Brighter Days and First Days

Tiana still hates being taught by her Mom. Let us just say that the feeling is somewhat mutual, and leave it at that. I love my girl to the ends of the Earth. After my rant the other day I am enbarrassed at how whiny I sounded. I'm leaving the post up, though, because it's reality with an older adopted child. We expected and prepared for much more and much worse and we'll find our "groove" soon enough. Today was a bright spot for sure!

Today was Tiana's first day of school. I was prepared to take her to school and stay for the whole time she was there. Scooter wanted to walk her into the classroom so he could introduce her to her teacher (who was his teacher last year). He was so proud to walk in with Tiana. We got her settled into her desk and introduced her to her neighbors. Then I went and stood out of sight to see what would happen. I'll be darned if she didn't sit right down, get her things ready and jump right into Kindergarten like she had been there all year! I left the room and waited in the office for a bit longer, just in case. I made sure my cellphone number was on record and I stayed close to the school while running errands. Not a peep from the new student. In fact, when I picked her up, she was so excited that she was speaking half English and half Fante and she didn't even know it. I LOVED that! The teacher raved about Tiana's behavior, her attitude and her willingness to work hard. Tiana loves her teachers, she loves her class, she made new friends, she thinks school is FUN, she wants to go EVERY day. She showed me her work and it is far and away better than anything she has done at home. What a turnaround and what a blessing!