Growing up!! and Oh Man!!

Yes, we have trained them to help each other!!

Victoria is doing Gerri's hair :)

Without being asked.

And yes, mommy put a towel under her :)

Today was Victoria's orientation for Preschool!!

All she cared about was the dress up clothes!

We had parent orientation while she played, sang and colored for an hour and a half.

I took her for a donut to celebrate!! Then we hit the library :)

She is getting SO big!!! She will be 4 in one month!! Where has the time gone?!?!??!

We got an email from Gerri's teacher just before dinner letting us know that Gerri fell out of her wheelchair at the end of the day while shaking hands with another kid. So very strange, she has never come close to falling out of her chair.
When I asked her what happened at school her response was "I sorry".
We have been working on letting us know when she is sad, telling the other kids "no" and sticking up for herself.
I can count on 1 hand (on 3 fingers) how many times she has cried in the almost 5 months she has been home.
She is SO used to being stoic and not showing any emotion except happy. We keep telling her that mommy and daddy won't know if she is sad or hurt if she doesn't tell us or cries.
When she does something wrong and we correct her she immediately gets very contrite and says over and over I sorry. We keep telling her that we just want her to understand what she has done wrong and what to do in the future. I make her repeat back to me what I am saying so I know she hears what I am saying.

Back to the story, Gerri finally sat with me and explained that the little girl shook her hand goodbye and then PULLED HER OUT OF HER WHEELCHAIR!!!
This happened in front of the little girls mom and the special needs bus aide.
I asked Gerri if it hurt and she said yes. I then asked if the little girl said sorry and she said no, her mom pulled her away and left. The aide told her teacher that Gerri fell out of the wheelchair, that she must have been on the edge of the seat so they buckled her in. I wondered why her buckle was on when she came home :(
Gerri said she just got into the wheelchair and didn't say anything!

Oh man!! It just breaks my heart!!
She cried the whole time she told me the story, it was SO hard for her!
We had another chance to talk about telling someone when she is hurt and when someone does something wrong.
We told her that she needs to tell her teacher first thing in the morning what really happened.
I did send an email to the teacher and then decided to send it to the asst principal too telling them what really happened.  I also reiterated that Gerri has a joint disease and while she is very mobile and easy going, she could be seriously hurt. I asked the teacher to please talk to the little girl and to please explain that Gerri's wheelchair is serious and to let the other kids know that they need to be careful.
I hope I was not a bit over the top, but I want to make sure they take it seriously.
I will talk to the aide tomorrow morning too. I don't know if she saw anything or not. I would like to believe she just didn't see it. And of course Gerri said she was ok and said "I sorry". :(

Before bed I asked Gerri what she was going to tell her teacher in the morning and she said "I sorry"
oh man! We have a ways to go!!!

Need some Help??

These pics were taken Friday.

Our internet service provider told me they would send out a tech between 8 and 12. So any guesses when he came???? How about 11:55!!!! Not happy being stuck waiting!

MS V HAD to help :)

He ended up replacing the modem. He said a bunch were recalled and they were replacing them. So we now have a new modem :)

And while he was checking things he found that our internet speed outside the house was much higher than inside the house. He said it was the phone filter they gave us so he put in a splitter and gave us an outlet with separate DSL and Phone/Fax lines :) :)

So now my internet is much faster!!!

It certainly made up for hanging around all morning!!

We had a nice quiet weekend. Danny and Gerri are tired from being in school last week.

Victoria has preschool orientation tomorrow and starts on Tuesday!!

She is So excited!!

Readoption Day!!!

Wednesday was our readoption court hearing.

I would have posted yesterday but had internet issues which only got cleared up this afternoon.

Hanging around waiting for our lawyer before court :)

My new favorite photo!!!

Court was very quick. The grumpy judge we had in June was on vacation and we were lucky enough to have the judge that the court house was named after!!!

He had us raise our hands and swear to tell the truth. To which Danny promptly replied "NO Swearing"!! :)

The judge then asked if they wanted a new sister, to which Victoria promptly replied "NO"!

As the judge was reading our paperwork he kept saying Geraldine and every time she would say "Gerri"!

Luckily everyone laughed at all the kids :)

We were very lucky to get the judge that loves to do adoptions!!

At the end he told Gerri that he had one requirement and that was he got a hug!!

A family photo with the judge!

Of course - ice cream to celebrate!!!

We have already filled out the paperwork at the courthouse to send to vital statistics to get Gerri a state of FL birth certificate with both of our names!!

We will use the court judgements to get her citizenship paperwork filed too.

She currently has a green card (since she was legally adopted by only one parent in country).

Then we head back to social security to change her status :)

Then we get her a US passport!

We also got her Ukrainian passport back from the consulate in DC. It only took 4 months!!!! woo hoo!

Cast #2!!!

We start off with a little fun in the waiting room

then the Tech shows Gerri that the cast saw will not hurt skin

She Laughed the WHOLE time!!!

Then the tool to split the cast

She was SO amazed how they came apart!

They asked if we wanted to keep it! EEEEWWWW! NO!

Then cutting off the cotton!

Look mommy! my leg!

I just can't describe the toe smell :( A quick wipe down!

Then onto leg #2

Look my feet!!

Her feet won't be doing this much longer!!

Only 1 sore spot!

The tech used extra padding here

All the casting material for Cast #2

First the socks go on!

While the Tech puts more cotton on the Doc is stretching her foot to get it into the next position

Then the plaster casting begins

Then the PURPLE fiberglass goes on!

Yes, it was supposed to be orange, but in the hour before the appt she changed her mind :)

Ms Heather came in and the girls LOVE her!!

Finishing up leg #2

Mommy - this is SO cool!!

It has actually been a blessing that Gerri is off till Friday. She and Victoria play so well together.

Gerri goes back Friday and Victoria has orientation next Monday and starts Preschool next Tuesday.

I think it would have been so much harder for Victoria if both Gerri and Danny were gone all week.

Every day both girls ask when they are going to school  :)

 Cast #2 done!!!

First Day of School!!!!

Thank Heavens school started today!!!!!

Both Danny and Gerri had their hair trimmed for school.

The kids were so excited! They were up before 6 am!

Danny was a bit nervous, stomach ache and slight breakdown while waiting for his bus. Luckily it was a couple of minutes late and he was able to get it together and go off happy!!

Danny's bus came first!

 

We all stood and waved goodbye to Danny and his bus

We then waited and waited and waitied for Gerri's special bus.

We waited till the last possible minute and still make it on time and it was no where.

So I loaded her and Victoria up in my car and drove.

It was crazy at school!! We ended up being late. Gerri put her backpack away and we checked out the room's bathroom to make sure she could get in and do it herself (she was ok).

We then found her desk and the cutest little girl was right across from her and looking very sad.

I had them introduce themselves to each other and they were fast friends!!

Just as we were leaving Dan called to say that her bus had just arrived (45 minutes late!) The driver was a bit ticked we had not waitied and gave us a number to call in the future if we don't need her picked up!

Victoria and I headed on home to play and have fun. We had lunch and a nap.

Then we all went out front to wait for Gerri's bus. It was only a couple of minutes late.

Victoria thought it was SO cool and Gerri was SO excited!

She talked non-stop while they were trying to tell her what to do :)

We then had to wait for Danny's bus. Dan stood on the corner and here is Victoria walking down with a juice for him.

The first day is so crazy, Danny's bus was a half hour late.

The bus driver said it was crazy trying to get out of the school lot.

Victoria ran up to him and gave him a big hug!!

Both kids had a great day!!
They were so tired! Both fell asleep watching a movie before bed. :)

School Orientation!!

Here are the school supplies for all 3 kids!

These are Gerri's (for kindergarten)

Danny's (for 2nd Grade)

Victoria's (for Prek3)

Thursday night was Kindergarten orientation

Gerri was SO amazed that her teacher KNEW her favorite color was orange!!

The class is a bit chaotic

Dan and Victoria in the corner reading a princess book :)

Gerri at her desk and SO proud!!!

Kindergarten has a staggered start.

So Gerri starts Monday and does not go back till Friday. This way the teacher has only 4 or 5 kids to walk through the routine and lunch and by Friday all 18 kids will be there!

Friday am was Danny's orientation for 2nd grade

He was very happy to see this was his :)

His teacher

He LOVED her!!!

I had some time to talk to her about Danny and some of his issues.

She was amazing!!!!

Danny loved telling everyone that she was wearing dog slippers!!!

Each kid in front of the school mascot!

We had Gerri's 504 meeting in the afternoon.

Her guidance counselor, teacher and the asst princial was there.

We went through her disabilities, her abilities and how we are going to work together to handle them.

I really liked them all :)

Ms V is feeling a little left out, she is too little for the BIG school, and her preschool doesn't start for another week. She told me today that she is going to be lonely :)

We are in that wonderful phase (almost 4) and just starting to give up her nap :(

Sometimes she is ok, sometimes she is a BEAR!!!!

snif, snif, our baby is growing up!!