"Do You Hear What I Hear?"

Despite the fact that Christmas decorations are already up in many stores, the title of this post does not infer that we're singing Christmas songs in our household.  Quite the opposite.

Now that Kristina is in Kindergarten, we're having our first challenges with someone else telling us "she's not doing this right" and "she's not doing that right." We never got this feedback from her Pre-School teachers...in fact, we got the opposite. (But don't get me wrong...I believe the Kindergarten teachers!)

Since day 1 of becoming a family, we have worked so hard to ensure a smooth attachment.  And we were blessed with relatively no glitches along the way.  Sure -- we have looked for signs/symptoms of various diagnoses of children who previously lived in an orphanage (I despise the words "previously institutionalized"....) but for those people who tell us "oh, just wait -- the problems will start to show up when she goes to school" -- at what point do you just say "hey, she's a little girl and this is what social, fiercely independent little girls do!"?

So for those who have anxiously been awaiting a "Yellow Card" vs "Green Card" update (and you know who you are!  he,he,he) --- let's just say Kristina's calendar is quite colorful.  Yes, there's lots of green but there's also numerous yellow and now...we've had two "Orange Card" days.

Why?  Well, let's just say Kristina hears everything but just doesn't listen.  For instance, when coloring a picture and the teacher tells everyone to sit on the carpet for reading time, Kristina will continue coloring.  When the teacher calls Kristina again, she simply informs the teacher that she would like to finish what she started.  Oye.  Yellow Card.   And then she can't just leave her crayons all over her desk, Kristina must first clean them up and put them in the cup neatly.  D'oh -- Orange Card.  Plus, Kristina loves to talk so we're really trying to teach her when it's ok to be social and when it's not...

Sigh....this is only Kindergarten!  What can we expect when she's in her teens??

Kristina loves to go to the salon with me.  "Can I please get curls?"  Such a girly, girl!

Curls....that stay in maybe 20 minutes!!!

Looking so grown up.

All dressed up...for the dentist!

Getting a thorough cleaning.  No cavities and a 6 y.o. molar is starting to come in!

Such a good patient.  She *loves* going to the dentist and they love to see her.

"Don't Let The Wings Fool You" t-shirt..with wings on the back.
Here is Kristina all packed up and headed out to Nana's on a Saturday morning.

Kristina's new friend, Janey.  They have been asking for a playdate since Day 1 in August.  Finally -- last week the girls were soooo excited to go out together!

First stop:  the monkey bars!  (I'm starting to think Kristina is part flamingo...)

The calloused hands are proof enough this girl LOVES swinging on the monkey bars.  And she's so good!

First play date -- big success.

Teacher's helper at the school aftercare program - cleaning all the tables.  Now if I could get her to do it at home!
 

The scene of the crime:  Kristina was behind the swing today (right before school was to start) when a little boy pushed the swing (not seeing her) and cut her mouth right above her two front teeth.  I raced back to school in traffic (already >45 min. into my commute!) to find her clingy and upset but overall, survived unscathed.  The bleeding stopped and I signed her in at school.  She was lucky this time!