Show and Tell

Last week Oksana was student of the week! This was intentionally done early in the year as a way to help the kids get to know her better. I love that her teacher is always thinking like that. As student of the week you get to bring in a poster all about you and then you get to bring a show and tell each day of the week. Oksana's poster had a picture of herself, her family, her dog, Ukraine, Nina, Chick fil A :), and her 3 favorite things in the world...balls, balloons, and books! I wrote a few little sentences about each one. For show and tell each day I would send an item with a little description of it typed out so that the teacher or para could help Oksana share about it. On Monday she brought matroyshka dolls. On Tuesday she brought a picture of Anya. On Wednesday she brought the teddy bear that we gave her the day we got her out of the orphanage. Thursday was EEG day so she wasn't there. On Friday her show and tell was her AFOs! I came up to school on Friday to take them off and tell the kids all about them.

When I walked in the door Oksana didn't see me at first. When her para pointed me out she screamed "MAMA!", ran over to me, and grabbed onto me. It was so sweet. That warms your heart as a mom with your biological kids but with an adopted child it is even that much more special. She was SO excited to see me there and kept giggling and saying "My mama's at school. That is SO SILLY!". For show and tell she got to sit in a chair while the other kids sat on the floor. She definitely knew the routine and was very excited to be the center of attention. We talked a little bit about her AFOs and took them off for the kids to see. We told them how they casted her for them, how she is stretched, and how we get them back on. The kids got to ask questions and one child wanted to know if her leg was broken!





You know it's interesting to me how typical Oksana seems to us because we don't know her as anything different. At home we don't think twice about the noises she makes or the way she flaps her hands. It is always when I am around other kids her age that I see how very different she is. It occurred to me at school that day that all the education about CP in the world might not make these kids accept Oksana completely. It's really her intellectual disability that sets her apart more than her physical disability. Unfortunately that one isn't as obvious and easy to talk about. Luckily she has no concept at all of the fact that the kids are having trouble accepting her. She just lives life to the fullest in every situation. I hope that her peers might be drawn to that someday and learn to accept her just as she is.