First Day of School

I can not believe it is finally here. All of the planning, preparation, prayer, meetings, and then just like that I'm walking out the door leaving behind one very excited little girl! She has been very excited for this day. When we got to school she loved seeing all of the school buses! We walked to class and saw many of the staff who are part of her IEP team. They all welcomed her and told her how excited they were for her! Her para for this week is the same lady that she had at orientation. She doesn't know yet if she is permanent or not. When we got into class she found her seat and had a coloring page to do which is not her favorite activity but she scribbled a few marks on it :). I got a couple more pictures, told her para a few things about taking her to the bathroom, gave her a kiss, and she said "bye mom" and got right back to her coloring. On my way out everyone kept telling me they would take good care of her. I have no doubt about that! I did fine until I got back in the car and looked at the pictures I took. I might have cried just a little bit then ;). She looks so big and so beautiful in the pictures (see below). I still can't believe this is the same child we brought home just a year ago!

She had a doctors appointment today so I picked her up early. She had a great day overall with just a small issue at recess. Her para is a very sweet lady but she wants so badly to keep Oksana from falling or hurting herself in any way. Because of this she kept her from going on the slide at recess. She was afraid she wouldn't be able to do it. Oksana wasn't too happy about that, and then when it was time to go in she didn't want to go. I was able to explain to the para a little better how to help her slide and we assured Oksana that she could slide tomorrow. The para even mentioned that she had to reminder herself not to hold Oksana's hand all the time because she's just so afraid she will fall. My reaction was "Yep, she will....and she's fine. In fact she might even hurt herself once in awhile....and that's Ok too....she's fine." It will just take some time for this para to become comfortable with her. I got a earful the whole way home about how she didn't get to slide today. We talked about being patient while the new para gets to know what she can and can't do. I also told her that she might not always get to slide and that's life, but when it's time to go in there is no complaining. She understood and now she is excited for her first full day when she gets to eat lunch, have a snack, and have rest time at school...oh and she gets to slide too!