Spring Break and Beyond

March flew by so fast. We went to the beach again this year, and we were happy to have Grandpa join us for part of the week. Don't let the pictures fool you, we did have horrible weather. Only two days WITHOUT constant rain. Buckets of rain and strong winds makes for going outside miserable. We watched a lot of movies and did some shopping, and eating of course.

It was relaxing but we were ready to come home and get back to normal. Deiana has some upcoming doctor appointments and we will be discussing her next surgery, the dreaded bone graft. Not looking forward to that.

School Project

Deiana has had some large school projects this year, requiring complete assistance at home. Reports, speeches, art projects and class presentations. I don't mind helping out with projects, and teaching her how to research and design, and practicing with presentations, but I do think these projects should go along with things learned at school.

Her most recent project, a report, speech with visual aid on president Benjamin Harrison was assigned. It was even suggested to do a power point presentation! Really...I don't know any second graders who can create and put on a PowerPoint presentation, and I don't really need such a project myself.

In starting out, I don't think Deiana even knows what a president is. So, in questioning her she in fact does not really know what a president is, or what the United States are for that matter. She claims they have never talked about presidents, The United States, individual states, or any type of American History in class. NOTHING. I realize she has missed out on a lot in her childhood, but she has been attending school since kindergarten.

So we spend the day at square one, learning about the history of the United States of America, what a president is and does, and the separate states. Then I felt comfortable "helping" her research her assigned president for the paper and making a second grade level poster that is understandable to her.

We now must tackle the speech. It has taken all day for her to remember (and be able to say) Benjamin Harrison! I wonder how many other parents are enjoying their project....

March

This is how we welcomed March! Lovely snow and 2 hour late start for school. Ready for spring!! Barely made it home from work!

Little Slippers, 4 years ago

I am feeling nostalgic today, 4 years ago today we arrived in the USA with our new little girl. Even though she was 4 1/2 years old, looking back she was so small and toddler like. When cleaning out a drawer today I came across her little slippers from the orphanage (aka green building). For those who know, in the orphanage the children always wear slippers inside instead of shoes, same ones every day. The slippers Deiana had were extremely worn out and tiny. Her little feet seemed bound up inside them. They are the only thing we have from the green building.

While we were there we bought her some new slippers that actually fit. Cute and pink, appropriate for a girl. They were from a Ukrainian market. She wore them every day at the green building from then on. When we gave her the new ones, we left the old ones on top of her locker old and worn out as they were. Days later they were still sitting there, so I kept them. I think they wanted us to take them, as they never left anything out of place. She never wore the pink slippers again after leaving the green building.

These are her slippers today. You can see the huge difference in size! Her feet grew so fast for the first couple of years. They have finally slowed down and she can actually outwear her shoes instead of outgrow them.

She missed so much during those first four and a half years, having all of her growth stunted, in every way. But I guess her experiences made her the girl she is today, and the reason she is our daughter.

Notice her slippers are very new, she still chooses not to wear any!