Gosh, I am definitely not going to win any awards for blogging. Life just gets ahold of you with three kids and blogging doesn't always make the cut.
Ella is doing so so well. She still though, continues to have her struggles academically. She's in the third grade and one thing I have learned with my biological kids as well as with Ella is that they NEED mom and dad to advocate for them. The school has their best interest but WE know Ella best and know what she needs. Since we brought Ella home I continue to have to remind educators of Ella's unique journey. Remember our Ella did not have any language when we adopted her at 5 years old. So not only did everything in her life change in a moment but also loads of expectations were put on her little shoulders.
Ella in the third grade can read almost anything but really struggles with comprehension and putting her thoughts down on paper. I keep saying with time and experiences she will get it...but I have to say a bit of worry creeps into my head each time we sit down to look at the results of her evaluations. Is she going to have a life long struggle due to the lack of nurturing and parenting that she missed in her first 5 years? They say that so much brain growth happens in those first critical years and I'd be lying if I said it didn't worry me. There are concepts that I work with Ella on almost daily...and some days she can pick right up on what we are doing. Other days it's as if she has never seen the work before. She struggles with taking chances and working independently for fear of getting something wrong. I hope this will change when she gains confidence!! I keep reminding myself of a saying I tell all my kids "anything worth having doesn't come without good HARD work"! This is so true with Ella...she deserves to have the life that any American kid has. She deserves to thrive and build dreams for her future. It's just going to have to take time, hard work and a whole lot of love and patience.
I love this girl so so much and she deserves all good things in this life.
Aside from Ellas' struggles in school she recently started piano lessons! After 2 lessons she is doing AMAZINGLY! Her teacher (who is such a blessing!) comes once a week to the house and says Ella is a natural. Ella LOVES it so far and has been practicing on her own everyday. It goes to show the power of music....music has no boundaries. I'm excited to see where this goes with her.
Although I don't have a magic ball to tell the future one thing for sure is this little girl is going to do great things. We are going to work hard with her, be patient and make sure she gets and has what she needs to be successful! I would fly to the moon to make sure she gets all the things she deserves.
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