Maria update

This month is flying by. We have had our second parent teacher conferences. Maria is doing great. Since this fall she has improved her reading comprehension 30%, doubled her reading fluency from 16 words a minute to 30 and improved her overall word recognition to 100. I'm very proud of how hard she has been working! I know she continues to be behind her peers, but she is making good gains in a short period of time. She also continues to improve in the other areas of her education and is beginning to present her projects in front of the class. This is a HUGE deal for her to get outside her comfort zone. Maria is such a perfectionist about certain things that she doesn't always like to take chances. So, I'm glad she is coming out of her shell more and feeling like she can do some of these things. She will have the chance to do a special presentation to her class in a little over a week on Baba Marta Day. She is VERY excited that her teacher is letting us have a Baba Marta party. Her teachers felt really bad about some poor planning on their part which resulted in her missing her class Valentine's Day party....yup, lots of tears and one very upset kiddo. But they really want to make up for that and are embracing the whole Baba Marta day party. It should be fun and I will try to get some pictures to share.

 

This last weekend we went to the science center with my niece, nephew and mom. It was quite fun and Maria wants to go again. There was much to see and explore. They were also having a special women in science event with lots of booths and activities for kids to try out. Maria loved it. I loved seeing the 3D printer which made me think of The Big Bang Theory tv show. It was also funny that Maria has as much dislike for snakes as my mom and I do. There are times when I have to laugh because she is so like me.

 

 

 

Maria also got an awesome painting from a friend. She loves it and it goes so well with her room.

 

A while ago I was contacted by the NGO I used for Maria's adoption. They were trying to get me to allow them to put Maria's story, pictures and videos up on their website.....claiming they had invested a lot in her.....I know who invested a lot in her, who supported her, made it so she could walk, dried her tears, who continued to tell her she was valued and that a family would want her, and who helped her to become the girl she is today and it was NOT this NGO. Due to the issues I had with them personally, I said no. At the same time I was concerned that they would go ahead and use the link to my YouTube videos on their website.....as a result I have taken my videos down (in case you were wondering where they went). It did make me sad because I want people to see the joy of adoption and how amazing adopting a child who is older or who has more "severe" needs can do once they are home....but I also feel the need to protect Maria from those who would use her for their gain. I strongly considered closing down my blog.....but I know how hard the journey through adoption is....I know others need to hear and see what happens when kids come home. Yes, there are ups and downs....other families need to see those ups and downs. I know they need to hear about Maria having a 20 minute crying fit because she got all the problems wrong on a worksheet and missed all the words on her spelling pretest (this was my reality on Monday). So, for now I will continue to blog and share our lives. I'm hopeful that this NGO will respect my wishes and leave us alone, I truly just want them out of our lives.

 

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