they'll be I need to consult the calendar in the Blackberry.

Meanwhile, I started a Learn-to-Quilt class at Olde City Quilts in Burlington.  LTQ means learning to sew a straight quarter of an inch seam on a Bernina sewing machine that is probably worth more than my car and learning how to measure and cut fabric without severing one's digits.  Thus far, after two classes we've made one square for the 12 patch sampler quilt, based on the rail fence pattern, and my fingers are intact.  Tuesday's class is being rescheduled, but whenever it gets rescheduled we'll be making a nine-patch and another patch with triangles whose name escapes me.  Homework is to cut the strips at home for those two pieces.  So far I'm liking it, but whether I'm good at it remains to be seen.

Once Upon a Time. . .

Micah's Pre-School Diploma, June 3, 2011

Micah and Steve at Pre-School Graduation at Beth Chaim

Jonathan, Kevin, Felicity and Thea - YingHua's A042 Class

Thea's YingHua Language School Certificate

Excavation in the family room

Learn-to-Quilt, Square One

Our First Dinner on the Patio: Thea, Jackson, Micah, Miles

Thea sack-racing, in mid-hop

Starting line-up for the Sack Race

Watersliding at Jesse's Birthday

The Egg Toss

Our pool is open. . . .

and the water rats have arrived.

Micah and Thea paddle-boating on Lake Mercer, Memorial Day

Last Day of Brownies: Bowling Party

Thea at the Brownie Bowling Party, June 3, 2011

Mama Duck and Ducklings at the pond at Rider University, June 5, 2011

I wrote a blog, until I got a) busy (which sounds better than) or b) lazy (closer to the truth).  

Thea and Micah both have Saturday recreational soccer, which is different and less structured than Fall soccer.  Supposedly it's more like pick-up games for the K-12 group - the second graders gather at four of the fields and the coaches divide them up into fairly even groups.  This past week was the first week there was two boys fields and one girls field, which I didn't notice because we arrived five minutes late and I stuck Thea on a field with an odd number of players with a teen-aged coach who she has played for a few weeks ago.  I didn't notice until a few minutes later that it was all boys and of the three fields being used, they were divided up according to gender (a first).  My bad, though it didn't even come up in conversation afterward with Thea since she was more bothered by the heat and having to run her butt off.

The major discovery of this weekend is finding the box that had the envelopes that have the children's adoption documents.  Amazingly in a box labeled 'Important Papers.'   Soon to be on their way to the safe-deposit box after I get their passport applications submitted.

I made another quick overnight trip to Maryland to see my mother at the beginning of the month, driving down on a Friday night after picking up Thea from the Brownies' canal hike and cook-out in Kingston.  Mom and I made the most of the day, we went to the National Lutheran Home's Spring Festival and swung around the Beltway for a stop at the German Deli in Virginia - and the GPS didn't fail me though it could have plotted a route avoiding Seven Corners.  Cucumber salad and Olde World salami, just the best.

Back in time to take Thea to Mandarin class on Sunday and for Mother's Day.  Micah and Thea both had crafts made in school.  Micah pronounced the pen with flowers attached to it that Thea made "lovely" which was just so cute.

Micah is finishing up at Beth Chaim preschool on June 3rd, which is also the second-grade field trip to the Philadelphia Zoo and the Brownies' bowling trip.  And it's the day I need to have the thank-you present finished for the Brownie leader.  The girls did their part at the meeting on Friday, Thea and I worked on it a bit tonight, and with a bit of luck I'll have something finished by then; it's an autograph quilt and the fabric is from Juliette's Closet and has a Brownie theme  (who'd've though that Thin Mints would be put onto fabric?).  Thea got three more Try-Its, her cookie patch and a one-year pin at the meeting.  The Try-Its are sewn on, but the patch is going to wait until I can re-do a couple of the other patches that got a little skewed while I was sewing them on by hand.

Summer Camps are lined up through the end of August.  The most anticipated, if you are Micah, is Princeton Friends Camp.  He loved PFC last year, and still sings some of the songs.

This post was written around May 22, 2011 and stashed in the draft folder, waiting for me to upload photos, which (to me, at least) are much more interesting than anything I write..

Boy Posse

A trio of neighborhood boys rang our doorbell a few minutes ago and asked if Thea could please come out and play.  Oh, and could she please bring her five light sabers?  And her Beyblade?

Eager, hopeful little faces, wanting my daughter to come out and (play) fight.

I am feeling very old at the moment.

And when airhead daughter returned home, she had a blond moment and could not find three of the light sabers.

Photo Catch-Up - Spring Break 2011

April 15:  Micah in the audiologist's booth at appointment with his ENT, wearing his soccer uniform and thinking he's all that and a bag of chips.  He had the debris removed from his ear canals prior to the audiometry and his audiogram was one of the best since his surgery.

April 18 at Oma's Special Park, running off some energy after being in the car for four hours.

April 18:  at OSP, Thea's haircut, from a different perspective.

April 19 at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, on the dragon pedal boats.  Thea's favorite part of this days.

April 20 at the Westmoreland Berry Farm in Oak Grove, Virginia, feeding corn to the goats.

April 20, feeding the goats without use of pulleys.  Micah wanted no part of getting goat spit on his hands.

April 20 at on the porch at Westmoreland Berry Farm with Oma and Marlyce, while Thea was feeding the goats.

April 22, visting our cousins, photo minus one (Emma was napping and missed the egg hunt.)

 Micah putting on his karate face, Thea enduring.

Elise and the cherry blossoms

Soccer, Worms, Reading and No TV

The spring soccer is mixed teams divided up on the day of the practice, with boys and girls playing together.  One of the boys on Thea's team took a direct hit from a well-kicked soccer ball right to the privates.  All the other boys erupted in laughter and Thea just looked at them and said, "I know why you think that's funny..."  I was proud of her because she walked right on to the field and started talking to the coach and told him right away, "I like playing defense better."

Right before soccer was the OLSAT test.  Poor little first-graders had to endure testing from 9:00 am to noon. The second- and third-graders just had to suffer through an hour.  Other than going to China, Egypt or Oman, I've not spent much time being a minority, but at the drop off for the test I think I saw maybe four other Caucasian parents.  Thea was pretty unperturbed by the test.  As all the other kids were being herded up the sidewalk to the school, she was stopping to pick up earthworms that were on the sidewalk from the rainstorm the previous night.  So not to be outdone by my sensitive child, I had to pick up some of the worms too to save them from being trampled.

Thea is reading the Young Reader's edition of Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, one of my all time favor books.  She has been incentivized by the promise of a reward when she's done. The good thing is seems to like the story and it's leading to good vocabulary additions:  meningitis, epilepsy, baptism, seizure, though it's a brain strain for me to get the concept of epilepsy into an explanation to fit a seven year old's frame of reference.

Thea and I are doing the Television Turn-Off week that started last Friday and goes through Thursday.  Today is the halfway mark and neither of us has touched the TV remote or our Nintendos.  After getting our passport photos done on Saturday, I let her have a look at Game Stop and she asked them to hold Pokemon Revolution (for the Wii) for her and we picked it up yesterday (she paid), and she didn't even waver about putting it in the box to be held until the reign of terror is over.

Little Brat in EDP

In Thea's years at Ying Hua International School, I think all of friends and all of the teachers knew she was adopted.  I don't think anyone, child or adult, every really commented on it, questioned either Thea or us.  There were several children who were adopted internationally and a couple who were adopted in the US.  Adoption just wasn't all that much of a big deal.

Friday I went to pick up Thea at Wicoff School's EDP (extended-day program), and she was sitting at a table with a bunch of girls (somewhat of a shock because she usually seems to hang around boys more), and as I snuck up behind her, I hear one of the the EDP ladies addressing the child sitting across from Thea, saying "You don't know the reasons for Thea's adoption."  It seems this beast told Thea that she was adopted because her birth parents didn't want her.

None of this seemed to faze Thea in the least, she was busy making hand-drawn Pokemon cards, but I wanted to shred that little future social misfit into a million tiny pieces.  Thea knows all about the day of her adoption, and what few details about her finding that we know.  We talk about it on and off at home, if it comes up, but we've never really had any conversations about what to say to people outside of our family. (And there will be those readers who say give the little cherub the benefit of the doubt, forgive, blah blah blah.  I saw her face, her expression was prissy, supercilious and mean.)

So while Thea got her lunch box, backpack and coat, I told the little beast, in as calm a tone as I could muster, that she could not presume to know the story of Thea's adoption because there are details that even we don't know and that what for me was the happiest event in my life was in all likelihood preceded by the saddest days for her birth family.  But of course the little girl didn't seem to be paying attention, but since I'd already turned to leave, I heard the EDP lady say to her, "Kayla, did you hear what Thea's mother said to you?" and began to repeat what I said, but by then we were out of the room.

Little Miss Kayla, you have a lot to learn, and if you don't get a little more sensitivity in your soul (if you even have one), the next mother whose children are adopted may not be as Gandhi-esque as me.  For now, you live and I'm glad that I only pick Thea up from EDP a few times per month.  And so much for wishing she had a few more female friends, she has her friends in Brownies and can hang with the boys for now.  All they seem to care about is video games, Pokemon, Bakugan and soccer, which is just fine.