Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Proud to be Canadian!
It's official! Dania is Canadian! We got the certificate in the mail yesterday and it was issued November 12! Only 4 days shy of 15 months of her landing on Canadian soil and she is now Canadian! I was so happy when I walked in the door and Mike said, "guess who is Canadain?!?!" She had no idea why I was making her hold the certificate and smile but she did it anyway and looks SO proud!
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Transition
A lot has happened and that is why it has taken so long to post again!
Firstly, I received a letter from Canadian Citizenship Services asking me to mail her actual permanent resident card as it gets sent back to immigration officials once citizenship is granted. This must mean I filled out the forms correctly! Yeah! It was definitely not a document asked for in the initial package (just a certified true copy) and if they are asking for it now, I would think that would mean they are ready to grant it but, just like an old passport, they can't have a legal document flitting around that could be misused. It is now in the self-addressed envelope (postage not paid with a fancy government prepaid stamp grrr) ready to be dropped in the mailbox.
We also had a followup eye appointment. This went okay. She def didn't want to sit still for the evaluations this time, probably because she can see all the cool stuff in the office now. We have some homework from them. I have the kids version of the letter eye charts (house, apple, circle, square) and I am to work on those with her at home while covering one side of her glasses at a time. The worry is that because her prescription is much stronger on the one side that she might only really be using one side to look at things. Basically, I have to first get her used to having one glasses lens covered and then work up to having naming lines on that eye chart. We go back in January for them to look at this specifically.
Halloween was an interesting experience for her. She had no idea what it all meant and won't remember it, but totally had fun knocking on doors and saying trick or treat. Daddy collected the candy for her so I don't even think she really understood that she was getting candy. She doesn't ask for it now with the bag sitting in Mike's office. She just liked that she could finally go touch all the pumpkins on everyone's porch!
She has now also transitioned into daycare one day a week! I really needed the day and I needed her to learn to be in a big group because she just shuts down if it is a group bigger than four or five kids. By shutting down I mean standing and staring, and not taking-it-all-in staring... zombie staring where she isn't focused on anything. It's obvious anxiety or feelings of some sort being stirred up from when she was in the orphanage and I want that worked out before she can go to preschool in 3-1/2 months! We got into one where she knows one boy (who will be moving up to preschool at the end of this month so he can't become a crutch) to help her out and she clearly was happy about that!
We did a transition week where I stayed with her the first day and we played for 2 hours. She took in the room and the kids and was clingy but she definitely wanted to participate.
The second day I stayed for an hour and then left here there for 2. She cried a lot. I could tell when I picked her up that she'd been crying (she is going to be an ugly crier. Instant red blotches and super puffed up eyes). I guess she had kept saying, "I need Mama!" Heartbreaker!
Day three had me dropping her and leaving right away and her staying for lunch. The ladies told me she cried for a little at the beginning but then settled in and participated in the crafts and stories. Got a little sad outside because they think she thought she was going home when they got her dressed for outdoors, but she cheered up and ran around. Then she ate a good bowl of quinoa and many handfuls of grapes. She was very excited to see me and we have now worked out that when she gets said and says, "no Mama go," that I ask her if Mama comes back, to which she responds, "yeeeaaaaa," in a sad voice. Hahaha! I also noticed that she has started to ride her scoot-around at home by standing on the back wheel rod and holding the handlebars and kicking with her one leg so it is more like a scooter. I noticed that a lot of the kids do this on the playground so she obviously took that to heart!
Day four she cried for about 5 minutes when I left her and then was fine. She stayed for nap this day too. They said she got upset when she woke up, understandable though since she's never waken up here before! I picked her up shortly after nap time was done and she was quite gibberish-full on the way home!
The last transition day, her first full day, they said she cried for about 30 seconds and then had a great day. She did art and participated in the stories, napped, ate some lunch (good to hear that it's not just us that she doesn't want to eat her whole meal for!), and had a great time. She is definitely more vocal since this week (screeching! grrrr) but my hope was that it helps her speech develop and I think that will come very quickly for her. My other hope is that it helps her stick up for herself and become more assertive. Right now, she lets herself have her toys taken from her, gives up her places in line on playground equipment (even if she is sitting at the top of the slide she will move if she sees another kid is halfway up the ladder) and her turn in games. She lets herself be pushed and doesn't say anything and I don't like that. I don't want her to turn into a mean kid, I just want her to know that everyone gets a turn equally and that includes her!
She is singing a lot more and even making up her own songs. She's starting to get into jigsaw-style puzzles. She is still pretty combative with me over anything that sounds remotely like me trying to get her to speak properly, but is also picking up on my emotions and becoming sympathetic to moods other than sad and crying. She is getting her colours down and definitely has all her letters now. Getting much better at telling us when she has to go to the bathroom. She is a lot of fun and still makes me smile every morning when she says, "hi Mama!"
Firstly, I received a letter from Canadian Citizenship Services asking me to mail her actual permanent resident card as it gets sent back to immigration officials once citizenship is granted. This must mean I filled out the forms correctly! Yeah! It was definitely not a document asked for in the initial package (just a certified true copy) and if they are asking for it now, I would think that would mean they are ready to grant it but, just like an old passport, they can't have a legal document flitting around that could be misused. It is now in the self-addressed envelope (postage not paid with a fancy government prepaid stamp grrr) ready to be dropped in the mailbox.
We also had a followup eye appointment. This went okay. She def didn't want to sit still for the evaluations this time, probably because she can see all the cool stuff in the office now. We have some homework from them. I have the kids version of the letter eye charts (house, apple, circle, square) and I am to work on those with her at home while covering one side of her glasses at a time. The worry is that because her prescription is much stronger on the one side that she might only really be using one side to look at things. Basically, I have to first get her used to having one glasses lens covered and then work up to having naming lines on that eye chart. We go back in January for them to look at this specifically.
Halloween was an interesting experience for her. She had no idea what it all meant and won't remember it, but totally had fun knocking on doors and saying trick or treat. Daddy collected the candy for her so I don't even think she really understood that she was getting candy. She doesn't ask for it now with the bag sitting in Mike's office. She just liked that she could finally go touch all the pumpkins on everyone's porch!
She has now also transitioned into daycare one day a week! I really needed the day and I needed her to learn to be in a big group because she just shuts down if it is a group bigger than four or five kids. By shutting down I mean standing and staring, and not taking-it-all-in staring... zombie staring where she isn't focused on anything. It's obvious anxiety or feelings of some sort being stirred up from when she was in the orphanage and I want that worked out before she can go to preschool in 3-1/2 months! We got into one where she knows one boy (who will be moving up to preschool at the end of this month so he can't become a crutch) to help her out and she clearly was happy about that!
We did a transition week where I stayed with her the first day and we played for 2 hours. She took in the room and the kids and was clingy but she definitely wanted to participate.
The second day I stayed for an hour and then left here there for 2. She cried a lot. I could tell when I picked her up that she'd been crying (she is going to be an ugly crier. Instant red blotches and super puffed up eyes). I guess she had kept saying, "I need Mama!" Heartbreaker!
Day three had me dropping her and leaving right away and her staying for lunch. The ladies told me she cried for a little at the beginning but then settled in and participated in the crafts and stories. Got a little sad outside because they think she thought she was going home when they got her dressed for outdoors, but she cheered up and ran around. Then she ate a good bowl of quinoa and many handfuls of grapes. She was very excited to see me and we have now worked out that when she gets said and says, "no Mama go," that I ask her if Mama comes back, to which she responds, "yeeeaaaaa," in a sad voice. Hahaha! I also noticed that she has started to ride her scoot-around at home by standing on the back wheel rod and holding the handlebars and kicking with her one leg so it is more like a scooter. I noticed that a lot of the kids do this on the playground so she obviously took that to heart!
Day four she cried for about 5 minutes when I left her and then was fine. She stayed for nap this day too. They said she got upset when she woke up, understandable though since she's never waken up here before! I picked her up shortly after nap time was done and she was quite gibberish-full on the way home!
The last transition day, her first full day, they said she cried for about 30 seconds and then had a great day. She did art and participated in the stories, napped, ate some lunch (good to hear that it's not just us that she doesn't want to eat her whole meal for!), and had a great time. She is definitely more vocal since this week (screeching! grrrr) but my hope was that it helps her speech develop and I think that will come very quickly for her. My other hope is that it helps her stick up for herself and become more assertive. Right now, she lets herself have her toys taken from her, gives up her places in line on playground equipment (even if she is sitting at the top of the slide she will move if she sees another kid is halfway up the ladder) and her turn in games. She lets herself be pushed and doesn't say anything and I don't like that. I don't want her to turn into a mean kid, I just want her to know that everyone gets a turn equally and that includes her!
She is singing a lot more and even making up her own songs. She's starting to get into jigsaw-style puzzles. She is still pretty combative with me over anything that sounds remotely like me trying to get her to speak properly, but is also picking up on my emotions and becoming sympathetic to moods other than sad and crying. She is getting her colours down and definitely has all her letters now. Getting much better at telling us when she has to go to the bathroom. She is a lot of fun and still makes me smile every morning when she says, "hi Mama!"
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