Ve's Certificate of Citizenship arrived today. A letter accompanies this certificate. Ve's and Tuks were signed by (a copy of) President Bush. Cool, each has a letter by the President welcoming them to the USA.
BUT,.....Then I sat and thought about it and realized Mim will have one signed by President Obama, the first African American President in the history of the USA...WOW, how cool is that for her. I think COC's are special anyway, but to have one signed by a President that made history is very special indeed.
I had to remove Ve from gymnastics class this morning. Her teacher was a young college man. This particular fella had no control of his four kids. There is a total of 14 kids and 3 teachers. Each teacher takes a group of kids. Ve's teacher had the smallest group, and I think the oldest kids. Ve was without a doubt purposely testing him to see if he would make her listen to what he had wanted the girls to do. Last week and then again this week I reminded the teacher that even though she has little English words, she understands A LOT, and please make her mind your instructions, because she is a kid after all, and she will test and get away with as much as possible. Well, my requests went on deaf ears and Ve had a hey day with it.
She didn't listen well the entire time (along with the other 3), but I let it go hoping she and the teacher would get their act together. But, about 15 minutes left in the class, when I actually saw her running away from him when he half attempted to get her to follow along, I stepped in (hate to do this) and pulled her out. She was so unhappy with me, she attempted to bite me, but I said no, took her outside the classroom, dressed her and then we waited for Tuks to finish. Tuks has been doing great with listening and following along in the class for the last 2 weeks and boy did I praise her up in front of Ve. Believe me, Ve knew she messed up, but we will try again next week!! The little stinker!!!!
I am quickly realizing that she needs teachers/coaches with tight reins for management or otherwise, she will do whatever she wants to. Something that I work on at home, and something that she will need reinforced at school/gymnastics class. I feel until our communication is better, this management will have to come from external boundaries until I can start talking with her about her own internal boundaries of right and wrong behavior.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
COC - President's Letter and Boundaries
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
My Travels
2 comments:
I don't have adopted kids at home yet, but I think you are on the right track. She will get the message pronto. Everything I have ever heard is that they thrive on structure. It's easy for me to see why after visiting the older kids location last year, too. Good basic care but kids should not be raising themselves which is the nature of an orphanage.
Wish me luck with mine. Especially my little one. She is way wilder than Ve!
Very cool about the letters, I agree!
Discipline is so hard when you don't have good communication yet. Sounds like you're doing all the right stuff. As her English gets better and she gets more comfortable in her place within your family and with what's expected of her, I bet things will get a lot better.
I'm so excited that Medina's COC will come with a letter from President Obama too.
Post a Comment