Wednesday, December 12, 2007

First Day of School


Today started with much primping as Kristina tried to use the straightener on her naturally wavy hair. By the time we arrived to school, it was already turning under on the ends. She was a bundle of nervous energy as the secretary called back to the classroom. Her teacher walked up to the office to walk her to class personally. A quick kiss from her lip glossed mouth and off she went. I said a silent prayer and headed home to try and make some order of the chaos of the house.

I could hear her and Hannah before they even got to the door this afternoon. She skimmed past me, dropping her book bag on the chair, and headed to her room to look for something. "Wait! Come here! How was school?" I shouted after her. "She did good, Mom," Hannah offered. Eventually she reemerged and said, "First I don't like, but then I like. There are many good girls. They are very good to me." Hannah confirmed that the other girls had been kind and inclusive with Kristina. "Can I ride bike, Mama?" she asked, hand perched on her hip. "Is that it? What else happened today?" I probed. She shrugged and waited for me to dismiss her. I raised my eyebrows and said, "Anything else you want to tell me?" Looking up to the ceiling, she twisted her face up thinking back over the events of the day. "Boy talked to me, but I didn't talk to him," she added. I shook my head and waved her towards the door.

Well, she survived. I'm sure we'll have our bumps along the way, but she made it through today.

9 comments:

Gryphonette said...

That is SO great that Kristina can speak English reasonably well, so can be mainstreamed right off the bat.

We put Dmitry in the "International School" a week after he got home and it was an unmitigated disaster. After a week and a half we pulled him out, as virtually every other student spoke Spanish (except for another girl from his orphanage only the school wouldn't permit them to be together, can you believe it?), so not only could he not communicate with his family, he couldn't communicate at school, either.

Not to mention which, to Russian ears English and Spanish sound very similar, so he couldn't tell if he was supposed to be able to understand something or not.

Very, very pleased dear Kristina's experience was completely different!

Anne in Fort Worth

Ashley said...

So glad her first day of school went well. It is great that Hannah is there with her. I am sure that helps a lot.

Robb said...

Nice to see Kristina has completed her first day of school. Such a big day in her life. Thanks for sharing your journey. So nice to see older children being adopted. You have given Kristina a new direction. Happy Holidays!!!

Nataliya said...

How exciting that she was able to start school so soon! Congratulations on the first day of school and please keep us posted!

Anonymous said...

Happy to see that you made it home with Kristina. We adopted a little girl from Odessa in Dec of last year. From baby home 3. Glad that every thing went will with her at school. Our Daughter started preschool this year. She is doing great it in.
Congratulation.
Have a great Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.

Kathy and Matt said...

It sounds like she did wonderfully on her first day. I love the comment about the boy talking to her!

It's so great to read your last posts since you've gotten home!
Congrats!

Jim H. said...

Get ready for that homework mom! Kristina looks precious. It is such a joy to see her at home. I've got a feeling she's going to make an impression at her new school!

Melissa E. said...

That whole a-boy-talked-to-me thing is only going to be more and more frequent...she is a very lovely girl!

I am glad Hannah is such a good sister to her.

Anonymous said...

I have happy tears for you. I have prayed for you for a long time and though we've never met, you are my friends. Welcome home, sweet girl. Welcome home, mama. hugs, Beth