Joy has grown so much this summer as well! Not just the 2 inches in height, but in her strength and coordination, as well as in her ability to communicate and interact with everything around her. Everyone marvels at her language skills when they meet her for the first time! It's hard to believe she's been here only 8 months!
Along with the increased vocabulary as come the expected frustration at not being able to express EXACTLY what she is feeling. At first, when she had only gestures and a few words, she really didn't get that frustrated. She knew somehow, I guess, that her abilities were limited and so she just went with the flow pretty well. Now, it's a different story!
Partly, it's her increasing need to exert her own will. She gets most upset when she doesn't get what she wants. And add to that her thinking that she's not able to express what she wants well, and we get complete meltdowns!
Starting Kindergarten really brought a lot of this to a head, I believe. As Tim points out, she remembers her friends at the YMCA in Taipei and misses them. She misses knowing the routine and what's expected of her. And while this great adventure as been fun and all, the fear of not measuring up has been pretty present with her.
For example, after the first day at school, she refused to sleep in her bed in her bedroom. She'd been doing that successfully for a couple of months. But worrying about school made her so worked up, she couldn't sleep by herself. She insisted that I sleep with her, which means, go to sleep with her. The first few nights were terribly hard - trying to get her to stop playing, or fighting me, just to lay down and be quiet. She finally said to me that she had "bad dreams" about her teacher being mad at her.
So, we went and talked to her teacher! She handled it beautifully, saying all the things she should have and reassuring Joy that all was fine at school.
Guess what? Joy spent the next 3 days acting out in school! :)
SO, we had another conference with her teacher, explaining that getting in trouble at school is just like getting in trouble with me or Daddy. And we expected her to behave! And just in case that wasn't enough incentive, we reminded her that good things happen for girls who are good. And sure enough, she got to go to the pool with Daddy the first day she had a good day at school!
We are slowly making progress with the sleeping - more on that in the next post though.
For now, here are some pictures from the summer - just random things I like!
Yes, those are Joy's feet in the air above Zach's head! She loves it when he throws her up high! ("Higher" is what she says!)
This is an attempt at a family picture before Zach ships out for the Marines. This is the only one that Joy wasn't MOVING in! She gets so excited when Courtney comes over! She loves having a big sister to play with!
This is Joy on the first day of Kindergarten at her seat. She is definitely claiming it as her own! She has some friends from pre-school and summer care who are in her class, including Sarah and Timmy, who sit at her table. I think they get each other in trouble, mostly! lol
Tim and Joy in front of the "Giant Marine" at the airshow this summer.
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