Adoption Interview

Adoption Bloggers Interview Project 2012

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Sass


The sass that is uttered in this house is unbelievable. I never thought I'd deal with this kind of thing until much later on. If it didn't wait until the teen years, I at least thought I had until Hannah hit elementary school before I had to listen to it! Apparently not. Here is just a smattering of what I've heard over the past week in case you are curious what kind of sass a 3 year old could possibly dish out. Of course there is the ever popular, "I won't do it!" in all its many forms: "I'm NOT going to sit on my bottom!" "I TOLD you I'm not going to put my leggings on!" "I said NO!" "I absolutely WON'T put on my shoes because I'm NOT going to go to school!" "It's NOT cold outside (even though she's not even been out of the house!) so I'm NOT going to wear those socks!" The list goes on and on. There's the slightly more sophisticated, "You can't make me!" in it's various forms: "I'm not finishing my lunch! I'll hide under the table instead!" "I'll splash water on you if you do!" (trying to rinse shampoo from her hair) "If you put my hair tie in I'll smack you!" (I did, and she did!) "I hate these socks. I'm not wearing any!" "I'm NOT going to sleep! I'm okay with only having 2 books." (resisting nap time and letting me know that she doesn't care about a loss of privilege) Then there is my personal favorite, The world revolves around me. Here's how that one sounds: "I want my milk NOW! I will not be PATIENT!" "I already waited!" "Mom, MOM, M-O-M! Answer me!" "I said you can't answer the phone!" Finally, some miscellaneous sass for your reading pleasure: "I told you NOT to wear that shirt" (she thinks she has the right to choose MY outfits!) "Do NOT go to the bathroom Mom! Don't do it! I said NO!" (like she can control my bladder?) "I already told you I don't want that! I'm not eating it!" "I HATE school!" She even slams doors. If that doesn't scream teen attitude then I don't know what does!

I know three year olds are supposed to be full of defiance so maybe this is all normal. Maybe all 3 year olds sass like this. Since Hannah's my only child I'm a newbie at this so anything's possible I guess. Maybe it's just that all 3 year olds aren't quite as articulate and don't have as developed of vocabulary as my little darling does to torment their mother's with. Maybe. . . . But if this is what she can come up with now, what on earth is in store for her angst filled teenage years?!? Lord help me now!

Monday, September 14, 2009

Bringing in Machines


Today as I was working in another room I heard Hannah singing, but I couldn't quite make out the song she was singing. I snuck quietly to the doorway and spied on her. Here's what I heard (I about had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing out loud) "Bringing in machines, bringing in machines. Welcome and rejoicing, bringing in machines." Any guesses as to what song she had innocently misinterpreted the lyrics? When you think you've got it, scroll down to hear how the song is SUPPOSED to sound! Just click on the link to watch a you tube clip of someone who actually knows the lyrics.



































Today was another good day. Hannah had a rocky drop off at preschool because there was a little boy there doing before care waiting to pick up his school bus who isn't normally there. He's non verbal and shrieks a lot when he's happy or excited, or for just about any other reason! The constant shrieking at random intervals was pushing Hannah closer and closer towards the edge until the teacher's aide offered to take Hannah to help her make some copies in the copy room. When they got back the boy had caught his bus and Hannah was fine. She ended up having a good day at school and was actually playing with two other kids when I came to pick her up. She and another girl were tipping over a foam coach repeatedly to dump a little boy out onto the floor and then all 3 of them would dissolve in fits of laughter and then do it all over again. It was nice seeing her engaged with her peers. In general, the rest of the day went smoothly and without major incident. Today was definitely a welcome reprieve from the Tyrannical Threes we experience most days.

Last weekend Kyle's dad came for a visit and Hannah was beside herself with excitement over him coming. That Friday she apparently told every single person who came into her classroom at school that her Pap was coming after dinner today. :) Once Barney arrived, both Kyle and I were chopped liver. I'm used to it since that's how I rate with regards to Daddy, but I think Kyle might have been a little surprised about it, though definitely pleased to see the two of them bonding. Historically Hannah has been a little leery of Barney. He is boisterous, unpredictable, and not exactly practiced in the art of interacting with a little kid anymore which makes him pretty untrustworthy in Hannah's book, but this visit there was a real breakthrough. Hannah chose to hold his hand over ours every chance she got and even let him hold her several times. She still refused to hug him, but there was progress made non the less.
So, what did you think of Hannah's rendition of Bringing in the Sheaves. I thought it was pretty darn cute myself. I only wish I had had the fore thought to grab my camera before I went in to investigate. How adorable would it have been to have been able to catch that on camera!?!

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Good Day


Today was a GOOD day. I needed it. Hannah needed it. We needed it together. We spent a lazy morning watching cartoons and just lounging around. Then we went to the library. We were expecting to attend story time and do a craft, but they were both over for the summer. I expected a meltdown, but Hannah took it in stride. She was disappointed, but easily switched gears and went to play on the computers instead. We played Bob the Builder (an awesome computer problem solving and early math skills game for preschoolers by the way!) and had a blast. Then we picked out books, did puzzles, and then snuggled up on the library couch to read. Hannah read me 3 entire books almost completely on her own. She's really starting to conquer those level 1 early readers. I was amazed at how fluently she read most of the sentences. After the library we headed home for lunch. We ate without incident and then headed upstairs for nap time. Hannah went down easily and slept for almost 2 hours! I was also exhausted from our fun filled morning and laid down and napped as well. After our naps we had a snack and then went outside to play until Kyle got home. It was so nice to spend a day meltdown free and totally fun filled and relaxed.

Getting back to Hannah's recent jumps in reading skills, today she asked to read her "words" (some sight words I have written on index cards) and while we quizzed each other on the cards I realized that Hannah knows far more sight words than I even imagined. She probably knows at least 60 of the words off of the 100 most used words in the English language list as well as many other sight words. She's also getting much faster at sounding out easily sounded out words. It amazes me how quickly she picks up these words without any teaching. She must just be watching and following along as we read the dozens of books we read every day and storing word after word into her memory to bring back up to the surface when asked to read a word or when she sees it again on a sign or T-shirt.