Her personality shines, her temper flares, her imagination soars, her will tries my patience, and her love warms me to my marrow.
She started school this year! We had her as prepared as possible with glasses, hearing aids, knowing lots of the kids in her grade, talks about what happens at school, reading to her daily, all the good stuff - but I was still so anxious that this huge change would trigger her anxiety and she would start pulling out her hair again. She has proven time and time again that she is a survivor and Dania survived the transition like a pro. During the first month, she came home exhausted to the point of hysteria which after she finally would go to sleep left Mike and I feeling like a tornado had ripped through the house, but she has adapted and grown and impressed me so much. Her sense of humour has been refined to a new level and her teacher even commented to me about how funny Dania is. Class clown for sure. Well, she did just spend the last few years watching me on stage so she knows how to play to an audience! I have also noticed change in her writing and willingness to do it! She still doesn't like colouring though. She will simply hand me the pictures and say "I scribbled this for you." No pride in the details - she wants to get through it so she can 'act.' Now that she is even starting to read I am noticing new leaps and bounds in her speech developments. She has still struggled with the s, sh, z, and l sounds and continuously used her compensatory sounds from before her surgery. As she is reading though and wanting others to understand, I hear her self correcting more and even using the sound without thinking so hard. She is a rock star. She also doesn't fight me - as much - when I ask her to use her sounds.
She also started Sparks this year. I loved Guiding and I was excited for her to start. I actually am now one of her unit leaders - they needed one more in order for it to open, so I stepped up since I was a Girl Guide leader when I was younger. It's great to watch her want to learn new things and earn badges... it's a shame that she is the ONLY kid in the unit to not listen to me. I am often exhausted and keep thinking, 'why did I think this would be different than speech pathology/getting dressed/bed time...' Either way, I am happy to do it.
There were a couple really emotional moments with her that were the fuel for me wanting to start writing again. When we took the adoption courses we learned how adopted kids can struggle with identity in their teens and about how honesty is the best policy. We have of course always told her she is from Russia and adopted. I am not sure what triggered her deep thoughts this past August but she started asking lots of questions about whose belly she was in. We talked about how it was a different lady and I had her name on a piece of paper and could tell her, but she said she didn't. She would ask and then get really quiet. Then one day she asked if the lady could feel her moving around inside her belly. I said she would have been able to. Dania then says that when she was pushing on the lady's belly she was dreaming of being with us. Oh. My. Gosh. I got choked up instantly and was at a loss for what to say. Wow.
She has grown to be super affectionate with us and will tell us she loves s all the time - punctuated with the yells that we are rude for telling her what to do, of course - but this kid continues to amaze me in ways I couldn't have even imagined. I LOVE this kid!
