Yesterday was a difficult day. Steven and Sabrina left as Katya was preparing to leave for school and she became very upset. Steven's departure marked the official end of the Christmas season for her, and the fact that I told here we were taking the trees down this weekend didn't help either. She had a meltdown and in the end, we made it to school at 12:30 PM. When Katya gets upset, she shuts down and doesn't want to talk. Her mode of coping is running away; to get as physically far from "the problem" as she possibly can. She has no coping skills whatsoever. This is something that we really must conquer, and as her English skills improve, so will her coping skills. She was very clingy after it was all over, and I hated to send her to school, but I thought it was important to maintain her schedule. Last night she told my friend Vicki she was a "bad girl", but Vicki very eloquently told her, "No Katya, you are not a bad girl, you just had a bad day."
Today we are going to see a basketball game at George Mason University, and Katya has a game tonight at 7:15. I'll let you know how that goes in tomorrow's blog!
1 comment:
I stumbled on your blog, noticing a comment you posted on Kate's. We also came home with an older Russian child this fall. I hope I can keep checking to see how Katya does! We also have three other Russian children, and a foster child. My newest son is the biggest challenge so far, and I think it is partly because he had to get here and immediately face the stress of school. It is SO difficult. He's not learning English; things are just a struggle. (Maybe he is not learning English as a way to "hide" - your post made me consider that idea...) I wonder if you are aware of this great resource: http://www.beyondconsequences.com Heather Forbes adopted two older Russian children and has developed a really incredible approach to working with them....at least it has worked for me!
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