Where did the week go?

We have now been home over a week. Mayana has certainly settled into the family. She loves it when everyone is home together or when everyone is out together.

Today is bringing some semblance of order to our lives. Tom returned to school, AnneMarie returned to PEP, and the rest of us have started our new homeschool routine. When I feel overwhelmed about homeschooling 5 kids now, including one who doesn't speak English, I remind myself that most newly adopted children start school in a regular classroom, with 30 other pupils and a harried, over-worked teacher, who doesn't know the first thing about adoption from China ... and yet they somehow catch on, learn their ABCs, learn to speak, read, and write ... so, why should I worry?

Mayana has a few new words -- "that's okay" "banana" "hungry (hungwee)" and "good night". She uses all of our names consistently. She is starting to recognize more and more words, too. It is a little easier to communicate, but we have such a long, long way to go! She was able to sign enough for me last night to ask a question, "After we sleep, when we wake up tomorrow, will we eat?"

She played charades with us the other night. It was so fun to see her catch on and then pick a picture from her books to act out certain animals. She then started copying letters and words from my writing. She actually has great fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Bedtime has become our "mommy-Mayana" bonding time. She cuddles and we sing together, often sharing a tune but not a language. (I have another daughter who shares the language and not the tune, which is actually more difficult when it comes to singing!)

Today wasn't too hard for schooling, but I think that is because it was all new to her - new and exciting. I am trying to get a true feel for where Mayana needs to start with school, and it is clear that the early K level is about right for her now. She does recognize about 1/3 of her letters and all of her numbers up to 10. She can add by counting her fingers (and saying the number in Chinese, not English). So, I'm working hard to throw out every temptation to think of this child as an 8 year old. I'm keeping my focus on the fact that she's doing great for the 5.5 year old that the adoption books told us to expect.

Hint: If you are going to adopt from China (age 3 and up), be sure you can count to 10 in Chinese and identify the individual numbers spoken in Chinese. It's very helpful! And even though she speaks Cantonese, she understands Mandarin fairly well, it seems, so a good knowledge of pinyin for Mandarin has been very helpful when combined with a bunch of Chinese/English picture books (make sure they include pinyin). Buy a set or two in China! She appreciates our efforts at relating English words to the Mandarin. She probably thinks that we are quite dense (or stubborn) when it comes to learning Cantonese though!!

I used to wonder why most blogs seem a little disjointed .... and now I know! It's impossible to sit down and just write an entry without interruption!