November

wu yi happy wu yi likes school i like to play with my friends eva

In case you were wondering how Wu Yi is doing in school, here she is getting ready to board the bus!  She has been riding the bus independently for the past two months.  Most of the time Evan is with her, but sometimes he has to go earlier by car for marimbas practice.  She typed the sentence below the picture ~ I only had to tell her how to spell "happy", "school" and "friends".  She loves that it is cold enought to wear her hot pink coat from China, and I love that she is so easy to find when she has it on!  :)

She continues to be in a regular 2nd grade classroom most of the day, with some time out to work with the ESL (English as a 2nd language) teacher, the speech therapist, and the reading specialists.  When in the regular classroom, she is frequently paired up with another student to work on assignments (usually her best friend Grace who is extremely smart!).  Wu Yi isn't bothered with receiving help, but when she is ready to do the material alone, she make that message very clear.  Her teacher says she is quick to raise her hand, rarely seems frustrated, and works very hard to follow along.  She is almost caught up to 2nd grade level in many of her math concepts (which she had started in China).  She gets many comments on how neat her writing is (another skill she mastered in China).  She has worked hard to master a good understanding of most of the alphabet sounds, and with this skill, she is starting to sound out words!  Whenever we read together, she drags her finger along under the words.  She has always loved to draw pictures and now she is adding captions to them.  In the car, she is initiating spelling games.  She gets her weekly homework assignments every Monday (some of it is the same as her classmates, and some of it is modified for her) and she is eager to get it done ASAP.  Such a bright and motivated girl! 

She continues to be very social and talks endlessly about her American girlfriends!

Wu Yi's first school concert, held on Veteran's Day.  The theme is "America"!  For several weeks leading up to this performance, she was singing her little heart out around the house ~ songs like "America the Beautiful" and "You're a Grand Old Flag".  She, of course, had to wear red, white, and blue on the big night.  She did really well!  I'm sure it must have been intimidating to stand before an auditorium of parents and be in the front row.  I was very emotional watching her.   This little Chinese girl who no longer speaks Mandarin, who only wants the blue eyed blonde Barbies, who hands the chop sticks back and asks for a fork instead.  I didn't want her to lose these things, but I realize that, for her, this is survival.  Its best to just let it happen.  Maybe down the road, she will look back and find her Asian heritage.

She continues to talk about her life in China, however.  I've learned more about her life with "Grandma", her foster mom that raised her from 18 months to 5 years.  We found a photo of the two of them together (thanks Ruby) and I framed an 8x10 of it and Wu Yi has it next to her bed.  She misses this woman very much and I am frustrated to not be able to communicate with her directly.  I send photos of Wu Yi to the orphanage every few months and can only hope they might share this information with Grandma.  Wu Yi tells me she was a foster mom to several of the orphanage kids and that she only lives a short walk away.  They were very poor, lived in a tiny house which leaked when it rained (Wu Yi would get wet in her bed).  They didn't have indoor plumbing and the outhouse smelled very bad.  They occasionally looked for food in the street.  Wu Yi was very nervous sharing some of these details with me.  I think she was afraid I would judge her or Grandma for being so poor.  You would never know she endured these living conditions, as she is very meticulous about grooming and food habits.  Grandma was always very kind to Wu Yi and when she was taken to live in the orphanage (to be placed for adoption), it was a tearful and difficult separation for both of them. I wish I could thank her for raising such a wonderful girl.

Wu Yi never understood why she went to the orphanage.  She grew to be happy there, especially to be surrounded by so many friends.  She didn't know it was temporary.  She didn't understand that all of the kids there were waiting for new permanent homes.  She is just now starting to understand the story of her life and the lives of her friends.  Its fortunate that both Evan and I have our own adoption stories to share with her, as this information is overwhelming for her to process.  She really handles it well though.  She is filled with questions and she also has some answers for me.   Together we are figuring it out!

First snow!