Kindergarten!

I'm still in denial that Anya is kindergarten age. I mean, look at how much smaller she is than Bennett, who's actually 4 months younger! Plus, she's just not a kindergartner in any other way.  She's a 3 year old, cognitively.

 But she's in kindergarten, all right. Why, you ask?

#1 She loves organized learning activities! She is totally in her element in this setting.

#2 She thrives on more structure, and I'm not a homeschooler. (I tip my hat to all you homeschoolers out there. You are so amazing. I'm just not cut out for it.)

#3 We don't want to fork out money for preschool.

#4 She's six years old! 

#5 I was advised by an experienced speech therapist to aim to have her in a typical classroom with peers who are her age for as much of the school day as possible. This is how she will learn to act, talk, and function more like a person who is six, not three.

I was so nervous for her that first day! Not that she would be scared or anything. Funny enough, I was mostly worried that she would be too much of a handful for her teachers! lol 

When I saw this picture that Jeremy took of me walking Anya down the school hallway to her classroom, I immediately thought of this one, below. I took it nine months ago, when we were dropping Anya off at her groupa room before leaving her there for three months while we waited for a court date.

Holy moly. What a year can bring.

I got all choked up as I was leaving her there in her big-girl kindergarten class, thinking about what her sitting in that classroom signified.

Learning.

New experiences.

Hope.

Accomplishment.

Opportunity.

She could still be sitting in that stinky, dingy old orphanage, watching the same cartoons on that little TV that she had watched day after day after day.

Totally oblivious to the fact that in less than a year, she would be hauled off to a mental institution for life. 

Stuck. No education, no one that even cares about her progression. 

Nothing but a boring existence day after day after day.

But look at her now. Just look at the smile on her face. 

That smile says, "I'm important." 





May we never forget that she is here, thriving because of Reece's Rainbow, and because of countless miracles and a lot of giving hearts. 

I have to say, life is way more challenging now. We're in survival mode with a really hectic, many times chaotic household. But she's so worth it. Oh, my goodness, she is such a blessing to all of us.

May we NEVER forget what brought her here.

Yeah for school! I wish I was one of those moms who mourn when their kids go to school in the fall. It's not that I don't love having them home, because I do! I just have a hard time sticking with routines in the summer. As a result, everything goes downhill. I can't motivate anyone, we don't get our scripture reading time in, we don't eat dinner together much, etc. etc. We are all happier here in the Fillmore home when we have a routine.

Our kids go to an awesome charter school that's close by. Anya was on the waiting list for Kindergarten and was accepted the week before school started! And they hired an aide right off for her, without an IEP or anything. That's unusual. What a lucky girl. I feel like the people at Anya's school have a true interest in how much she learns and will follow my lead in making sure she is continually progressing. That's huge!

You know how we moms seem to over-think things? I somehow thought that Bennett needed to have his "own" kindergarten experience, without feeling like he has to look after his little sister in class. So I put him in the afternoon class and Anya in the morning, since there's only one Kindergarten class in the school. 

But when he got home that day, he said, "Mom, I don't want to go in the afternoon. Why can't I go in the morning with Anya?"
 
"Well," I said. "Wouldn't you like to have some time with just you and your friends at school, not having to worry about Anya?"
 
"Noooo" he said with a puzzled look on his face, like, "Why would you think THAT, mom?"
 
I'm such a dork.  LOL.
 
I immediately called the school. Luckily they were able to change him to the morning class right away. Wow, that just simplified my life a ton. 
 

So, Anya has been in school for a week now. It's going great, other than the fact that she already lost her aide because she had to move away unexpectedly.  Right now, the Special Ed. gals are having to come in to supervise her because she sometimes decides she doesn't want to do what everyone else is doing and distracts them. She has run out of the room a few times, too. (The girl has a mind of her own and likes to move!  We have an I.D. bracelet with our phone numbers on it for this reason.) 
 
We're praying that the school will find an aide SOON that is a great match for Anya. Someone who knows just what to do to keep her on task and will use every opportunity possible to help her learn.